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Using Card Sorting to Explore the Mental Representation of Energy Transition Pathways Among Laypeople

Meeting international emission targets will require major changes in the energy system. This paper addresses the public perception of different pathways to energy transition, and their mental representation in particular. A study is reported that employed card sorting to explore how laypeople catego...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Doran, Rouven, Böhm, Gisela, Hanss, Daniel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6288368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30564164
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02322
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author Doran, Rouven
Böhm, Gisela
Hanss, Daniel
author_facet Doran, Rouven
Böhm, Gisela
Hanss, Daniel
author_sort Doran, Rouven
collection PubMed
description Meeting international emission targets will require major changes in the energy system. This paper addresses the public perception of different pathways to energy transition, and their mental representation in particular. A study is reported that employed card sorting to explore how laypeople categorize possible pathway components with respect to their perceived similarity (Norwegian sample, n = 61; German sample, n = 71). Data sets that were obtained by this method were subjected to multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. Results for both samples consistently indicate that people differentiate components located at the individual level (e.g., vegetarian food, avoid long flights, walking and cycling), components located at the societal level (e.g., taxes, regulations, urban planning), and components concerned with technological solutions (e.g., hydropower, wind farms, solar panels). These results give reason to assume that laypeople from Norway and Germany share a multifaceted understanding of energy transition, yet some differences between samples were present with regard to the substructure of the individual level category. Future research can build on the present results to explore the subjective meanings of these structures, possibly identifying barriers to public engagement with energy transition.
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spelling pubmed-62883682018-12-18 Using Card Sorting to Explore the Mental Representation of Energy Transition Pathways Among Laypeople Doran, Rouven Böhm, Gisela Hanss, Daniel Front Psychol Psychology Meeting international emission targets will require major changes in the energy system. This paper addresses the public perception of different pathways to energy transition, and their mental representation in particular. A study is reported that employed card sorting to explore how laypeople categorize possible pathway components with respect to their perceived similarity (Norwegian sample, n = 61; German sample, n = 71). Data sets that were obtained by this method were subjected to multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. Results for both samples consistently indicate that people differentiate components located at the individual level (e.g., vegetarian food, avoid long flights, walking and cycling), components located at the societal level (e.g., taxes, regulations, urban planning), and components concerned with technological solutions (e.g., hydropower, wind farms, solar panels). These results give reason to assume that laypeople from Norway and Germany share a multifaceted understanding of energy transition, yet some differences between samples were present with regard to the substructure of the individual level category. Future research can build on the present results to explore the subjective meanings of these structures, possibly identifying barriers to public engagement with energy transition. Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-12-04 /pmc/articles/PMC6288368/ /pubmed/30564164 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02322 Text en Copyright © 2018 Doran, Böhm and Hanss. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Doran, Rouven
Böhm, Gisela
Hanss, Daniel
Using Card Sorting to Explore the Mental Representation of Energy Transition Pathways Among Laypeople
title Using Card Sorting to Explore the Mental Representation of Energy Transition Pathways Among Laypeople
title_full Using Card Sorting to Explore the Mental Representation of Energy Transition Pathways Among Laypeople
title_fullStr Using Card Sorting to Explore the Mental Representation of Energy Transition Pathways Among Laypeople
title_full_unstemmed Using Card Sorting to Explore the Mental Representation of Energy Transition Pathways Among Laypeople
title_short Using Card Sorting to Explore the Mental Representation of Energy Transition Pathways Among Laypeople
title_sort using card sorting to explore the mental representation of energy transition pathways among laypeople
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6288368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30564164
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02322
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