Climate Anxiety and the Subjective Need for Punishment for Perceived Climate Damaging Behaviour
Abstract
“Climate anxiety,” a relatively recent phenomenon, refers to the challenges individuals face when confronting concerns stemming from climate change. People can tackle this anxiety by seeking to change either themselves or their environment. For instance, some may strive to adopt more eco-friendly behaviours in daily life, while others may express a desire to penalize those engaging in environmentally harmful actions. This article examines two key research questions: (1) What factors could explain eco-anxiety? and (2) Could eco-anxiety trigger a desire to punish? To investigate these questions, a study was conducted in Germany (n = 304). The results indicate that eco-anxiety is influenced by factors such as the prioritization of climate protection, sources of information, a need for closure, and pro-climate behaviour. The inclination to punish individuals for perceived environmentally damaging actions can be partially explained by climate anxiety, other emotions, and signs of authoritarian aggression. The findings are discussed considering existing limitations, and further research questions are proposed.
Downloads
-
Abstract85
-
PDF36
References
Altemeyer B (1981) Right-wing authoritarianism. Winnipeg, University of Manitoba Press
Beierlein C, Asbrock F, Kauff M & Schmidt P (2014) Die Kurzskala Autoritarismus
(KSA-3), https://www.gesis.org/fileadmin/kurzskalen/working_papers/KSA3_Working Papers_ 2014-35.pdf
BfR (2008) Risikowahrnehmung beim Thema Nanotechnologie – Analyse der Medienberichterstattung. BfR Wissenschaft, Berlin. https://web.archive.org/web/20180422075428id_/http://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/350/risikowahrnehmung_beim_thema_nanotechnologie.pdf
Boluda-Verdu I, Senent-Valero M, Casas-Escolano M et al. (2022) Fear for the future: Eco-anxiety and health implications, a systematic review. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 84, 101904.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101904
Brulle RJ, Carmichael J & Jenkins JC (2012) Shifting public opinion on climate change: An empirical assessment of factors influencing concern over climate change in the U.S., 2002–2010. Climatic Change, 114(2), 169-188
Chalmers J, Woodford L & Sutton RM (2024) Punishing Women for Miscarriage: The role of Political Orientation and Hostile Sexism. Sex Roles, 90(5), 613-627
Clayton S, Manning CM, Krygsman K et al. (2017) Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica. https://ecoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ea-apa-psych-report-web.pdf
Clayton S & Karazsia BT (2020) Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 69, doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101434
Clayton S (2020) Climate anxiety: Psychological responses to climate change. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 74, 102263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102263
Costello TH, Bowes SM, Stevens ST et al. (2022) Clarifying the Structure and Nature of Left-Wing Authoritarianism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1, 135-170, doi: 10.1037/pspp0000341
Dewitz I (2020, 3 September) Fleischkonsum und die katastrophalen Auswirkungen auf unser Klima. https://www.energie-klimaschutz.de/fleischkonsum-katastrophale-auswirkungen-klima/ [accessed 10/11/2023]
Drenkhahn K, Nickels J, Jobard F et al. (2020) Zum Stand der Punitivitätsforschung in Deutschland und darüber hinaus. In: KriPoz, 2, 104-107.
Duckitt J (2009). Punishment attitudes: Their social and psychological bases. Social psychology of punishment of crime, 75-92.
