Who Is Responsible for Climate Change? Attribution of Responsibility, News Media, and South Koreans' Perceived Risk of Climate Change

Abstract

Analyzing data from a survey of South Koreans' perceptions of climate change, this study examines whether the way people attribute responsibility can affect their perceived risks. We also examine the role of the media in this process, looking at whether media use can influence the way the audiences attribute responsibility. Our findings provided support for the basic principles of risk perception that perceived controllability of a risk can affect the level of perceived risk (Slovic, Fischhoff, & Lichtenstein, 1982). Respondents who believed that the government or large corporationsas opposed to average citizenswere responsible for the negative consequences of climate change indicated perceptions of a greater risk because the risk was believed to be beyond their own control and determined largely by another entity (i.e., the government or corporations). When it comes to the role of the media, television news viewing was negatively associated with attributing responsibility to the government and to large corporations. On the contrary, uses of online bulletin boards and blogs were positively associated with blaming the government and corporations. By assessing the role of attribution in perceiving climate change risk, this study adds a new and likely helpful discovery regarding the dynamics of climate change perceptions.