Science has established the human-caused nature of climate change, yet the prevalence of climate-related misinformation persists, undermining public understanding and impeding collective action. Strikingly, existing research on belief in misinformation about climate change has disproportionately focused on WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries. To move beyond this, our online survey (N = 8541) includes high-income countries in North America (US), Western Europe (France, Germany, UK) and East Asia (Japan), as well as an upper-middle income country in South America (Brazil) and lower-middle income countries in South Asia (India and Pakistan). By examining the interplay of news media usage, information sources, and trust in these sources, we advance our understanding of how these factors influence belief in climate change-related misinformation in diverse socio-cultural contexts. Across countries, we found that the strongest determinants of belief in misinformation about climate change were identifying as right-wing (compared with left-wing), consuming less offline news, having less trust in scientists, environmental activists, as well as international organizations, and having more trust in politicians, celebrities, and energy companies. Overall, trust in sources of information about climate change and demographic variables were much stronger predictors of belief in misinformation about climate change than reported news consumption (online, offline or on social media). These findings suggest that trust is key to understanding belief in false information about climate change.

中文翻译：

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信任是关键：八个国家气候变化错误信念的决定因素


科学已经确定气候变化是人为造成的，但与气候相关的错误信息仍然普遍存在，破坏了公众的理解并阻碍了集体行动。引人注目的是，现有关于气候变化错误信息信念的研究不成比例地集中在 WEIRD（西方、受过教育、工业化、富裕和民主）国家。为了超越这一点，我们的在线调查（N = 8541）包括北美（美国）、西欧（法国、德国、英国）和东亚（日本）的高收入国家以及中上收入国家南美洲（巴西）和南亚中低收入国家（印度和巴基斯坦）。通过研究新闻媒体使用、信息来源以及对这些来源的信任之间的相互作用，我们加深了对这些因素如何影响不同社会文化背景下对气候变化相关错误信息的信念的理解。在各个国家中，我们发现，相信有关气候变化的错误信息的最重要决定因素是被认为是右翼（与左翼相比）、较少消费线下新闻、对科学家、环保活动人士以及国际组织的信任度较低，对政客、名人和能源公司更加信任。总体而言，对气候变化和人口变量信息来源的信任比报道的新闻消费（在线、离线或社交媒体）更能预测人们对气候变化错误信息的信念。这些发现表明，信任是理解气候变化虚假信息信念的关键。