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The Psychological Distance and Climate Change: A Systematic Review on the Mitigation and Adaptation Behaviors

Background and Objective: Currently, climate change represents an existential, physical, and psychological threat. Therefore, mitigation and adaptation actions and measures have become increasingly necessary to preserve individual and collective well-being. The psychological distance is one of the m...

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Autores principales: Maiella, Roberta, La Malva, Pasquale, Marchetti, Daniela, Pomarico, Elena, Di Crosta, Adolfo, Palumbo, Rocco, Cetara, Luca, Di Domenico, Alberto, Verrocchio, Maria Cristina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7717940/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33329207
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568899
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author Maiella, Roberta
La Malva, Pasquale
Marchetti, Daniela
Pomarico, Elena
Di Crosta, Adolfo
Palumbo, Rocco
Cetara, Luca
Di Domenico, Alberto
Verrocchio, Maria Cristina
author_facet Maiella, Roberta
La Malva, Pasquale
Marchetti, Daniela
Pomarico, Elena
Di Crosta, Adolfo
Palumbo, Rocco
Cetara, Luca
Di Domenico, Alberto
Verrocchio, Maria Cristina
author_sort Maiella, Roberta
collection PubMed
description Background and Objective: Currently, climate change represents an existential, physical, and psychological threat. Therefore, mitigation and adaptation actions and measures have become increasingly necessary to preserve individual and collective well-being. The psychological distance is one of the main psychological constructs that explains the most concrete or abstract perception of the objects and events surrounding people. The psychological distance is a multidimensional construct, and in accordance with the construal level theory (CLT), temporal, hypothetical, spatial, and social distance are considered the most critical dimensions. This systematic review aims to provide an update of the literature on the role of psychological distance in the commitment to engagement mitigation and adaptation attitudes toward climate change. Method: The review was carried out following PRISMA guidelines and a systematic search was performed on PubMed, Psycinfo, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Scopus databases. Results: Nineteen articles have been identified as being eligible for the final synthesis. Results showed, in general, that individuals have a higher propensity to perform pro-environmental and resilient behaviors against climate change when it is perceived as more proximal and concrete within the construct of psychological distance. However, not all studies show this result. Some studies showed that, despite people considering climate changes as real and tangible, they do not perform mitigation and adaptation behaviors. Other studies showed that people implement these behaviors despite perceiving climate changes as distal and abstract. Conclusions: The current literature shows the existence of a relation among psychological distance and pro-environmental and resilient behaviors applied to climate change. For a deeper understanding of the conflicting results that emerged, more studies are necessary to explore the possible presence of further psychological variables involved in the relation within psychological distance, mitigation, and adaptation in environmental contexts.
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spelling pubmed-77179402020-12-15 The Psychological Distance and Climate Change: A Systematic Review on the Mitigation and Adaptation Behaviors Maiella, Roberta La Malva, Pasquale Marchetti, Daniela Pomarico, Elena Di Crosta, Adolfo Palumbo, Rocco Cetara, Luca Di Domenico, Alberto Verrocchio, Maria Cristina Front Psychol Psychology Background and Objective: Currently, climate change represents an existential, physical, and psychological threat. Therefore, mitigation and adaptation actions and measures have become increasingly necessary to preserve individual and collective well-being. The psychological distance is one of the main psychological constructs that explains the most concrete or abstract perception of the objects and events surrounding people. The psychological distance is a multidimensional construct, and in accordance with the construal level theory (CLT), temporal, hypothetical, spatial, and social distance are considered the most critical dimensions. This systematic review aims to provide an update of the literature on the role of psychological distance in the commitment to engagement mitigation and adaptation attitudes toward climate change. Method: The review was carried out following PRISMA guidelines and a systematic search was performed on PubMed, Psycinfo, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Scopus databases. Results: Nineteen articles have been identified as being eligible for the final synthesis. Results showed, in general, that individuals have a higher propensity to perform pro-environmental and resilient behaviors against climate change when it is perceived as more proximal and concrete within the construct of psychological distance. However, not all studies show this result. Some studies showed that, despite people considering climate changes as real and tangible, they do not perform mitigation and adaptation behaviors. Other studies showed that people implement these behaviors despite perceiving climate changes as distal and abstract. Conclusions: The current literature shows the existence of a relation among psychological distance and pro-environmental and resilient behaviors applied to climate change. For a deeper understanding of the conflicting results that emerged, more studies are necessary to explore the possible presence of further psychological variables involved in the relation within psychological distance, mitigation, and adaptation in environmental contexts. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-11-19 /pmc/articles/PMC7717940/ /pubmed/33329207 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568899 Text en Copyright © 2020 Maiella, La Malva, Marchetti, Pomarico, Di Crosta, Palumbo, Cetara, Di Domenico and Verrocchio. 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
Maiella, Roberta
La Malva, Pasquale
Marchetti, Daniela
Pomarico, Elena
Di Crosta, Adolfo
Palumbo, Rocco
Cetara, Luca
Di Domenico, Alberto
Verrocchio, Maria Cristina
The Psychological Distance and Climate Change: A Systematic Review on the Mitigation and Adaptation Behaviors
title The Psychological Distance and Climate Change: A Systematic Review on the Mitigation and Adaptation Behaviors
title_full The Psychological Distance and Climate Change: A Systematic Review on the Mitigation and Adaptation Behaviors
title_fullStr The Psychological Distance and Climate Change: A Systematic Review on the Mitigation and Adaptation Behaviors
title_full_unstemmed The Psychological Distance and Climate Change: A Systematic Review on the Mitigation and Adaptation Behaviors
title_short The Psychological Distance and Climate Change: A Systematic Review on the Mitigation and Adaptation Behaviors
title_sort psychological distance and climate change: a systematic review on the mitigation and adaptation behaviors
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7717940/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33329207
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568899
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