Cited by 661Climate Change Communication and PerceptionClimate Change Policy and EconomicsRisk Perception and Management

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 29 of the 29 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change as a Gateway Belief: Experimental Evidence

Open access

van der Linden, Sander L., Leiserowitz, Anthony A., Feinberg, Geoffrey D., Maibach, Edward W.·2015·PLOS ONE

DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0118489PMC PMC4340922

Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

There is currently widespread public misunderstanding about the degree of scientific consensus on human-caused climate change, both in the US as well as internationally. Moreover, previous research has identified important associations between public perceptions of the scientific consensus, belief in climate change and support for climate policy. This paper extends this line of research by advancing and providing experimental evidence for a "gateway belief model" (GBM). Using national data (N = 1104) from a consensus-message experiment, we find that increasing public perceptions of the scientific consensus is significantly and causally associated with an increase in the belief that climate change is happening, human-caused and a worrisome threat. In turn, changes in these key beliefs are predictive of increased support for public action. In short, we find that perceived scientific agreement is an important gateway belief, ultimately influencing public responses to climate change.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1371/journal.pone.0118489

Cites

29 of 29 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives
Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999) · Structural Equation Modeling A Multidisciplinary Journal · doi:10.1080/10705519909540118 · Cited by 108,788
Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/brm.40.3.879 · Cited by 34,117
Climate change 2007: the physical science basis
Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Marquis, M. C., Averyt, K. B., Tignor, M., Miller, H. L., & Chen, Z. (2007) · Cited by 23,398
Untitled work
(2013) · Cited by 6,752
The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models
Enders, C., & Bandalos, D. (2001) · Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal · doi:10.1207/s15328007sem0803_5 · Cited by 4,978
Merchants of doubt: how a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming
(2011) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.48-6243 · Cited by 3,575
Misinformation and Its Correction: Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing
Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., Seifert, C. M., Schwarz, N., & Cook, J. (2012) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1177/1529100612451018 · Cited by 2,920
The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change
Oreskes, N. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1103618 · Cited by 1,814
Cultural cognition of scientific consensus.
Kahan, D. M., Jenkins‐Smith, H., & Braman, D. (2011) · Journal of Risk Research · doi:10.1080/13669877.2010.511246 · Cited by 1,686
Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature
Cook, J., Nuccitelli, D., Green, S., Richardson, M., Winkler, B., Painting, R., Way, R. G., Jacobs, P., & Skuce, A. G. (2013) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024024 · Cited by 1,518

Flagged first, then by citations

Show all 28 references

Research works printed but not linked: 1

Bast J, Spencer R (2014) The Myth of the Climate Change ‘97%’. The Wall Street Journal.

