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Out of the lab and into the field

Nature Climate Change volume 7, pages 309–311 (2017)Cite this article

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Decision scientists have identified remedies for various cognitive biases that distort climate-change risk perceptions. Researchers must now use the same empirical methods to identify strategies for reproducing — in the tumult of the real world — results forged in the tranquillity of their labs.

For nearly as long as science has known that humans are responsible for significant global warming, decision scientists have been furiously engaged in research to promote constructive public engagement with this threat1. The ineffectuality of their efforts is painfully inscribed in polls that document the immobility of public opinion over time2, not to mention the most recent US presidential campaign, which resulted in the victory of a candidate who has declared climate change a hoax.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dan M. Kahan is at Yale Law School, PO Box 208215, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA,

    Dan M. Kahan

  2. Katherine Carpenter is at the Cultural Cognition Project, Yale Law School, PO Box 208215, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA,

    Katherine Carpenter

Authors
  1. Dan M. Kahan
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  2. Katherine Carpenter
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Correspondence to Dan M. Kahan.

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Kahan, D., Carpenter, K. Out of the lab and into the field. Nature Clim Change 7, 309–311 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3283

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