Measuring Belief in Climate Change With a Single Item

Authors

  • Sebastian Berger Orcid
    Department of Sociology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • David Hauser Orcid
    Institute of Organization and Human Resources, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • Anna Lange Orcid
    Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • Sander van der Linden Orcid
    Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Abstract

Brief, but psychometrically valid assessments of psychological constructs are increasingly needed to be included in larger psychological and other social scientific studies, such as Many Labs projects or representative surveys. Here, we provide a novel one-item measure of individual differences in belief in climate change. Based on two studies (N = 913, N = 288) recruited from various global regions, we establish convergent, predictive, and discriminant validity. More specifically, we find that the single-item measure correlates with other constructs measuring belief in climate change and with relevant downstream constructs, among them intentions to engage in pro-environmental behavior, actual consequential behavior, and self-reported everyday behaviors. We therefore conclude that the single item is a suitable instrument to measure belief in climate change when multiple-item assessments are either too costly or otherwise unfeasible.