Sorted by citations

Consensus on consensus: a synthesis of consensus estimates on human-caused global warming
Cook, J., Орескес, Н., Doran, P. T., Anderegg, W. R. L., Verheggen, B., Maibach, E. W., Carlton, J. S., Lewandowsky, S., Skuce, A. G., Green, S., et al. (2016) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/048002 · Cited by 1,637
Self-citation
Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change
van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A., Rosenthal, S., & Maibach, E. (2017) · Global Challenges · doi:10.1002/gch2.201600008 · Cited by 1,058
Self-citation
Neutralizing misinformation through inoculation: Exposing misleading argumentation techniques reduces their influence
Cook, J., Lewandowsky, S., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2017) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0175799 · Cited by 971
Countering Misinformation and Fake News Through Inoculation and Prebunking
Lewandowsky, S., & van der Linden, S. (2021) · European Review of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/10463283.2021.1876983 · Cited by 773
Environmental fate, toxicity and risk management strategies of nanoplastics in the environment: Current status and future perspectives
Wang, L., Wu, W., Bolan, N. S., Tsang, D. C. W., Yang, L., Qin, M., & Hou, D. (2020) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123415 · Cited by 668
When worry about climate change leads to climate action: How values, worry and personal responsibility relate to various climate actions
Bouman, T., Verschoor, M., Albers, C. J., Böhm, G., Fisher, S. D., Poortinga, W., Whitmarsh, L. E., & Steg, L. (2020) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102061 · Cited by 560
Assessing ExxonMobil’s climate change communications (1977–2014)
Supran, G. J., & Орескес, Н. (2017) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa815f · Cited by 591
Improving Public Engagement With Climate Change
van der Linden, S., Maibach, E. W., & Leiserowitz, A. (2015) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691615598516 · Cited by 546
Self-citation
Climate Change: US Public Opinion
Egan, P. J., & Mullin, M. (2017) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-051215-022857 · Cited by 477
Greater than 99% consensus on human caused climate change in the peer-reviewed scientific literature
Lynas, M., Houlton, B. Z., & Perry, S. (2021) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac2966 · Cited by 423
Motivated Rejection of Science
Lewandowsky, S., & Oberauer, K. (2016) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721416654436 · Cited by 418
The conspiracy-effect: exposure to conspiracy theories (about global warming) decreases pro-social behavior and science acceptance
van der Linden, S. (2015) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.07.045 · Cited by 391
Social Media, Echo Chambers, and Political Polarization
Barberá, P. (2020) · Social Media and Democracy · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.004 · Cited by 373
Ideology, capitalism, and climate: Explaining public views about climate change in the United States
McCright, A. M., Marquart‐Pyatt, S. T., Shwom, R., Brechin, S. R., & Allen, S. (2016) · Energy Research & Social Science · doi:10.1016/j.erss.2016.08.003 · Cited by 383
Understanding (and Reducing) Inaction on Climate Change
Hornsey, M. J., & Fielding, K. S. (2019) · Social Issues and Policy Review · doi:10.1111/sipr.12058 · Cited by 381
Climate Change Disinformation and How to Combat It
Lewandowsky, S. (2020) · Annual Review of Public Health · doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-090419-102409 · Cited by 384
Why the backfire effect does not explain the durability of political misperceptions
Nyhan, B. J. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1912440117 · Cited by 294
The US news media, polarization on climate change, and pathways to effective communication
Bolsen, T., & Shapiro, M. A. (2018) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2017.1397039 · Cited by 274
Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries
Vlasceanu, M., Doell, K. C., Bak-Coleman, J. B., Todorova, B., Berkebile-Weinberg, M., Grayson, S., Patel, Y. H., Goldwert, D., Pei, Y., Chakroff, A., et al. (2024) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.adj5778 · Cited by 380
The gateway belief model: a large-scale replication
van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A., & Maibach, E. (2019) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.01.009 · Cited by 262
Self-citation
The role of trust for climate change mitigation and adaptation behaviour: A meta-analysis
Cologna, V., & Siegrist, M. (2020) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101428 · Cited by 273
Text-mining the signals of climate change doubt
Boussalis, C., & Coan, T. (2015) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.12.001 · Cited by 283
Anti-Intellectualism, Populism, and Motivated Resistance to Expert Consensus
