Table 2 Explicit definitions of the concept of perception divided into categories (n = 73 articles)

1. Risk perception

"Based on the IPCC’s definition of “risk perception,” we consider “perceptions of change” as “the subjective judgment that people make about the characteristics and severity of changes.”"

[140]

“Risk perceptions are beliefs about potential harm or the possibility of a loss. This is a subjective judgment that people make about the characteristics and severity of a risk. In the study, risk perception was considered to be a subjective judgment made by farmers regarding the characteristics and severity of the risks brought about by climate change."

[128]

"(…) Risk perception (i.e., person’s subjective judgment or assessment of risk)"

[127]

"(…) the perception of risk is a subjective judgment of the likelihood of a respective event such as flood, drought, cyclone, etc. and stakeholders’ subsequent awareness of its level of damage. (…) The study defines hailstorm risk perceptions as concerns shown by farmers regarding previous, present, and future incidents of negative impacts on crop production and agricultural activities due to the occurrence of hailstorms"

[141]

"Climate change risk perception is a multitask procedure that depends on different factors including socio-economic, demographic, political, and cultural activities. Overall, personal understanding leads to a pivotal role in identifying farmers’ perceived climate-related risks"

[135]

"(…) perception of CC is a personal assessment that comprises an individual’s understanding, which in turn motivates actions with respect to CC incidence and severity. Thus, an individual must perceive CC before responding to it, and this perception needs to be linked with actual CC for effective adaptation measures". (…) The perception of risk is a mental construct and personal perception may vary among individuals"

[142]

"Risk perceptions refer to a decision maker’s assessment of the risk inherent in a situation. They are important determinants of decision maker behavior as studies have shown they can influence the assessment of uncertainty and distort one’s judgments, knowledge, and the ability to perform under risky conditions. They are generally measured by asking about the perceived “seriousness,” “concern,” and/or “worry” of a situation". (…) In the psychology literature, perception refers to the process of receiving information and stimuli from one’s surroundings and converting them into psychological responses. The perception of risk is, therefore, a mental construct that distinguishes between the existence of objective real-world threats and the subjective evaluation of those threats"

[69]

"Risk perception is a mental construct and farmers’ climate change risk perceptions are unique in a sense that it allows for a differentiation between the actual real-world hazards, for instance, climate change, and intuitive evaluation of those dangers"

[143]

"Risk perception involves the “subjective assessment of the probability of a specified type of accident (or event) happening and how concerned we are with the consequences”"

[119]

"(…) risk perception is the subjective assessment of the probability of a natural hazard occurring and the consequences of hazards activities (severity)"

[137]

"Threat appraisal, also known as risk perception, is the primary cognitive process assessing how an individual is threatened by a specific known risk consisting of perceived probability and perceived severity (the consequences)."

[54]

2. Awareness

"Climatic perception is defined as a state of opinions and/or awareness toward the changes in climate variables."

[66]

"The degree of awareness for climatic variabilities is time and space context-specific, which varies according to local communities’ own experiences with their ecosystem. The preliminary knowledge of climate change comes from the direct observation of the environment and its physical consequences."

[144]

"Perception is the process of receiving information from the ambient environment and transforming it into physiological awareness for taking adaptation and mitigation strategies towards adverse impacts of climate change in the agroecological system. However, this process could vary with the individual’s past experiences, observations, and present attitudes, needs, and social circumstances and also depending on one´s livelihood, literacy, and settlement."

[145]

"According to the encyclopedia of qualitative research methods, perception is like a set of lenses through which an individual views reality. In this study, the perception of climate change was assessed through the frequency of “awareness” or “knowledge” of climate change and how the interviewees observe the changes in temperature, rainfall, and spatial–temporal distribution of rain."

[146]

"Climate change awareness involves creating knowledge, understanding and values, attitude, skills, and abilities among individuals and social groups towards the issues of climate change for attaining a better quality environment. (…) In this study, awareness of climate change including (i) conceptual awareness; (ii) experiential awareness; (iii) engagement awareness, and (iv) adaptation awareness. Conceptual awareness regards an individual’s knowledge on the causes of climate change; their impacts and the necessity for a response. Experiential awareness concerns experiences and knowledge of long-term changes in climatic conditions and associated impacts on the availability of resources and livelihoods. Engagement awareness is about the frequency with which an individual talks or hears about climate change, while adaptation awareness refers to knowledge on climate forecasting, adaptation techniques and climate response policies."

