Climate change perception among Spanish undergraduates. A reception study on the combination of the local, global, gain and loss frames

Abstract

Climate change attitudes and perceptions vary significantly among countries and cultures through a host of factors. Within media content about climate change, framing is one of the most relevant elements. This research interrogated how framing combinations across local-global and gain-loss frames influence attitudes and perceptions about climate change. We examined varying framing approaches through case-study experimentation with university students in Spain (N = 120). Students viewed one of four videos, each one based on a different combination of frames before answering a set of survey questions, with the aim of testing (i) how do the combinations of the local-global and the gain-loss frames affect the perception of the seriousness of climate change and (ii) how do combinations of the four frames affect support for action to address climate change. Results indicate that the participants scored similar values, regarding the seriousness of climate change and the need to take action, regardless of the video they watched. This means that interaction effects and other contextual factors (e.g., previous environmental concerns) may limit efficacy of deliberately introduced frames more than previously considered. These findings help to further deepen and nuance possible explanations for wider discursive interactions that comprise our attitudes and perceptions of climate change.

Keywords

• Climate change
• Media representation
• Media effects
• Framing
• perception of seriousness
• need to take action