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Research on conspiracy theories and climate change is emerging. Existing studies came from a range of scholarly disciplines, asked different research questions, and used various research methods. Given the heterogeneity in these studies, there is a pressing need to synthesize the current state of knowledge on the topic and identify the priority directions for further research. We address this need with a preregistered systematic review. Our review covered 43 studies from 38 articles. We organized our review of these studies by the following methodological categories: survey studies, experiments, interview studies, media studies, ethnographic studies, and mathematically modelling. For each category, we offered a summary of evidence, highlighted the key insights, and identify knowledge gaps. We concluded with a proposed integrative framework for research on the topic. As conspiracy theories can be an obstacle to climate change mitigation and adaptation, the present review would provide invaluable insights for not only scientists but also climate-related practitioners (e.g., environmental organizations, educators) and decision makers (e.g., policymakers) to consider. © 2023 The Authors

Climate change anxiety is becoming recognized as a way in which climate change affects mental health. It is not only observed in populations that suffer the most from the direct impacts of climate change but also can be trigged by the mere thought and perception about such impacts. Although climate change is a global problem that is a cause for concern around the world, research on climate anxiety has only recently utilized validated measures, and it has mostly been conducted in Western and developed societies. In response to this research gap, we conducted a cross-national study of climate change anxiety using the Climate Change Anxiety Scale, with participants (N = 4000) from four of the top emitters in the world (China, India, Japan, and the U.S.) which vary in their climate change vulnerabilities and resilience. We demonstrated that the widely adopted measure of climate change anxiety exhibited configural and metric invariance in the four countries. Climate change anxiety was apparently higher in the Chinese and Indian populations than in the Japanese and American populations. There were some demographic correlates of climate change anxiety, but the pattern was not always consistent across the countries. Climate change anxiety was positively associated with engagement in climate action in all four countries, but apparently more so for sustainable diet and climate activism than resource conservation and support for climate policy. The effect was driven more robustly by the cognitive-emotional impairment dimension than the functional impairment dimension of climate change anxiety. Taken together, these observations suggest that the Climate Change Anxiety Scale can be used to assess climate change anxiety across countries, and that there are both similarities and variations across different societal contexts with respect to the experience of climate change anxiety. Future research must take these complexities into consideration.

Transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy sources is indispensable to the achievement of carbon-neutral targets in climate change mitigation. Such transition not only requires policy changes and technological advances but also hinges on individuals' actions and support. Accordingly, there is a pressing need to engage the public in renewable energy transition. In this pre-registered study, we examined the effects of perceived descriptive norms and injunctive norms on people's support for renewable energy transition among 31 European countries. Importantly, we compared how the strength of such effects varied between the countries with different cultures and levels of environmental risks. With data from the ECHOES international survey, we found that the two perceived social norms were positively related to support for renewable energy transition, and these positive associations were stronger among countries with higher levels of individualism and cultural tightness, or lower levels of air pollution and vulnerability to climate change risks. Overall, although these observations are contrary to our hypotheses developed based on the cross-cultural psychology literature, they speak of the imperative for researchers and practitioners to acknowledge that the behavioral influence of social norms in the energy domain is sensitive to contextual factors. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Despite the global scale of climate change, research comparing people’s behavioural expression of their concern for the problem across societies is lacking. The present investigation adopts a person-context interaction approach to provide such a comparison and demonstrates the influences of societal-level factors. We propose that some sociocultural contexts tend to be more agentic, allowing people to express their internal attributes, including climate change concern, whereas some contexts tend to be more restrictive, hindering people from doing so. With two international datasets, we observed that the association between climate change concern and mitigation behaviour was stronger among societies with higher levels of self-expression affordance (indicated by lower levels of disease threat and higher levels of governance quality, economic development, and individualism). These results indicate the importance of considering not only individual-level determinants but also societal-level factors in the study of people’s behavioural response to climate change. They also offer insights into how environmental practitioners and decision makers can promote mitigation behaviour.

