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Belief traps: Tackling the inertia of harmful beliefs. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2203149119. [PMID: 35858376 PMCID: PMC9371746 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2203149119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Beliefs are a key element of healthy cognition. Yet overly rigid beliefs are the basis of societal problems including prejudices, psychiatric disorders, and conspiracy theories. Recent findings from neurobiology, psychiatry, and social sciences show how resilience of beliefs is boosted by stressful conditions. This implies the possibility of self-propelled societal deterioration where rigid beliefs harm the quality of personal and political decisions, evoking more-stressful conditions that further rigidify beliefs. Measures reducing social stress, including economic policies such as universal base income, may be the most effective ways to counteract this vicious cycle. Beliefs can be highly resilient in the sense that they are not easily abandoned in the face of counterevidence. This has the advantage of guiding consistent behavior and judgments but may also have destructive consequences for individuals, nature, and society. For instance, pathological beliefs can sustain psychiatric disorders, the belief that rhinoceros horn is an aphrodisiac may drive a species extinct, beliefs about gender or race may fuel discrimination, and belief in conspiracy theories can undermine democracy. Here, we present a unifying framework of how self-amplifying feedbacks shape the inertia of beliefs on levels ranging from neuronal networks to social systems. Sustained exposure to counterevidence can destabilize rigid beliefs but requires organized rational override as in cognitive behavioral therapy for pathological beliefs or institutional control of discrimination to reduce racial biases. Black-and-white thinking is a major risk factor for the formation of resilient beliefs associated with psychiatric disorders as well as prejudices and conspiracy thinking. Such dichotomous thinking is characteristic of a lack of cognitive resources, which may be exacerbated by stress. This could help explain why conspiracy thinking and psychiatric disorders tend to peak during crises. A corollary is that addressing social factors such as poverty, social cleavage, and lack of education may be the most effective way to prevent the emergence of rigid beliefs, and thus of problems ranging from psychiatric disorders to prejudices, conspiracy theories, and posttruth politics.
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The Ecological Root Metaphor for Higher Education: Searching for Evidence of Conceptual Emergence within University Education Strategies. EDUCATION SCIENCES 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/educsci12080528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Recent research has suggested that Higher Education would benefit from the adoption of institutional models that relinquish ties to industrial thinking and associated metaphors. This long-established, market-led managerial perspective has been colonised by neoliberal values that work against education. A move towards models that have greater resonance with ecological thinking is considered to better align the institutional purpose with tackling the wicked problems of the current century and promoting social justice. This paper considers the role of root metaphors in promoting and maintaining an ecological perspective and asks if there is any evidence for the emergence of ecological thinking in institutional education strategies that might support the development of the imagined future of the ecological university. Qualitative document analysis suggests that the move towards the adoption of the ecological root metaphor will require a punctuated change that is not compatible with the typical incremental nature of change within universities. The incremental adoption of ecological terminology may trigger an increase in pedagogic frailty if the root metaphor remains linked to the neoliberal ideology of consumerism. The construction of strategy documents needs to consider how key concepts are related to each other and how they can portray a coherent image of the institution’s ambitions.
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Abstract
Social norms have long been recognized as an important factor in curtailing antisocial behavior, and stricter prosocial norms are commonly associated with increased prosocial behavior. In this study, we provide evidence that very strict prosocial norms can have a perverse negative relationship with prosocial behavior. In laboratory experiments conducted in 10 countries across 5 continents, we measured the level of honest behavior and elicited injunctive norms of honesty. We find that individuals who hold very strict norms (i.e., those who perceive a small lie to be as socially unacceptable as a large lie) are more likely to lie to the maximal extent possible. This finding is consistent with a simple behavioral rationale. If the perceived norm does not differentiate between the severity of a lie, lying to the full extent is optimal for a norm violator since it maximizes the financial gain, while the perceived costs of the norm violation are unchanged. We show that the relation between very strict prosocial norms and high levels of rule violations generalizes to civic norms related to common moral dilemmas, such as tax evasion, cheating on government benefits, and fare dodging on public transportation. Those with very strict attitudes toward civic norms are more likely to lie to the maximal extent possible. A similar relation holds across countries. Countries with a larger fraction of people with very strict attitudes toward civic norms have a higher society-level prevalence of rule violations.
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Andrighetto G, Vriens E. A research agenda for the study of social norm change. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2022; 380:20200411. [PMID: 35599567 PMCID: PMC9125228 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2020.0411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Social norms have been investigated across many disciplines for many years, but until recently, studies mainly provided indirect, implicit and correlational support for the role of social norms in driving behaviour. To understand how social norms, and in particular social norm change, can generate a large-scale behavioural change to deal with some of the most pressing challenges of our current societies, such as climate change and vaccine hesitancy, we discuss and review several recent advances in social norm research that enable a more precise underpinning of the role of social norms: how to identify their existence, how to establish their causal effect on behaviour and when norm change may pass tipping points. We advocate future research on social norms to study norm change through a mechanism-based approach that integrates experimental and computational methods in theory-driven, empirically calibrated agent-based models. As such, social norm research may move beyond unequivocal praising of social norms as the missing link between self-interested behaviour and observed cooperation or as the explanation for (the lack of) social tipping. It provides the toolkit to understand explicitly where, when and how social norms can be a solution to solve large-scale problems, but also to recognize their limits. This article is part of the theme issue 'Emergent phenomena in complex physical and socio-technical systems: from cells to societies'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Andrighetto
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National research Council of Italy, via Palestro 32, 00185 Rome, Italy
- School of Education, Culture and Communication, Division of Mathematics and Physics, Malardalens University, 883, 721 23 Västerås, Sweden
- Institute for Future Studies, Holländargatan 13, 111 36 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Eva Vriens
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National research Council of Italy, via Palestro 32, 00185 Rome, Italy
- Institute for Future Studies, Holländargatan 13, 111 36 Stockholm, Sweden
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Pitchforth E, Smith E, Taylor J, Davies S, Ali GC, d'Angelo C. Global action on antimicrobial resistance: lessons from the history of climate change and tobacco control policy. BMJ Glob Health 2022; 7:bmjgh-2022-009283. [PMID: 35902204 PMCID: PMC9341211 DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-009283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2022] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Emma Pitchforth
- College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | | | | | - Sally Davies
- United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Care, London, UK
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Pierce JP, Kealey S, Leas EC, Pulvers K, Stone MD, Oratowski J, Brighton E, Villaseñor A, Strong DR. Effect of Graphic Warning Labels on Cigarette Pack-Hiding Behavior Among Smokers: The CASA Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open 2022; 5:e2214242. [PMID: 35653155 PMCID: PMC9164006 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.14242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE The inclusion of graphic warning labels (GWLs) on cigarette packs is recommended for tobacco control but has not yet been implemented in the US. It is unknown whether and to what extent the inclusion of GWLs on cigarette packs affects smokers' willingness to display the packs in public. OBJECTIVE To determine whether the inclusion of GWLs on cigarette packs affects pack-hiding behavior among smokers in social settings. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This community-based randomized clinical trial assessed smokers' real-world experience of using cigarettes repackaged to include GWLs (GWL packs) compared with standard US packs and blank packs over a 3-month intervention period with 12 months of follow-up between September 6, 2016, and December 3, 2019. The study included 357 participants aged 21 to 65 years from San Diego County, California, who smoked 5 or more cigarettes per day, were not actively planning to quit smoking, were not pregnant, and had no unstable medical conditions. Participants purchased and received cigarette packs through the study website. INTERVENTIONS During the 1-month run-in period, participants received their usual US cigarette packs. During the 3-month intervention period, participants were randomized to receive GWL packs (study-manufactured packs with 3 rotating images under license from the Commonwealth of Australia; GWL pack group), blank packs (study-manufactured packs devoid of industry marketing imagery; blank pack group), or standard US packs (US pack group). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Pack hiding was queried daily (with participants reporting behavior within the last 4 hours) and weekly via interactive text messages during the 1-month run-in and intervention periods. Self-reported smoking behavior was biochemically validated. RESULTS Among 357 enrolled participants, the mean (SD) age was 39.3 (11.8) years; 195 participants (54.6%) were female, 40 (11.2%) were Hispanic, 243 (68.1%) were non-Hispanic White, and 74 (20.7%) were of other non-Hispanic races (including American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, Black or African American, or multiracial). A total of 18 987 cigarette packs were purchased and delivered during the run-in and intervention periods. Daily querying showed that the inclusion of GWLs on cigarette packs increased the percentage of smokers who hid their packs at least some of the time from 41.3% (95% CI, 39.6%-43.0%) during the run-in period to 57.1% (95% CI, 55.9%-58.1%) by the end of the intervention period. In the postintervention period, returning to standard US packs reduced pack-hiding behavior to the levels observed during the run-in period. Pack hiding remained at run-in levels for both the blank pack group (35.2%; 95% CI, 33.6%-36.8%) and the US pack group (41.4%; 95% CI, 39.7%-43.1%]) throughout the study. Although even participants in the GWL group with the lowest prestudy tendency to conceal score (ie, 1) had a mean (SE) probability of pack hiding during the intervention of 0.84 (0.02), this group's probability of pack hiding decreased to a mean (SE) of 0.43 (0.03) after intervention. When social reactions to packs were queried at the end of the study, the modal response from participants in the GWL pack group was observers' aversive reactions to the packs, whereas the modal response from participants in the blank pack group was observers' positive interest in the study. Neither smoking prevalence nor consumption differed by group at any point in the study. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this randomized clinical trial, receiving cigarettes in GWL packs vs blank packs increased pack-hiding behavior in social settings, which may be associated with aversive reactions from observers. However, 12-month smoking behavior did not change. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02676193.