[147]

"Farmers’ perception of climate change was considered as an aggregated awareness about the trend of the following four climatic parameters (rainfall, temperature, number of rainy days and frequency of dry spells) generated from the historical climate records of the research area."

[148]

"Climate change perceptions are the process of receiving information from the environment and transform it into psychological awareness."

[149]

"Farmers’ perception of climate change refers to an aggregated awareness of the trend in the climatic parameters such as rainfall, temperature, drought and onset and end of the rainy season."

[150]

"A plethora of scholars define climate change perceptions as awareness of change in climatic conditions and their impacts on people’s livelihoods."

[108]

3. Perception according to psychological constructs, and environmental and sensory stimuli

"Recent literature revealed that climate change perception is a challenging process that involves psychological concepts, such as attitudes, beliefs, and concerns on how climate change is happening. Perception, in this case, refers to people’s understanding of the reality and causes of climate change, its consequences, and the factors that determine the decision to apply appropriate measures.”

[131]

"Essentially, climate change and extreme events perception are complex processes that encompass a range of psychological constructs, such as knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and concerns about whether and how the climate is changing."

[151]

"Perceptions about CC are “a complex process that encompasses a range of psychological constructs such as knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and concerns about if and how the climate is changing."

[152]

"Perception refers to the process in which people receive information and stimuli from their environment and transform them into conscious psychological actions."

[49]

"It is fundamental to consider that the perception of climate change is a complex process that encompasses a variety of psychological constructs, such as the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and concerns about whether and how the climate is changing. Perception is influenced and shaped by, among other things, the characteristics of individuals, their experiences, the information they receive, and the cultural and geographic contexts in which they live."

[122]

"Environmental perception is the response of the senses to environmental stimuli (sensory perception) and the mental activity resulting from the relationship with the environment (cognitive perception)."

[153]

"Farmers’ perception, which is a cognitive driving force."

[121]

"Farmers’ perception of climate variability is a complex process that includes a range of psychological constructs such as knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and practices related to how the local climate has varied. Farmers’ perception of climate variability is shaped by farm household characteristics, historical experiences with local climates especially the impact of climatic changes on agriculture productivity, the knowledge that they receive, socio-cultural and geographic contexts where farmers cultivate their fields. In this study, farmers’ perception of climate variability was defined by their experiences during the decade which preceded the survey in Tharaka-Nithi County (2007–2017) regarding seven climatic characteristics and several consequences that they had experienced as a result of climate variability. These indicators included change in temperature, change in rainfall amounts, change in rainfall onset and rainfall cessation dates, change in length of the cropping season, and changes in flooding and drought frequency. The consequences of climate variability that shaped farmers’ perceptions in Tharaka-Nithi County included changes in soil fertility and soil erosion risks, changes in agricultural productivity, and changes in natural and planted forest cover."

[41]

"Perception has been defined as the process by which organisms interpret and organize sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world; and that a person’s perceptions are based on experiences with natural and other environmental factors that vary in the extent to which such perceptions are enabled. Farmers’ perception of climate variability refers to their lived experiences about fluctuations in weather patterns (especially rainfall, temperature, and drought) and how that affected their livelihoods."

[57]

"Perception is defined as a process of receiving information and stimuli from our surroundings and converting those into psychological responses. However, individual perception differs with time and situation and particularly, perception of climate change is a difficult idea for the farmers."

[154]

“Perception is a process in which stimulus or information is received and transformed to generate a psychological awareness. This stimulus is formulated based on cultural background, prior experience, and socioeconomic factors.”

[155]

"In this study, perceptions about climate variability and other stressors were defined as an individual’s ability to see, hear and experience (over the period 2000–2015) any one or combination of stressors caused by climatic phenomena alone and/or ecological, socio-economic and political factors affecting activities vital to the farmers’ subsistence.”

[156]

“(…) farmers’ perception refers to short-term experience relying on memories.”

[157]

"Perception is the process of receiving external stimuli and converting them into psychological responses based on past events and the present situation."

[158]

"Perception is the first cognitive process through which the individual obtains information from the environment and allows the subject to form a representation of reality."

