Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our times. We humans must change our behavior in the short run to mitigate the effects of climate change in the long run. Policymakers develop environmental policies to motivate this behavioral change. However, people may nonetheless fail to change to more sustainable practices, defeating the effectiveness of environmental policies. Public communications, such as mass media campaigns, can enhance compliance with environmental policies, but they have not yet lived up to their potential. In this contribution, I propose that environmental communication would be more effective if public communicators took account of the (often counterintuitive) social and psychological processes that influence sustainable behaviors. I present research evidence of the impact of cognitive biases (discounting, control perceptions, optimism bias, denial, defensive avoidance, and reactance), emotions (fear and hope), and expectations (about the intentions of the communication source and other people's environmental behaviors) on the power of environmental public communication as a tool to promote sustainable behaviors. If social and psychological processes are neglected in the design of environmental public communications, messages can backfire and achieve the opposite of what was intended. To improve environmental communications, I propose three communication design suggestions: keep it simple, balance the message, and provide an action perspective.

中文翻译：

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公众传播作为执行环境政策的工具

气候变化是我们时代最大的挑战之一。从长远来看，我们人类必须改变我们的行为，以减轻气候变化的影响。政策制定者制定环境政策来激励这种行为改变。但是，人们仍然可能无法改变为更具可持续性的做法，从而破坏了环境政策的有效性。大众传播运动等公共传播可以增强对环境政策的遵守，但尚未发挥其潜力。在这篇论文中，我建议，如果公共传播者考虑到影响可持续行为的（通常是违反直觉的）社会和心理过程，那么环境传播将更加有效。我提供了认知偏见（折扣，折扣，控制感知，乐观偏见，否定，防御性回避和反抗），情绪（恐惧和希望）和对环境公众传播作为促进工具力量的期望（关于交流源和其他人的环境行为的意图）可持续行为。如果在环境公共通信的设计中忽略了社会和心理过程，则消息会适得其反，并达到与预期相反的目的。为了改善环境沟通，我提出了三项沟通设计建议：保持简洁，平衡信息并提供行动角度。的环境行为），将其作为促进可持续行为的工具进行环境公众传播。如果在环境公共通信的设计中忽略了社会和心理过程，则消息会适得其反，并达到与预期相反的目的。为了改善环境沟通，我提出了三项沟通设计建议：保持简洁，平衡信息并提供行动角度。的环境行为），以此作为促进可持续行为的工具。如果在环境公共通信的设计中忽略了社会和心理过程，则消息会适得其反，并达到与预期相反的目的。为了改善环境沟通，我提出了三项沟通设计建议：保持简洁，平衡信息并提供行动角度。