The Ecology of Design

Non peer reviewe

Mycological rationality : Heuristics, perception and decision-making in mushroom foraging

How do mushroom foragers make safe and efficient decisions under uncertainty, or deal with the genuine risks of misidentification and poisoning? This article is an inquiry into ecological rationality, heuristics, perception, and decision-making in mushroom foraging. By surveying 894 Finnish mushroom foragers, this article illustrates how socially learned rules of thumb and heuristics are used in mushroom foraging, and how simple heuristics are often complemented by more complex and intuitive decision-making. The results illustrate how traditional foraging cultures have evolved precautionary heuristics to deal with uncertainties and poisonous species, and how foragers develop selective attention through experience. The study invites us to consider whether other human foraging cultures might use heuristics similarly, how and why such traditions have culturally evolved, and whether early hunter-gatherers might have used simple heuristics to deal with uncertainty.Peer reviewe

Steps to a Sustainable Mind : Explorations into the Ecology of Mind and Behaviour

This transdisciplinary doctoral thesis presents various theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches that together form an ecological approach to the study of social sciences. The key argument follows: to understand how sustainable behaviours and cultures may emerge, and how their development can be facilitated, we must further learn how behaviours emerge as a function of the person and the material and social environment. Furthermore, in this thesis the sustainability crises are framed as sustain-ability crises. We must better equip our cultures with abilities to deal with the complexity and uncertainty of socio-ecological systems, and use these cultural skillsets to survive in and adapt to an increasingly unpredictable world. This thesis employs a plurality of ecological social sciences and related methodologies—such as ecological psychology, ecological rationality and agent-based modelling—to enlighten the question of how the collective adoption of sustainable behaviours can be leveraged, particularly by changing the affordances in the material environment. What is common to these ecological approaches is the appreciation of ‘processes’ over ‘products’: we must understand the various processes through which sustainable forms of behaviour or decision-making emerge to truly locate leverage points in social systems. Finally, this thesis deals extensively with uncertainty in complex systems. It proposes that we can look to local and traditional knowledge in learning how to deal adaptively with uncertainty.Tässä poikkitieteellisessä väitöskirjassa esitetään lukuisia teoreettisia, metodologisia ja empiirisiä näkökulmia, jotka yhdessä muodostavat ekologisen lähestymistavan sosiaalitieteelliseen tutkimukseen. Tutkielman keskeinen argumentti on: jotta voimme oppia, miten kestävät käyttäytymismallit ja kulttuurit syntyvät ja miten niiden kehitystä voi edesauttaa, meidän täytyy ymmärtää, miten ne syntyvät ihmisen ja (materiaalisen sekä sosiaalisen) ympäristön funktiona. Tässä väitöskirjassa kestävyyskriisiä tulkitaan käyttäytymistieteellisestä ja kulttuurievoluution näkökulmasta. Sopeutuaksemme yhä hankalammin ennustettavaan tulevaisuuteen, kulttuurimme on opittava ja mukauduttava hallitsemaan epävarmuutta sekä tietoisesti ohjaamaan kulttuurievoluutiota kestävään suuntaan. Tässä väitöskirjassa hyödynnetään lukuisia teoreettisia ja metodologisia tulokulmia, esimerkiksi ekologista psykologiaa, ekologista rationaalisuutta sekä agenttipohjaista mallinnusta. Yhdessä näiden tulokulmien kautta pyritään ymmärtämään, miten voimme paikantaa yhteiskunnista vipupisteitä kestäviin käyttäytymismuutoksiin esimerkiksi materiaalista ympäristöä muokkaamalla. Väitöskirjan tulokulma painottaa erityisesti käyttäytymismuutosten taustalla olevien prosessien tulkintaa: jotta voimme ymmärtää, miten kestävät käyttäytymismallit tai päätöksenteot syntyvät, meidän on ymmärrettävä miten ne syntyvät lukuisten monimutkaisten ja kytkennäisten sosiaalisten prosessien kautta. Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkitaan myös epävarmuutta kompleksisissa järjestelmissä. Väitöskirjassa esitetään, että paikallisesta ja perinteisestä tietämyksestä voi olla paljon opittavaa sopeutuessamme epävarmaan tulevaisuuteen

Exploration and Exploitation in Scientific Inquiry: Towards a Society of Explorers

