2026-08-14T05:14:56Z
https://www.fdr.uni-hamburg.de/oai2d
oai:fdr.uni-hamburg.de:956
2020-06-12T09:20:28Z
user-uhh
true
3.1
UHH.FDR
10.25592/uhhfdm.956
De Silva-Schmidt, Fenja
0000-0003-1555-3014
Universität Hamburg
Brüggemann, Michael
0000-0001-7994-3914
Universität Hamburg
Hoppe, Imke
Universität Hamburg
Arlt, Dorothee
Universität Bern
Limited Learning Under Low Ceilings - Explaining influences on learning about climate politics from media use and interpersonal communication
Universität Hamburg
2020
knowledge acquisition
learning
panel survey
media effects
climate change
2020-05-31
en
Working paper
https://www.fdr.uni-hamburg.de/record/oai:fdr.uni-hamburg.de:956
10.25592/uhhfdm.955
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Open Access
<p>Abstract<br>
A basic understanding of climate politics is necessary for citizens to assess their<br>
government’s policies on mitigating and adapting to climate change. However, research on<br>
knowledge about climate change has focused on causes and consequences of climate change<br>
rather than climate politics. Even less research has focused on the learning process rather than<br>
knowledge. Therefore, this study explores which factors influence learning about climate<br>
politics from media use and interpersonal communication. We test a set of factors related to<br>
the individual respondent and the type of information sources used. Data from a three-month<br>
panel survey conducted in the context of the 2015 UN climate conference in Paris (COP21) is<br>
analyzed using hierarchical regression analyses. The strongest explanatory factor is prior<br>
knowledge – which, in contrast to the knowledge gap hypothesis, makes learning less likely.<br>
The most plausible explanation for this ceiling effect is a lack of background information<br>
offered in the most widely used journalistic media.</p>
<p><br>
Keywords<br>
Knowledge acquisition, Panel survey, media effects, climate change, knowledge gap</p>