A megastudy of behavioral interventions to catalyze public, political, and financial climate advocacy
, van der Linden, S., Acevedo, J., Alam, R., Boon-Falleur, M., Buchel, O., Chen, X., Cheng, P. W., Fabre, A., Feinberg, M., Frese, J., Fuller, K., Helferich, M., Kantorowicz, J., Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, E., Kim, A., Kim, J. J. H., Lee, J., Marchewka, A., Mildenberger, M., Pearson, A., Pezzuto, J., Pizziol, V., Prokosch, M., Protzko, J., Ramos, G. A., Rose, W., Sherman, D. K., Swanson, E., Syropoulos, S., Tavoni, A., Thiel, M. H., Van Boven, L., Willer, R., Yang, T., Zaremba, D. & Vlasceanu, M.
(2026).
A megastudy of behavioral interventions to catalyze public, political, and financial climate advocacy.
PNAS Nexus,
5(1).
https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf400
Abstract
Addressing climate change depends on large-scale system changes, which require public advocacy. Here, we identified and tested 17 expert-crowdsourced theory-informed behavioral interventions designed to promote public, political, and financial advocacy in a large quota-matched sample of US residents (n = 31,324). The most consistently effective intervention emphasized both the collective efficacy and emotional benefits of climate action, increasing advocacy by up to 10 percentage points. This was also the top intervention among participants identifying as Democrats. Appealing to binding moral foundations, such as purity and sanctity, was also among the most effective interventions, showing positive effects even among participants identifying as Republicans. These findings provide critical insights to policymakers and practitioners aiming to galvanize the public behind collective action and advocacy on climate change with affordable and scalable interventions.
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picture_as_pdf - pgaf400_supplementary_data.pdf
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subject - Published Version
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- Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0
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picture_as_pdf - pgaf400.pdf
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subject - Published Version
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- Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0