This essay argues that scientific systems have two main functions typical to self-organising adaptive and complex systems: Exploration for and exploitation of information. The self-organising nature, or spontaneous order, of scientific systems was prominently conceived by polymath Michael Polanyi. Revisiting Polanyi’s philosophy of science reveals why scientific freedom is still today as important a value as ever, even though the notion of “freedom” itself must be revised. Namely, freedom of inquiry should serve to maintain a diverse and adaptive balance between exploration (for knowledge) and exploitation (of knowledge). This essay argues that current trends within science policy and scientific communities, from impact assessments to targeted research funding, are often inherently biased towards advancing exploitative functions over explorative activities. Concerns are raised over whether these exploitative biases suppress the explorative nature of scientific inquiry, and thus disturb the self-organisation of scientific systems by favouring hasty and sometimes negligent exploitation. Further concerns are raised as to whether these impaired adaptive capacities of scientific systems lead to reduced resilience of broader society. Finally, Polanyi’s vision of a Society of Explorers, where free exploration is vindicated and safeguarded, is revived in a 21st century context

The Art of Mushroom Foraging : A Phenomenological Inquiry

Non peer reviewe

A Theory of Predictive Dissonance : Predictive Processing Presents a New Take on Cognitive Dissonance

This article is a comparative study between predictive processing (PP, or predictive coding) and cognitive dissonance (CD) theory. The theory of CD, one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology, is shown to be highly compatible with recent developments in PP. This is particularly evident in the notion that both theories deal with strategies to reduce perceived error signals. However, reasons exist to update the theory of CD to one of “predictive dissonance.” First, the hierarchical PP framework can be helpful in understanding varying nested levels of CD. If dissonance arises from a cascade of downstream and lateral predictions and consequent prediction errors, dissonance can exist at a multitude of scales, all the way up from sensory perception to higher order cognitions. This helps understand the previously problematic dichotomy between “dissonant cognitive relations” and “dissonant psychological states,” which are part of the same perception-action process while still hierarchically distinct. Second, since PP is action-oriented, it can be read to support recent action-based models of CD. Third, PP can potentially help us understand the recently speculated evolutionary origins of CD. Here, the argument is that responses to CD can instill meta-learning which serves to prevent the overfitting of generative models to ephemeral local conditions. This can increase action-oriented ecological rationality and enhanced capabilities to interact with a rich landscape of affordances. The downside is that in today’s world where social institutions such as science a priori separate noise from signal, some reactions to predictive dissonance might propagate ecologically unsound (underfitted, confirmation-biased) mental models such as climate denialism.This article is a comparative study between predictive processing (PP, or predictive coding) and cognitive dissonance (CD) theory. The theory of CD, one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology, is shown to be highly compatible with recent developments in PP. This is particularly evident in the notion that both theories deal with strategies to reduce perceived error signals. However, reasons exist to update the theory of CD to one of “predictive dissonance.” First, the hierarchical PP framework can be helpful in understanding varying nested levels of CD. If dissonance arises from a cascade of downstream and lateral predictions and consequent prediction errors, dissonance can exist at a multitude of scales, all the way up from sensory perception to higher order cognitions. This helps understand the previously problematic dichotomy between “dissonant cognitive relations” and “dissonant psychological states,” which are part of the same perception-action process while still hierarchically distinct. Second, since PP is action-oriented, it can be read to support recent action-based models of CD. Third, PP can potentially help us understand the recently speculated evolutionary origins of CD. Here, the argument is that responses to CD can instill meta-learning which serves to prevent the overfitting of generative models to ephemeral local conditions. This can increase action-oriented ecological rationality and enhanced capabilities to interact with a rich landscape of affordances. The downside is that in today’s world where social institutions such as science a priori separate noise from signal, some reactions to predictive dissonance might propagate ecologically unsound (underfitted, confirmation-biased) mental models such as climate denialism.Peer reviewe

Reframing Tacit Human-Nature Relations : An Inquiry into Process Philosophy and the Philosophy of Michael Polanyi

