Limited Learning Under Low Ceilings - Explaining influences on learning about climate politics from media use and interpersonal communication

Abstract
A basic understanding of climate politics is necessary for citizens to assess their
government’s policies on mitigating and adapting to climate change. However, research on
knowledge about climate change has focused on causes and consequences of climate change
rather than climate politics. Even less research has focused on the learning process rather than
knowledge. Therefore, this study explores which factors influence learning about climate
politics from media use and interpersonal communication. We test a set of factors related to
the individual respondent and the type of information sources used. Data from a three-month
panel survey conducted in the context of the 2015 UN climate conference in Paris (COP21) is
analyzed using hierarchical regression analyses. The strongest explanatory factor is prior
knowledge – which, in contrast to the knowledge gap hypothesis, makes learning less likely.
The most plausible explanation for this ceiling effect is a lack of background information
offered in the most widely used journalistic media.

Keywords
Knowledge acquisition, Panel survey, media effects, climate change, knowledge gap