University of Twente Student Theses
"Never Too Early, Always Too Late" : An Experimental Study Exploring the Effects of Hopeful and Fearful Social Media Climate Change Content Doomscrolling on Sustainable Behavior
Perhat, Maja (2024) "Never Too Early, Always Too Late" : An Experimental Study Exploring the Effects of Hopeful and Fearful Social Media Climate Change Content Doomscrolling on Sustainable Behavior.
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| Abstract: | Objective: This study aimed to investigate how doomscrolling through climate change social media content evoking hope and fear affects attention, engagement, sustainable intentions, and behaviors. By doing so, the study aimed to offer insights into the strategic utilization of emotional appeals in climate change communication. Method: A 2x2 between-subjects experimental design was employed, encompassing four conditions: hopeful, fearful, combined and a neutral. Participants' attention retention, social media engagement, sustainable intentions, and behaviors were measured and analyzed. Results: Attention was significantly higher when doomscrolling neutral content than combined content. Both hopeful and combined content elicited significantly higher engagement than fearful content, with hopeful content also outperforming neutral content. Hopeful content resulted in significantly higher sustainable intentions than neutral and fearful content. Conclusion: When doomscrolling, neutral educational content about climate is great for retaining attention. However, hopeful content, alone or combined with fear, proved to be the best driver of engagement and sustainable intentions. Recommendations: Advanced methodologies like eye-tracking should be used to gain deeper insights and increase sample sizes for more precise conclusions. Practical implications: Strategies should use educational content to capture attention to climate topics and use hope, alone or with fear, to increase engagement and sustainable intentions. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 05 communication studies |
| Programme: | Communication Studies BSc (56615) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/100514 |
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