Communicating Climate Change: The Power of Storytelling on Public Engagement A quantitative study on the impact of climate change storytelling on emotional response and support of mitigation policies and the mediating role of narrative transportation

Abstract

There is an existing gap between scientific consensus about anthropogenic climate change and public engagement. This climate paradox presents significant obstacles to effective climate change action and public support for ambitious climate policies. Traditional climate change communication approaches have failed to resolve this discrepancy. Storytelling has the potential to effectively communicate complex scientific information as it can enhance the acquisition and retention of information while fostering shifts in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors as well as engaging people emotionally. Paired sample t-tests was conducted on a sample of N=71 to measure the impact of the story and facts on emotional response and policy support of the participants. The analyses revealed statistically significant differences in emotional responses between the two conditions for all emotions (all p < .001). The analysis on policy support revealed a significant difference only on one item. Limitations and future directions are discussed.