Increased climate change skepticism among farmers? The roles of motivated cognition and social identity processes

Abstract

Landwehr and colleagues (2023) surveyed climate change perceptions in Bavaria, focusing on the influence of socio-demographic and local environmental factors. They found that farmers exhibited higher climate change skepticism than other societal actor groups. In our attempt to explain these findings, we attribute climate change skepticism among farmers to motivated cognitions and social identity processes. Farmers may be motivated to deny climate change due to cognitive dissonance arising from perceptions of being especially affected. Consequently, a climate change skeptical group norm may have developed among farmers, shaping the attitudes and behaviors of individual group members, which is potentially intensified by perceived intergroup contrasts in political conflicts. We propose that climate-skeptical attitudes are context-dependent and can be changed through inducing intrapersonal conflicts or social identity-based interventions. Understanding farmers’ group dynamics, motivated cognitions, and efficacy beliefs is crucial for effective climate change communication and policy implementation, in order to counter skepticism and promote pro-environmental action.