Are climate change perceptions related with plastic policy support? Effects of climate change skepticism, guilt, and efficacy on the acceptance of the plastic tax

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0337327 December 29, 2025 19 / 30 Next, guilt as the moderator variable interacts with environmentalism, altruism, egalitarianism, and perceived risk (Table 2 in S1 Appendix in support information). Fig 6 shows that environmentalism, a value factor, interacts with guilt. As environmentalism increases, the support for the plastic tax increases, which is larger for those who feel more guilty about climate change than for those who feel less guilty. Altruism also interacts with guilt, and an increase in altruism leads to an increase in the support for the plastic tax, with a larger slope for the middle- and high-guilt groups than for the low-guilt groups (Fig 7). Fig 8 shows that the support for the plastic tax increases as egalitarianism increases, with the width of the slope for guilt increasing in the low and middle groups compared to the high group. Fig 9 shows an interaction effect between perceived risk and guilt in the risk perception paradigm. As the perceived risk increases, the support for the plastic tax increases, with a larger slope for those with higher guilt group. Guilt demonstrated multiple significant interactions, moderating environmentalism (β = .053, p < .05), perceived risk (β = −.088, p < .05), altruism (β = .050, p < .05), and egalitarianism (β = −.050, p < .05) effects. These patterns suggest emo- tional amplification mechanisms where guilt enhances value-based motivations while potentially overwhelming risk-based

reasoning, consistent with affective-cognitive models of environmental behavior [23]. Guilt’s multiple interactions demon- strate emotional amplification mechanisms predicted by affect-cognition theories [29]. Table 3 in S1 Appendix in support information demonstrates that the moderating variable efficacy has an interaction effect with altruism and perceived risk. Fig 10 shows that as altruism increases, the support for the tax increases, and the slope is larger for the middle- and high-efficacy groups than for the low-efficacy groups. Finally, Fig 11 shows that the support for the tax increases as perceived risk increases, with a larger slope for the high-efficacy group than for the low-efficacy group. The regression analysis shows that the perceived risk of climate change has a significant effect on the acceptance of plastic textiles, which can be moderated by self-efficacy. Efficacy interactions with altruism (β = .065, p < .01) and perceived risk (β = −.083, p < .05) indicate that self-efficacy beliefs enhance altruistic motivations while moderating risk perception effects. This supports Bandura’s [93] framework showing efficacy’s influence on cognitive functioning through self-satisfaction with personal development and goal achievement. Fig 5. Emotion*Climate change skepticism. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0337327.g005