Chapter 25: Australasia
25.4.3. Psychological and Sociocultural Factors Influencing Impacts of and Adaptation to Climate Change
Adapting to climate change relies on individuals accepting and understanding changing risks and opportunities, and responding to these changes both psychologically and behaviorally (see Chapters 2, 16). The majority of Australasians accept the reality of climate change and less than 10% fundamentally deny its existence (high confidence; ShapeNZ, 2009; Leviston et al., 2011; Lewandowsky, 2011;Milfont, 2012; Reser et al., 2012b).Australians perceive themselves to be at higher risk from climate change than New Zealanders and citizens of many other countries, which may reflect recent experiences of climatic extremes (Gifford et al., 2009;Agho et al., 2010;Ashworth et al., 2011; Milfont et al., 2012; Reser et al., 2012c). However, beliefs about climate change and its risks vary over time, are uneven across society, and reflect media coverage and bias, political preferences, and gender (ShapeNZ, 2009; Bacon, 2011; Leviston et al., 2012; Milfont, 2012), which can influence attitudes to adaptation (Gardner et al., 2010; Gifford, 2011; Reser et al., 2011; Alexander et al., 2012; Raymond and Spoehr, 2013).
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