Am I responsible? The joint effect of individual responsibility attributions and descriptive normative climate messages on climate mitigation intentions

This research examines the effects of responsibility attributions and descriptive norms in media messages on climate mitigation intentions. In study 1, we manipulate whether responsibility is attributed to the individual or the government, compared to no attributions at all. In study 2, the effect of descriptive normative information following individual responsibility messages for daily consumption behavior is analyzed. Adding on the results of study 1 and 2, study 3 investigates the interaction effects of individual responsibility attributions (versus no responsibility attributions) and the strength of descriptive norms in user comments. Overall, the results show that media messages attributing individual responsibility have the potential to increase intentions for mitigation behavior when combined with positive descriptive norms in user comments. In contrast, individual responsibility attributions in combination with negative descriptive norms reduce mitigation intentions.