Merkley, E. (2019) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1093/poq/nfz053 · Cited by 303
Stories vs. facts: triggering emotion and action-taking on climate change
Morris, B. S., Chrysochou, P., Christensen, J. D., Orquin, J. L., Barraza, J. A., Zak, P. J., & Mitkidis, P. (2019) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-019-02425-6 · Cited by 256
Determinants and Measurement of Climate Change Risk Perception, Worry, and Concern
van der Linden, S. (2016) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.318 · Cited by 270
Rational irrationality: modeling climate change belief polarization using Bayesian networks
Cook, J., & Lewandowsky, S. (2016) · Topics in Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/tops.12186 · Cited by 332
Ideological asymmetries in conformity, desire for shared reality, and the spread of misinformation
Jost, J. T., van der Linden, S., Panagopoulos, C., & Hardin, C. D. (2018) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.01.003 · Cited by 242
Correcting misinformation about climate change: the impact of partisanship in an experimental setting
Benegal, S., & Scruggs, L. A. (2018) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-018-2192-4 · Cited by 255
The Greta Thunberg Effect: Familiarity with Greta Thunberg predicts intentions to engage in climate activism in the United States
Sabherwal, A. C., Ballew, M. T., van der Linden, S., Gustafson, A., Goldberg, M. H., Maibach, E. W., Kotcher, J., Swim, J. K., Rosenthal, S. A., & Leiserowitz, A. (2021) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/jasp.12737 · Cited by 240
Self-citation
Improving Climate Change Acceptance Among U.S. Conservatives Through Value-Based Message Targeting
Dixon, G., Hmielowski, J., & Ma, Y. (2017) · Science Communication · doi:10.1177/1075547017715473 · Cited by 222
How Hope and Doubt Affect Climate Change Mobilization
Marlon, J. R., Bloodhart, B., Ballew, M. T., Rolfe-Redding, J., Roser-Renouf, C., Leiserowitz, A., & Maibach, E. (2019) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2019.00020 · Cited by 232
Self-citation
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Online Propaganda
Guess, A. M., & Lyons, B. A. (2020) · Social Media and Democracy · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.003 · Cited by 284
Public opinion about climate policies: A review and call for more studies of what people want
Fairbrother, M. (2022) · PLOS Climate · doi:10.1371/journal.pclm.0000030 · Cited by 207
Climate Change Conspiracy Theories
Uscinski, J. E., Douglas, K. M., & Lewandowsky, S. (2016) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.328 · Cited by 205
Do partisanship and politicization undermine the impact of a scientific consensus message about climate change?
Bolsen, T., & Druckman, J. N. (2018) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/1368430217737855 · Cited by 228
Psychological Reactance From Reading Basic Facts on Climate Change: The Role of Prior Views and Political Identification
Ma, Y., Dixon, G., & Hmielowski, J. D. (2018) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2018.1548369 · Cited by 199
Creating News Literacy Messages to Enhance Expert Corrections of Misinformation on Twitter
Vraga, E. K., Bode, L., & Tully, M. (2020) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/0093650219898094 · Cited by 175
Source, Distribution and Emerging Threat of Micro-and Nanoplastics to marine Organism and Human Health: Socio-Economic Impact and Management Strategies
Mofijur, M., Ahmed, S. F., Rahman, S. M. A., Arafat Siddiki, S. Y., Islam, A. B. M. S., Shahabuddin, M., Ong, H. C., Mahlia, T. M. I., Djavanroodi, F., & Show, P. L. (2021) · Environmental Research · doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.110857 · Cited by 172
Psychological Barriers to Energy Conservation Behavior: The Role of Worldviews and Climate Change Risk Perception
Lacroix, K., & Gifford, R. (2017) · Environment and Behavior · doi:10.1177/0013916517715296 · Cited by 180
Combatting climate change misinformation: Evidence for longevity of inoculation and consensus messaging effects
Maertens, R., Anseel, F., & van der Linden, S. (2020) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101455 · Cited by 185
How social norms are often a barrier to addressing climate change but can be part of the solution
Sparkman, G., Howe, L. C., & Walton, G. (2020) · Behavioural Public Policy · doi:10.1017/bpp.2020.42 · Cited by 169
Highlighting consensus among medical scientists increases public support for vaccines: evidence from a randomized experiment
van der Linden, S., Clarke, C. E., & Maibach, E. W. (2015) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2541-4 · Cited by 163
Self-citation
Does socioeconomic status moderate the political divide on climate change? The roles of education, income, and individualism