Faul F, Erdfelder E, Lang A-G et al. (2007) GPower 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2), 175-191. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193146
Fehr E & Gächter S (2000) Cooperation and Punishment in Public Goods Experiments. The American Economic Review, 90(4), 980–994. http://www.jstor.org/stable/117319
Feygina I, Jost JT, Goldsmith RE (2010) System justification, the denial of global warming, and the possibility of “system-sanctioned change.” Pers Soc Psychol Bull 36(3):326–338. https://doi.org/10. 1177/0146167209 351435
Fischer A, Halperin E, Canetti D et al. (2018) Why we hate. Emotion Review, 10(4), 309-320
Fisher SD, Kenny J, Poortinga W et al. (2022) The politicisation of climate change attitudes in Europe. Electoral Studies, 79, 102499
Galway LP, Beery T, Buse C et al. (2021) What Drives Climate Action in Canada’s Provincial North? Exploring the Role of Connectedness to Nature, Climate Worry, and Talking with Friends and Family. Climate, 9, 146. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli9100146
Gerber MM & Jackson J (2015) Authority and punishment: on the ideological basis of punitive attitudes towards criminals. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 1-28
Gloede F (1993) Umgang mit Unsicherheit und „Umweltangst“. In Aurand K, Hazard BP, Tretter F (eds) Umweltbelastungen und Ängste. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-94249-4_12
Greenpeace (2023, 15 December): Autos und Klimakrise. https://www.greenpeace.de/klimaschutz/mobilitaet/autos-klimakrise [accessed 12/28/2023]
Gupta GS & Tiwari S (2021) Past and present events of climate change: natural versus anthropogenic causes. Global Climate Change, 267-295
Hajek A & König HH (2022) Climate anxiety in Germany, Public Health, 212, 89-94, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2022.09.007
Hart PS & Feldman L (2016) Threat without efficacy? Climate change on U.S. network news. Science Communication, 38(2), 139-169
Hartnagel TF & Templeton LJ (2012) Emotions about crime and attitudes to punishment. Punishment & Society, 14 (4), 452-474
Heinz A & Meyer-Lindenberg A. (2023) Klimawandel und psychische Gesundheit. Positionspapier einer Task-Force der DGPPN. Nervenarzt, 94, 225–233
Heinzel S, Tschorn M, Schulte-Hutner M et al. (2023) Anxiety in response to the climate and environmental crises: validation of the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale in Germany. Front. Psychol. 14:1239425. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1239425
Hickman C, Marks E, Pihkala P. et al. (2021) Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey, The Lancet Planetary Health, 5, 12, e863-e873, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3
Höfling S & Tretter F (2012) Homo oecologicus. Hans-Seidel-Stiftung: München. https://www.hss.de/download/publications/121213_AMZ-82_Internetversion_04.pdf
Hogg TL, Stanley SK, O’Brien, LV et al. (2021) The Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale: Development and validation of a multidimensional scale. Global Environmental Change, 71(102391), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102391
Höijer B (2011) Social Representations Theory. A New Theory for Media Research. Nordicom Review, 32(2), 3-16
Hoyt CL, d’Almeida A, Forsyth RB et al. (2022) Mindsets of criminality: predicting punitive and rehabilitative attitudes. Psychology, Crime & Law, 30(9), 1087–1104. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2022.2154352
Huneke M (2022) Psychologie und Klimakrise, Berlin: Springer Essentials
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2001) Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/TAR-14.pdf
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPPC (2023) Climate Change 2023 Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, H. Lee and J. Romero (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 35-115, doi: 10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_LongerReport.pdf
Jankowski M, Kurella AS & Stecker C (2022) Die Positionen der Parteien zur Bundestagswahl 2021: Ergebnisse des Open Expert Surveys. Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 63, 53–72
Jylhä KM, Tam K & Milfont TL (2020) Acceptance of group-based dominance and climate change denial: a cross-cultural study in Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Sweden. Asian J Soc Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajsp.12444
John S (2021) Analyse der Bundestagswahl 2021. böll.brief Bundestagswahl 2021. https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/2021-10/BTW21_Analyse.pdf
Kielon K (2020) Die Top 5 der CO2-Verursacher Deutschlands nach Sektoren. Mdr Wissen. January 22, 2020. https://www.mdr.de/wissen/deutschland-top-fuenf-klima-emissionen-100.html [last accessed 06/05/2024]
Klein M (2023) Der Preis des Klimaalarmismus. Schweizer Monat 1111, November 2023
Kruglanski AW & Webster DM (1996) Motivated closing of the mind: ‘‘Seizing” and ‘‘Freezing”. Psychological Review, 103, 263–283
Künzli C & Alsaker FD (1999) „... man kann ja nicht einfach aussteigen“: Kinder und Jugendliche zwischen Umweltangst und Konsumlust. vdf Hochschulverlag AG.
Lau C (1989) Risikodiskurse: Gesellschaftliche Auseinandersetzungen um die Definition von Risiken. Soziale Welt, 418-436.