Despite the global scale of climate change, research comparing people’s behavioural expression of their concern for the problem across societies is lacking. The present investigation adopts a person-context interaction approach to provide such a comparison and demonstrates the influences of societal-level factors. We propose that some sociocultural contexts tend to be more agentic, allowing people to express their internal attributes, including climate change concern, whereas some contexts tend to be more restrictive, hindering people from doing so. With two international datasets, we observed that the association between climate change concern and mitigation behaviour was stronger among societies with higher levels of self-expression affordance (indicated by lower levels of disease threat and higher levels of governance quality, economic development, and individualism). These results indicate the importance of considering not only individual-level determinants but also societal-level factors in the study of people’s behavioural response to climate change. They also offer insights into how environmental practitioners and decision makers can promote mitigation behaviour.

Earth Hour is a globally celebrated environmental campaign that is aimed at converting bystanders into active participants in the combat against climate change. Although it has become a global movement, to date, few studies have investigated the motivations behind people’s participation in Earth Hour. The present study fills this gap by examining Earth Hour participation through the integration of the identity perspective and the theory of planned behavior (TPB). We argue that environmental self-identity and humanity identity motivate people to participate in Earth Hour via the pathways identified in the TPB. We tested our model by conducting a survey in Hong Kong (N = 239). Results from a series of mediation analysis revealed that Earth Hour–specific attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and moral norm were positively associated with behavioral intention, which in turn predicted actual participation. Further, we found that environmental self-identity and humanity identity were positively associated with attitude and moral norm, which in turn predicted behavioral intention. These results demonstrate the viability of integrating the identity perspective and the TPB to understand people’s performance of specific pro-environmental behavior, including participation in collective action that aims to convert unconcerned individuals into active participants in environmental endeavors (i.e., conversionary collective action), such as Earth Hour. This integrated model can tell researchers and environmental practitioners not only which behavior-specific factors determine people’s behavior but also how these behavior-specific factors arise in the first place. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.

Research has suggested that values favoring the interest of the collective over that of the individual promote pro-environmental behaviors. However, it is also well-documented that people do not always act according to their values; the strength of the association between values and behaviors depends on sociocultural contexts. The present investigation examines under what sociocultural contexts the association between self-transcendence values/self-enhancement values and pro-environmental behaviors would be stronger or weaker. In contexts with a stronger emphasis on self-expression, individuals should be more ready to base their behavioral decisions on personal values. In contexts that restrict self-expression, individuals should be less likely to do so. Accordingly, I posit that the strength of association between values and pro-environmental behaviors depends on how much the societal contexts encourage self-expression. With two international data sets (World Values Survey 5 and 6), I found supporting evidence to this hypothesized account. Findings from multilevel analyses revealed that the self-transcendence values/self-enhancement-pro-environmental behaviors association was weaker among societies with higher levels of cultural and socio-ecological restrictiveness (e.g., lower self-expression values and economic development). These findings not only elucidate when values would promote or deter pro-environmental behaviors but also highlight the need to consider a person-context interaction in understanding how personal factors are translated into pro-environmental behaviors. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Research has suggested that values favoring the interest of the collective over that of the individual promote pro-environmental behaviors. However, it is also well-documented that people do not always act according to their values; the strength of the association between values and behaviors depends on sociocultural contexts. The present investigation examines under what sociocultural contexts the association between self-transcendence values/self-enhancement values and pro-environmental behaviors would be stronger or weaker. In contexts with a stronger emphasis on self-expression, individuals should be more ready to base their behavioral decisions on personal values. In contexts that restrict self-expression, individuals should be less likely to do so. Accordingly, I posit that the strength of association between values and pro-environmental behaviors depends on how much the societal contexts encourage self-expression. With two international data sets (World Values Survey 5 and 6), I found supporting evidence to this hypothesized account. Findings from multilevel analyses revealed that the self-transcendence values/self-enhancement-pro-environmental behaviors association was weaker among societies with higher levels of cultural and socio-ecological restrictiveness (e.g., lower self-expression values and economic development). These findings not only elucidate when values would promote or deter pro-environmental behaviors but also highlight the need to consider a person-context interaction in understanding how personal factors are translated into pro-environmental behaviors. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Although it is widely accepted that women are more pro-environmental than men, findings regarding gender differences in environmental concern have actually been mixed. In this study, we attempt to reconcile these mixed findings by considering the influence of sociocultural contexts. Specifically, we propose that some sociocultural contexts tend to hinder the psychological process that underlies gender differences in environmental concern. We tested this sociocultural hindrance hypothesis with an international survey data set (International Social Survey Programme) that involved respondents from 32 countries. We found that gender differences in environmental concern were smaller in societies with higher levels of gender inequality, economic scarcity, power distance, and collectivism. These results highlight the need to examine both the “why” and “when” questions for gender differences in environmental concern. They also indicate the importance of considering not only individual-level variables but also societal-level factors in the study of environmental concern.

