Affective Images of Climate Change

Lehman, Betsy; Thompson, Jessica; Davis, Shawn K.; Carlson, Joshua M.

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00960

Cited by 42 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(98 reference statements)

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“…Since the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements, Twitter has developed a reputation as a platform for protests because it amplifies individual voices, and the mass of critical tweets in this study reflects this. That most tweets used photographs also fits as photos can help build social movements and networks [ 60 , 61 ], visuals fortify propaganda during conflicts [ 62 ] and images can foster advocacy, as we have also seen with climate change movements [ 63 , 64 ]. Ultimately, this highlights how critical tones about potential damages to health ignite activity on Twitter and that citizens play a crucial role in information distribution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualitative analysis of visual risk communication on twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic

Sleigh¹,

Amann²,

Schneider³

et al. 2021

BMC Public Health

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Background The Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by uncertainty and constant change, forcing governments and health authorities to ramp up risk communication efforts. Consequently, visuality and social media platforms like Twitter have come to play a vital role in disseminating prevention messages widely. Yet to date, only little is known about what characterizes visual risk communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. To address this gap in the literature, this study’s objective was to determine how visual risk communication was used on Twitter to promote the World Health Organisations (WHO) recommended preventative behaviours and how this communication changed over time. Methods We sourced Twitter’s 500 most retweeted Covid-19 messages for each month from January–October 2020 using Crowdbreaks. For inclusion, tweets had to have visuals, be in English, come from verified accounts, and contain one of the keywords ‘covid19’, ‘coronavirus’, ‘corona’, or ‘covid’. Following a retrospective approach, we then performed a qualitative content analysis of the 616 tweets meeting inclusion criteria. Results Our results show communication dynamics changed over the course of the pandemic. At the start, most retweeted preventative messages came from the media and health and government institutions, but overall, personal accounts with many followers (51.3%) predominated, and their tweets had the highest spread (10.0%, i.e., retweet count divided by followers). Messages used mostly photographs and images were found to be rich with information. 78.1% of Tweets contained 1–2 preventative messages, whereby ‘stay home’ and ‘wear a mask’ frequented most. Although more tweets used health loss framing, health gain messages spread more. Conclusion Our findings can inform the didactics of future crisis communication. The results underscore the value of engaging individuals, particularly influencers, as advocates to spread health risk messages and promote solidarity. Further, our findings on the visual characteristic of the most retweeted tweets highlight factors that health and government organisations should consider when creating visual health messages for Twitter. However, that more tweets used the emotive medium of photographs often combined with health loss framing raises concerns about persuasive tactics. More research is needed to understand the implications of framing and its impact on public perceptions and behaviours.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualitative analysis of visual risk communication on twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic

Sleigh¹,

Amann²,

Schneider³

et al. 2021

BMC Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Affective responses during exercise may not influence subjective norm, but affective responses were predictive of attitudes and/or they might directly affect the intention to exercise (29). In the climate change context, being exposed to climate change scenarios provided by watching pictures have been used to trigger affective responses and consequently potentially change behavior (30). However, only positive pictures of climate change (such as solar panels) were shown to influence perceived behavioral control (31).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intention to Engage in Winter Sport in Climate Change Affected Environments

Frühauf

Niedermeier

2020

Front. Public Health

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Exercise, including winter sport activities, shows positive effects on physical and mental health, with additional benefits when participating in natural environments. Winter sport activities are particularly vulnerable to climate change, since global warming will decrease the duration and amount of snow. In the context of climate change in alpine environments, little is known on the determinants of winter sport behavior. Thus, the following study primarily aimed at comparing the effect of being exposed to a climate change affected scenario (CCA) or to a climate change unaffected scenario (CCU) on the intention to engage in recreational winter sport activities. Secondly, we aimed to analyze the role of anticipated affective responses during exercising based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). An experimental cross-sectional web-based study design was used. Participants were randomly allocated to pictures of either CCA or CCU. TPB variables and affective responses with regard to the displayed scenarios were assessed. Statistical analyses included Mann-Whitney-U Tests, linear regression, and mediation analyses. Significant group differences were seen in all TPB variables, p < 0.038; −0.13 < r < −0.30, as well as in affective responses, p < 0.001; −0.24 < r < −0.85. Lower intention to engage in winter sport activities and lower anticipated affective valence during exercising was found in CCA compared to CCU. Attitude toward winter sport was significantly positively associated with intention to engage in winter sport, beta = 0.66, p < 0.001. The effect of group allocation on attitude was mediated by anticipated affective valence, indirect effect = 0.37, p < 0.001. Intention to engage in recreational winter sport activities was lower in participants exposed to the climate change affected winter sport scenario. Since affective valence seems to influence attitude and consequently intention to exercise, the role of non-cognitive variables with regard to climate change related exposure should be considered in future studies. Therefore, winter sport resorts may consider altered winter sport behaviors due to the consequences of climate change as well as the importance of providing an optimal framework to enhance affective valence of their guests in order to mitigate potential changes in winter sports behavior.

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“…Since the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements, Twitter has developed a reputation as a platform for protests because it ampli es individual voices, and the mass of critical tweets in this study re ects this. That most tweets used photographs also ts as photos can help build social movements and networks (57,58), visual fortify propaganda during con icts (59) and images can foster advocacy, as we have also seen with climate change movements (60,61).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Covid-19 on Twitter: an analysis of risk communication with visuals

Sleigh

Amann

Schneider

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: In a pandemic, when timely and clear communication is important, visuals on social media can help citizens quickly find and understand health risk information. In recognition of visuality and social media’s value during a crisis, we investigated popular Covid-19 risk communication with visuals posted on the platform Twitter. Looking at tweet authors, their use of graphics, the preventative messages, and risk framing, our objective was to determine how visual communication on Twitter promoted WHO Covid-19 health recommendations.Methods: We sourced Twitter’s 500 most retweeted Covid-19 messages for each month from January - October 2020 using Crowdbreaks. Included tweets had to have visuals, be in English, come from verified accounts, and contain at least one of the keywords ‘covid19', 'coronavirus', 'corona', or 'covid’. Following a retrospective approach, we then performed a qualitative content analysis of the tweets’ text and visuals. Results: Most of the tweets analysed came from influencers - individuals with many followers (51%), followed by media companies (30%), and health and government institutions (15%). At the start of the pandemic, the latter two were most prevalent. Analysis of visual formats showed that photographs were most common, and the majority of tweets combined them with other graphic types (55%). 68% of tweets had text in their visual, 42% of all visuals were animated, and 26% included a URL. ‘Stay home’ and ‘wear a mask’ were the most frequently communicated Covid-19 preventative measures. 70% of tweets used risk framing (emphasising health gains or loss), and 32% had tones of critique.Conclusion: This study found that the most retweeted Covid-19 preventative measures with visuals mostly came from individuals, showing that health and government organisations were not alone in promoting preventative measures on Twitter. This stresses the important role individuals play in the dissemination of information using social media during a health crisis. The finding that more tweets used health loss framing, often combined with the emotive medium of photographs, raises concerns about persuasive tactics feeding on fear. Future research is needed to better understand this approach's consequences and its impact on public perceptions and behaviours.

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Affective Images of Climate Change

Cited by 42 publications

References 31 publications

Qualitative analysis of visual risk communication on twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic

Qualitative analysis of visual risk communication on twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic

Intention to Engage in Winter Sport in Climate Change Affected Environments

Covid-19 on Twitter: an analysis of risk communication with visuals

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