Does Knowledge about Climate Change Relate to Risk Perceptions and Willingness to Sacrifice?
R. E. O’Connor, Department of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA; R. J. Bord, Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA; and A. Fisher, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA What people know about the causes of climate change matters if that knowledge relates to risk perceptions and the willingness to sacrifice. When we measure knowledge by self-assessed informedness and overall ability to differentiate between actual and faux causes of climate change, there is no relation to the perceived risk. But, knowledge is a significant determinant of risk perceptions: identification of accurate causes as well as faux causes both relate to a high level of perceived risks. In other words, people who are knowledgeable about actual causes are more likely to foresee a dangerous future, but so are people who believe that pesticides a
