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Background Climate change has important implications for the health and futures of children and young people, yet they have little power to limit its harm, making them vulnerable to climate anxiety. This is the first large-scale investigation of climate anxiety in children and young people globally and its relationship with perceived government response. MethodsWe surveyed 10 000 children and young people (aged 16-25 years) in ten countries (Australia,

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NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE | VOL 5 | JULY 2015 | www.nature.com/natureclimatechange G lobal climate change is one of the major threats facing humanity. Human interactions with climate occur at all levels of social organization 1 , but so far research has focused largely on institutional actors (for example, governments, industries) and on the technological, demographic and economic trends that drive climate change. Factors that influence decisions and behaviour at the individual level have received significantly less attention 2 . However, individual behaviour is important 3 and ultimately drives societal change via adoption of technologies and support for policies. Unless we examine how people perceive climate change, what factors influence mitigation and adaptation behaviours and how climate change will affect human well-being, we will be unable to respond effectively as a society. Too much policy is based on oversimplifications and erroneous assumptions about these factors, for example, the assumption that informing individuals about climate change science is sufficient to affect decisions and behaviours 4-6 . Ignoring insights from psychological research can handicap progress towards a low-carbon, sustainable future 7,8 .Here, we review the unique contribution that a psychological approach 9,10 can provide for understanding and addressing climate change, complementing work from other disciplines. Psychological research employs rigorous empirical methods to investigate individual perceptions and cognitions, individual and collective behaviours, and psychological well-being related to climate change. This research incorporates physiological, cognitive, affective and interpersonal processes, as well as factors in the social, cultural, biophysical and engineered environments of individuals 5,11 . Some of the resulting insights are surprising or counterintuitive; in other instances, they serve as a reminder to consider factors that may be overlooked. Here we focus on three key areas in which psychological research contributes to the climate change literature: (1) public perceptions of climate change; (2) human behavioural drivers of climate change and mitigation responses; and (3) impacts of climate change on human well-being and adaptation responses ( Fig. 1). In each case, we review existing research and recommend key directions for future research. We conclude by considering the ways that psychologists can contribute to multi-and interdisciplinary teams to understand and inform climate change mitigation and adaptation.Human behaviour is integral not only to causing global climate change but also to responding and adapting to it. Here, we argue that psychological research should inform efforts to address climate change, to avoid misunderstandings about human behaviour and motivations that can lead to ineffective or misguided policies. We review three key research areas: describing human perceptions of climate change; understanding and changing individual and household behaviour that drives climate change; and examini...

Global climate change poses one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in this century. This article, which introduces the American Psychologist special issue on global climate change, follows from the report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Interface Between Psychology and Global Climate Change. In this article, we place psychological dimensions of climate change within the broader context of human dimensions of climate change by addressing (a) human causes of, consequences of, and responses (adaptation and mitigation) to climate change and (b) the links between these aspects of climate change and cognitive, affective, motivational, interpersonal, and organizational responses and processes. Characteristics of psychology that cross content domains and that make the field well suited for providing an understanding of climate change and addressing its challenges are highlighted. We also consider ethical imperatives for psychologists' involvement and provide suggestions for ways to increase psychologists' contribution to the science of climate change.

The authors bring psychological research to bear on an examination of the policy of affirmative action. They argue that data from many studies reveal that affirmative action as a policy has more benefits than costs. Although the majority of pro-affirmative action arguments in the social sciences stress diversity, the authors' argument focuses on issues of merit. The merit-based argument, grounded in empirical studies, concludes that the policy of affirmative action conforms to the American ideal of fairness and is a necessary policy.

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