How Do Lay People Perceive Climate-Change Related Risks?

The study of climate change perceptions of people Many studies in psychology suggest that laypeople perceive climate change as a moderate risk. While the climate changes were described as an abstract phenomenon in previous investigations, here we describe climate change as the source of a concrete environmental risk, similar to the pine beetle infestation risk of the Texas forest. Texans believe that climate change will increase the pine beetle infestation risk and that a big proportion of pine forests in the state will be damaged by the year 2050. We conclude that people’s perception increases when these risks have direct and negative consequences on their own lives.