Human responses to climate change: social representation, identity and socio-psychological action
Climate change is one of the most important global challenges in the twenty-first century, given that a changing climate is likely to have negative and potentially irreversible consequences for the environment and human beings. Drawing upon Social Representations Theory (SRT) and Identity Process Th...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis
2014
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3382/ |
| _version_ | 1848791026197594112 |
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| author | Jaspal, Rusi Nerlich, Brigitte Cinirella, Marco |
| author_facet | Jaspal, Rusi Nerlich, Brigitte Cinirella, Marco |
| author_sort | Jaspal, Rusi |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Climate change is one of the most important global challenges in the twenty-first century, given that a changing climate is likely to have negative and potentially irreversible consequences for the environment and human beings. Drawing upon Social Representations Theory (SRT) and Identity Process Theory (IPT) from social psychology, we argue that research should focus upon, and successfully integrate, three levels of analysis, namely (1) how climate change knowledge is constructed and circulates (social representation); (2) the role of identity in relation to these representations (identity); and (3) how people might respond to them (action). It is suggested that identity processes may determine how people process social representations of climate change, and that they mediate the link between representations and environmental behavior. Understanding human responses to climate change necessitates an integrative social sciences perspective, in terms of disciplinary, theoretical, and methodological approaches. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:21:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-3382 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:21:58Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-33822020-05-04T20:16:55Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3382/ Human responses to climate change: social representation, identity and socio-psychological action Jaspal, Rusi Nerlich, Brigitte Cinirella, Marco Climate change is one of the most important global challenges in the twenty-first century, given that a changing climate is likely to have negative and potentially irreversible consequences for the environment and human beings. Drawing upon Social Representations Theory (SRT) and Identity Process Theory (IPT) from social psychology, we argue that research should focus upon, and successfully integrate, three levels of analysis, namely (1) how climate change knowledge is constructed and circulates (social representation); (2) the role of identity in relation to these representations (identity); and (3) how people might respond to them (action). It is suggested that identity processes may determine how people process social representations of climate change, and that they mediate the link between representations and environmental behavior. Understanding human responses to climate change necessitates an integrative social sciences perspective, in terms of disciplinary, theoretical, and methodological approaches. Taylor & Francis 2014 Article PeerReviewed Jaspal, Rusi, Nerlich, Brigitte and Cinirella, Marco (2014) Human responses to climate change: social representation, identity and socio-psychological action. Environmental Communication, 8 (1). pp. 110-130. ISSN 1752-4032 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2013.846270 doi:10.1080/17524032.2013.846270 doi:10.1080/17524032.2013.846270 |
| spellingShingle | Jaspal, Rusi Nerlich, Brigitte Cinirella, Marco Human responses to climate change: social representation, identity and socio-psychological action |
| title | Human responses to climate change: social representation, identity and socio-psychological action |
| title_full | Human responses to climate change: social representation, identity and socio-psychological action |
| title_fullStr | Human responses to climate change: social representation, identity and socio-psychological action |
| title_full_unstemmed | Human responses to climate change: social representation, identity and socio-psychological action |
| title_short | Human responses to climate change: social representation, identity and socio-psychological action |
| title_sort | human responses to climate change: social representation, identity and socio-psychological action |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3382/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3382/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3382/ |