Planned Analyses: The moderating role of socioeconomic status in the effectiveness of interventions targeting climate change-related behaviors

As climate change continues to negatively impact the environment and public health, societies must take action to reduce the warming of the planet, including through behavior change. Many interventions, or activities designed to change individual behavior, attempt to achieve this, but are unsuccessful (Voelkel et al., 2026). Socioeconomic status (SES)—a combination of income, education, and other factors—may play a role in how people respond to climate-related behavior interventions. However, few studies have investigated which interventions are most effective for different socioeconomic groups. This study will aim to fill this gap by testing two interventions in individuals with higher and lower SES. A social norms intervention, which manipulates individuals’ perceptions of normal behavior in their community, and a perceived ease intervention, which manipulates how easy an individual thinks a behavior is, will be tested for their effectiveness in increasing participants’ intention to perform three behaviors: eating vegetarian and/or vegan meals, driving a gas or diesel-powered vehicle less often, and powering one’s home with renewable energy. These behaviors were selected because they are among the most impactful individual actions that mitigate climate change (Ivanova et al., 2020), and because individuals have the greatest control over changing them. This study will be conducted among U.S. residents ages 18 to 34. 800 participants will be recruited on Prolific to complete a 15-minute online survey where they will complete one of three possible quiz tasks (control, social norms, or perceived ease) and answer questions about their behaviors, attitudes, and demographics. This study aims to determine which interventions are most effective at increasing intention to adopt climate change-mitigating actions for different SES groups. Understanding the nuances of SES will allow researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to improve the effectiveness of climate-related behavior change interventions.