There is a growing consensus that climate fiction might be an effective communication strategy to move the public on climate. However, empirical evidence documenting such an effect is limited, especially when it comes to climate fiction's potential to induce emotions of hope and fear, which are of key importance to the ongoing debate about the social effects of climate messages. To address this gap, we conducted an experimental cross-cultural study (N = 2268) with participants from India and the USA. In line with the Extended Parallel Process Model, we hypothesized that climate fiction combining fear and hope appeals (“ambitopian climate fiction”) would be more effective at stimulating climate action intentions than either fear-appealing (“dystopian”) climate fiction or hope-appealing (“utopian”) climate fiction. The hypothesis was not supported. We found that, in the US sample, dystopian climate fiction was more effective at stimulating climate action intentions than ambitopian climate fiction. However, ambitopian climate fiction was found to be efficient at inducing both hope and fear in both samples and at stimulating climate action intentions indirectly, in the Indian sample, through these emotions. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

中文翻译：

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希望和恐惧在气候小说对气候行动意图影响中的作用：来自印度和美国的证据


人们越来越一致地认为，气候小说可能是让公众关注气候的有效传播策略。然而，记录这种影响的经验证据是有限的，尤其是当涉及到气候小说可能诱发希望和恐惧的情绪时，这对于正在进行的关于气候信息的社会影响的辩论至关重要。为了解决这一差距，我们对来自印度和美国的参与者进行了一项实验性跨文化研究 （N = 2268）。根据扩展并行过程模型，我们假设结合恐惧和希望诉求的气候小说（“矛盾的气候小说”）在刺激气候行动意图方面比吸引恐惧的（“反乌托邦”）气候小说或吸引希望的（“乌托邦”）气候小说更有效。该假设不受支持。我们发现，在美国样本中，反乌托邦气候小说比矛盾的气候小说更有效地刺激气候行动意图。然而，在印度样本中，发现矛盾的气候小说可以有效地在两个样本中诱导希望和恐惧，并通过这些情绪间接刺激气候行动的意图。讨论了这些发现的实践和理论意义。