Perceptions and correspondence of climate change beliefs and behavior among romantic couples: Beliefs and behaviors often differ between romantic partners

Perceptions and correspondence of climate change beliefs and behavior among romantic couples. Matthew H.Goldberg et al. Journal of Environmental Psychology, June 18 2022, 101836. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101836

Highlights

• Climate change beliefs and behaviors often differ between romantic partners.

• People are both accurate and biased in their perceptions of their partner's climate change beliefs/behavior.

• Partners who discuss climate change are more accurate in their understanding of each other's climate beliefs/behavior.

• People higher in attachment anxiety are more accurate in their perceptions of their partner's climate behavior.

Abstract: Romantic partners influence each other's beliefs and behaviors. However, little is known about the dynamics of climate change beliefs and behaviors within romantic couples. We surveyed 758 romantic couples (N = 1,516 individuals) to investigate (a) correspondence between partners' climate change beliefs/behaviors, (b) accuracy and bias in people's perceptions of their partner's beliefs/behaviors, (c) whether a person's perceptions of their partner's beliefs/behaviors are more strongly predicted by that partner's actual beliefs/behaviors or by projections of one's own beliefs/behaviors, and (d) how perceptual accuracy varies across moderating variables such as frequency of discussion about global warming. We find that climate change beliefs and behaviors often differ between romantic partners. Moreover, people's perceptions of their partner's beliefs/behaviors are predicted by their own beliefs and behaviors (assumed similarity), independently from the predictive effect of their partner's actual beliefs and behaviors (accuracy). We identify opportunities for future research on relationship-based climate change interventions.

Keywords: Climate changeGlobal warmingClimate change communicationRomantic relationshipPro-environmental behavior