The effects of fear and hope appeals on climate change risk perception

Some researchers suggest that fear can motivate climate protection measures by increasing risk perception. Others argue that fear-based messages can lead to avoidance or denial, making positive messages such as appeals to hope a more effective strategy. This study aimed to investigate whether textual appeals to fear are more effective than appeals to hope or neutral stimuli in increasing climate change risk perceptions and whether there is a difference between appeals to hope and neutral messages. This experimental study involved 233 university students (48.5% women) aged 18 to 33. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (fear, hope, and neutral), after which their risk perceptions of climate change were measured. A one-way ANOVA showed that there were no significant differences in risk perception between the three groups, suggesting that neither fear nor hope appeals were more effective than neutral stimuli in increasing risk perception of climate change.