As has been stated often, disagreements about the causes and consequences of climate change persist among the public and political leaders, despite the clear scientific consensus. Social scientists have developed several explanations for the divergent beliefs about climate change among the public, including political beliefs such as ideology and partisanship; cultural worldviews (i.e., hierarch, egalitarian, individualist, fatalist); pro-environmental orientation; beliefs about the scientific consensus; and solution aversion. Climate change beliefs connect as part of a belief system of interrelated beliefs, and recent work in social psychology has found that belief systems can be understood as networks with beliefs as network nodes and relationships between beliefs as network ties. In my presentation, I will discuss exploratory research that uses original survey data to examine the climate change belief system network, including its structure and which beliefs are central in the network.

Matthew C. Nowlin, Ph.D. is the director of the Master of Public Administration program and an associate professor of political science at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC. His research interests are in public policy, with a specific interest in environmental policy and politics. Dr. Nowlin's work includes such areas as theories of the policy process, policy learning, belief systems (specifically cultural theory), deliberation, climate change, energy, and natural hazards.

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