Leiserowitz AA (2006) Climate change risk perception and policy preferences: The role of affect, imagery, and values. Climatic Change, 77(1-2), 45-72
Lieven N (2023, 8 June) Umwelt und Fliegen: Wie klimafreundlich ist die Luftfahrt?, NDR, https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/info/Umwelt-und-Fliegen-Wie-klimafreundlich-ist-die-Luftfahrt,faqfliegen100.html [accessed 10/11/2023]
Manson JH (2020) Right-wing authoritarianism, left-wing authoritarianism, and pandemic-mitigation authoritarianism. Personality and individual differences, 167, 110251
Markl H (2008) Die politische Versuchung der Wissenschaften. Merkur: deutsche Zeitschrift für europäisches Denken, 62, 5 , 380
O’Brien RM (2007) A Caution Regarding Rules of Thumb for Variance Inflation Factors. Quality & Quantity, 41, 673–690. DOI 10.1007/s11135-006-9018-6
Olausson U (2009) Global warming—global responsibility? Media frames of collective action and scientific certainty. Public Understanding of Science, 18(4), 421-436
O'Neill S & Nicholson-Cole S (2009) “Fear Won’t Do It”: Promoting Positive Engagement With Climate Change Through Visual and Iconic Representations. Science Communication, 30(3), 355-379
Orr M, Stewart A & Grundstein A (2020) Investigating connections between need for cognitive closure and climate change concern in college students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(15), 5619
Orrù L & Mannarini S (2024) Psychological impact of climate change emergency: an attempt to define eco-anxiety. Front. Psychol. 15:1375803, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1375803
Osberghaus D, Achtnicht M, Bubeck, P et al. (2020) Klimawandel in Deutschland: Risikowahrnehmung und Anpassung in privaten Haushalten 2020. ZEW, https://ftp.zew.de/pub/zewdocs/gutachten/EvalMAPWerkstattbericht2020Klimawandel_in_Deutschland.pdf
Parmentier M-L, Weiss K, Aroua A et al. (2024) The influence of environmental crisis perception and trait anxiety on the level of eco-worry and climate anxiety, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 101, 102799, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2023.102799
Peter F, Dohm L & Krimmer M (2023) Psychische Konsequenzen der Klimakrise. Mehrfachbetroffenheit von Kindern und Jugendlichen angesichts sich verändernder Lebensbedingungen. In: Monatsschrift Kinderheilkunde, 171, 130–137
Pihkala P (2020a) Eco-anxiety and environmental education. Sustainability, 12, 23, 10149
Pihkala P (2020b) Anxiety and the ecological crisis: An analysis of eco-anxiety and Climate anxiety, Sustainability, 12, 7836.
Pratto F, Sidanius J, Stallworth LM et al. (1994) Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 4, 741-763.
Renn O (1984) Risikowahrnehmung der Kernenergie. Frankfurt/Main: Campus.
Renn O (1989) Risikowahrnehmung - Psychologische Determinanten bei der intuitiven Erfassung und Bewertung von technischen Risiken.
Reser JP & Bradley GL (2020) The nature, significance, and influence of perceived personal experience of climate change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 11(5), e668.
Roets A & Van Hiel A (2011) Item selection and validation of a brief, 15-item version of the Need for Closure Scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 1, 90-94, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.09.004
Rosenberger JS & Callanan VJ (2011) The Influence of Media on Penal Attitudes. Criminal Justice Review, 36 (4), 435 – 455
Ruff FM (1990) Ökologische Krise und Risikobewußtsein. Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag GmbH
Sangervo J, Jylhä KM & Pihkala P (2022) Climate anxiety: Conceptual considerations, and connections with climate hope and action, Global Environmental Change, 76, 102569,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102569.
Schwartz SEO, Benoit L, Clayton S et al. (2023) Climate change anxiety and mental health: Environmental activism as buffer. Curr Psychol 42, 16708–16721. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02735-6
Silver JR (2017) Moral foundations, intuitions of justice, and the intricacies of punitive sentiment. Law & Society Review, 51(2), 413-450
Slovic P, Fischhoff B & Lichtenstein S (1979) Rating the risks. Environment, 21(4), 14–20, 36–9.
