Undergraduate Research: An Archive - 2021 Program

Julia Harisay ’21
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Certificate in Environmental Studies
THESIS TITLE
What’s the Beef with the
Media: The Effects of
Social and Traditional
Media on Biased
Assimilation and
Attitude Polarization on
the Issue of Livestock
Production and Climate
Change
ADVISER
Emily Pronin, Associate
Professor of
Psychology and Public
Affairs
We face the challenge of meeting an increasing
demand for food while also mitigating climate
change. At the same time, Americans are
extremely polarized on the issue of climate
change, with many blaming the media for
this division. My research examined how
communicating the food demand dilemma
through various types of media might
convince people of the need to eat less
meat. Raising livestock for consumption is a
significant source of greenhouse gas emissions
and habitat loss. Study participants were
exposed to mixed evidence about the impact
of livestock production on climate change
through traditional or social media. I found
that climate change believers found such
information to be more credible and convincing
when communicated on social media than in
traditional media, while non-believers reported
the opposite. Neither media type leads to
significantly greater polarization, but social
media appeared to have more of a negative
impact than traditional media on a person’s
belief in the impact of livestock production on
climate change. My findings have important
implications for how climate change information
can be communicated via social media.
POLICY, NORMS
AND BEHAVIOR
38