Edward Wile Maibach

Professor, Director; Center for Climate Change Communication

Climate change communication, public health communication, social marketing

Dr. Edward Maibach is a University Professor and Director of Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication (4C). In the Department of Communication, he teaches seminars in climate change communication, strategic communication, and social marketing. His research currently focuses exclusively on how to mobilize populations to adopt behaviors and support public policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help communities adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change.

Dr. Maibach holds a BA in social psychology from University of California at San Diego (1980), an MPH in health promotion from San Diego State University (1983), and a PhD in communication research from Stanford University (1990).

Dr. Maibach previously had the pleasure to serve as Associate Director of the National Cancer Institute, Worldwide Director of Social Marketing at Porter Novelli, and Chairman of the Board for Kidsave International. He has also held academic positions at George Washington University and Emory University.

What students may not know about Dr. Maibach is that he helped plan a multi-billion dollar communication campaign for the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the late 1990s.

Selected Publications

Myers, T., Roser-Renouf, C., Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A. (in press) Exposure to the Pope’s climate change message activated convinced Americans to take certain advocacy actions. Global Challenges: Climate Change.
Maibach, E., Mazzone, R., Myers, T., Seitter, K., Hayhoe, K., Ryan, B., Witte, J., Gardiner, N., Hassol, S., Lazo, J., Placky, B., Sublette, S. & Cullen, H. (in press) TV weathercasters’ views of climate change appear to be rapidly evolving. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
Kotcher, J., Myers, T., Vraga, E., Stenhouse, N. & Maibach, E. (2017) Does engagement in advocacy hurt the credibility of scientists? Results from a randomized national survey experiment. Environmental Communication. DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2016.1275736
Van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A., Rosenthal, S. & Maibach, E. (2017) Inoculating the public against misinformation about climate change. Global Challenges: Climate Change. DOI: 10.1002/gch2.201600008 
Maibach, E. & van der Linden, S. (2016) The importance of assessing and communicating scientific consensus. Environmental Research Letters, 11: 091003.
Perkins, D., Maibach, E., Gardiner, N., Witte, J., Ward, B., Placky, B., Seitter, K. & Cullen, H. (2016, early online) Most Americans want to learn more about climate change. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0097.1.
Maibach, E., Cullen, H., Placky, B., Witte, J., Seitter, K., Gardiner, N., Myers, T. & Sublette, S. (2016) TV meteorologists as local climate educators. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.505
Roser-Renouf, C., Atkinson, L., Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A. (2016) The consumer as climate activist. International Journal of Communication. 10: 4759–4783.
Thaker, J., Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A., Zhao, X. & Howe, P. (2016) The role of collective efficacy in climate change adaptation in India. Weather, Climate & Society, 8, 21–34.
Placky, B., Maibach, E., Witte, J., Ward, B., Seitter, K. et al. (2015) Climate Matters: A comprehensive educational resource for broadcast meteorologists. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00235.1
Hart, S., Feldman, L., Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A. (2015) Extending the impacts of hostile media perceptions: Influences on discussion and opinion polarization in the context of climate change. Science Communication, 37, 506-532.
Van der Linden, S., Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A. (2015) Improving public engagement with climate change: Five “best practice” insights from psychological science. Psychological Science, 1-6. DOI: 10.1177/1745691615598516
Myers, T., Maibach, E., Peters, E., Leiserowitz, A. (2015) Simple messages help set the record straight about scientific agreement on human-caused climate change: The results of two experiments. PLoS ONE. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120985
Van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A., Feinberg, G & Maibach, E. (2015) The scientific consensus on climate change as a gateway belief: Experimental evidence. PLoS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118489
van der Linden, S., Clarke, C. & Maibach, E. (2015) Highlighting Consensus among Medical Scientists Increases Public Support for Vaccines. BMC Public Health. 15:1207 DOI 10.1186/s12889-015-2541-4
Cloyd, E., Moser, S., Maibach, E., Moldonado, J. & Chen, T. (2015) Engagement in the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment: Commitment, capacity, and communication for impact. Climatic Change. DOI 10.1007/s10584-015-1568-y
Maibach, E., Kreslake, J., Roser-Renouf, C., Rosenthal, S., Feinberg, G. & Leiserowitz, A. (2015) Do Americans understand that global warming is harmful to human health? Evidence from a national survey. Annals of Global Health, 81, 396-409. DOI: 10.1016/j.aogh.2015.08.010

Courses Taught

Comm 700: Developing and Testing Social Science Theory
Comm 660: Climate Change & Sustainability Communication
Comm 670: Social Marketing
Comm 641: Advanced Communication Skills for STEM Professionals

Education

BA, Psychology, 1980, University of California, San Diego
MPH, Health Promotion, 1983, San Diego State University
PhD, Communication Science, 1990, Stanford University

Dissertations Supervised

Jagadish Thaker, Climate Change in the Indian Mind: Role of Collective Efficacy in Cimate Change Adaptation (2012)

Neil Stenhouse, Powerful Feelings: Extending the Extended Parallel Processing Model to Collective Action on Climate Change (2015)

John Kotcher, Reducing Resistance to Communication about Climate Change Using an Applied Self-affirmation Intervention (2016)