Plenary Session: Beyond False i-frame/s-frame Dichotomies: A Multi-level Complex Systems View of Social and Behavioral Change
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Speaker: Elke U. Weber, Princeton University
There has been harsh scrutiny recently on behavioral science and its focus on individual behavior change to address societal challenges, such as climate change or obesity, the origins of which also involve human institutions and social processes. Skepticism stems from evidence of data fraud or replicability failures, but skeptics also see such individually focused “i-framed” interventions as substituting for more effective system-focused “s-framed” interventions and as strategic distractions advocated by parties vested in the status-quo. In this Keynote Address, Weber argues that such dichotomies are simplistic and counterproductive. Psychology has established that physical, social, and historical contexts shape perception, judgment, choice, and action, but it must more fully embrace and address the dynamic and interdependent co-constitution of individual behavior and social and institutional context. Emerging research that integrates cognition and action into complex adaptive systems, social-ecological systems, and cultural evolutionary perspectives may offer traction in identifying solutions to the complex, multi-level societal challenges of our time.
The Psychological Science and Society plenary session is made possible by generous support from the Alan Kraut-Jane Steinberg Family Fund (KSFF). This plenary session is held annually during the APS Annual Convention to showcase the use of psychological science in the public sphere.
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