Educational attainment predicts negative perceptions women have of their own climate change knowledge

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210149
• Publication Date: 2019-01-04T18:37:06Z
• Authors: Kathryn R. Selm; M. Nils Peterson; George R. Hess; Scott M. Beck; Melissa R. McHale
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Science; Climate Change; Culture; 01 natural sciences; Young Adult; Sex Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; North Carolina; Humans; Minority Groups; Aged; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences; Aged, 80 and over; 4. Education; Q; R; Middle Aged; Self Concept; Socioeconomic Factors; 13. Climate action; Medicine; Educational Status; Female; Stereotyped Behavior; Research Article

Education may encourage personal and collective responses to climate change, but climate education has proven surprisingly difficult and complex. Self-perception of knowledge and intelligence represent one factor that may impact willingness to learn about climate change. We explored this possibility with a case study in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2015 (n = 200). Our goal was to test how gender and ethnicity influenced perceptions people had of their own climate change knowledge. Survey respondents were asked how strongly they agreed with the statement "I feel knowledgeable about climate change" (1 = strongly disagree, and 5 = strongly agree). Our survey instrument also included demographic questions about race, age, income, gender, and education, as well as respondent's experience with natural disasters and drought. We observed an interaction between education and gender where women's self-perceived knowledge was higher than men among people with low levels of educational attainment, but was higher for men than women among people with high levels of educational attainment. In addition, minority respondents self-reported lower perceived climate change knowledge than white respondents, regardless of educational attainment. This study enhances our understanding of the gender gap in self-perceptions of climate knowledge by suggesting it is contingent on educational attainment. This could be the result of stereotype-threat experienced by women and minorities, and exacerbated by educational systems. Because people who question their knowledge are often more able to learn, particularly in ideologically charged contexts, highly educated women and minorities may be more successful learning about climate change than white men.