World views and sustainability science

Apologies I am late in posting this. I just realized that I was to post earlier this week...

I recently read Akerlof and Shiller's (2009) Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why it Matters for Global Capitalism for another class, and feel that it is quite germane to the work of sustainability science. With notable exceptions, much of the analysis we have looked at is relatively econometric in style, applying statistical rigor to understand why actors behave in certain ways and what we might do about it, and assuming, among other things, rationality in decision-making. The role of psychosocial forces has been somewhat neglected. My question would be:

How do 'animal spirits' influence the decisions actors make, and how can we harness or countervail these forces to advance our sustainability objectives?

Akerlof and Shiller assert that (2009: 1): "To understand how economies work and how we can manage them and prosper, we must pay attention to the thought patterns that animate people's ideas and feelings, their animal spirits". I would assert that the same argument could be made of our relationships with CHES - To fully understand them and improve our management regimes we must appreciate and account for the roles of 'animal spirits'. Akerlof and Shiller (2009) identify five spirits:

• Confidence - The less tangible perceptions of system health that actors collectively construct are very influential in the decisions they make.
• Fairness - Perceptions of what is and is not fair play major roles in what actors deem (un)acceptable and what they do in response.
• Corrupt and antisocial behavior - Negative forces can and do act powerfully to skew systems in their direction and away from what might otherwise be the expected equilibria.
• Money illusion - Actors do not fully understand inflation and its impacts.
• Stories - Actors frame events and decisions in broader ongoing narratives that we all construct individually and collectively about ourselves and our broader communities, countries and global community.