Using Interactive Maps to Reveal the Content of Second-Order Climate Change Beliefs

Abstract

Although there is extensive research on first order climate change beliefs, second-order beliefs (perceptions about what others believe) are an understudied and potentially highly influential factor tied to a lack of climate policy action. This map reading study employs a pre- and post-map observational design to investigate how interactive maps can reveal and update second-order climate change beliefs. Participants first completed a pre-map survey detailing their climate change beliefs and estimating public support for climate policies. Participants then completed map reading tasks on an interactive web map that visualized county-level climate change opinions in North Carolina, while their eye movements were recorded with an eye tracker. A post-map survey gauged participants’ reactions to the actual climate opinions, accompanied by map usability questions. The results showed a widespread underestimation of actual climate policy support among participants. Participants commonly used a set of environmental and humanistic concerns to justify the content of their own beliefs, but when asked to rationalize others’ beliefs using the map, they used conspiratorial or ideological explanations to describe others who were more skeptical of climate policy. Additionally, participants exhibited egocentric bias, focusing more on their home counties and those with extreme climate change opinions when exploring the web map. The research underscores the potential of interactive maps to improve the understanding of second-order climate change beliefs and emphasizes opportunities for enhancing their ability to communicate the broad public support that exists for many climate policies.