Tailoring climate change messages to a particular spatial scale (e.g. a specific country or region) is often seen as an effective way to frame communication about climate change. Yet the empirical evidence for the effectiveness of this strategy is scarce, and little is known about how recipients react to spatially-framed climate change messages. To learn more about the effects and usefulness of different spatial frames as a communication and engagement tool, we conducted a study in which we presented members of the general public with either a national or a global framing of climate change. In contrast to previous spatial-framing studies, the present research used semi-structured interviews - rather than survey questions - to obtain rich, in-depth information about participants' views of climate change. Irrespective of the framing, participants revealed associations that were located at various spatial scales. Moreover, when participants talked about climate change, they repeatedly switched between different spatial scales, revealing patterns that were consistent with seeking to preserve existing beliefs and preferences. These findings improve our understanding of how the public represents climate change, and provide a novel explanation as to why simple spatial framing often fails to achieve the anticipated effects.

中文翻译：

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空间框架、现有协会和气候变化信念

针对特定空间尺度（例如特定国家或地区）定制气候变化信息通常被视为构建气候变化沟通框架的有效方式。然而，关于该战略有效性的经验证据很少，而且对接收者如何对空间框架气候变化信息做出反应知之甚少。为了更多地了解不同空间框架作为沟通和参与工具的效果和实用性，我们进行了一项研究，向公众展示了国家或全球气候变化框架。与之前的空间框架研究相比，本研究使用半结构化访谈——而不是调查问题——来获取关于参与者对气候变化看法的丰富、深入的信息。与构图无关，参与者揭示了位于不同空间尺度的关联。此外，当参与者谈论气候变化时，他们反复在不同的空间尺度之间切换，揭示与寻求保留现有信仰和偏好一致的模式。这些发现提高了我们对公众如何代表气候变化的理解，并为为什么简单的空间框架往往无法达到预期的效果提供了一种新的解释。