This thesis consists of two parts. Part 2, the main part of this thesis, consists of a research article titled ‘Reframing Tacit Human–Nature Relations: An Inquiry into Process Philosophy and the Philosophy of Michael Polanyi’. Part 1, respectively, serves the role of a ‘Preface’ for the article in Part 2, consisting of introductory and commentary sections as well as proposals for further research. The research question of Part 2 follows: how can the theoretical frameworks set by process philosophy and the works of Michael Polanyi be implemented in the fields of environmental policy and philosophy, particularly in drawing a philosophical bridge between the two often bifurcated entities of ‘society’ and ‘environment’? The question relates to ongoing discussion regarding the relation of mental models (or belief systems) to environmental behaviour. Process philosophy, a metaphysical school of thought emphasizing the ontological and epistemological primacy of process (change, dynamics or flux) over substance (things), is shown to have the potential of being a more sustainable metaphysical basis for the interpretation of reality than predominant substance-biased mental models. Potential sustainability benefits of process philosophy can be found in its emphasis of fundamental interconnection between humans and nature, its emphasis of processes over products, its reification of change (such as climate change) and its accentuation of the reciprocal relation between individuals and socio-ecological systems. Moreover, process philosophy is shown to provide a coherent alternative for the divisive constructionist–realist debate, which has resulted in the so-called science wars and subsequent discrepancies between the social and natural sciences. The central arguments are reinforced with a variety of examples, most notably by allegorical use of the coastline paradox. The discussion on process philosophy is then supplemented with the epistemological framework of polymath Michael Polanyi. Polanyi’s theory of tacit knowledge suggests as its central notion that we know more than we can tell, and that all knowledge, intellectual knowledge included, is rooted in embodied functions. Polanyi’s theoretical framework is then presented to suggest the following question: if all intellectual knowledge is rooted in embodied knowledge, can these tacit frameworks be deliberately changed (nudged) in order to promote more sustainable behaviour? Particularly it is suggested that if both the public and experts tacitly carry embodied substance-biased belief systems, the reframing of these embodied metaphysical frameworks with process-philosophical alternatives could induce more sustainable dwelling. Finally, the theoretical frameworks of process philosophy and Michael Polanyi’s epistemology are shown to provide together an interesting prospect in the design of sustainable mental models and thus contribute to the design of both educational and political instruments. Part 1 serves the role of an introduction to the topics of Part 2, presenting also a commentary section to ease the interpretation of some of the more challenging themes covered in the research article. Moreover, a plan for subsequent research is proposed, extending the research framework to touch upon the fields of ecological psychology and theories of embodied cognition, as well as providing an outlook on potential empirical studies on the relations between mental models and environmental behaviour.Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma on kaksiosainen. Jälkimmäinen osa (Part 2) on tutkielman pääosa, itsenäinen tutkimusartikkeli nimeltään 'Reframing Tacit Human–Nature Relations: An Inquiry into Process Philosophy and the Philosophy of Michael Polanyi'. Ensimmäinen osa (Part 1) puolestaan on johdantoluku toiselle osalle, ja sisältää johdannon lisäksi myös kommentaariosion sekä tutkimussuunnitelman jatkotutkimusta varten. Tutkielman tutkimuskysymys seuraa: miten prosessifilosofiaa ja Michael Polanyin filosofiaa voidaan hyödyntää ympäristöpolitiikassa ja -filosofiassa? Tarkemmin muotoillen miten kyseiset filosofiset kehikot luovat teoreettisen sillan toisistaan erheellisesti haarautuneiden käsitteiden, ympäristön ja yhteiskunnan, välille? Kysymykset liittyvät suoraan ajankohtaiseen keskusteluun ympäristöajatusmallien ja ympäristökäyttäytymisen yhteyksistä. Prosessifilosofia on filosofinen suuntaus, joka painottaa prosessin (eli muutoksen ja dynamiikan) ontologista ja episteemistä asemaa. Tässä tutkielmassa esitetään, että prosessifilosofia on mahdollisesti kestävämpi ja ympäristöystävällisempi perusta ympäristöajatusmalleille kuin useimmiten vallitsevat substanssifilosofiset vaihtoehdot. Prosessifilosofian ympäristöystävällisyys juontuu esimerkiksi sen asettamasta perusteellisesta yhteydestä ihmisen ja luonnon välille, sen painotuksesta prosesseihin tuotteiden (eli substanssien) sijaan ja sen korostamasta vastavuoroisuudesta yksilön ja sosioekologisen systeemin välillä. Lisäksi prosessifilosofian esitetään tarjoavan koherentin vaihtoehdon konstruktionimi–realismi-debatille, joka on muun muassa luonut eripuraa pehmeiden ja kovien tieteiden välille ja täten hankaloittanut poikkitieteellistä vuorovaikutusta. Prosessifilosofisia argumentteja tuetaan tutkielmassa lukuisin esimerkein eritoten rantaviivaparadoksia allegorisesti hyödyntäen. Keskustelua prosessifilosofiasta täydennetään yleisnero Michael Polanyin filosofialla. Polanyi esittää teoriallaan hiljaisesta tiedosta, että tiedämme enemmän kuin osaamme eksplisiittisesti ilmaista ja että kaikki tieto (myös intellektuelli ja rationaalinen tieto) on kehollisten funktioiden tuotosta. Polanyin teoreettista kehikkoa seuraa keskeinen ympäristöpoliittinen kysymys: jos kaikki tieto on kehollista ja peräisin eksplisiittisesti tiedostamattomista lähteistä, voisiko tiedon hiljaisten kehysten muokkaaminen (eli tuuppaaminen) johtaa ympäristöystävällisempään käyttäytymiseen? Tarkemmin ottaen jos sekä maallikot että asiantuntijat omaavat hiljaisia substanssipainoitteisia ajatusmalleja ja uskomuksia, voidaanko näitä ajatusmalleja kehystää uudelleen prosessifilosofisilla malleilla ja täten edistää kestävää olemassaoloa? Lopuksi prosessifilosofian ja Polanyin epistemologian esitetään olevan yhdessä mielenkiintoinen ja instrumentaalinen teoriakehikko kestävien ajatusmallien kehittämisessä niin opetuksellisessa kuin poliittisessakin kontekstissa. Tutkielman ensimmäinen osa (Part 1) toimii johdantolukuna toisen osan (Part 2) teemoille, kommentoiden tutkielman toisen osan haastavampia teoreettisia kokonaisuuksia ja täten helpottaen näiden tulkintaa. Lisäksi ensimmäisessä osassa esitetään teemoja jatkotutkimukselle, johon etsitään vaikutteita muun muassa ekologisesta psykologiasta sekä kognitiotieteistä. Jatkotutkimussuunnitelmassa esitetään myös yleiskatsaus tutkielman teoreettisen kehikon laajentamismahdollisuuksista empiiriseen tutkimukseen ja erityisesti ajatusmallien ja ympäristökäyttäytymisen yhteyden todentamiseen

