Solution-Focused Stories Are More Effective Than Catastrophic Stories in Motivating Proenvironmental Intentions

A key challenge for climate change communication is to find ways to engage the wider public in proenvironmental behaviors and support for climate change mitigation policies, without triggering avoidance or reactive responses. This study reports on the effectiveness of incorporating environmental and climate change themes in short stories. In particular, responses to short stories that have a solution focus were compared with stories that have a catastrophic focus. Readers' reflections (N = 91) were analyzed to determine emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to the stories. Results indicate that stories with a solution focus were more effective in motivating proenvironmental intentions than catastrophic stories. Analysis of textual data indicated that being able to identify with a positive role model who provides examples of proenvironmental behaviors that are easily imitable was inspirational for most readers. Some readers were motivated by catastrophic stories to engage in climate change mitigation behaviors, but many reported feelings of futility and low self-efficacy and “switched off” from catastrophic stories due to their negativity.