Climate change as a matter of taste? The influence of gum flavor and embodied cognition on climate change beliefs. Replicating Lewandowski, et al. (2012)

Lewandowski et al. (2012) demonstrated that embodied temperature, particularly the sensation of cold, can influence concern about climate change. Participants who chewed temperature-inducing chewing gums reported greater climate-concern, higher willingness to volunteer for an environmental group, and greater intended time commitment than a control-group. We conducted a replication study introducing three methodological improvements: (1) Inclusion of a diverse community sample alongside undergraduates. (2) A bubble-gum condition to test whether chewing alone influenced results. (3) Blinded experimenters to avoid an experimenter-bias. Results partially replicated the original findings: the embodied temperature of cold increased climate concern and willingness to volunteer, but only among undergraduates. It also did not affect the number of hours committed. These findings suggest that embodied temperature may increase concern under specific conditions, but effects on behavior remain limited. Future research should examine how embodied interventions interact with motivational and contextual factors to promote sustained climate engagement.