The missing link in the climate change debate

From 10:10 to the government's Act On CO2 campaign, it is now widely accepted that tackling climate change will require tackling behaviour change too. But until now, a key piece has been missing from the puzzle – psychology. The study of human behaviour has been conspicuous by its absence from the climate change debate. Full Story »

Posted by Derek Hawkins

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Review

Kenneth L Salzman, PhD
3.3
by Kenneth L Salzman, PhD - Mar. 8, 2011

While I am an ardent supporter of the cause of dealing with climate change AND a practicing clinical psychologist, I fear that the author has rather overstated the role of psychology and entirely ignored the role of advertising and marketing. In one sense, the advertising industry has long been the public activation arm of psychology, though not under the auspices or control of the psychologists. A failure to recognize the role of advertising leaves a serious gap in the story and undermines the core thesis. What the author is really referencing more often than not is advertising, and how to move a public. This is not information contained in "dusty books" in the colleges of psychology. It is current marketing data. For the climate change people to engage the marketing professionals in support of their efforts, there are many hurdles to jump, not the least of which are that those same professionals are also working for those opposed to those concerned about climate change. Starting from scratch and attempting to utilize basic psychology research to counter the sophisticated efforts of marketing professionals would be like arriving at a gunfight with books describing the chemistry of gunpowder.

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Kenneth's Rating

Overall
3.3

Average
from 18 answers
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3.4
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3.0
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4.0
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2.0
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3.0
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4.0
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3.0
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2.0
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4.0
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2.0
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4.0
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3.0
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4.0
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5.0
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3.0
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3.0
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2.0
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4.0
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