ABSTRACT
Information about the science of climate change is readily available and has been reproduced endlessly in newspapers, television and film. There is evidence from other domains which suggests that some people do have a bias in both processing and explaining positive and negative information, and that this bias is linked to 'dispositional optimism.' Dispositional optimism refers to generalised outcome expectancies that good things, rather than bad things, will happen; pessimism refers to the tendency to expect negative outcomes in the future'. Optimism bias appears to be associated with specific cognitive biases in processing relevant information. Optimism bias is particularly relevant to issues concerning climate change. Optimism may be highly advantageous for the individual, as Martin Seligman has consistently argued, because it has significant effects on both mental and physical health and was selected for during evolution. A more positive overall frame about possible positive solutions should increase both feelings of self-efficacy and visual attention to the underlying message.
