To get people to take action on climate change, you have to make them feel positive and negative emotions at the same time.
April 1, 2026
Original Paper
Emotional Complexity Drives Collective Climate Action
PsyArXiv · 24jpe_v2
The Takeaway
A massive study of 30,000 people found that single emotions like 'fear' or 'hope' aren't the best motivators. Instead, 'emotional complexity'—the co-occurrence of anger/guilt with hope/pride—was the strongest predictor of whether someone would actually donate or advocate.
From the abstract
Emotional experiences are often complex, involving the co-occurrence of positive and negative feelings. Yet theories of motivation and collective action typically examine emotions individually, leaving unclear how emotionally complex states shape engagement with societal problems. Here, we test whether emotional complexity predicts collective action using climate change as a real-world context. In Study 1, a behavioral megastudy of 17 interventions conducted with 31,324 U.S.\ adults, the largest