Ballew, M. T., Pearson, A. R., Goldberg, M. H., Rosenthal, S. A., & Leiserowitz, A. (2019) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.102024 · Cited by 176
Self-citation
Science skepticism in times of COVID-19
Rutjens, B. T., van der Linden, S., & van der Lee, R. (2021) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/1368430220981415 · Cited by 171
Green on the outside, red on the inside: Perceived environmentalist threat as a factor explaining political polarization of climate change
Hoffarth, M. R., & Hodson, G. (2015) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.11.002 · Cited by 172
Bad Beliefs
Levy, N. L. (2021) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780192895325.001.0001 · Cited by 173
The Effects of Uncertainty Frames in Three Science Communication Topics
Gustafson, A., & Rice, R. E. (2019) · Science Communication · doi:10.1177/1075547019870811 · Cited by 151
Preference Change in Competitive Political Environments
Druckman, J. N., & Lupia, A. (2015) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-020614-095051 · Cited by 163
The ‘Alice in Wonderland’ mechanics of the rejection of (climate) science: simulating coherence by conspiracism
Lewandowsky, S., Cook, J., & Lloyd, E. (2018) · Synthese · doi:10.1007/s11229-016-1198-6 · Cited by 151
The Effect of Information Provision on Public Consensus about Climate Change
Deryugina, T., & Shurchkov, O. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0151469 · Cited by 150
Why hate carbon taxes? Machine learning evidence on the roles of personal responsibility, trust, revenue recycling, and other factors across 23 European countries
Levi, S. (2021) · Energy Research & Social Science · doi:10.1016/j.erss.2020.101883 · Cited by 172
Climate visuals: A mixed methods investigation of public perceptions of climate images in three countries
Chapman, D. A., Corner, A., Webster, R., & Markowitz, E. M. (2016) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.10.003 · Cited by 165
Due deference to denialism: explaining ordinary people’s rejection of established scientific findings
Levy, N. L. (2017) · Synthese · doi:10.1007/s11229-017-1477-x · Cited by 162
Influencing climate change attitudes in the United States: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Rode, J. B., Dent, A. L., Benedict, C. N., Brosnahan, D., Martinez, R. L., & Ditto, P. H. (2021) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101623 · Cited by 164
It’s not my consensus: Motivated reasoning and the sources of scientific illiteracy
Josh Pasek, B. (2017) · Public Understanding of Science · doi:10.1177/0963662517733681 · Cited by 141
Political Orientation Moderates the Relationship Between Climate Change Beliefs and Worry About Climate Change
Gregersen, T., Doran, R., Böhm, G., Tvinnereim, E. M., & Poortinga, W. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01573 · Cited by 157
Motivated reasoning and climate change
Bayes, R., & Druckman, J. N. (2021) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.009 · Cited by 151
Perceived Social Consensus Can Reduce Ideological Biases on Climate Change
Goldberg, M. H., van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A., & Maibach, E. W. (2019) · Environment and Behavior · doi:10.1177/0013916519853302 · Cited by 148
Self-citation
Communicating the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of government policies and their impact on public support: a systematic review with meta-analysis
Reynolds, J., Stautz, K., Pilling, M., van der Linden, S., & Marteau, T. (2020) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.190522 · Cited by 109
Facts and Where to Find Them: Empirical Research on Internet Platforms and Content Moderation
Keller, D., & Leerssen, P. (2020) · Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) · doi:10.1017/9781108890960
Science by social media: Attitudes towards climate change are mediated by perceived social consensus
Lewandowsky, S., Cook, J., Fay, N., & Gignac, G. E. (2019) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-019-00948-y · Cited by 134
The Gateway Belief Model (GBM): A review and research agenda for communicating the scientific consensus on climate change
van der Linden, S. (2021) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.01.005 · Cited by 137
Consensus revisited: quantifying scientific agreement on climate change and climate expertise among Earth scientists 10 years later
Myers, K. F., Doran, P. T., Cook, J., Kotcher, J., & Myers, T. A. (2021) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac2774 · Cited by 160
Online Hate Speech
Siegel, A. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.005 · Cited by 123
The Experience of Consensus: Video as an Effective Medium to Communicate Scientific Agreement on Climate Change
Goldberg, M. H., van der Linden, S., Ballew, M. T., Rosenthal, S. A., Gustafson, A., & Leiserowitz, A. (2019) · Science Communication · doi:10.1177/1075547019874361 · Cited by 130
Self-citation
Systems thinking and environmental concern
