Collaborative Research: Cultural Models, Values and Networks in Environmental Decisions

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The research analyzes the interaction of knowledge, behaviors and values in environmental decision making. Data are collected from two sites where Native American and majority culture populations share a habitat but conflict over resource use: The Wolf River area of Wisconsin and the Lowland Maya forest region of Guatemala. Studies integrate formal modelin techniques from psychology, anthropology and sociology to show that: (1) people share cultureal models of the environment to a surprisingly detailed degree; (2) these mental models inform and predict actual behaviors, with measurable ecological consequences; and (3) individual and cultural differences in models are motivated by different patterns of resource valuation. Research findings are expected to establish: (4) a first approximation of ecological cognition across cultures, (5) a cognitive dimensin to stimulate new research on how people decide to manage common resources; and (6) a comprehensive basis for conflict-resolution negotiation that involves understanding the relations between environmental cognitions, behaviors and values