A third of people still have doubts serious consequences of climate change and its human origin, concludes a psychological study published today by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), which also showed the power of the psyche disinformation around this topic.

Research conducted in almost 7,000 people from 12 countries and published in a specialized magazine Nature Human behaviorconcludes that “disinformation is extremely convincing“Overall, this is more than scientific information,” according to study coordinator Tobias Brosch from the UNIGE Faculty of Psychological and Educational Sciences.

The study created eight groups of people, of which six were exposed to various information-dealing strategies and one was exposed to it without restrictions, while the eighth and final control group did not receive this type of conditioning.

For example, one of the first six groups received verified information indicating the accuracy of the messages UN Group of International Experts on Climate Change (IPCC), explained the UNIGE statement.

The groups were then presented with 20 false or biased pieces of information and their impact on “patients” was then measured using questions and the power of misinformation was found to be greater than scientific evidence, even develop strategies to prevent this from happening.

“We found that the protective effect of our strategies was small and disappeared after a second exposure to misinformation,” admitted Brosh.

This occurs in part because people “do not perceive scientific messages as neutral recipients, but subordinate them to prior beliefs, desires about their future, emotional connections and sociocultural and ideological contexts“added Tobia Spampatti, another author of the UNIGE study.

Patients question the effects demonstrated by IPCC reports on the consequences of global warming, such as faster melting glaciersincrease sea ​​level or increase in frequency Heat waves extreme.

“A third of the population still doubts or questions these scientific consensusesThis phenomenon can be explained by misinformation that some companies and pressure groups have spread over the past half century,” the study authors say.

EFE