Socia KM, Rydberg J & Dum CP (2021) Punitive attitudes toward individuals convicted of sex offenses: A vignette study. Justice quarterly, 38(6), 1262-1289
Spitzer M (2022) Corona-Depression, Eco-Angst, Stress, Resignation und Resilienz. Nervenheilkunde; 41, 8–18
Statista (2024) Energiebedingte CO₂-Emissionen pro Kopf weltweit nach ausgewählten Ländern im Jahr 2022. https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/167877/umfrage/co-emissionen-nach-laendern-je-einwohner/ [last access 11/20/2024]
Tagesschau (2023, 20 November) Reiche leben viel klimaschädlicher als arme Menschen. https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/energie/oxfam-klima-ungleichheit-100.html [accessed 02/12/2023]
Tretter F, Göd J & Löffler-Stastka H (2024) Klimawandel und psychische Gesundheit. Psychopraxis. Neuropraxis, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00739-024-00997-2
Tversky A & Kahneman D (1974) Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science. 185, 1124‒1131
Ullrich-Kleinmanns J, Jungaberle H, Weinhold J et al. (2008) Muster und Verlauf des Konsums psychoaktiver Substanzen im Jugendalter – Die Bedeutung von Kohärenzsinn und Risikowahrnehmung. Suchttherapie, 9, 12–21
Van der Linden S (2015) The social-psychological determinants of climate change risk perceptions: Towards a comprehensive model. Journal of environmental psychology, 41, 112-124.
Van Hiel A, Onraet E, Bostyn DH et al. (2020) A meta-analytic integration of research on the relationship between right-wing ideological attitudes and aggressive tendencies. European Review of Social Psychology, 31(1), 183-221
Van Valkengoed AM, Steg L & de Jonge P (2023) Climate Anxiety: A Research Agenda Inspired by Emotion Research. Emotion Review, 15(4), 258-262. https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739231193752
Verplanken B, Marks E & Dobromir AI (2020) On the nature of eco-anxiety: How constructive or unconstructive is habitual worry about global warming? J. Environ. Psychol. 72:101528. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101528
Wagner A (without date). Lechts oder rinks? Das Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht im Parteienwettbewerb, https://www.fes.de/politische-akademie/artikelseite/lechts-oder-rinks-das-buendnis-sahra-wagenknecht-im-parteienwettbewerb [accessed 10/22/2024]
Wagner M (1994) Fear of environmental hazards - a subjective view; Umweltangst - eine subjektive Betrachtung. Wissenschaft und Umwelt, ISU,1
Waid-Lindberg CA, Dobbs RR & Shelley TO (2011) Blame the Media? The Influence of Primary News Sources, Frequency of Usage, and Perceived Media Credibility on Punitive Attitudes. Western Criminology Review, 12 (3), 41-59
Weber K (2022, 16 November) Wie umweltschädlich ist das Internet?, ZDF, https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/panorama/internet-oekobilanz-klima-energie-100.html [accessed 10/11/2023]
Whitmarsh L, Player L, Jiongco A et al. (2022) Climate anxiety: What predicts it and how is it related to climate action?, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 83, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101866
Williams HT, McMurray JR, Kurz T et al. (2015) Network analysis reveals open forums and echo chambers in social media discussions of climate change. Global Environmental Change, 32, 126-138
Wullenkord MC, Tröger J, Hamann KRS et al. (2021) Anxiety and climate change: a validation of the Climate Anxiety Scale in a German-speaking quota sample and an investigation of psychological correlates. Climatic Change 168, 20, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03234-6
Copyright (c) 2025 Kerstin Wüstner
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Los autores que publican en esta revista están de acuerdo con los siguientes términos:
- Los autores conservan los derechos de autor y garantizan a la revista el derecho de ser la primera publicación del trabajo, con la obra disponible simultáneamente bajo una licencia Creative Commons Atribución-Compartir Igual 4.0 Internacional (CC BY-SA 4.0), que permite a otros copiar y redistribuir la obra en cualquier medio o formato, remezclar, transformar y construir a partir de la obra para cualquier propósito, incluso comercialmente, siempre que: a) se reconozca la autoría y publicación inicial en esta revista; b) se indiquen los cambios realizados; y c) si se transforma o crea a partir de la obra, se distribuya la contribución bajo la misma licencia CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Los autores pueden establecer por separado acuerdos adicionales para la distribución no exclusiva de la versión de la obra publicada en la revista (por ejemplo, situarlo en un repositorio institucional o publicarlo en un libro), con un reconocimiento de su publicación inicial en esta revista.
- Se permite y se anima a los autores a difundir sus trabajos electrónicamente (por ejemplo, en repositorios institucionales o en su propio sitio web) antes y durante el proceso de envío, ya que puede dar lugar a intercambios productivos, así como a una citación más temprana y mayor de los trabajos publicados (Véase The Effect of Open Access) (en inglés).
