Why do people misunderstand climate change? Heuristics, mental models and ontological assumptions

Xiang, Chen

doi:10.1007/s10584-010-0013-5

Cited by 49 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Heuristics, mental models and ontological assumptions" in Climatic Change, Chen pointed out the special role of "object bias" in skewing interpretations of ecological crises [11]. The static mental models associated with the most common pattern matching heuristics that shape human perception and interpretation work extremely well for dealing with objects.…”

Section: Climate Change Cultural Cognition and "Religion"mentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Survive the Anthropocene: Adaptive Atheism and the Evolution of Homo deiparensis

Shults

2015

Religions

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Why is it so easy to ignore the ecological and economic crises of the Anthropocene? This article unveils some of the religious biases whose covert operation facilitates the repression or rejection of warnings about the consequences of extreme climate change and excessive capitalist consumption. The evolved defaults that are most relevant for our purposes here have to do with mental credulity toward religious content (beliefs about supernatural agents) and with social congruity in religious contexts (behaviors shaped by supernatural rituals). Learning how to contest these phylogenetically inherited and culturally fortified biases may be a necessary condition for adapting to and altering our current natural and social environments in ways that will enhance the chances for the survival (and flourishing) of Homo sapiens and other sentient species. I outline a conceptual framework, derived from empirical findings and theoretical developments in the bio-cultural sciences of religion, which can help clarify why and how gods are imaginatively conceived and nurtured by ritually engaged believers. Finally, I discuss the role that "adaptive atheism" might play in responding to the crises of the Anthropocene.

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Section: Climate Change Cultural Cognition and "Religion"mentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Survive the Anthropocene: Adaptive Atheism and the Evolution of Homo deiparensis

Shults

2015

Religions

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“…For example, Gifford (2011) first introduces people's "limited cognition" (p. 291) and says that it is due to ignorance-which means not knowing that a problem exists or what to do about it-finally, he concludes that clear and accurate communication of all relevant pro-environmental information must be a priority for policy. Chen (2011) also makes essentially the same suggestion, claiming that the widespread misunderstanding of climate change may arise from an error in people's ontological assumptions by the inappropriate use of pattern matching heuristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Environmental Behavior and Fast and Frugal Heuristics

Artinger

Bortoleto

Katsikopoulos

2016

New Perspectives for Environmental Policies Through Behavioral Economics

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“…) that are likely to influence perceptions of ecological surprise. Mental models are formed based on experience and access to information regarding ecosystem behavior, and they act as a cognitive filter for interpreting and storing new information (Chen , Jones et al. , Stier et al.…”

Section: Exploring the Social Dimensions Of Ecological Surprisementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mental models also constrain the ability of individuals to accept information that challenges their current conception of reality, which leads to confirmation biases (Klayman and Ha ). In the context of ecological surprise, mental models can potentially cause people to ignore early warning signs and thus be more surprised in light of impending ecosystem behavior (Chen , Jones et al. ).…”

Section: Exploring the Social Dimensions Of Ecological Surprisementioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological surprise: concept, synthesis, and social dimensions

et al. 2017

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Abstract. As the extent and intensity of human impacts on ecosystems increase and the capacity of ecosystems to absorb these impacts dwindles, unanticipated behavior in ecological systems-or surprises -is likely to become more common. The concept of ecological surprise is broadly applied but seldom explicitly developed in ecological literature, and ecologists can employ diverging language, frameworks, and interpretations of surprise. Here, we synthesize what ecological surprise has meant to ecologists studying these events and review the development and use of the concept in ecology. We define ecological surprise as a situation where human expectations or predictions of natural system behavior deviate from observed ecosystem behavior. This can occur when people (1) fail to anticipate change in ecosystems; (2) fail to influence ecosystem behavior as intended; or (3) discover something about an ecosystem that runs counter to accepted knowledge. We develop a conceptual model that captures the interactions between social and ecological processes that lead to these events and examine two types of drivers that contribute to surprise: underlying driving forces and proximate causes. Our definition of ecological surprise inherently acknowledges that, to be surprising, there must be human observers to the ecological occurrence who have expectations about ecosystem behavior. To explore this dimension, we draw on social science perspectives to understand the ways in which human expectations of ecosystems are influenced by social networks, heuristics, and mental models. We use a case study to demonstrate how our integrated conceptualization of ecological surprise provides a systematic way of examining these events. Our integration of these perspectives enables us to better synthesize social and ecological knowledge of these events, and encourages ecologists to critically reflect on how they, as scientists, formulate and reformulate expectations of ecosystem behavior.

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Why do people misunderstand climate change? Heuristics, mental models and ontological assumptions

Abstract: Studies have indicated that many people misunderstand climate change.

Cited by 49 publications

References 21 publications

How to Survive the Anthropocene: Adaptive Atheism and the Evolution of Homo deiparensis

How to Survive the Anthropocene: Adaptive Atheism and the Evolution of Homo deiparensis

Environmental Behavior and Fast and Frugal Heuristics

Ecological surprise: concept, synthesis, and social dimensions

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