Accounting for behavioral responses to environmental cues in complex systems

Abstract

Understanding individual decision making is critical to solving complex systems challenges. Although some may argue that the nuances at an individual level become less important as the system becomes more complex (i.e., individual differences are outweighed by social or political factors), there is also evidence that biases and challenges in decision making at the individual level may stymy well-intended environmental policies. Brunswik's Theory of Probabilistic Functionalism is one such lens that lends insight into the patterns of decision making at an individual level that may slow down the process of sustainable transitions at a societal level. Specifically, that choices are a function of environmental cues that only represent reality in a probabilistic sense (i.e., the cues are not deterministic). Improving the way in which individuals and groups process the variety of informational cues received in a complex systems contexts will be critical to achieving sustainability in the future. The uncertainty inherent in complex systems contexts makes individual decision making all the more challenging and potentially biased in terms of cue selection and information processing.