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Cited by 344

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 42 of the 42 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Climate Change Conceptual Change: Scientific Information Can Transform Attitudes

Open access
Ranney, Michael Andrew, Clark, Dav·2016·Topics in Cognitive Science

Abstract

Of this article's seven experiments, the first five demonstrate that virtually no Americans know the basic global warming mechanism. Fortunately, Experiments 2–5 found that 2–45 min of physical–chemical climate instruction durably increased such understandings. This mechanistic learning, or merely receiving seven highly germane statistical facts (Experiment 6), also increased climate‐change acceptance—across the liberal‐conservative spectrum. However, Experiment 7's misleading statistics decreased such acceptance (and dramatically, knowledge–confidence). These readily available attitudinal and conceptual changes through scientific information disconfirm what we term “stasis theory”—which some researchers and many laypeople varyingly maintain. Stasis theory subsumes the claim that informing people (particularly Americans) about climate science may be largely futile or even counterproductive—a view that appears historically naïve, suffers from range restrictions (e.g., near‐zero mechanistic knowledge), and/or misinterprets some polarization and (noncausal) correlational data. Our studies evidenced no polarizations. Finally, we introduce HowGlobalWarmingWorks.org—a website designed to directly enhance public “climate‐change cognition.”

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Metadata

Authors
Ranney, M. A., & Clark, D.
Venue
Topics in Cognitive Science
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2016-01
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
49-75
ISSN
  • 1756-8757 (ISSN-L)
  • 1756-8765
OpenAlex
W2253031324
Cited by
344
References
42
FWCI
114.33
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Climate Change Conceptual Change: Scientific Information Can Transform Attitudes. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1111/tops.12187
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Ranney, M. A., & Clark, D. (2016). Climate Change Conceptual Change: Scientific Information Can Transform Attitudes. Topics in Cognitive Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12187

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