Lezak, S., & Thibodeau, P. H. (2016) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2016.04.005 · Cited by 122
A Research Agenda for Climate Change Communication and Public Opinion: The Role of Scientific Consensus Messaging and Beyond
Bayes, R., Bolsen, T., & Druckman, J. N. (2020) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2020.1805343 · Cited by 126
Detecting local environmental change: the role of experience in shaping risk judgments about global warming
Marlon, J. R., van der Linden, S., Howe, P. D., Leiserowitz, A., Woo, S. H. L., & Broad, K. (2018) · Journal of Risk Research · doi:10.1080/13669877.2018.1430051 · Cited by 114
Self-citation
Understanding and Countering Misinformation About Climate Change
Cook, J. (2019) · Advances in media, entertainment and the arts (AMEA) book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-8535-0.ch016 · Cited by 108
Great expectations: Public opinion about energy transition
Thomas, M., DeCillia, B., Santos, J. B., & Thorlakson, L. (2022) · Energy Policy · doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2022.112777 · Cited by 112
Communicating doctors’ consensus persistently increases COVID-19 vaccinations
Bartoš, V., Bauer, M., Cahlíková, J., & Chytilová, J. (2022) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04805-y · Cited by 106
Simple Messages Help Set the Record Straight about Scientific Agreement on Human-Caused Climate Change: The Results of Two Experiments
Myers, T. A., Maibach, E., Peters, E., & Leiserowitz, A. (2015) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0120985 · Cited by 102
Self-citation
Teaching climate change in middle schools and high schools: investigating STEM education’s deficit model
Plutzer, E., & Hannah, A. (2018) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-018-2253-8 · Cited by 69
Not Just Funny After All: Sarcasm as a Catalyst for Public Engagement With Climate Change
Anderson, A. A., & Becker, A. B. (2018) · Science Communication · doi:10.1177/1075547018786560 · Cited by 98
Shifts in tourists’ sentiments and climate risk perceptions following mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef
Curnock, M., Marshall, N., Thiault, L., Heron, S. F., Hoey, J., Williams, G., Taylor, B., PERT, P. L., & Goldberg, J. (2019) · Nature Climate Change · doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0504-y · Cited by 100
Leveraging Social Science to Generate Lasting Engagement with Climate Change Solutions
Goldberg, M. H., Gustafson, A., & van der Linden, S. (2020) · One Earth · doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2020.08.011 · Cited by 108
“A Statistically Representative Climate Change Debate”: Satirical Television News, Scientific Consensus, and Public Perceptions of Global Warming
Brewer, P. R., & McKnight, J. (2017) · Atlantic Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/15456870.2017.1324453 · Cited by 96
Perceived Collective Efficacy and Trust in Government Influence Public Engagement with Climate Change-Related Water Conservation Policies
Thaker, J. J., Howe, P. D., Leiserowitz, A., & Maibach, E. W. (2018) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2018.1438302 · Cited by 95
Self-citation
Are Experts (News)Worthy? Balance, Conflict, and Mass Media Coverage of Expert Consensus
Merkley, E. (2020) · Political Communication · doi:10.1080/10584609.2020.1713269 · Cited by 94
In consensus we trust? Persuasive effects of scientific consensus communication
Chinn, S., Lane, D. S., & Hart, P. S. (2018) · Public Understanding of Science · doi:10.1177/0963662518791094 · Cited by 98
The differential impact of climate interventions along the political divide in 60 countries
Berkebile-Weinberg, M., Goldwert, D., Doell, K. C., Bavel, J. J. V., & Vlasceanu, M. (2024) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48112-8 · Cited by 107
Changes in perceived scientific consensus shift beliefs about climate change and GM food safety
Kerr, J. R., & Wilson, M. (2018) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0200295 · Cited by 95
Sealing the gateways for post-truthism: Reestablishing the epistemic authority of science
Kienhues, D., Jucks, R., & Bromme, R. (2020) · Educational Psychologist · doi:10.1080/00461520.2020.1784012 · Cited by 98
The role of race and ethnicity in climate change polarization: evidence from a U.S. national survey experiment
Schuldt, J. P., & Pearson, A. R. (2016) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-016-1631-3 · Cited by 88
Experimental effects of climate messages vary geographically
Zhang, B., van der Linden, S., Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J. R., Howe, P. D., & Leiserowitz, A. (2018) · Nature Climate Change · doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0122-0 · Cited by 87
Self-citation
Unravelling the Scientific Debate on How to Address Wolf-Dog Hybridization in Europe
