Table 1_Affective integration in climate change communication: recency effects and negativity bias in responses to climate picture sequences.docx

Specifically, the model highlighted a significant recency effect, indicating that the final picture in each sequence exerted a greater impact on the reported affective valence. Additionally, while all picture types predicted affective valence, wildfire pictures exerted a stronger influence on affective experience than forest pictures, consistent with negativity bias, proposing that negative information carries greater weight than positive information.

These findings suggest that affective responses to climate change communication are shaped by both recency effects and the stronger weighting of negative relative to positive climate-related stimuli, highlighting the importance of understanding how multiple affective inputs jointly influence behavioral motivation. These results suggest that our computational model of affect can inform the design of climate change communication strategies to more effectively leverage emotional responses to motivate pro-environmental action.</p>