In the literature, researchers often assume that climate change belief has the direct potential to promote people’s behavioral intention and actual engagement in mitigation behavior. However, empirical evidence casts doubt on this assumption, as climate change belief sometimes fails to influence behavioral intention. The gap between climate change belief and behavioral intention represents a significant obstacle to climate change mitigation. This dissertation addresses this belief-intention gap by using the goal perspective. Specifically, I propose that mitigation behavior is a set of means choices for individuals to achieve the goal of mitigating climate change. When they consider this goal to be important (i.e., goal importance), they develop an intention to engage in a set of goal-directed behaviors (i.e., mitigation behavior). Accordingly, the relationship between climate change belief and behavioral intention can be regarded as a goal attainment process, which can be broken down into the goal adoption process and the means selection process. I propose that a gap may arise when (1) climate change belief does not promote the adoption of climate change mitigation goals and (2) individuals do not prefer certain kinds of mitigation behavior in pursuing this goal. With data from three sets of empirical studies, I present evidence to support these two accounts. Study 1 confirmed the mediating mechanism of goal importance in explaining the relationship between climate change belief and behavioral intention. Study 2 demonstrated that experience of goal conflict and lack of faith in climate change mitigation hindered the association between climate change belief and goal importance, in turn widening the belief-intention gap. Finally, Study 3 indicated that behavioral intention varied across both types of behavior and individuals; individuals preferred instrumental and normative behavioral choices when they considered the goal to be highly important and had a strong need

Infectious diseases in a region create threats to personal safety and lead to restrictive social institution to protect the survival of the members in the region. Such institution reinforces norms and limits value expression. As a result, behaviors tend to have less variation within the region regardless of the social group to which one belongs. This framework could be applied to understanding cross-national gender differences in pro-environmental behavior. We proposed that the presence of disease stress in a country leads to a smaller gender difference in performing private pro-environmental behavior. With two international survey datasets (ISSP, 2010 and Voice of the People, 2007), we found the expected pattern where the gender difference is smaller in countries that face a higher level of disease stress. We suggest that ecological environment and contextual stresses should be considered as a source of influence in intergroup differences on various issues.

While it has been documented that women in general exhibit stronger environmental concern than do men, little is known if the magnitude of this gender difference varies across societies. We hypothesize that there is such a cross-national variation for two reasons: (i) socio-cultural contexts can create or remove hurdles for men and women to pursue what they value, and thereby narrow or broaden gender differences; (ii) gender differences are more pronounced when individuals focus on intergroup (vs. intragroup) comparison, and this focus varies across societies. Using two international survey data sets (ISSP, 2010 and WVS, 2005), we found that, as hypothesized, the gender difference in environmental concern is larger in societies with higher levels of gender equality and lower levels of power distance. Our findings suggest the need to move beyond individual-level analysis in explaining gender difference in environmentalism and to consider the socio-cultural context when crafting environmental messages.

The parent-child value similarity is typically far from perfect. In this research, we propose that this phenomenon is attributable to the very first step in value socialization-parents' selection of socialization values. The premise of this account is that parents consider not only values they personally endorse but also values they perceive to be normative in relevant societies when socializing children. Accordingly, parent-child similarity is not a necessary outcome of value socialization. We found supporting evidence to this account in a study of 94 immigrant mother-child dyads in Hong Kong. Our mother participants indeed referred to both their perceived value norms in the settlement society and the original society and their personal values when selecting socialization values. Also, the dual perceived value norms were to some extent internalized by their children. Furthermore, our mother participants' degree of reference to value norms benefited their children's psychosocial functioning. Specifically, participants who referred to the value norms in the settlement society to a larger extent had children with fewer adaptation difficulties, and participants who referred to the value norms in the original society had children with stronger identification with that society. Altogether, our findings indicate that investigating how parents select socialization values can illuminate our understanding of parent-child value similarity. Implications of these findings for the theoretical understanding of value socialization and children's functioning are discussed.