Resource Type: Social Science Research

Much research finds that “scientific consensus messaging,” or informing people that 97% of scientists believe climate change is happening and human-caused, can change people’s minds. A landmark study in 2015 by Sander van der Linden and colleagues reports that people who heard this message believed there was a stronger scientific consensus climate change, compared to a control group who heard no message, and that this was a “gateway” belief that then caused other beliefs to change (Gateway Belief Model). However, Kahan takes another look at the data from that study and argues that this claim should be tempered. Sander van der Linden and colleagues have responded to this critique.