Overview
- Peer-reviewed surveys of more than 3,400 people in the U.S. and Canada mapped how end-of-world beliefs are distributed across the region.
- Researchers outlined five dimensions that organize these beliefs: perceived closeness, anthropogenic or theogenic cause, personal control, and emotional valence.
- In the U.S. sample, viewing the end as near and human-caused aligned with higher risk perception and greater support for sweeping action across economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological threats.
- Those who saw the apocalypse as divinely determined were less likely to endorse preventive measures on issues such as climate change, pandemics, nuclear conflict and emerging technologies.
- The authors say divergent religious and cultural narratives hinder coordination on global-risk policy and call for tailored communication, and the study appears in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.