Subject: Psychological processes

Posted by Richard Turnock on 12/6/2009

Message:

Psychological Processes in System Dynamics

Question by Greg Wierzbicki, Fairfax Station, VA
“Has there been any SD work to illuminate the leverage points that might present themselves if group and individual psychological processes which bear on climate policy were included within the boundaries of the system under study?”

Response: Yes, system dynamics models for public policy include perception. George Richardson would be the best resource for this discussion.

Definition: Psychologists study such phenomena as perception, cognition, attention, emotion, motivation, personality, behavior and interpersonal relationships. (source: Wikipedia)

Part 1 Example

Although not a climate change model, the link posted by Ed Johnson for the CNBC graphic of the Afghanistan Stability model shows examples of psychological processes. For example “fear of repercussions” is a type of process that shows up in the model more than once
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Photo/2009/December/091202/091203-engel-big-9a.jpg

Part 2 Modeling

The psychological processes (see list above) seem generic to any proposed policy at the federal level. There is no need to include them in a model specific to global climate change that focuses on the science. The goal of a system dynamics climate change model is to understand the earth science processes.

You seem to have a different goal, to understand the psychological processes bearing on making policies at the federal level. That would be a different system with boundaries that don’t overlap with global climate change. However, I can see how one might connect these two systems together and have global climate change predict future consequences that need policy changes in the present due to the decade long delays in the global climate.

Richard Turnock

Follow Ups:

Psychological processes - Greg Wierzbicki 12/6/2009 
Psychological processes - Richard Turnock 12/7/2009
Psychological processes - Kathy Arizmendi 12/7/2009