Climate hypocrisy attacks are bipartisan, but their psychological impact is unequal | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Climate hypocrisy attacks are bipartisan, but their psychological impact is unequal Tamara Niella, Joaquin Navajas, Ophelia Deroy This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6940104/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Environmental action is one place where accusations of hypocrisy are frequent across the political spectrum. Here we test whether there is indeed a hypocrisy penalty whereby the same environmentally damaging actions are blamed more if the agent speaks out in favor of climate protection, rather than saying nothing. In two pre-registered studies, we also test whether the penalty faced for hypocrisy is the same depending on one’s own climate policy support, and whether the target of the attacks modulates it. In two pre-registered studies (N = 962), we confirm a hypocrisy penalty but see it decrease among strong climate policy supporters and when hypocrisy came from one's political ingroup. Our findings highlight the asymmetric political impact of climate hypocrisy accusations, with implications for climate communication and political psychology. Social science/Psychology/Human behaviour Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Climate change Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Communication Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6940104","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":476978862,"identity":"47951064-a4e5-49fa-88c5-b57e572ef78a","order_by":0,"name":"Tamara 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