Are You Threatening Me? Identity Threat, Resistance to Persuasion, and Boomerang Effects in Environmental Communication. Issue 2 (17th February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ma, Yanni; Hmielowski, Jay D.
• Is Part Of: Environmental communication. Volume 16:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 225
• Page End: 242
• Publication Date: 2022-02-17
• Subjects: Environmental communication -- social identity -- identity threat -- persuasion; Communication in the environmental sciences -- Periodicals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2021.1994442
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1752-4032

Abstract

ABSTRACT : In today's increasingly polarized political environment, people are becoming resistant to persuasive messages, which creates challenges for those communicating about environmental issues to the public. Scholars have noted that opinion-challenging information could either be ineffective or lead to boomerang effects. As a result, research has started to examine the underlying mechanism of why messages are ineffective, with a specific emphasis on boomerang effects. We conducted three experiments to examine the role of environmental identity threat as a trigger of defense mechanisms and boomerang effects. In general, our study finds that identity threat from a message leads to increased psychological reactance, counter-arguing, and anxiety. There is also evidence that boomerang effects flow through identity threat and both counter-arguing and anxiety. Our results cast light upon designing persuasive messages to encourage individuals to engage in environmental behaviors without antagonizing them.