ICEP 2025

In a report on climate change, the Council of Europe (2016) recommended to ‘bring climate change […] to the present, to a local scene and to a similar social setting’ to encourage public engagement. In psychology, this ubiquitous idea has been studied through the concept of psychological distance (PD) to climate change (Milfont, 2010). However, while numerous correlational and experimental studies have been conducted, three recent systematic reviews have yielded conflicting conclusions regarding the role of PD in climate action, with one reporting significant relationships (Maiella et al., 2020), a second highlighting inconsistent effects (Keller et al., 2023) and a third indicating no impact of PD (van Valkengoed et al., 2023). To address these contrasting positions, we are conducting two pre-registered meta-analyses (provisionally accepted Stage 1 Registered Report: https://osf.io/v8953) to assess the average effect of measured or manipulated PD to climate change on climate action, and to examine some potential moderators (e.g., national vulnerability, PD dimensions). From a total of 1,350 keyword-identified articles and 33 additional published or unpublished studies, we included 42 correlational and 33 experimental studies in the final sample. Based on ongoing meta-analytical analyses (to be completed by the end of January), we will provide novel insights into whether empirical evidence supports a negative effect of PD on climate action in correlational and experimental studies, while also describing potential between-study factors that could moderate this relationship. The discussion will focus on implications for future PD research and climate policies aimed at promoting climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Keywords :
psychological distance, meta-analysis, climate change, construal level theory, climate action