Abstract
Climate change affects mental health on a global scale, with eco-anxiety emerging as a
leading concern, disproportionately affecting young people. Eco-anxiety has two distinct
behavioural outcomes, either driving pro-environmental behaviour or aversion to climate
change-related information (eco-paralysis). This study investigated the influence of emotive
framing—specifically alarmism vs realistic optimism—on pro-environmental behaviour and
eco-paralysis, considering the roles of self-efficacy and eco-anxiety (as a moderator and
covariate respectively). In a between-subjects experiment, 296 participants were randomly
assigned to view a short animation framed as either optimistic, alarmist, or neutral (control).
Contrary to expectations, neither the alarmist nor optimistic frames led to pro-environmental
behaviour or eco-paralysis. Additionally, self-efficacy did not moderate the relationship, nor
did eco-anxiety act as a covariate. However, eco-anxiety was a significant predictor of pro-
environmental behaviour and negative correlations were observed between eco-paralysis and
pro-environmental behaviour, as well as between self-efficacy and eco-paralysis. Although it
is possible that the effects of emotive framing on eco-paralysis and pro-environmental
behaviour are negligible, it may also be that the emotive frames used may not have been
strong enough to elicit such effects. Future research should explore alternative framing
techniques, perhaps using more potent manipulations to better understand how climate
communication can effectively motivate pro-environmental behaviour and mitigate the
psychological burden of eco-anxiety on young people.