The ‘Psychological Barriers Explanation:’ Let’s all pretend nothing is happening!   

Have you ever heard the phrase: ‘ignorance is bliss,’ usually coming from the mouth of your favorite close-minded, uninformed acquaintance? Well, that is what this article is all about; ignorance, and the lengths to which elites will go to preserve it. In June of 2011, Robert Gifford wrote “The Dragons of inaction: Psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation,” where he discussed the PBE in relation to climate change.  

Psychological barriers in a general sense are limitations that exist within human cognition, that prevent us from doing certain things, or making decisions, for example fear, discomfort and self-doubt (Montijo, Saundra, 2022).  For example, social anxiety could act as a barrier for a student who wants to engage in clubs or societies within their university. According to 'The Perils of explaining climate inaction in terms of psychological barriers’ written by Schmitt, Neufeld, Mackay and Dys-Steenbergen in 2020, there are some people that push the idea of the climate crisis being too difficult for the human mind to process. They say that the since the human mind was created with protection of the self, and those in close proximity from immediate danger as a priority, the idea of a long-term, global issue is not considered important enough for human to prioritise, therefore we do not (Schmitt, Neufeld, Mackay and Dys-Steenbergen, 2020).   

Although this seemingly trustworthy explanation sounds like an ideal remedy to the uncomfortable climate anxiety many of us are facing today, that is unfortunately not the case. This ideology relies on a one-sided idea of human cognition, but it is very much multifaceted (Schmitt, Neufeld, Mackay and Dys-Steenbergen, 2020). Although there are psychological barriers that affect human beings’ sense of urgency when dealing with climate change, such as lack of place attachment (Schmitt, Neufeld, Mackay and Dys-Steenbergen, 2020), this does not mean there is no hope at all for humans to comprehend climate change and its severity. As human works both ways, there are barriers but also facilitators which counteract these, for example where there is a lack of place attachment, there is also place attachment, where there is a lack of efficacy, there is efficacy (Schmitt, Neufeld, Mackay and Dys-Steenbergen, 2020). This theory also implies that humans do not care about issues not within their immediate proximity, as the ‘ancient brain’ was not designed to do so (Schmitt, Neufeld, Mackay and Dys-Steenbergen, 2020). I disagree with this, being a politically informed university student, studying with individuals like me. Take the recent US election for example. I am Irish, most of my friends are Irish with no American affiliations or roots, and yet the topic of election results comes about daily in our conversations.  

The PBE takes an I-frame approach (Kelly, 2024), blaming the whole of the climate crisis on the flaws of the individual mind. This completely diverts the blame away from the wealthy corporations, for example Exxon Mobil, one of the main contributors to the increasing greenhouse gas emissions heating and destroying our planet (Noor and Milman, 2024). These companies want your ignorance. They profit off people believing this hopeless explanation to a crisis we can solve through collective action and altering the system by diverting power away from these corporations (Schmitt, Neufeld, Mackay and Dys-Steenbergen, 2020).   

The PBE leads to people feeling like their efforts to reduce carbon footprint are pointless. The way that we think as a society impacts how we act as a society, so let us not push this narrative!  Try your best, get involved with climate crisis protests and petitions, educate yourself with books, movies and articles discussing the crisis. Research and understand the system which the climate crisis is mostly impacted by but affects the least. Ignoring this problem will not make it go away. It is up to us as a society to reject blissful ignorance, face up to uncomfortable reality, and use it as motivation to push forward and make a change.  

Gifford, Robert (2011), ‘The Dragons of Inaction: Psychological Barriers That Limit Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation’ American Psychologist 

 Schmitt, Michael T, Neufeld, Scott D, Mackay, Caroline M. L, Dys‐Steenbergen, Odilia (2020) ‘The Perils of Explaining Climate Inaction in Terms of Psychological Barriers.’ Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 76 Issue 1, p123-135. 13p. 

Noor, Dharna and Milman, Oliver, (2024) ‘Fury after Exxon chief says public to blame for climate failures’ theguardian.com, Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/04/exxon-chief-public-climate-failures (Accessed 6/11/2024) 

Montijo, Saundra (2022), ‘How to Identify and Overcome Your Mental Barriers,’

psychcentral.com, Available at: https://psychcentral.com/health/mental-barriers (Accessed 6/11/2024) 

 https://psychcentral.com/health/mental-barriers  

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/04/exxon-chief-public-climate-failures