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Affiliated institutions: University of British Columbia

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Description: Dichotomous thinking is the tendency to see things as binary opposition, such right and wrong, or loss and gain. Dichotomous thinking is useful in many everyday situations, allowing people to make decisions quickly. However, in the context of complex societal issues, dichotomous thinking can cause people to be overly fixated on certain solutions without considering other options. This is counterproductive because many issues have multiple causes, generate multiple impacts, and ultimately require multiple solutions to fully address. Nonetheless, it is not clear whether highlighting multiple causes, impacts, or solutions could reduce people’s tendency towards dichotomous thinking and make them more receptive to a multi-solution approach. It is also not clear what mechanisms may drive this process. In this study, we will use a randomized control trial to compare change in dichotomous thinking, perceived severity, perceived urgency, and preferred solutions of societal issues in four conditions: the control condition and three treatment conditions (multi-cause frame, multi-impact frame, multi-solution frame). These comparisons will determine the effectiveness of the aforementioned frames in reducing dichotomous thinking and promoting a multi-solution approach to complex societal issues, and how perceived severity and urgency may drive this process.

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behavioural sustainabilitybehaviour changedecision makingdepolarizationpolarization

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