The moral side of the climate crisis: the effect of moral conviction on learning about climate change

ABSTRACT

Objective

Moral convictions have been shown to impact learning about science topics including evolution and COVID-19. However, how moral convictions influence learning about climate change – another science topic perceived as controversial – has not been studied in depth. The goal of our research was to investigate the predictive relationship between moral convictions, engagement, plausibility, emotions, and knowledge when learning about climate change.

Method

Undergraduate pre-service teacher students (N = 348) rated their moral convictions about climate change and read a refutation text on the topic.

Results

The majority of students indicated that acting to mitigate climate change was a moral imperative (n = 268) compared with those without a position (n = 80). Results indicate that whether an individual perceives acting on climate change as morally imperative is a powerful precursor to their learning experience. Moreover, those who developed a stronger moral conviction indicated deeper learning, engagement, and stronger negative emotions. Finally, stronger moral convictions, emotions, knowledge, and engagement all predicted seeing the scientific model of climate change as more plausible.

Conclusion

Taken together, our results have implications for how moral convictions may influence how educators should engage students and the general public about the topic of climate change.

KEY POINTS

What is already known about this topic:

(1) Research has shown that moral convictions can influence learning, engagement, emotions and plausibility.

(2) There is contradicting research on whether moral convictions improve or hinder the learning process.

(3) There is a lack of research on moral convictions and learning about climate change.

What this topic adds:

(1) Most participants reported that acting to mitigate human induced climate change was morally imperative.

(2) An increase in moral convictions was associated with an increase in learning, engagement, and negative emotions.

(3) Stronger moral convictions, learning, emotions, and engagement predicted perceiving the scientific model of climate change as more plausible.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• learning
• emotions
• plausibility
• engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, BH, upon reasonable request.