Let’s talk about climate change: How immersive media experiences stimulate climate conversations

Since climate conversations are important for mitigating climate change, but few people talk about it, we investigated whether and how immersive media experiences can spark such conversations. In an experimental study with two weeks of daily follow-ups, participants (N = 256) were exposed to a highly immersive (interactive virtual reality), moderately immersive (regular video), or less immersive (articles) climate change media experience. We measured immediate effects on conversations through self-reports and content coding, and sustained effects through daily experience sampling. Potential underlying mechanisms (spatial presence, emotional responses, and arousal) were assessed using both self-reports and physiological measures. Immediately after exposure, both VR and video increased climate conversations compared to articles, but only for VR this direct effect sustained the following day. Although direct effects diminished over time, both VR and video indirectly stimulated climate conversations throughout the 14 days via increased spatial presence and emotional responses (but not arousal), with stronger effects for VR than video, and video than articles. Content analysis revealed that highly immersive (and to a lesser extent moderately immersive) media experiences provided natural entry points for climate conversations, suggesting they can spark immediate conversations and sustain them indirectly over time.