[159]

"(…) public perception, defined as the process by which the public interprets and organizes sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world (…)"

[160]

"Van den Ban and Hawkins (2000) define perception as the process by which we receive information or stimuli from our environment and transform it into psychological awareness to produce meaningful experiences of the world."

[42]

"As pointed out by an anonymous reviewer, ‘perception’ and ‘understanding’ are sometimes synonymous. Yet, the Oxford Living Dictionary contains two distinct definitions of the word perception – ‘The ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses,’ and ‘The way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.’"

[161]

"Perception here follows the definition of Ndamani and Watanabe (2015) as the process by which organisms (humans) interpret and organize sensations to produce a meaningful experience of the world."

[162]

"The perception framework is hinged around psychology, which is study of behavior and mental processes. (…) perceptions are subjective and comprise a wide range of things which are contextual, value-laden and dynamic. For example, a definition of a similar event might be different within a group of individuals in with experience, i.e., how individuals react to situations. This is so because perception is a function of the actions displayed thereafter."

[163]

"Perception of the environment describes how a person perceives the environment through the brain´s and their senses’ ability to process and store information. The perceptual process is highly complex, but broken down it consists of six steps: the presence of objects, observation, selection, organization, interpretation, and response. The selection, organization, and interpretation is personalized and driven by internal and external factors. For example, the motivation, personality, or experience of an individual plays a role in how they perceive their surroundings, but also a continued repetition of being exposed to an object or a situation can alter their personal perception."

[164]

"Perception to climate variability can be associated with both social-cultural construction and psychological dimensions. From a social cultural dimension perception it is systematically determined by how people who share a common culture interpret a phenomenon that affects their livelihoods and way of life. Psychologically, perceptions may vary from person to person or from group to group. However group differences in perceptions are often larger to result to predictive differences in perception between those groups. Such group dynamics may be due to gender, culture, livelihood activities, geographical locations, income age and level of education. (…) perception may be shaped by social variables that include culture, political and psychological factors since they all determine how people interact with the natural environment, including their livelihood practices."

[165]

4. Prior experience

"The local perspective comprises perceptions of changing weather patterns, related traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and experiences of an extreme precipitation event, which all influence local decision making in natural resource management matters."

[104]

“In this sense, public perception of climate change can be interpreted in a temporal context. (…) In this sense, people’s experiences of weather events over time form their perceptions. Therefore, public perception of climate change may relate to past experiences, current phenomena, and predictions of what will happen and how it will affect their lives.”

[58]

"Perception is described as the process of creating experiential feelings in the real world and highlighting an individualʼs ability to take advantage of his experience of nature and natural variables."

[40]

"The theoretical context of climate change perception is built on observation, personal experience and information received from the surroundings/neighborhood over a period of time."

[166]

"Perceptual geography is characterized by a common idea that experience affects perception, which leads to the conclusion that perceptions vary because individuals’ life experiences differ. Perceptions are understood as points of contact between people and their environment and as a basis for spatial reasoning and decision making. Perception is the process that encodes the objective environment as a subjective one, with the subjective environment and past experiences influencing our behavior and actions". (…) Perceptions also carry culture, and local and traditional knowledge. This means knowledge and practices, developed during centuries and handed down from generation to generation."

[129]

"(…) perception is mediated by and modified through interaction with the environment, historical background, and personal or lived experiences. In the context of climate change, perception is often studied as the process of acquiring information about one’s environment and how it enhances climate awareness."

[167]

"Personal perception is what individuals perceive of the local climate instability, climate change and reactions, based on personal experience and values."

[168]

"Perception is a cognitive process through which humans interpret experiences of the environment and in turn generate response strategies. Schlüter et al. (2017) highlights that in various behavioral models, perception is the initial receptor stage, i.e., “what comes in” and behavior is the final outcome, i.e., “what goes out.”"

[169]

"Local people’s perception of rainfall behavior is an idiosyncratic manifestation of their experience and various environmental aspects."

[170]

"Perceptions are complex and dynamic processes that are tied to social experiences and constitute a bridge between lived contexts and the environment."

[171]

"Slegers (2008) and Ejembi and Alfa (2012) add that human perceptions of environmental changes are informed by experiences of how the changes influence people’s livelihoods."

