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Abstract
Anthropogenic climate change is a global ecological threat, but there are broad social groups skeptical of its existence. Traditional “deficit model” thinking has suggested that teaching the public more facts about climate change will assuage skepticism. However, presenting evidence contrary to prior beliefs has been shown to result in a doubling down of previously held beliefs, described as a “backfire effect.” Thus, strategies for communicating politically controversial socioscientific issues should be investigated. I randomly assigned 184 undergraduates to one of three video conditions utilizing different messaging strategies and measured student opinions on climate change before and after viewing the video. The Scientific Consensus condition resulted in the greatest change in climate opinion, followed by Elite Cues which changed student support for action and climate identity. The Straight Science video condition did not change student opinions on climate change pre- versus post-video, in contrast to what “deficit model” thinking might expect.