The impact of death priming on climate change denial: a preliminary investigation

Method

Results

We conducted a three-way ANOVA with prime type (mortality or pain), delay task (with or without) and political orientation (Democrat or Republican) as factors. CCD score was the independent measure.

Results indicated a main effect regarding political orientation, F (1,211) = 41.45, p = 0. 000, η² = 0.16; as documented in previous CCD research, in the current sample CCD was significantly higher among Republican participants (M = 3.70; 95% CI [3.53, 3.86], SD = 0.93) in contrast to Democrat participants (M = 2.89; 95% CI [2.70, 3.07], SD = 0.95).

A significant two-way interaction between the prime type and the delay task was also found; F (1,211) = 4.95, p = 0. 027, η² = 0.02. According to our hypotheses, we conducted follow-up analysis for each task condition (with or without a delay task corresponding to distal and proximal defenses, respectively). These analyses indicated that the interaction source was from the no delay group, F (1, 107) = 4.64, p = 0.033, η² = 0.04). CCD scores in the death condition were lower (M = 3.37; 95% CI [3.16, 3.57], SD = 0.71) than in the pain condition (M = 3.69; 95% CI [3.47, 3.90], SD = 0.85), indicating a reduction in CCD due to death priming in the proximal defense condition.

The three-way interaction was insignificant (p = 0.359). However, as can be seen in Figure 1, following the death prime in the distal condition Republican participants displayed a distinct CCD increase in accordance with our hypothesis. Therefore, we conducted among Republican participants an additional two-way ANOVA with prime type and the delay task as independent variables and CCD as the dependent variable. Only when adding political activeness (r = -.31 with CCD, see Table 1) as a covariate did this analysis achieve significance. F (1,109) = 9.20, p = 0. 003, η² = 0.08. In the proximal group, the prime effect, although similar to the overall proximal effect reported above, did not achieve significance; F (1, 62) = 2.42, p = 0.125). However, the distal effect was significant; F (1, 46) = 5.99, p = 0.018, η² = 0.115). CCD scores in the death condition were higher (M = 4.01; 95% CI [3.62, 4.41], SD = 0.68) than in the pain condition (M = 3.41; 95% CI [3.08, 3.73], SD = 1.08), indicating an increase in CCD due to death priming within the distal defense mode among Republican participants.

Figure 1. Mean Scores of Climate Change Denial Across the Different Research Groups Among Republican and Democrat Participants.

Figure 1 alt text: Among republican participants while in the proximal condition death priming reduced CCD, in the distal condition it increased it.

Notably, political activeness (PA) was overall higher among Republican participants (M = 3.86, SD = 2.00), in contrast to Democratic participants (M = 3.05, SD = 1.90, t(208) = 2.97, p = 0.003, d = 0.41). In turn, undermining the randomness of participant distribution regarding political orientation (see Table 2 for descriptive statistics regarding CCD and political activeness among Republican participants).

Discussion

Three main findings were observed in the current study. First, as documented in previous research, beyond the prime type and the delay task variables CCD was higher among Republican participants than Democrat participants. Furthermore, in the immediate wake of mortality priming CCD was reduced among all participants (the proximal defense effect). Finally, following death priming and a delay task, CCD increased among Republican participants when controlling for PA (the distal defense effect).

Indeed, the proximal effect suggests that death priming operates as a tool for CCD reduction when existential threat is in focal attention. Accumulating TMT research has underscored that while individuals attentionally avoid existential threat when it is abstract and does not pose an immediate threat, their focal attention gravitates toward it when perceived to pose an immediate threat (Hirschberger et al., 2010; Gerber & Anaki, 2018; Gerber et al., 2023). Applying this dynamic to CCD, as the climate crisis transforms from a futuristic abstract threat into an occurring reality, death priming may be an effective tool for facilitating climate action tendencies accordingly. Notably, the CCD scale used in the current study was a rather abstract perception of climate change, as the nature of self-report scales tends to be. Future research should investigate whether the impact of death priming on CCD is more pronounced when the perception of climate change is based on more concrete stimuli such as visceral images.

Finding a preliminary distal effect among Republicans (only when controlling for PA) sheds an important light on the general tendency for CCD among conservative individuals. Seemingly, this tendency, has been considered primarily to reflect conservative individuals’ benefit from maintaining the economic status quo and existing institutional order (Norgaard, 2019; Clarke et al., 2019). The distal effect finding that the tendency for CCD among Republican participants was facilitated by death priming, supports a differential understanding; Rather than a general anthropocentric attitude of dominance over nature (Jylhä & Akrami, 2015), CCD reflects conservative individuals need to cope with an existential threat, reflected in the ramifications of climate change, to their worldview and way of life. This line of investigation is warranted and should be pursued in future research to affirm mutual recognition and common ground for promoting climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Before concluding, one must consider the overall limitations of the current study which is preliminary and exploratory in its nature. Notably, this study was conducted among US residents only, reflecting a particular political environment in time and place. Therefore, its convergence with CCD investigations conducted among samples from other world regions is limited. Moreover, although theoretically sound, the distal effect found among Republicans only when controlling for PA should be treated only as a warrant for future, more powered research. Notably, increased PA levels among Republicans in contrast to Democrats may be attributed in part to it’s being measured following mortality salience. Indeed, mortality salience has been shown to arouse PA among conservative individuals as an expression of their distal defenses (Schindler et al. 2023). Finally, PA’s mean differences patterns among Republicans (Table 2) as well as its overall covariance with CCD (Table 1), indicate that PA should be theoretically considered regarding the impact of mortality priming on CCD in future studies. To conclude, the value of the current research is primarily in being conducive to additional research regarding the psychological aspects of CCD. Indeed, the dynamics of coping with existential threats should be an additional perspective in examining CCD tendencies.