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Affiliation(s)
- John P. Pierce
- Cancer Control Program, Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
- Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California, San Diego, San Diego
| | - Sheila Kealey
- Cancer Control Program, Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Eric C. Leas
- Cancer Control Program, Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
- Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California, San Diego, San Diego
| | - Kim Pulvers
- Department of Psychology, California State University, San Marcos
| | - Matthew D. Stone
- Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California, San Diego, San Diego
| | - Jesica Oratowski
- Cancer Control Program, Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Elizabeth Brighton
- Cancer Control Program, Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Adriana Villaseñor
- Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California, San Diego, San Diego
- Department of Epidemiology, Public Health Services, San Diego County, San Diego, California
| | - David R. Strong
- Cancer Control Program, Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
- Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California, San Diego, San Diego
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Du Y, Liu P, Su S, Zhou L. The Sharing of Costs and Benefits of Rural Environmental Pollution Governance in China: A Qualitative Analysis through Guanxi Networks Perspective. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19116587. [PMID: 35682169 PMCID: PMC9180915 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19116587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2022] [Revised: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022]
Abstract
Concern has been expressed in many parts of the world that community relations in rural areas are breaking down, making issues such as rural environmental degradation harder to resolve without external regulation. Guanxi is a specific Chinese idiom for characterizing social networks, as a broad term to represent existing relations among people, which can be loosely translated as ''relationship''. Based on a case study of an underdeveloped mountainous area of Southern China, this paper examined the problem from the perspective of guanxi, and explored the impacts of internal group differentiation catalyzed by pig farming pollution and the subsequent influences on the distribution of costs and benefits of different shareholders. It was found that the guanxi in the village were changed from blood relationship centered to economic interest centered. This disparity exerts a significant influence on the distribution of costs and benefits of pollution control and exacerbates environmental inequalities. This means that pig farmers dominated the narrative of pig farming pollution, while the ordinary villagers chose to suffer without protesting, which hinders the advancement of pollution control, and pig farmers took the benefits of weak pollution control and managed to transfer the external cost to others, while others became direct victims. The paper concludes that the rich become richer and the poor become poorer in both economic and environmental perspectives. It is strongly suggested that guanxi should be integrated into the consideration and decision-making process of rural environmental governance in order to guarantee the efficiency and efficacy of its implementation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanqiang Du
- College of Public Administration, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China;
| | - Pingyang Liu
- Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
| | - Shipeng Su
- School of Public Management, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China;
| | - Linyi Zhou
- School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
- Correspondence:
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Koessler AK, Vorlaufer T, Fiebelkorn F. Social norms and climate-friendly behavior of adolescents. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0266847. [PMID: 35476845 PMCID: PMC9045838 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Adolescents are the decision-makers of the future, and as educational research shows, behaviors, habits, and attitudes established at young age strongly shape behavior in adulthood. Therefore, it is important to understand what factors shape young people’s climate-relevant behavior. In this study, we examine how information about peer behavior affects adolescents’ perception of prevailing social norms and own decision-making. Experimentally, we manipulated whether adolescents received information about other young people’s (lack of) support for climate protection, operationalized as a donation to a CO2 offsetting scheme. We find that empirical expectations shifted for all age groups when the information revealed that peers donated nothing or only small amounts. Donation behavior and the normative assessment, however, changed only in the younger age groups. Our study illustrates the caution that must be exercised when others’ behavior becomes visible or is deliberatively made salient in order to induce behavioral change, especially among young individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Kathrin Koessler
- Institute of Environmental Planning, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany
- Alexander von Humboldt-Professorship of Environmental Economics, Institute of Environmental Systems Research and Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Osnabrück, Germany
- Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Tobias Vorlaufer
- Alexander von Humboldt-Professorship of Environmental Economics, Institute of Environmental Systems Research and Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Osnabrück, Germany
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Extrinsic rewards and crowding-out of prosocial behaviour. Nat Hum Behav 2022; 6:774-781. [PMID: 35301468 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01293-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The law of supply is a fundamental principle of economics and states that any increase in price will increase the quantity supplied. In the case of prosocial behaviour, however, increasing rewards have reduced supply, posing a challenge to standard economic theory. Attempts to study such 'crowding-out' have been limited by their small scale and the inherent difficulties posed by calibration of experimental tests. We analyse a large-scale natural experiment in the environmental domain consisting of 20,370 independent observations derived from aggregation of approximately 27 million individual decisions. We find that aggregate supply of prosocial behaviour is 's-shaped', demonstrating how attempts to increase prosocial behaviour using monetary rewards can be counter-productive. Our study shows that results derived from a small set of data points collected from an underlying s-shaped data-generating process are vulnerable to misinterpretation, and that proxy measures of intrinsic motivation ought to be collected to ensure theoretical advance.
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60
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Yan H, Du W, Feng Z, Yang Y, Xue Z. Exploring adaptive approaches for social-ecological sustainability in the Belt and Road countries: From the perspective of ecological resource flow. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2022; 311:114898. [PMID: 35305368 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2021] [Revised: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The countries along the Belt and Road (B&R) are characterized by fragile ecosystems and underdevelopment economy. International trade usually transferred the eco-environmental negative impacts to developing countries. How to avoid the conflict between economic development and eco-environmental protection is the primary concern of building the Green Silk Road. To discover the adaptive strategies for ensuring the sustainability of the social-ecosystem in countries along the B&R, this study analyzes the supply-consumption relationship of ecological resources by simulating the flow of net primary productivity between the ecosystem and the social system. The results show that: (1) The flow of ecological resources between agricultural and husbandry systems have effectively alleviated the local ecological pressure caused by animal husbandry in countries along the B&R. Animal husbandry in developed countries economize the local ecological resources by importing feed, while mitigating the grazing pressure by utilizing the local crop residues in underdeveloped agricultural countries. (2) International trade not only enables countries with insufficient ecological resources to meet their demands by importing ecological products and thus alleviate ecosystem pressure, but also promotes countries with sufficient ecological resources to transform their resource advantages into economic advantages by exporting without at the expense of ecological sustainability. (3) For underdeveloped countries, the dependence of economic development on ecological resources is at the expense of the living demands of residents, only if the economy could have leap-forward improvement the allocation of ecological resources within the social system would be inclined to living demands. These adaptive approaches not only provide the evidences of ecological-social sustainable development by promoting the reasonable flow and allocation of ecological resources, but also imply the necessary assistance for the underdeveloped countries to guarantee the basic human well-being in economic development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huimin Yan
- Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Wenpeng Du
- Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
| | - Zhiming Feng
- Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Yanzhao Yang
- Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Zhichao Xue
- School of International Economics and Management, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, 100048, China
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Fesenfeld L, Rudolph L, Bernauer T. Policy framing, design and feedback can increase public support for costly food waste regulation. NATURE FOOD 2022; 3:227-235. [PMID: 37117636 DOI: 10.1038/s43016-022-00460-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 04/30/2023]
Abstract
Stricter regulation of food waste reduction is widely presumed to increase food prices, which could render its implementation politically unfeasible. Here we empirically tested whether specific policy framing, design and feedback could help ensure public support despite potential food price increases. We used survey experiments with 3,329 citizens from a high-income country, Switzerland. A combined framing and conjoint experiment shows that messages emphasizing national or international social norms in favour of reducing food waste (policy framing) can increase public support for more ambitious reduction targets. Also, most citizens support food waste regulation even if this leads to substantial increases in food prices, but only if such policies set stringent reduction targets and are transparently monitored (policy design). Finally, a vignette experiment reveals that voluntary industry initiatives do not crowd out individuals' support for stricter governmental regulation, but potentially crowd in support if industry initiatives are unambitious (policy feedback).
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas Fesenfeld
- Institute of Political Science and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Institute of Science, Technology and Policy, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Lukas Rudolph
- Institute of Science, Technology and Policy, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
- Geschwister Scholl Institute of Political Science, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
| | - Thomas Bernauer
- Institute of Science, Technology and Policy, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
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The (Un)availability of Human Activities for Social Intervention: Reflecting on Social Mechanisms in Technology Assessment and Sustainable Development Research. SUSTAINABILITY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/su14031394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
This article considers human activities as a central but deeply problematic aspect of sustainability. We argue that radical reduction in human activities could be an important lever to counter problems such as climate change. However, instead of pursuing a normative hypothesis that human activities ought to be subjected to specific kinds of sustainability measures, we pursue the hypothesis that human activities are largely unavailable for sustainability measures, because as an aggregated global phenomenon they are subject to social mechanisms, which accelerate rather than slow down activities. While social mechanisms are human inventions that render (inter)actions unlikely likely in the first place, they have evolved towards structural and historical embeddedness, which makes them unavailable for any instrumentalized design. The question is, how can we, experts in technology assessment, recognize social mechanisms in strategies to reduce human activities and to achieve a transformative impact on systemic reproduction. Our discussion centers on technical, psychological, and communicative social mechanisms of reproduction, and experiments with ideas of how to utilize social mechanisms and the (un)availability of human activities in technology assessment and sustainable development research.
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63
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Naito R, Zhao J, Chan KMA. An integrative framework for transformative social change: a case in global wildlife trade. SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE 2022; 17:171-189. [PMID: 35075372 PMCID: PMC8769780 DOI: 10.1007/s11625-021-01081-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/28/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
To achieve a sustainable future, it is imperative to transform human actions collectively and underlying social structures. Decades of research in social sciences have offered complementary insights into how such transformations might occur. However, these insights largely remain disjunct and of limited scope, such that strategies for solving global environmental challenges remain elusive. There is a need to integrate approaches focusing on individuals and social structures to understand how individual actions influence and are in turn influenced by social structures and norms. In this paper, we synthesize a range of insights across different schools of thought and integrate them in a novel framework for transformative social change. Our framework explains the relationships among individual behaviors, collective actions, and social structures and helps change agents guide societal transitions toward environmental sustainability. We apply this framework to the global wildlife trade-which presents several distinct challenges of human actions, especially amidst the Covid-19 pandemic-and identify pathways toward transformative change. One key distinction we make is between different individual actions that comprise the practice itself (e.g., buying wildlife products; private action) and those that push for a broader system change in practice (e.g., signaling (dis)approval for wildlife consumption; social-signaling action, and campaigning for policies that end unsustainable wildlife trade; system-changing action). In general, transformative change will require an integrative approach that includes both structural reforms and all three classes of individual action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rumi Naito
- University of British Columbia, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada
| | - Jiaying Zhao
- University of British Columbia, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC Canada
| | - Kai M. A. Chan
- University of British Columbia, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada
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Welsch H. What shapes cognitions of climate change in Europe? Ideology, morality, and the role of educational attainment. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND SCIENCES 2022; 12:386-395. [PMID: 35036279 PMCID: PMC8753329 DOI: 10.1007/s13412-021-00745-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/27/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Cognitions about climate change are of critical importance for climate change mitigation as they influence climate-relevant behaviors and the support of climate policy. Using about 30,000 observations from a large-scale representative survey from 23 European countries, this study provides two major findings. First, important policy-relevant climate change cognitions do not only differ by individuals' ideological identity (left versus right) but-independently-by their moral identity, that is, the pattern of endorsement of the moral foundations: Care, Fairness, Liberty, Loyalty, Authority, and Purity/Sanctity. In particular, controlling for ideological position, the cognitions that the world climate is changing, that climate change is human-made, and that climate change impacts are bad are significantly negatively related to stronger endorsement of the Authority and Sanctity foundations while being positively related to stronger endorsement of the Loyalty and Fairness foundations. Second, not only the ideology-related cognitive divide but the morality-related divide is larger in individuals with tertiary education, consistent with the idea that individuals with greater science literacy and numeracy use these skills to adjust their cognitions to their group identity. The finding that better education may amplify rather than attenuate the ideology and morality dependence of decision-relevant climate change cognitions sheds doubt on the proposition that better education unambiguously furthers the prospects for climate change mitigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heinz Welsch
- Department of Economics, University of Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany
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65
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Responsible Consumer Behavior: Driving Factors of Pro-Environmental Behavior toward Post-Consumption Plastic Packaging. SUSTAINABILITY 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/su14010425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
This quantitative investigation aims to test the model of responsible consumption behavior (RCB). The specific purpose is to examine the relationship of pro-environmental behavior, attitudes, norms, intention, and awareness using the theory of planned behavior as an underlying theoretical framework. A multistage sampling technique was used to select people (n = 665). Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire from sample respondents. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM)–partial least square (PLS). The findings revealed that attitudes, norms, and awareness all have a role in predicting the intention to engage in post-consumer plastic packaging activity. This finding supports the theory of planned behavior, and it can be extended to explain environmental behavior by adding a reasonable variable.
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Segregation and clustering of preferences erode socially beneficial coordination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2102153118. [PMID: 34876514 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2102153118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Polarization on various issues has increased in many Western democracies over the last decades, leading to divergent beliefs, preferences, and behaviors within societies. We develop a model to investigate the effects of polarization on the likelihood that a society will coordinate on a welfare-improving action in a context in which collective benefits are acquired only if enough individuals take that action. We examine the impacts of different manifestations of polarization: heterogeneity of preferences, segregation of the social network, and the interaction between the two. In this context, heterogeneity captures differential perceived benefits from coordinating, which can lead to different intentions and sensitivity regarding the intentions of others. Segregation of the social network can create a bottleneck in information flows about others' preferences, as individuals may base their decisions only on their close neighbors. Additionally, heterogeneous preferences can be evenly distributed in the population or clustered in the local network, respectively reflecting or systematically departing from the views of the broader society. The model predicts that heterogeneity of preferences alone is innocuous and it can even be beneficial, while segregation can hamper coordination, mainly when local networks distort the distribution of valuations. We base these results on a multimethod approach including an online group experiment with 750 individuals. We randomize the range of valuations associated with different choice options and the information respondents have about others. The experimental results reinforce the idea that, even in a situation in which all could stand to gain from coordination, polarization can impede social progress.
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67
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Constantino SM, Weber EU. Decision-making under the deep uncertainty of climate change: The psychological and political agency of narratives. Curr Opin Psychol 2021; 42:151-159. [PMID: 34861621 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2021] [Revised: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/17/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Fossil fuel-based development has resulted in climate change and biodiversity loss, threatening the ability of the biosphere to sustain civilization. However, despite the transformative change needed to address climate change, the complexity inherent in dynamic, coupled social-ecological systems can create challenges that stifle mitigation and adaptation efforts. For example, increasing urbanization can mask information about the local and distal ecological impacts of unsustainable consumption patterns. Diverse actors, powerful vested interests in the status quo, and differential impacts of climate change create inevitable tradeoffs and conflicts among stakeholders. The multitude of plausible future scenarios and their dependence on actions taken today create challenges for planning, governance, and collective action. While there is a long history in psychology and economics of studying decision-making under uncertainty, we argue that the deep uncertainty inherent in climate change cannot be easily understood using these same paradigms. In this context, narratives-stories about how the world works, what the future will look like, and our own role in this process-can extend cognition, creating shared knowledge across space and time, and shape our beliefs, values and actions in the face of tremendous uncertainty. Narratives thus have political and psychological agency and can reinforce or challenge existing power relations and trajectories. Here, we review some of this literature in the context of climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara M Constantino
- School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA; Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA; Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Massachusetts, USA; School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, Massachusetts, USA.
| | - Elke U Weber
- School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA; Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA; Department of Psychology, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA.
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68
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Manlosa AO, Hornidge AK, Schlüter A. Institutions and institutional changes: aquatic food production in Central Luzon, Philippines. REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE 2021; 21:127. [PMID: 34873393 PMCID: PMC8637508 DOI: 10.1007/s10113-021-01853-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 10/16/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Aquaculture is the most rapidly growing food production sector globally. In certain coastal social-ecological systems, this has resulted in significant changes and sustainability challenges. In particular, coastal environments which used to support only capture fisheries are becoming sites for brackish water aquaculture production; this impacts the sustainability of aquatic food production. Sustainability challenges associated with aquaculture expansion and intensification necessitate a contextually rooted understanding of institutions and institutional changes which can be used as an informed basis for leveraging institutions to achieve desirable sustainability outcomes in the aquatic food sector. This research used a qualitative empirical case study involving in-depth interviews, participant observation, and analysis of institutional documents in the region of Central Luzon, Philippines. It applied the inter-institutional systems concept which considers multiple institutions with distinct but linked purposes and functions in the societal spheres of state, market, and civil society. The study found that aquaculture emerged as an important livelihood because of rice farmers' need to adapt to saltwater intrusion into what were formerly rice farms. It grew into an industry due to developments in the availability and accessibility of inputs such as fingerlings and feeds. This process was also driven by the high demand and high profitability of fish farming at the time. Regulatory institutions have not adequately adapted to protect the environment. Market institutions adapted but the changes mostly benefited consignacions (middlemen) and large-scale players. However, organised groups of collaborating smallholder fishers and fish farmers are helping to address the disadvantages they face. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10113-021-01853-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aisa O. Manlosa
- Social Sciences Department, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Fahrenheitstraße 8, 28359 Bremen, Germany
| | - Anna-Katharina Hornidge
- German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Tulpenfeld 6, 53113 Bonn, Germany
- Institute of Political Sciences and Sociology, University of Bonn, Regina-Pacis-Weg 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany
| | - Achim Schlüter
- Social Sciences Department, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Fahrenheitstraße 8, 28359 Bremen, Germany
- Department of Business and Economics, Jacobs University, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany
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69
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Have behavioral sciences delivered on their promise to influence environmental policy and conservation practice? Curr Opin Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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70
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Sanga U, Park H, Wagner CH, Shah SH, Ligmann-Zielinska A. How do farmers adapt to agricultural risks in northern India? An agent-based exploration of alternate theories of decision-making. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2021; 298:113353. [PMID: 34352484 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Revised: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 07/18/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Agricultural decision-making processes occur in complex and dynamic environments and are highly contextual. Despite evidence to the contrary, utility maximization is often the implicit theoretical assumption underlying agricultural decision-making processes. This study undertakes an exploratory approach to test alternative theories of human decision-making on the process of agricultural adaptation of farmers in India by synthesizing multiple sources of social and environmental data. We developed an empirical agent-based model (ABM) to simulate past adoption decisions of six agricultural adaptation strategies of 959 farmers in northern India. The model assessed the fit of four major decision-making rules - utility maximization, self-satisficing, social norms, and random choice for farmers differentiated by farm size. Scenario analysis was conducted to test whether (and which) alternative decision-making rules offered a better explanation of the adoption of (which) adaptation strategies. Results demonstrated that the utility-maximizing decision rule had a higher fit for productivity-enhancing adaptation strategies, such as adopting high yield varieties and enhanced fertilizer use, with model performance increasing, generally, with farm size. The adoption of climate tolerant varieties by farmers was most closely guided by self-satisficing and social norms decision-rules, with the model performance, under both scenarios, highest for marginal landholders. Marginal farmers are more likely to use these heuristics to adopt climate tolerant varieties as their decisions may not necessarily be geared towards increasing profit, unlike larger farmers. Social norms had a higher fit for the adoption of climate-related strategies, including enhanced irrigation, with model fit increasing, generally, with farm size. Agricultural policy and extension efforts that incorporate the varied motivations and heuristics of agricultural decision-making, rather than assuming adaptation as a utility maximization exercise, can better design, develop, and disseminate solutions to support the adaptive capacity of farmers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Udita Sanga
- Department of Community Sustainability, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Hogeun Park
- School of Planning, Design, and Construction, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Courtney Hammond Wagner
- Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA; Water in the West, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, USA
| | - Sameer H Shah
- Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Arika Ligmann-Zielinska
- Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
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71
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Schimmelpfennig R, Vogt S, Ehret S, Efferson C. Promotion of behavioural change for health in a heterogeneous population. Bull World Health Organ 2021; 99:819-827. [PMID: 34737474 PMCID: PMC8542272 DOI: 10.2471/blt.20.285227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 07/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Public health policy often involves implementing cost-efficient, large-scale interventions. When mandating or forbidding a specific behaviour is not permissible, public health professionals may draw on behaviour change interventions to achieve socially beneficial policy objectives. Interventions can have two main effects: (i) a direct effect on people initially targeted by the intervention; and (ii) an indirect effect mediated by social influence and by the observation of other people's behaviour. However, people's attitudes and beliefs can differ markedly throughout the population, with the result that these two effects can interact to produce unexpected, unhelpful and counterintuitive consequences. Public health professionals need to understand this interaction better. This paper illustrates the key principles of this interaction by examining two important areas of public health policy: tobacco smoking and vaccination. The example of antismoking campaigns shows when and how public health professionals can amplify the effects of a behaviour change intervention by taking advantage of the indirect pathway. The example of vaccination campaigns illustrates how underlying incentive structures, particularly anticoordination incentives, can interfere with the indirect effect of an intervention and stall efforts to scale up its implementation. Recommendations are presented on how public health professionals can maximize the total effect of behaviour change interventions in heterogeneous populations based on these concepts and examples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin Schimmelpfennig
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Internef, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sonja Vogt
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Internef, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sönke Ehret
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Internef, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Charles Efferson
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Internef, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
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72
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Donges JF, Lochner JH, Kitzmann NH, Heitzig J, Lehmann S, Wiedermann M, Vollmer J. Dose-response functions and surrogate models for exploring social contagion in the Copenhagen Networks Study. THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL. SPECIAL TOPICS 2021; 230:3311-3334. [PMID: 34611486 PMCID: PMC8484857 DOI: 10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00279-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Spreading dynamics and complex contagion processes on networks are important mechanisms underlying the emergence of critical transitions, tipping points and other non-linear phenomena in complex human and natural systems. Increasing amounts of temporal network data are now becoming available to study such spreading processes of behaviours, opinions, ideas, diseases and innovations to test hypotheses regarding their specific properties. To this end, we here present a methodology based on dose-response functions and hypothesis testing using surrogate data models that randomise most aspects of the empirical data while conserving certain structures relevant to contagion, group or homophily dynamics. We demonstrate this methodology for synthetic temporal network data of spreading processes generated by the adaptive voter model. Furthermore, we apply it to empirical temporal network data from the Copenhagen Networks Study. This data set provides a physically-close-contact network between several hundreds of university students participating in the study over the course of 3 months. We study the potential spreading dynamics of the health-related behaviour "regularly going to the fitness studio" on this network. Based on a hierarchy of surrogate data models, we find that our method neither provides significant evidence for an influence of a dose-response-type network spreading process in this data set, nor significant evidence for homophily. The empirical dynamics in exercise behaviour are likely better described by individual features such as the disposition towards the behaviour, and the persistence to maintain it, as well as external influences affecting the whole group, and the non-trivial network structure. The proposed methodology is generic and promising also for applications to other temporal network data sets and traits of interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan F. Donges
- Earth System Analysis and Complexity Science, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association, Potsdam, Germany
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jakob H. Lochner
- Earth System Analysis and Complexity Science, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association, Potsdam, Germany
- Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Niklas H. Kitzmann
- Earth System Analysis and Complexity Science, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association, Potsdam, Germany
- Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Jobst Heitzig
- Earth System Analysis and Complexity Science, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Sune Lehmann
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
- Center for Social Data Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Marc Wiedermann
- Earth System Analysis and Complexity Science, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association, Potsdam, Germany
- Robert Koch-Institut, Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jürgen Vollmer
- Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
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73
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Brooks JR, Ebi KL. Climate Change Warning Labels on Gas Pumps: The Role of Public Opinion Formation in Climate Change Mitigation Policies. GLOBAL CHALLENGES (HOBOKEN, NJ) 2021; 5:2000086. [PMID: 34631148 PMCID: PMC8495559 DOI: 10.1002/gch2.202000086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2020] [Revised: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
This article analyzes City of Cambridge, Massachusetts legislation that requires all gasoline and diesel pumps to display a consumer warning label outlining the climate change and public health impacts from fuel combustion. This review of empirical and theoretical scholarship on efficacy of carbon label programs and health warning labels suggests government-sponsored "warming labels" may increase self-efficacy beliefs. The analysis reveals warming labels may activate extant climate concern norms and shift public opinion toward long term support of sustainable transportation emissions policies and practices.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kristie L. Ebi
- University of Washington4225 Roosevelt Way NE #100SeattleWA98105USA
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74
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Bolderdijk JW, Cornelissen G. "How do you know someone's vegan?" They won't always tell you. An empirical test of the do-gooder's dilemma. Appetite 2021; 168:105719. [PMID: 34597742 DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2020] [Revised: 05/05/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
A growing number of people (privately) endorse the benefits associated with adopting a meat-free diet. Yet, the societal transition to a more plant-based diet is taking place rather slowly. Why do people's private meat-free preferences fail to materialize in their daily food choices? One potential explanation is that vegetarians and vegans, at this time still a minority group, are worried about eliciting stigma and thus may not feel comfortable expressing their meat-free preferences during social interactions with meat-eaters. Their self-silencing could reinforce the notion that adopting a meat-free diet is nothing more than a niche phenomenon, and in turn discourage others from eliminating meat from their diet as well, thus perpetuating the non-vegetarian norm. Adapting the classic conformity paradigm by Asch, we found that vegetarian and vegan participants were hesitant to express their meat-free preferences. Vegan and vegetarian participants avoided signing a petition that promoted veg*an food options after a majority of confederates had declined to do so. When the experimenter endorsed veg*an food options, however, participants went against the majority, and did sign the petition. Together, these findings point to a pivotal role for exemplars and institutions: by signaling that there are allies who endorse a meat-free diet, they may liberate vegetarians and vegans to publicly express their deviant, meat-free preferences, and thus speed up wider societal change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Willem Bolderdijk
- Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Groningen, Nettelbosje 2, 9747 AE, Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Gert Cornelissen
- Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, C. Ramon Trias Fargas 25-27, 08005, Barcelona, Spain; UPF Barcelona School of Management, Barcelona, Spain.
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75
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Szekely A, Lipari F, Antonioni A, Paolucci M, Sánchez A, Tummolini L, Andrighetto G. Evidence from a long-term experiment that collective risks change social norms and promote cooperation. Nat Commun 2021; 12:5452. [PMID: 34526490 PMCID: PMC8443614 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25734-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Social norms can help solve pressing societal challenges, from mitigating climate change to reducing the spread of infectious diseases. Despite their relevance, how norms shape cooperation among strangers remains insufficiently understood. Influential theories also suggest that the level of threat faced by different societies plays a key role in the strength of the norms that cultures evolve. Still little causal evidence has been collected. Here we deal with this dual challenge using a 30-day collective-risk social dilemma experiment to measure norm change in a controlled setting. We ask whether a looming risk of collective loss increases the strength of cooperative social norms that may avert it. We find that social norms predict cooperation, causally affect behavior, and that higher risk leads to stronger social norms that are more resistant to erosion when the risk changes. Taken together, our results demonstrate the causal effect of social norms in promoting cooperation and their role in making behavior resilient in the face of exogenous change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aron Szekely
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy.
- Institute for Futures Studies, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy.
| | - Francesca Lipari
- Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC), Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, Spain
| | - Alberto Antonioni
- Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC), Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, Spain
| | - Mario Paolucci
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy
- Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies, Italian, National Research Council, Rome, Italy
| | - Angel Sánchez
- Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC), Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, Spain
- Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos (BIFI), Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
- Unidad Mixta Interdisciplinar de Comportamiento y Complejidad Social (UMICCS), UC3M-UV-UZ, Leganés, Spain
- UC3M-Santander Big Data Institute (IBiDat), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Getafe, Spain
| | - Luca Tummolini
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy
- Institute for Futures Studies, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Giulia Andrighetto
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy
- Institute for Futures Studies, Stockholm, Sweden
- Malardalens University, Vasteras, Sweden
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76
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Abstract
The Earth’s climate is changing; ice sheets and glaciers are melting and coastal hazards and sea level are rising in response. With a total population of over 300 million people situated on coasts, including 20 of the planet’s 33 megacities (over 10 million people), low-lying coastal areas represent one of the most vulnerable areas to the impacts of climate change. Many of the largest cities along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. are already experiencing frequent high tide flooding, and these events will increase in frequency, depth, duration and extent as sea levels continue to rise at an accelerating rate throughout the 21st century and beyond. Cities in southeast Asia and islands in the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean are also suffering the effects of extreme weather events combined with other factors that increase coastal risk. While short-term extreme events such as hurricanes, El Niños and severe storms come and go and will be more damaging in the short term, sea-level rise is a long-term permanent change of state. However, the effects of sea-level rise are compounded with other hazards, such as increased wave action or a loss of ecosystems. As sea-level rise could lead to the displacement of hundreds of millions of people, this may be one of the greatest challenges that human civilization has ever faced, with associated inundation of major cities, loss of coastal infrastructure, increased saltwater intrusion and damage to coastal aquifers among many other global impacts, as well as geopolitical and legal implications. While there are several short-term responses or adaptation options, we need to begin to think longer term for both public infrastructure and private development. This article provides an overview of the status on adaptation to climate change in coastal zones.
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77
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Muscat A, de Olde EM, Ripoll-Bosch R, Van Zanten HHE, Metze TAP, Termeer CJAM, van Ittersum MK, de Boer IJM. Principles, drivers and opportunities of a circular bioeconomy. NATURE FOOD 2021; 2:561-566. [PMID: 37118163 DOI: 10.1038/s43016-021-00340-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 07/09/2021] [Indexed: 04/30/2023]
Abstract
A circular, bio-based economy could provide the pathway to a sustainable future. Here we present five ecological principles to guide biomass use towards a circular bioeconomy: safeguarding and regenerating the health of our (agro)ecosystems; avoiding non-essential products and the waste of essential ones; prioritizing biomass streams for basic human needs; utilizing and recycling by-products of (agro)ecosystems; and using renewable energy while minimizing overall energy use. Implementing these principles calls for a transformation of our current economic system, including fundamental changes to policies, technologies, organizations, social behaviour and markets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail Muscat
- Animal Production Systems group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Evelien M de Olde
- Animal Production Systems group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Raimon Ripoll-Bosch
- Animal Production Systems group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Hannah H E Van Zanten
- Farming Systems Ecology group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Tamara A P Metze
- Public Administration and Policy group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Catrien J A M Termeer
- Public Administration and Policy group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Martin K van Ittersum
- Plant Production Systems group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Imke J M de Boer
- Animal Production Systems group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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78
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Jager W. Using agent-based modelling to explore behavioural dynamics affecting our climate. Curr Opin Psychol 2021; 42:133-139. [PMID: 34371227 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.06.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2020] [Revised: 06/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
This article introduces the methodology of agent-based modelling (ABM), explains how it contributes to understanding the dynamics of climate-relevant behaviour and discusses the challenges to implementing behavioural theory in ABMs. Next, an overview will be given on recent advances in environmentally relevant ABMs. The conclusions address the future of the ABM tool in the context of environmentally relevant behaviour in research and education.
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79
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Foad CMG, Whitmarsh L, Hanel PHP, Haddock G. The limitations of polling data in understanding public support for COVID-19 lockdown policies. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:210678. [PMID: 34258021 PMCID: PMC8261221 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Opinion polls regarding policies designed to tackle COVID-19 have shown public support has remained high throughout the first year of the pandemic in most places around the world. However, there is a risk that headline support over-simplifies people's views. We carried out a two-wave survey with six-month interval on a public sample (N = 212) in the UK, examining the factors that underpin lockdown policy support. We find that the majority of people support most public health measures introduced, but that they also see significant side effects of these policies, and that they consider many of these side effects as unacceptable in a cost-benefit analysis. We also find that people judged the threat of COVID-19 via the magnitude of the policy response, and that they do not use their perception of the personal threat to themselves or close others to guide their support for policy. Polling data only offer one simple perspective and do not illustrate the ambivalence many people feel around lockdown policies. There is also a meaningful risk of public opinion and government policy forming a symbiotic relationship, which impacts upon how effectively such policies are implemented both now, and in relation to future threats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin M. G. Foad
- Department of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
| | | | - Paul H. P. Hanel
- Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex, UK
| | - Geoffrey Haddock
- Department of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
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80
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Abstract
Balancing the social, economic and environmental priorities for public health is at the core of the United Nations (UN) approaches to sustainable development, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The four dimensions of sustainable diets are often presented as health, society, economics, and the environment. Although sustainable diet research has focused on health and the environment, the social and economic dimensions of sustainable diets and food systems should not be forgotten. Some research priorities and sociocultural indicators for sustainable healthy diets and food systems are outlined in this report. The present goal is to improve integration of the social dimension into research on food and nutrition security.
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81
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Nolan JM. Social norm interventions as a tool for pro-climate change. Curr Opin Psychol 2021; 42:120-125. [PMID: 34280794 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2021] [Revised: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Social norms interventions (SNIs) are a robust and widely used tool for addressing climate change. SNIs targeting second-order climate beliefs can be used to correct normative misperceptions, close the partisan gap, and increase support for climate policy. They can also be harnessed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by targeting behaviors such as home energy conservation. A large body of current research supports the effectiveness of the SNI and provides guidance for how to optimize outreach and promote climate-relevant behaviors that are currently performed by only a minority of people.
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82
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Mostovoy N, Carasso Romano GH, Rabinowitz D, Soroker S, Carmi N. The municipal council, my neighbors and me: Social environmental influences in the city. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2021; 288:112393. [PMID: 33831639 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2021] [Revised: 03/06/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
This study seeks to examine the extent to which the level of municipal environmental management affects and complies with the behavioral norms of urban communities (city norms), and to what extent these affect environmental behavior at the individual level. We used a two-step, mixed-methods approach: a quantitative study of a representative sample of the urban sector (n = 1000) in Israel, followed by a qualitative in-depth interview process (n = 20). Municipal environmental management was found to be strongly correlated with city norms. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the residents' environmental behavior was strongly influenced solely by city norms (and not by the municipal council's conduct). However, our interviews revealed that residents explicitly attributed their pro- or anti-environmental behavior almost solely to the municipal council's conduct (and not to city norms). These relative contributions of municipal environmental management versus city norms on environmental behavior varied across environmental domains. In the Discussion section, we offer an explanation to the seemingly contradictory findings, and offer specific recommendations for several actions and initiatives that local authorities can adopt to promote pro-environmental behavior among its residents' and thus reduce the ecological footprint of the city as a whole.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noga Mostovoy
- Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
| | | | - Dan Rabinowitz
- Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
| | - Sharon Soroker
- Dept. of Economics and Management, Tel-Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee, Israel.
| | - Nurit Carmi
- Environment and Society Program, Tel-Hai Academic College, Upper-Galilee, Israel.
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83
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Arani BMS, Carpenter SR, Lahti L, van Nes EH, Scheffer M. Exit time as a measure of ecological resilience. Science 2021; 372:372/6547/eaay4895. [PMID: 34112667 DOI: 10.1126/science.aay4895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2019] [Revised: 08/20/2020] [Accepted: 04/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Ecological resilience is the magnitude of the largest perturbation from which a system can still recover to its original state. However, a transition into another state may often be invoked by a series of minor synergistic perturbations rather than a single big one. We show how resilience can be estimated in terms of average life expectancy, accounting for this natural regime of variability. We use time series to fit a model that captures the stochastic as well as the deterministic components. The model is then used to estimate the mean exit time from the basin of attraction. This approach offers a fresh angle to anticipating the chance of a critical transition at a time when high-resolution time series are becoming increasingly available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Babak M S Arani
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands.,Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, Netherlands
| | | | - Leo Lahti
- Department of Computing, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Egbert H van Nes
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands.
| | - Marten Scheffer
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands.
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84
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85
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Booth H, Arlidge WNS, Squires D, Milner-Gulland EJ. Bycatch levies could reconcile trade-offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservation. Nat Ecol Evol 2021; 5:715-725. [PMID: 33972736 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01444-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/14/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Economic activities in the ocean (that is, the 'blue economy') provide value to society, yet also jeopardize marine ecosystems. For example, fisheries are an essential source of income and food security for billions of people, yet bycatch poses a major threat to marine biodiversity, creating trade-offs between economic growth and biodiversity conservation. This Perspective explores bycatch levies as a market-based instrument for reconciling these trade-offs. We outline the theory and practice of bycatch levies to demonstrate how they could incentivize bycatch prevention and raise revenue for compensatory conservation, provided they are well designed, as part of a policy mix for sustainable and equitable ocean governance. We then explore ways forward for mainstreaming bycatch levies into the blue economy. While compensatory bycatch mitigation has been controversial, increasing adoption of net outcome approaches to biodiversity conservation suggests they could become mainstreamed within the next decade. Bycatch levies could raise billions of dollars towards closing global biodiversity financing gaps, delivering net outcomes for biodiversity under the United Nations Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework while enabling blue growth, and moving towards win-wins for economic welfare and biodiversity conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hollie Booth
- The Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICCS), Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. .,Wildlife Conservation Society, New York City, NY, USA.
| | - William N S Arlidge
- The Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICCS), Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Faculty of Life Sciences, Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Dale Squires
- Department of Economics, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.,Southwest Fisheries Science Centre, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - E J Milner-Gulland
- The Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICCS), Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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86
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Byerly H, Kross SM, Niles MT, Fisher B. Applications of behavioral science to biodiversity management in agricultural landscapes: conceptual mapping and a California case study. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 2021; 193:270. [PMID: 33988766 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-020-08815-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2019] [Accepted: 12/16/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The plot-level decisions of land managers (i.e., farmers, ranchers, and forest owners) influence landscape-scale environmental outcomes for biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. The impacts of their decisions often develop in complex, non-additive ways that unfold over time and space. Behavioral science offers insights into ways decision-makers manage complexity, uncertainty, choice over time, and social influence. We review such insights to understand the plot-level conservation actions of farmers that impact biodiversity. To make these connections concrete, we provide a case study of the decision to adopt biodiversity management practices in the heavily cultivated region of the Central Valley, California, USA. We use results from a survey of 122 farmers in the region to test whether adoption is related to farm tenure arrangements or peer influence. We find farmers who are more sensitive to peer influence are three times more likely to adopt practices that support biodiversity, including wildflowers, native grasses, cover crops, hedgerows, and wetlands. This relationship could have important implications for how plot-level decisions aggregate to landscape-scale outcomes. Finally, we suggest priorities for future research and program design to integrate behavioral science into biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. By considering land managers' plot-level conservation decisions with the lens of behavioral science, we identify barriers and opportunities to promote environmental benefits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hilary Byerly
- Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA.
| | - Sara M Kross
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Meredith T Niles
- Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA
- Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences & Food Systems Program, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA
| | - Brendan Fisher
- Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA
- Environmental Program, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA
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87
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Iwane MA, Leong KM, Vaughan M, Oleson KLL. When a Shark Is More Than a Shark: A Sociopolitical Problem-Solving Approach to Fisher-Shark Interactions. FRONTIERS IN CONSERVATION SCIENCE 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fcosc.2021.669105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Fisheries are often conceptualized through a biophysical lens resulting in management approaches that fail to account for stakeholder conflicts and sociopolitical inequities. Using a fisher engagement approach, this case study examines the sociopolitical dimensions of fisher-shark interactions in pursuit of more complete problem definitions and effective solutions. Through interviews with Hawai‘i small boat fishers and observations of a community-based shark-tagging project, we examined fisher perspective, socioeconomic landscapes, stakeholder relationships, and power dynamics. We interpreted these data using an adapted framework that mobilizes concepts from conflict theory and problem definition. We discovered that economic cost, sharks as fishing competitors, and factors of fishers' on-the-water decisions define the fisher-shark interaction problem at the dispute level. Deeper conflicts include fishers' poor perceptions of management legitimacy, degraded relationships with researchers and managers, threatened fisher identities, and poor enforcement capacity. Together, dispute and deeper conflicts limit the effectiveness of singular approaches (e.g., regulation) to mitigate fisher-shark interactions and necessitate multi-pronged solutions with substance-, process-, and relationships-based components. This case study documented one such multi-pronged strategy employing fisher-researcher knowledge exchange, collaborative research, and means of more transparent communication. This strategy has the potential to affect both dispute- and deeper-level outcomes by advancing collective understanding of sharks and shark-handling tools, fisher behavior, and reducing shark mortality. Thus, a sociopolitical approach to problem-solving may yield greater collective benefits to fisheries stakeholders and sharks, with broader implications for the systemic management of complex human and biophysical ecosystem components.
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88
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Abstract
Social tipping—instances of sudden change that upend social order—is rarely anticipated and usually understood only in hindsight. The ability to predict when societies will reach a tipping point has significant implications for welfare, especially when social norms are detrimental. In a large-scale laboratory experiment, we identify a model that accurately predicts social tipping and use it to address a long-standing puzzle: Why do norms sometimes persist when they are detrimental to social welfare? We show that beneficial norm change is often hindered by a desire to avoid the costs associated with transitioning to a new norm. We find that policies that help societies develop a common understanding of the benefits from change foster the abandonment of detrimental norms. The ability to predict when societies will replace one social norm for another can have significant implications for welfare, especially when norms are detrimental. A popular theory poses that the pressure to conform to social norms creates tipping thresholds which, once passed, propel societies toward an alternative state. Predicting when societies will reach a tipping threshold, however, has been a major challenge because of the lack of experimental data for evaluating competing models. We present evidence from a large-scale laboratory experiment designed to test the theoretical predictions of a threshold model for social tipping and norm change. In our setting, societal preferences change gradually, forcing individuals to weigh the benefit from deviating from the norm against the cost from not conforming to the behavior of others. We show that the model correctly predicts in 96% of instances when a society will succeed or fail to abandon a detrimental norm. Strikingly, we observe widespread persistence of detrimental norms even when individuals determine the cost for nonconformity themselves as they set the latter too high. Interventions that facilitate a common understanding of the benefits from change help most societies abandon detrimental norms. We also show that instigators of change tend to be more risk tolerant and to dislike conformity more. Our findings demonstrate the value of threshold models for understanding social tipping in a broad range of social settings and for designing policies to promote welfare.
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89
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Folke C, Polasky S, Rockström J, Galaz V, Westley F, Lamont M, Scheffer M, Österblom H, Carpenter SR, Chapin FS, Seto KC, Weber EU, Crona BI, Daily GC, Dasgupta P, Gaffney O, Gordon LJ, Hoff H, Levin SA, Lubchenco J, Steffen W, Walker BH. Our future in the Anthropocene biosphere. AMBIO 2021; 50:834-869. [PMID: 33715097 PMCID: PMC7955950 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-021-01544-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2020] [Revised: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed an interconnected and tightly coupled globalized world in rapid change. This article sets the scientific stage for understanding and responding to such change for global sustainability and resilient societies. We provide a systemic overview of the current situation where people and nature are dynamically intertwined and embedded in the biosphere, placing shocks and extreme events as part of this dynamic; humanity has become the major force in shaping the future of the Earth system as a whole; and the scale and pace of the human dimension have caused climate change, rapid loss of biodiversity, growing inequalities, and loss of resilience to deal with uncertainty and surprise. Taken together, human actions are challenging the biosphere foundation for a prosperous development of civilizations. The Anthropocene reality-of rising system-wide turbulence-calls for transformative change towards sustainable futures. Emerging technologies, social innovations, broader shifts in cultural repertoires, as well as a diverse portfolio of active stewardship of human actions in support of a resilient biosphere are highlighted as essential parts of such transformations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carl Folke
- Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere Programme (GEDB), Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | | | - Johan Rockström
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Victor Galaz
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | | | - Marten Scheffer
- Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Henrik Österblom
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | | | | | | | - Beatrice I Crona
- Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere Programme (GEDB), Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | | | - Owen Gaffney
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Line J Gordon
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Holger Hoff
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany
| | | | | | - Will Steffen
- Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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90
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Ancillotti M. An Effort Worth Making: A Qualitative Study of How Swedes Respond to Antibiotic Resistance. Public Health Ethics 2021; 14:1-11. [PMID: 34234840 PMCID: PMC8254642 DOI: 10.1093/phe/phaa033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Due to the alarming rise of antibiotic resistance, medically unwarranted use of antibiotics has assumed new moral significance. In this paper, a thematic content analysis of focus group discussions was conducted to explore lay people's views on the moral challenges posed by antibiotic resistance. The most important finding is that lay people are morally sensitive to the problems entailed by antibiotic resistance. Participants saw the decreasing availability of effective antibiotics as a problem of justice. This involves individual as well as collective moral responsibility. Yet, holding agents responsible for their use of antibiotics involves varying degrees of demandingness. In our discussion, these findings are related to the contemporary ethical debate on antibiotic resistance and two proposals for the preservation of antibiotic effectiveness are compared to and evaluated against participants' views.
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91
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Biased perceptions explain collective action deadlocks and suggest new mechanisms to prompt cooperation. iScience 2021; 24:102375. [PMID: 33948558 PMCID: PMC8080528 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Revised: 02/26/2021] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
When individuals face collective action problems, their expectations about others' willingness to contribute affect their motivation to cooperate. Individuals, however, often misperceive the cooperation levels in a population. In the context of climate action, people underestimate the pro-climate positions of others. Designing incentives to enable cooperation and a sustainable future must thereby consider how social perception biases affect collective action. We propose a theoretical model and investigate the effect of social perception bias in non-linear public goods games. We show that different types of bias play a distinct role in cooperation dynamics. False uniqueness (underestimating own views) and false consensus (overestimating own views) both explain why communities get locked in suboptimal states. Such dynamics also impact the effectiveness of typical monetary incentives, such as fees. Our work contributes to understanding how targeting biases, e.g., by changing the information available to individuals, can comprise a fundamental mechanism to prompt collective action. Individuals often misperceive the real cooperation levels in a population We model the impact of such biases in non-linear public goods games dynamics False uniqueness and false consensus can lock groups in suboptimal states Addressing perception biases can be more effective than typical monetary incentives
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92
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Bolderdijk JW, Jans L. Minority influence in climate change mitigation. Curr Opin Psychol 2021; 42:25-30. [PMID: 33721580 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
While the majority of people care about environmental quality, they keep engaging in carbon-intensive practices that exacerbate climate change. Can we expect humans to collectively change by themselves, from the bottom up? Social change is often initiated by minorities - individuals who challenge the status quo. The dominant literature paints a rather pessimistic picture about the ability of minorities to instigate change in the environmental domain: environmental activists, vegans, and other minority members often elicit social sanctions, thereby ironically reinforcing the majority's commitment to current, environmentally harmful norms. Recent findings, however, point towards more optimism: pro-environmental minorities can pave the way towards 'tipping points' and spontaneous social change. Policymakers can speed up this process by offering top-down support for minorities - by giving them 'voice'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Willem Bolderdijk
- Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Groningen, Nettelbosje 2, 9747 AE Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Lise Jans
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712 TS, The Netherlands
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93
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Gosak M, Kraemer MUG, Nax HH, Perc M, Pradelski BSR. Endogenous social distancing and its underappreciated impact on the epidemic curve. Sci Rep 2021; 11:3093. [PMID: 33542416 PMCID: PMC7862686 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82770-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Social distancing is an effective strategy to mitigate the impact of infectious diseases. If sick or healthy, or both, predominantly socially distance, the epidemic curve flattens. Contact reductions may occur for different reasons during a pandemic including health-related mobility loss (severity of symptoms), duty of care for a member of a high-risk group, and forced quarantine. Other decisions to reduce contacts are of a more voluntary nature. In particular, sick people reduce contacts consciously to avoid infecting others, and healthy individuals reduce contacts in order to stay healthy. We use game theory to formalize the interaction of voluntary social distancing in a partially infected population. This improves the behavioral micro-foundations of epidemiological models, and predicts differential social distancing rates dependent on health status. The model's key predictions in terms of comparative statics are derived, which concern changes and interactions between social distancing behaviors of sick and healthy. We fit the relevant parameters for endogenous social distancing to an epidemiological model with evidence from influenza waves to provide a benchmark for an epidemic curve with endogenous social distancing. Our results suggest that spreading similar in peak and case numbers to what partial immobilization of the population produces, yet quicker to pass, could occur endogenously. Going forward, eventual social distancing orders and lockdown policies should be benchmarked against more realistic epidemic models that take endogenous social distancing into account, rather than be driven by static, and therefore unrealistic, estimates for social mixing that intrinsically overestimate spreading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marko Gosak
- Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 160, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia
- Faculty od Medicine, University of Maribor, Taborska ulica 8, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia
| | - Moritz U G Kraemer
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, UK
- Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St, Boston, 02115, USA
| | - Heinrich H Nax
- Behavioral Game Theory, ETH Zurich, Clausiusstrasse 37, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Institute of Sociology, University of Zurich, Andreasstrasse 15, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Matjaž Perc
- Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 160, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia
- Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
- Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Josefstädterstraße 39, 1080, Vienna, Austria
| | - Bary S R Pradelski
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Inria, Grenoble INP, LIG, 38000, Grenoble, France
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94
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Treich N. Cultured Meat: Promises and Challenges. ENVIRONMENTAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS 2021; 79:33-61. [PMID: 33758465 PMCID: PMC7977488 DOI: 10.1007/s10640-021-00551-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Cultured meat involves producing meat from animal cells, not from slaughtered animals. This innovation has the potential to revolutionize the meat industry, with wide implications for the environment, health and animal welfare. The main purpose of this paper is to stimulate some economic research on cultured meat. In particular, this paper includes a prospective discussion on the demand and supply of cultured meat. It also discusses some early results on the environmental impacts of cultured meat, emphasizing the promises (e.g., regarding the reduction in land use) but also the uncertainties. It then argues that cultured meat is a moral improvement compared to conventional meat. Finally, it discusses some regulatory issues, and the need for more public support to the innovation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Treich
- Toulouse School of Economics, INRAE, University Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France
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95
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Nudges, Norms, or Just Contagion? A Theory on Influences on the Practice of (Non-)Sustainable Behavior. SUSTAINABILITY 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/su122410418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
‘Nudging’ symbolizes the widespread idea that if people are only provided with the ‘right’ options and contextual arrangements, they will start consuming sustainably. Opposite to this individual-centered, top-down approach stand observations highlighting the ‘contagiousness’ of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors of reference groups or persons present in a decision-context. Tying in these two lines, this paper argues that nudging may sound promising and easily applicable, yet the social dynamics occurring around it can easily distort or nullify its effects. This argument stems from empirical evidence gained in an exploratory observation study conducted in a Swedish cafeteria (N = 1073), which included a ‘nudging’ treatment. In the study, people in groups almost unanimously all chose the same options. After rearranging the choice architecture to make a potentially sustainable choice easier, people stuck to this mimicking behavior—while turning to choose more the non-intended option than before. A critical reflection of extant literature leads to the conclusion that the tendency to mimic each other (unconsciously) is so strong that attempts to nudge people towards certain choices appear overwhelmed. Actions become ‘contagious’; so, if only some people stick to their (consumption) habits, it may be hard to induce more sustainable behaviors through softly changing choice architectures.
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96
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Shrum TR, Markowitz E, Buck H, Gregory R, van der Linden S, Attari SZ, Van Boven L. Behavioural frameworks to understand public perceptions of and risk response to carbon dioxide removal. Interface Focus 2020; 10:20200002. [PMID: 32832068 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2020.0002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The adoption of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies at a scale sufficient to draw down carbon emissions will require both individual and collective decisions that happen over time in different locations to enable a massive scale-up. Members of the public and other decision-makers have not yet formed strong attitudes, beliefs and preferences about most of the individual CDR technologies or taken positions on policy mechanisms and tax-payer support for CDR. Much of the current discourse among scientists, policy analysts and policy-makers about CDR implicitly assumes that decision-makers will exhibit unbiased, rational behaviour that weighs the costs and benefits of CDR. In this paper, we review behavioural decision theory and discuss how public reactions to CDR will be different from and more complex than that implied by rational choice theory. Given that people do not form attitudes and opinions in a vacuum, we outline how fundamental social normative principles shape important intergroup, intragroup and social network processes that influence support for or opposition to CDR technologies. We also point to key insights that may help stakeholders craft public outreach strategies that anticipate the nuances of how people evaluate the risks and benefits of CDR approaches. Finally, we outline critical research questions to understand the behavioural components of CDR to plan for an emerging public response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trisha R Shrum
- Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA
| | - Ezra Markowitz
- Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
| | - Holly Buck
- Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and School of Law, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Robin Gregory
- Decision Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - Shahzeen Z Attari
- O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Leaf Van Boven
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
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97
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Kolb JJ, Müller-Hansen F, Kurths J, Heitzig J. Macroscopic approximation methods for the analysis of adaptive networked agent-based models: Example of a two-sector investment model. Phys Rev E 2020; 102:042311. [PMID: 33212629 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.102.042311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2019] [Accepted: 07/13/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
In this paper, we propose a statistical aggregation method for agent-based models with heterogeneous agents that interact both locally on a complex adaptive network and globally on a market. The method combines three approaches from statistical physics: (a) moment closure, (b) pair approximation of adaptive network processes, and (c) thermodynamic limit of the resulting stochastic process. As an example of use, we develop a stochastic agent-based model with heterogeneous households that invest in either a fossil-fuel- or renewables-based sector while allocating labor on a competitive market. Using the adaptive voter model, the model describes agents as social learners that interact on a dynamic network. We apply the approximation methods to derive a set of ordinary differential equations that approximate the macrodynamics of the model. A comparison of the reduced analytical model with numerical simulations shows that the approximation fits well for a wide range of parameters. The method makes it possible to use analytical tools to better understand the dynamical properties of models with heterogeneous agents on adaptive networks. We showcase this with a bifurcation analysis that identifies parameter ranges with multistabilities. The method can thus help to explain emergent phenomena from network interactions and make them mathematically traceable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob J Kolb
- FutureLab on Game Theory and Networks of Interacting Agents, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany and Department of Physics, Humboldt University Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Finn Müller-Hansen
- Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, 10829 Berlin, Germany and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Jürgen Kurths
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany and Department of Physics, Humboldt University Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Jobst Heitzig
- FutureLab on Game Theory and Networks of Interacting Agents, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
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98
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Hernando-Amado S, Coque TM, Baquero F, Martínez JL. Antibiotic Resistance: Moving From Individual Health Norms to Social Norms in One Health and Global Health. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:1914. [PMID: 32983000 PMCID: PMC7483582 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Accepted: 07/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Antibiotic resistance is a problem for human health, and consequently, its study had been traditionally focused toward its impact for the success of treating human infections in individual patients (individual health). Nevertheless, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes are not confined only to the infected patients. It is now generally accepted that the problem goes beyond humans, hospitals, or long-term facility settings and that it should be considered simultaneously in human-connected animals, farms, food, water, and natural ecosystems. In this regard, the health of humans, animals, and local antibiotic-resistance-polluted environments should influence the health of the whole interconnected local ecosystem (One Health). In addition, antibiotic resistance is also a global problem; any resistant microorganism (and its antibiotic resistance genes) could be distributed worldwide. Consequently, antibiotic resistance is a pandemic that requires Global Health solutions. Social norms, imposing individual and group behavior that favor global human health and in accordance with the increasingly collective awareness of the lack of human alienation from nature, will positively influence these solutions. In this regard, the problem of antibiotic resistance should be understood within the framework of socioeconomic and ecological efforts to ensure the sustainability of human development and the associated human-natural ecosystem interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Hernando-Amado
- Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Teresa M. Coque
- Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS) and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - Fernando Baquero
- Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS) and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - José L. Martínez
- Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
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99
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Plieninger T, Fagerholm N, Bieling C. How to run a sustainability science research group sustainably? SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE 2020; 16:321-328. [PMID: 32863971 PMCID: PMC7446743 DOI: 10.1007/s11625-020-00857-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Rigorous sustainability science includes addressing pressing real-world problems, weaving multiple knowledge systems, and striving for transformative change. However, these key attributes of sustainability science often conflict with university structures and established academic work practices, for instance with regard to frequent long-distance travel. Such contradictions between key principles of sustainability and everyday practices are experienced by many researchers not only at university level, but also in their individual behaviors. To help resolve this widespread divergence, we present ten principles to foster the sustainability of a research group working in sustainability science, based on our personal experiences and experiments as research group leaders. These principles comprise: (1) monitor the environmental footprint, (2) foster learning and innovation, (3) reduce the environmental footprint, (4) nurture campus sustainability, (5) embrace sustainability in private life, (6) constructively deal with environmental anxiety, (7) design research projects for sustainability impact, (8) engage with stakeholders, (9) capitalize on sustainability teaching, and (10) recognize biases and limits. Applying sustainability principles in everyday research practices can provide important social tipping points that may trigger the spreading of new social norms and behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Plieninger
- Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, University of Kassel, 34109 Kassel, Germany
- Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Nora Fagerholm
- Department of Geography and Geology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
| | - Claudia Bieling
- Division of Societal Transition and Agriculture (430b), University of Hohenheim, Schloss, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany
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100
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Bos B, Drupp MA, Meya JN, Quaas MF. Moral Suasion and the Private Provision of Public Goods: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic. ENVIRONMENTAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS 2020; 76:1117-1138. [PMID: 32836868 PMCID: PMC7430132 DOI: 10.1007/s10640-020-00477-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/11/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
We study how moral suasion that appeals to two major ethical theories, Consequentialism and Deontology, affects individual intentions to contribute to a public good. We use the COVID-19 pandemic as an exemplary case where there is a large gap between private and social costs and where moral suasion has been widely used as a policy instrument. Based on a survey experiment with a representative sample of around 3500 Germans at the beginning of the pandemic, we study how moral appeals affect contributions with low and high opportunity costs, hand washing and social distancing, to reduce the infection externality as well as the support for governmental regulation. We find that Deontological moral suasion, appealing to individual moral duty, is effective in increasing planned social distancing and hand-washing, while a Consequentialist appeal only increases planned hand-washing. Both appeals increase support for governmental regulation. Exploring heterogeneous treatment effects reveals that younger respondents are more susceptible to Deontological appeals. Our results highlight the potential of moral appeals to induce intended private contributions to a public good or the reduction of externalities, which can help to overcome collective action problems for a range of environmental issues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Björn Bos
- Department of Economics, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Moritz A. Drupp
- Department of Economics, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
- CESifo, Poschingerstr. 5, 81679 Munich, Germany
| | - Jasper N. Meya
- Department of Economics, Leipzig University, Grimmaische Str. 12, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Martin F. Quaas
- Department of Economics, Leipzig University, Grimmaische Str. 12, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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