Decision Architecture and Implicit Time Horizons

Recent research on judgment and decision making emphasizes decision architecture, the task and contextual features of a decision setting that influence how preferences are constructed (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). In a series of three papers, this dissertation considers architectural features related to the intertemporal structure of the decision setting that influence cognition, motivation, and emotion, and include modifications of (i) informational, (ii) experiential, (iii) procedural, and (iv) emotional environments. This research also identifies obstacles to decision making, whether that obstacle is an individual difference (e.g., age-related change in emotional processing) or a temporary state (e.g., a change in motivational focus, or sensitivity to irrelevant features of the decision setting). Papers 1 and 2 focus on decision architecture related to environmentally-relevant decisions, investigating how structural features of the decision task can trigger different choice processes and behavior. Paper 1 explores a potential mechanism behind constructed preferences relating to climate change belief and explores why these preferences are sensitive to normatively irrelevant features of the judgment context, such as transient outdoor temperature. Paper 2 examines new ways of emphasizing time and uncertainty with the aim of turning psychological obstacles into opportunities, accomplished by making legacy motives more salient to shift preferences from present-future and self-other trade-offs at the point of decision making. Paper 3 examines how the temporal horizon of a decision setting influences predicted future preferences within the domain of affective forecasting. In addition, Paper 3 explores how individual and situational differences might affect the match (or mismatch) between predicted and experienced outcomes by examining differences in forecasting biases among older versus younger adults. Taken together, these three papers aim to encourage individuals to make decisions that are not overshadowed by short-term goals or other constraints, with the aim of producing actionable modifications for policy-makers in the presentation of information relevant to such decisions

Effective education and communication strategies to promote environmental engagement : The role of social-psychological mechanisms

Communicators of climate change seek ways to better educate and motivate individuals to personally commit to sustainable, energy-saving activities. However, critical psychological and social barriers to conservation make this task challenging. Behavioral scientists are well aware of the difficulties that individuals and groups have in responding effectively to information surrounding climate change, and have used these insights to develop a number of techniques to aid in persuading people of the importance of the climate change issue, and motivating adaptive behavioral responses. This report consolidates research findings from behavioral economics, decision science, and social psychology to explore key insights and evidence around effective climate change education strategies and interventions aimed at enhancing conservation behaviors. We explore key findings from the behavioral and decision sciences, including analyses of cognitive bias, choice architecture, social influences, values, and communication strategies. In addition, we discuss a set of international, academic-private partnerships that used interventions suggested by behavioral science and psychological theory to dramatic effects. These in-depth case studies demonstrate how practitioners and researchers have put research insights and principles into practice. We conclude by addressing implications for policymakers

Framing climate change in frontline communities: anthropological insights on how mountain dwellers in the USA, Peru, and Italy adapt to glacier retreat

We report on anthropological research conducted in three mountain communities (in the USA, Italy and Peru), which have been directly affected by glacier retreat for over 40 years. Our mixed methods include ethnographic research, analysis of transcripts of interviews, focus groups and community meetings, and case studies of adaptation projects. Our findings indicate that local people are acute observers of change. They draw on two frames (climate change and community) in their discussions and projects but rely much more heavily on the latter frame. This pattern of drawing on the community frame, characteristic of all discussions, is most marked in the community meetings. The effectiveness of the community frame in supporting projects calls into question some widely shared notions about the role of belief in climate change as a crucial precondition for adaptation and challenges the “perceive–predict–act” model of climate change response

Connecting on Climate: A Guide to Effective Climate Change Communication

Climate change is not a new issue, but the need for meaningful and sustainable solutions is more urgent than ever. Climate communicators and mainstream leaders are still grappling with how to help Americans find meaningful, actionable paths forward and overcome the social, political, psychological, and emotional barriers that have hindered progress on climate solutions. To connect with audiences and unlock success in climate change communication, communicators need to shift their approach. Communicators need to go beyond simply providing people with the facts about climate change. They need to connect with people’s values and worldviews and put solutions at the forefront to make climate change personally relevant to Americans and those they love. With this guide, we have brought together both researchers and practitioners to consolidate the best insights and evidence about how to communicate effectively about climate change. We have combined research from the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) at The Earth Institute, Columbia University; ecoAmerica; and other institutions with insights that ecoAmerica has gleaned from communicating about climate change and other environmental issues with mainstream Americans and their leaders. This guide presents information in a digestible, actionable form to enable communicators to “up their game” when engaging Americans on climate solutions of all types and scales