Cultural Evolution of Sustainable Behaviors: Pro-environmental Tipping Points in an Agent-Based Model

To reach sustainability transitions, we must learn to leverage social systems into tipping points, where societies exhibit positive-feedback loops in the adoption of sustainable behavioral and cultural traits. However, much less is known about the most efficient ways to reach such transitions or how self-reinforcing systemic transformations might be instigated through policy. We employ an agent-based model to study the emergence of social tipping points through various feedback loops that have been previously identified to constitute an ecological approach to human behavior. Our model suggests that even a linear introduction of pro-environmental affordances (action opportunities) to a social system can have non-linear positive effects on the emergence of collective pro-environmental behavior patterns. We validate the model against data on the evolution of cycling and driving behaviors in Copenhagen. Our model gives further evidence and justification for policies that make pro-environmental behavior psychologically salient, easy, and the path of least resistance.Peer reviewe

Exploration and Exploitation in Scientific Inquiry: Towards a Society of Explorers

This essay argues that scientific systems have two main functions typical to self-organising adaptive and complex systems: Exploration for and exploitation of information. The self-organising nature, or spontaneous order, of scientific systems was prominently conceived by polymath Michael Polanyi. Revisiting Polanyi’s philosophy of science reveals why scientific freedom is still today as important a value as ever, even though the notion of “freedom” itself must be revised. Namely, freedom of inquiry should serve to maintain a diverse and adaptive balance between exploration (for knowledge) and exploitation (of knowledge). This essay argues that current trends within science policy and scientific communities, from impact assessments to targeted research funding, are often inherently biased towards advancing exploitative functions over explorative activities. Concerns are raised over whether these exploitative biases suppress the explorative nature of scientific inquiry, and thus disturb the self-organisation of scientific systems by favouring hasty and sometimes negligent exploitation. Further concerns are raised as to whether these impaired adaptive capacities of scientific systems lead to reduced resilience of broader society. Finally, Polanyi’s vision of a Society of Explorers, where free exploration is vindicated and safeguarded, is revived in a 21st century context