Perceptions of time in relation to climate change

Abstract

Time is at the heart of understanding climate change, from the perspective of both natural and social scientists. This article selectively reviews research on time perception and temporal aspects of decision making in sociology and psychology. First we briefly describe the temporal dimensions that characterize the issue of climate change. Second, we review relevant theoretical approaches and empirical findings. Then we propose an integration of these insights for the problem of climate change and discuss mismatches between the human mind, surrounding social dynamics, and climate change. Finally, we discuss the implications of this article for understanding and responding to climate change, and make suggestions on how we can use the strengths of the human mind and social dynamics to communicate climate change in its temporal context. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Conflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.