Global climate change has become the preeminent threat to environmental sustainability and human security in the 21st century. Several extreme events have already taken place in Thailand and the rest of the world. Although numerous studies have attempted to illustrate the severity of its impact, the public's understanding still lags far behind. Perhaps this is because the role of affect is often ignored from the scientific point of view? The aim of this study was to understand how climate change is conceptualized by the Thai people and, further, to investigate the influence of psychological factors on their perceptions. Questionnaires were administered to 253 selected households in Village 4 of the Nongbuasala subdistrict, Nakorn Ratchasima, Thailand. Survey analysis showed that there were statistically significant positive correlations found between the perceptions of climate change and five affective components of awareness in general and mitigation, belief in human causes, the feeling of worry, and self-efficacy. On the contrary, the two components of cognitive dissonance and belief in fatalism were found to be significantly negatively correlated with perceptions of climate change (p≤0.05). The multiple regression results also showed that only three components of awareness of climate change in general, worry, and cognitive dissonance can significantly predict the perceptions of climate change (35.4%; p≤0.05). Based on the mental model interview, the vast majority of respondents indicated that they have no idea about the mechanism of global climate change. It seems so far away from their lives. Everyone would die anyway, so they would prefer to do nothing. Further recommendations are provided at the end of the study.