Abstract
<p>Climate change is often treated as a technological or environmental challenge, yet societal responses are shaped by the psychological and sociopolitical dynamics linking institutions, markets, and human behavior. Existing research has largely examined climate governance and individual psychological processes in isolation. Here we propose a multi-actor psychological systems (MAPS) model of climate action that integrates these perspectives by mapping influence pathways among seven key actors (i.e., researchers, civil society, policymakers, elites, industry, media, and the public) and identifying the processes mediating these relationships. These actors influence the sociopolitical climate system through mechanisms such as science communication, agenda setting, activism, lobbying, consumer behavior, and electoral politics. We argue that psychological processes, including risk perception, social norms, social identity, elite cueing, motivated reasoning, moral values, efficacy beliefs, and emotional processes, mediate many of these relationships and help explain why scientific knowledge does not consistently translate into policy adoption or behavioral change. By linking micro-level psychological mechanisms with macro-level institutional dynamics through the focus on these seven key actors, the MAPS framework clarifies how climate action emerges, or stalls, within complex sociopolitical systems and highlights leverage points for interventions that could accelerate climate mitigation and societal transformation.</p>