Motivated Climate Change Denial [Registered Report Stage 1 Protocol]

Climate change is arguably one of the greatest challenges of our times. Albeit the scientific consensus that human activities caused climate change, a substantial part of the population downplays or denies human responsibilities. In this registered report, we will present causal evidence on a potential explanation for this discrepancy: motivated reasoning. We conduct a tailored survey experiment on a broadly representative sample of 4,000 U.S. adults to provide causal evidence on how motivated cognition shapes beliefs about climate change and influences the demand for slanted information. We further explore the role of motives on environmentally harmful behavior. Our key design idea is to exogenously vary the possibility to behave selfishly at the expense of the climate. Participants that have the opportunity to act selfishly justify their actions by distorting their beliefs and seeking out slanted information. Further, providing participants with an excuse increases the likelihood of selfish and environmentally harmful behavior.