The limits of moral framing in promoting pro-environmentalism: A preregistered replication of

Previous research consistently finds that conservatives express less concern about anthropogenic climate change and engage in fewer environmentally friendly behaviors compared to liberals. One potential reason for this gap is that climate communication often emphasizes values aligned with liberal ideologies, such as harm/care and fairness/reciprocity, while neglecting values that resonate more with conservatives, such as purity, authority, and loyalty. Previous studies have shown that framing pro-environmental messages to address these “conservative values” reduces the gap between liberals and conservatives in pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. However, the literature on this framing effect is rather mixed, as other studies have failed to show corresponding results. This raises concerns about the robustness of framing as a tool to reduce political differences in pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Herein, we report the results of a conceptual replication in Germany ( N = 269) and a direct replication in the U.S. ( N = 743) of a previously successful framing intervention proposed by Wolsko et al. (2016, Experiment 3) . Across both studies, presenting pro-environmental appeals in terms of conservative values did not bridge the divide between liberals and conservatives regarding their pro-environmental attitudes and behavioral intentions.