“My Worries Are Rational, Climate Change Is Not”: Habitual Ecological Worrying Is an Adaptive Response

Bas Verplanken,Deborah Roy,Qinghua Sun

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074708

Abstract

Qualifications such as “global warming hysteria” and “energy policy schizophrenia” put forward by some climate change skeptics, usually outside the academic arena, may suggest that people who seriously worry about the environment suffer from psychological imbalance. The present study aimed to refute this thesis. While habitual worrying in general is strongly associated with psychopathological symptoms, in a survey a near-zero correlation was found between habitual ecological worrying and pathological worry. Instead, habitual ecological worrying was associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, and with a personality structure characterized by imagination and an appreciation for new ideas. The study had sufficient statistical power and measures were valid and reliable. The results confirm that those who habitually worry about the ecology are not only lacking in any psychopathology, but demonstrate a constructive and adaptive response to a serious problem. In the public domain, these findings may contribute to a more rational and less emotional debate on climate change and to the prevention of stigmatization of people who are genuinely concerned about our habitat and are prepared to do something about it (“habitual worriers are not crazy”). In the academic arena this study may contribute to environmental psychology (“habitual worrying is part of a green identity”), as well as to the literature on worry and anxiety (“habitual worrying can be a constructive response”).

Highlights

Since the heated debates on nuclear energy, no other environmental issue has triggered such strong emotions as global warming
Those who overly worry about climate change are sometimes stigmatized as being mentally unstable or pathological, which is suggested by terms such as ‘‘mass neurosis’’, ‘‘energy policy schizophrenia’’, ‘‘tree huggers’’, or the ‘‘global warming hysteria’’ [1,2,3]
Whereas habitual worrying in other contexts is associated with pathological mental conditions, such as generalized anxiety disorder, in the present study a near-zero correlation between habitual ecological worrying and pathological worry was expected and found

Summary

Introduction

Since the heated debates on nuclear energy, no other environmental issue has triggered such strong emotions as global warming. Self-proclaimed global warming skeptics, who deny the human factor in global warming or global warming itself, accuse scientists, politicians and concerned citizens of biased opinions and bad science. Those who overly worry about climate change are sometimes stigmatized as being mentally unstable or pathological, which is suggested by terms such as ‘‘mass neurosis’’, ‘‘energy policy schizophrenia’’, ‘‘tree huggers’’, or the ‘‘global warming hysteria’’ [1,2,3]. In this article we aim to dispute this thesis, and instead demonstrate that even high levels of ecological worrying (habitual worrying) are constructive and adaptive, i.e., are associated with pro-environmental attitudes and actions, and are not related to maladaptive forms of worrying such as pathological expressions of anxiety

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion