"The effects of social context on environmental decisions"

De 17h00 à 19h00, Salle H003, Sciences Po, 28, rue des Saints-Pères, 75007 Paris Présentation de la conférence de David Krantz

The Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) was created six years ago, based on the idea that environmental choices (such as design or selection of plans to deal with global climate change) are made by groups and also by individuals acting in a social context. Our laboratory and field research have identified four important effects of social context on decision making, which can help to guide effective communication of scientific information:

• First, social contexts generate or activate social and environmental goals. Social goals relevant to environmental choices include: adherence to group norms or standards, considering the good of others (including future generations), and fulfillment of obligations that arise from social status or from specific social roles.
• Second, the achievement of environmental goals requires coordination; social context leads to expectations about others’ choices, and thus determines whether and how coordination is possible. 
• Third, understanding of scientific and economic principles, and the confidence to act on the basis of such understanding can be enhanced by participatory group discussion. 
• Fourth, when there is a good fit between the goals and the strategies for achieving them, acting in group settings increases the energy devoted to goal pursuit.
  

These findings, together with analyses of how decision architecture affects the operation of heuristics for choice, have led us to formulate guidelines for communication about climate change and to ideas for improved participatory decision processes. The structure of the underlying theory of decision making also suggests changes in economic analysis of policy options. The findings are thus directly relevant to sustainable development and local adaptation to climate change; however, the path toward drastic global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions remains far from clear.

Modérateur : Claude Henry

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