Researchers from Texas A & M University compiled results from a survey of over 1000 Americans on how much they knew about global warming and how they felt about it. Specifically, the research team looked at public informedness of the risks of global warming and the public confidence in climate scientists.

The goal of the study, posted in the Risk Analysis Journal, was to test the general assumption that the scientific assessment of the risks is both correct and objective, and that, by implication, the publics perceptions of the risks are both inaccurate and subjective.

According to the survey, more informed respondents and those with high confidence in scientists both feel less personally responsible for global warming and also show less concern for global warming.

From the New York Times article "Global Warming Paradox" by John Tierney............

But why would people who trust scientists not be as concerned when they hear so many scientists warning of the perils of global warming? “Though this effect differs from our expectations,” the researcher write, “it is consistent with the notion that people trust that scientists will be able, somehow, to devise technical solutions to any problems that arise because of global warming and climate change.” Dr. Kellstedt elaborated on this point by telling me:

More broadly, and again quite speculatively, I think that Americans have a great deal of faith in technology and technological solutions to problems. We have seen science do things (like send people into outer space, and to miraculously save them, Apollo-13 style, when things go badly) unimaginable for 99.9% of human history.

You can read about the study in depth right here.