[172]

5. Observation of climate variables

"(…) perceptions of climate change were defined as people’s perspectives on local-scale changes in the state of weather-related factors, such as increased temperature, prolonged droughts, sea level rise, changes in precipitation patterns and large floods in a given area over the last decade, which if they persist over long periods of time become indications of climate change."

[173]

"Smallholder farmers perceptions of changes in both temperature and rainfall revealed that perceptions are made based on local environment and are not linked to an understanding of climate change and variability in the national or global contexts."

[68]

"The perceptions are usually understood by examining how climate variability (e.g., temperature and precipitation) and climate hazards (e.g.,, drought, storms, and floods) impact Indigenous livelihoods and wellbeing."

[174]

"This paper used perception as a way of everyday and long-term interaction with the farmers to process raw data into actual trends."

[105]

"CCP (climate change perception) can be defined as the stage at which a household perceives changes in climatic conditions."

[175]

"Farmers' perceptions consider farmers' observation of changes in climate and climatic events over a long period. Furthermore, perception refers to the practical knowledge rising from experience and concrete situations; and perception is also linked to local knowledge (…) In this paper, farmers' perception of climate change is defined as the farmers' perception of changes in the climate based on observation and individual experience in relation to the increase, decrease or no change in rainfall, temperature, and extreme weather events over a long period of time."

[176]

"Furthermore, perception is the practical knowledge arising from experiences and concrete situations; and perception is also linked to local knowledge. In this paper, farmers’ perceptions of climate change are defined as the farmers’ understanding of climate change based on observations and individual experiences in relation to the increase, decrease or status quo in rainfall, temperature and extreme weather events over a long period of time."

[177]

"In this study, perception is defined as the way in which climate change and variability is regarded, understood, or interpreted by local people. Perception is of particular interest because of its ability to enhance solutions for risky climate events or otherwise."

[178]

"We differentiate between perceptions of climate change in short and long term. Short-term perception is defined as the perception of extreme weather events in the past year, whereas long-term perceptions are perceived changes in temperature and rainfall over the last 20 years."

[53]

"Climate perception is a process by which individuals sense and realize changes in climate-related stimuli, where stimuli include changes in climate variables and extremes."

[179]

"Perception is the way of processing raw data that a person receives through his/her daily and long-term interaction with immediate environment into meaningful pattern."

[180]

6. Beliefs and interpretation of the environment

"Perception in this content entails the approaches through which the people understand their environment and so can utilize the environmental resources and acquire the capability to adapt to the stimuli that may arise from their interactions."

[181]

"Perception research, according to Kamau, (2010) thus attempts to understand the complex interrelationships between man and the biosphere since man’s actions and decisions concerning the environment are based on objective as well as subjective factors. Perception research is therefore concerned with how individuals or groups perceive their environment and how they react to changes in the environment. Perception is also about the beliefs an individual or a group have about an issue. Perception therefore forms the basis upon which knowledge is derived. (…) Perception therefore helps to determine the social or mental picture of climate change that individuals have and their beliefs about the effects of climate change."

[39]

"Climate change perceptions include the individuals’ views and interpretations of the climate issue based on beliefs, experiences, and understanding."

[182]

"Perception of climate variability is complex, and involves the opinions, beliefs, values and rules people have regarding climate change, which determine the orientation of their actions, in other words, whether they are positive or negative as regards adaptation."

[183]

"Perception refers to the process concerned with the acquisition and interpretation of information from one’s environment."

[184]

"We defined perceptions as the views and interpretations of the climate change issues based on beliefs, experiences and understanding."

[185]

"Human perception of the environment shapes and is shaped by human knowledge of the environment, and involves interpretation of events or information; therefore, any landscape consists of two basic elements, the biophysical components of an area affected by human activities and analyzed through “objective” analysis, and the perception and the value assigned to the environment by people, evaluated through “subjective” analysis."

[186]

7. Uncertainty, threat

"To farmers, climate change is not perceived in terms of major disasters, but rather as increased uncertainty, such as shifts in onset of rain at planting or end of rain at harvest."

[31]

"Perceived probability and perceived severity of a hazard are defined as a person’s expectancy of being exposed to threats and how harmful the consequences of the threat would be if it were to actually occur, respectively."

[132]