Department of Communication Brown Bag Research Colloquium

Exploring Emotional Responses to Future Climate Scenarios with AI and VR

Dr. Nicole Syringa Harth
Ernst-Abbe University of Applied Sciences, Jena Germany
Friday, August 29 | 12:00 – 1:30 pm | Room 160 Mann Library

People respond to climate change in very different ways, yet the topic is generally processed and discussed in highly emotional terms. In our work, we investigate how vividly imagining possible climate futures, supported by AI-generated imagery, immersive narratives, and virtual reality (VR), influences emotional responses and influences pro-environmental intentions. Across several pre-registered studies, we combined online surveys, controlled experiments, and a laboratory-based VR flood simulation to examine the effect of temporal and social framing of climate hazards on emotions, as well as policy support and behavioral intentions. In the most recent study, we experimentally varied how far into the future participants mentally projected events and qualitatively analyzed their descriptions of these experiences. Findings consistently indicate that emotions traditionally classified as negative, particularly fear, worry, and anger, are stronger predictors of pro-environmental intentions than positive emotions such as hope. Mediation analyses suggest that these emotional responses partially explain how climate change appraisals translate into action tendencies. I will discuss the potential and limitations of AI and VR technologies as tools to elicit and analyze emotions that motivate constructive climate action. I will also highlight the role of emotionally rich mental simulations of future scenarios in advancing climate communication.