The Impact of Perceptual Aliasing on Exploration and Learning in a Dynamic Decision Making Task

Perceptual aliasing arises in situations where multiple, distinct states of the world give rise to the same percept. In this study, we examine how the degree of perceptual aliasing in a task impacts the ability of human agents to learn reward-maximizing decision strategies. Previous work has shown that the presence of perceptual cues that help signal distinct states of the environment can improve the ability of learners to adopt an optimal decision strategy in sequential decision making tasks (Gureckis & Love, 2009). In our experiments, we parametrically manipulated the degree of perceptual aliasing afforded by certain perceptual cues in a similar task. Our empirical results and simulations show how the ability of the learner improves as relevant states in the world uniquely map to differentiated percepts. The results provide further support for the model of sequential decision making proposed by Gureckis & Love (2009) and highlight the important role that state representations may have on behavior in dynamic decision making and learning tasks. Keywords: perceptual aliasing, dynamic decision making, reinforcement learnin

How will I be remembered? Conserving the environment for legacy's sake

Data files and materials used in the Pilot and Experiment 1 described in the manuscript, "How will I be remembered? Conserving the environment for legacy's sake". Long time horizons and social distance are often viewed as key barriers to pro-environmental action due to intertemporal and interpersonal discounting, particularly in the case of climate change. We suggest that these challenges can be turned into opportunities by making salient relevant long-term goals and motives, thus shifting preferences for present-future and self-other trade-offs at the point of decision-making. Here we test whether individuals’ latent motivation to leave a positive legacy can be leveraged to increase engagement with climate change and other long-term environmental problems. In an initial pilot study, we find that individual differences in legacy motivation are positively associated with pro-environmental behaviors and intentions. In an experiment, we demonstrate that priming legacy motives prior to providing an opportunity to donate to an environmental charity increases donations, as well as self-reported pro-environmental intentions and beliefs

How will I be remembered? Conserving the Environment for Legacy’s Sake (Study Data)

Long time horizons and social distance are often viewed as key barriers to pro-environmental action due to intertemporal and interpersonal discounting, particularly in the case of climate change. We suggest that these challenges can be turned into opportunities by making salient relevant long-term goals and motives, thus shifting preferences for present-future and self-other trade-offs at the point of decision-making. Here we test whether individuals’ latent motivation to leave a positive legacy can be leveraged to increase engagement with climate change and other long-term environmental problems. In an initial study, we find that individual differences in legacy motivation are positively associated with pro-environmental behaviors and intentions. In an experiment, we demonstrate that priming legacy motives prior to providing an opportunity to donate to an environmental charity increases donations, as well as self-reported pro-environmental intentions and beliefs. Using a new short-form scale designed to measure legacy motives, we confirm that changes in environmental behavior and belief induced by the legacy prime are mediated by increased concern for one’s future legacy. This work provides the first experimental evidence that domain-general legacy motives can be exploited to support intergenerational environmental stewardship, and represents a previously under-studied and powerful strategy for increasing pro-environmental behavior

How will I be remembered? Conserving the Environment for Legacy’s Sake (Study Materials)

Long time horizons and social distance are often viewed as key barriers to pro-environmental action due to intertemporal and interpersonal discounting, particularly in the case of climate change. We suggest that these challenges can be turned into opportunities by making salient relevant long-term goals and motives, thus shifting preferences for present-future and self-other trade-offs at the point of decision-making. Here we test whether individuals’ latent motivation to leave a positive legacy can be leveraged to increase engagement with climate change and other long-term environmental problems. In an initial study, we find that individual differences in legacy motivation are positively associated with pro-environmental behaviors and intentions. In an experiment, we demonstrate that priming legacy motives prior to providing an opportunity to donate to an environmental charity increases donations, as well as self-reported pro-environmental intentions and beliefs. Using a new short-form scale designed to measure legacy motives, we confirm that changes in environmental behavior and belief induced by the legacy prime are mediated by increased concern for one’s future legacy. This work provides the first experimental evidence that domain-general legacy motives can be exploited to support intergenerational environmental stewardship, and represents a previously under-studied and powerful strategy for increasing pro-environmental behavior