Donfrancesco, V., Ciucci, P., Salvatori, V., Benson, D., Andersen, L. W., Bassi, E., Blanco, J. C., Boitani, L., Caniglia, R., Canu, A., et al. (2019) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00175 · Cited by 93
How will Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions change by 2050? A disaggregated analysis of past and future greenhouse gas emissions using bottom-up energy modelling and Sankey diagrams
Davis, M., Ahiduzzaman, M., & Kumar, A. (2018) · Applied Energy · doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.03.064 · Cited by 86
Exploring a theoretical model of climate change action for youth
Busch, K. C., Ardoin, N. M., Grühn, D., & Stevenson, K. T. (2019) · International Journal of Science Education · doi:10.1080/09500693.2019.1680903 · Cited by 104
The legitimacy of environmental scientists in the public sphere
Gauchat, G., O’Brien, T. L., & Mirosa, O. (2017) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-017-2015-z · Cited by 85
Relationships between climate change perceptions and climate adaptation actions: policy support, information seeking, and behaviour
van Valkengoed, A. M., Perlaviciute, G., & Steg, L. (2022) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-022-03338-7 · Cited by 102
Micro(nano)plastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystem: emphasis on impacts of polystyrene on soil biota, plants, animals, and humans
Ullah, R., Tsui, M. T., Chow, A. T.-S., Chen, H., Williams, C. F., & Ligaba‐Osena, A. (2022) · Environmental Monitoring and Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10661-022-10769-3 · Cited by 85
Correcting Misperceptions About Genetically Modified Food on Social Media: Examining the Impact of Experts, Social Media Heuristics, and the Gateway Belief Model
Bode, L., Vraga, E. K., & Tully, M. (2020) · Science Communication · doi:10.1177/1075547020981375 · Cited by 86
A Conceptual Critique of the Cultural Cognition Thesis
van der Linden, S. (2015) · Science Communication · doi:10.1177/1075547015614970 · Cited by 82
Six minutes to promote change: People, not facts, alter students' perceptions on climate change
Sauer, K. A., Capps, D. K., Jackson, D. F., & Capps, K. A. (2021) · Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1002/ece3.7553 · Cited by 81
How you talk about climate change matters: A communication network perspective on epistemic skepticism and belief strength
Leombruni, L. (2015) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.08.006 · Cited by 81
Understanding and countering climate science denial
Cook, J. (2017) · Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales · doi:10.5962/p.361798 · Cited by 79
Relationship‐building between climate scientists and publics as an alternative to information transfer
Cook, B. R., & Overpeck, J. T. (2018) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change · doi:10.1002/wcc.570 · Cited by 86
Applying the Gateway Belief Model to Genetically Modified Food Perceptions: New Insights and Additional Questions
Dixon, G. (2016) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/jcom.12260 · Cited by 82
Would it be better to not talk about climate change? The impact of climate change and air pollution frames on support for regulating power plant emissions
Hart, P. S., & Feldman, L. (2018) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.08.013 · Cited by 81
Motivation and climate change: A review
Brick, C., Bosshard, A., & Whitmarsh, L. (2021) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.04.001 · Cited by 76

Authors: van der Linden, S. L., Leiserowitz, A. A., Feinberg, G. D., & Maibach, E. W.
Affiliations: Yale University (US)
George Mason University (US)
ORCID: Leiserowitz, Anthony A.
Maibach, Edward W.
Venue: PLOS ONE
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published: 2015-02-25
Volume: 10
Issue: 2
Pages: e0118489
ISSN: 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118489
PMC: PMC4340922
OpenAlex: W2139841269
Cited by: 661
References: 28
Citations by year: 2026: 53 · 2025: 50 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 88 · 2021: 76 · 2020: 78 · 2019: 65 · 2018: 57 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 37 · 2015: 17
FWCI: 168.59
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: gold
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor)
Locations: PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders: American Association for the Advancement of Science
Rockefeller Family Fund
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Risk Perception and Management
Keywords: scientific consensus, climate change beliefs, public perception of science, anthropogenic climate change, climate policy support
MeSH terms: Humans, Models, Theoretical, Consensus, Climate Change

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change as a Gateway Belief: Experimental Evidence

Abstract

Overview

Integrity signals

Verification

Claims the paper makes

Claims other papers make about this one

Self-check

Citations

Cites

Cited by

Related

Metadata

Record

About these checks