Scholars
Salil Benegal
Union College
Based in
United States
North America
My research explores public opinion about climate change and its relationship to public policy. I am especially interested in the effects of misinformation on climate policy preferences, communication strategies to correct misinformation, and how racial and gendered prejudices intersect with environmental public opinion. My work has been published in such journals as Global Environmental Change, Environmental Politics, and Climatic Change. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science and a MA in Economics from the University of Connecticut, and my BSc in Chemistry from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Country(ies) of Specialty
United StatesFocus areas of expertise
Climate policy and politics Renewable energy Behavioral action Public opinionPublications
Articles
Motta, Matthew and Salil Benegal. 2023. “How Pandemic-Related Changes in Global Attitudes Toward the Scientific Community Shape “Post-Pandemic Environmental Opinion”. Public Understanding of Science 32:7.
Benegal, Salil, Flávio Azevedo, and Mirya Holman. 2022. “Race, ethnicity, and support for climate policy: Understanding group differences and mechanisms.” Environmental Research Letters.
Benegal, Salil and Matthew Motta. 2022. “Overconfident, Resentful, and Misinformed: How Racial Animus Motivates Confidence in False Beliefs” Social Science Quarterly.
Benegal, Salil and Mirya R. Holman. 2021. “Understanding the importance of sexism in shaping climate denial and policy opposition” Climatic Change 167: 2.
Benegal, Salil and Mirya R. Holman. 2021. “Racial prejudice, education, and views of climate change” Social Science Quarterly.
Bayulgen, Oksan and Salil Benegal. 2019. “Green Priorities: How Economic Frames Affect Perceptions of Renewable Energy.” Energy Research & Social Science 47:1.
Benegal, Salil. 2018. “Overconfidence and the Discounting of Expertise: A Commentary.” Social Science and Medicine 213, 95-97.
Benegal, Salil and Lyle Scruggs. 2018. “Correcting Misinformation About Climate Change: The Impact of Partisanship in an Experimental Setting.” Climatic Change 148: 2, 61-80
Benegal, Salil. 2018. “The Spillover of Race and Racial Attitudes into Public Opinion about Climate Change.” Environmental Politics 27:4, 733-756
Benegal, Salil. 2017. “The impact of unemployment and economic risk perceptions on attitudes towards anthropogenic climate change.” Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences:
Benegal, Salil, and Lyle Scruggs. 2016. “Economic Conditions and Public Opinion on Climate Change” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia on Climate Change Communication.
Chapman, Audrey R., and Salil Benegal. 2013. “Globalization and the Right to Health.” in The State of Economic and Social Human Rights: A Global Overview, ed. Alanson Minkler. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 61-85.
Scruggs, Lyle, and Salil Benegal. 2012. “Declining Public Concern About Climate Change: Can We Blame the Great Recession?” Journal of Global Environmental Change 22(2): 505-515.