Collaborative Research: HSD: Research on Human and Environmental Systems Interactions

当人们从环境中获得信息时，信念是人类构建偏好和行动的基本参数。该跨学科研究项目将调查(a)社会生态和政治经济条件如何塑造与集体行动相关的个人信念形成和决策，(b)网络和社会空间关系对个人信念和决策的影响有多重要，以及以何种方式影响个人信念和决策，(c)个人的相互作用和反应对个人所依赖的森林资源和对当地社会政治和体制结构的总体影响是什么。为了回答这些问题，研究人员将使用来自印度、乌干达和玻利维亚的数据来建立和测试统计和计算模型，这些模型有助于分析人类信仰和行为随时间的动态、它们之间的相互作用以及它们对环境结果的影响。这项研究将建立在国际林业资源和机构方案在森林环境方面长达十年的研究经验的基础上，并将采取步骤，确定环境可变性（来自物理和社会政治条件）的程度以及这种变化的不可预测性对资源使用者收集的信息的影响程度，以及人类对不同信息来源的可靠性水平。通过关注信念、个人可以分组的相关维度以及不同群体的个人在管理森林资源的集体行动中的不同参与，该项目将有助于填补关于人类-环境动态的现有知识中的两个关键空白：(1)缺乏系统的、基于经验的研究，研究影响信仰在人口中分布的背景特征；(2)缺乏对确定信仰在人口中的分布如何影响管理资源的集体行动的关注。通过关注与特定地点的森林资源有关的人与环境的相互作用，该项目旨在阐明对理论发展以及公共政策的设计和实施至关重要的问题。该项目关注的生态和社会过程为全球数十万家庭的资源治理成果奠定了基础。该项目将允许对资源管理政策、人类生计、人类信仰的变化和与集体行动有关的代理人的决策之间的相互作用进行检查。随后的见解将有助于设计更有效的政策和治理机制。2005财年美国国家科学基金会人类与社会动力学（HSD）竞赛的一个奖项支持了这个项目。所有NSF理事会和办公室都参与了HSD竞赛和HSD奖项组合的协调管理。

When shaped by the information humans derive from their contexts, beliefs are the basic parameters around which humans construct their preferences and actions. The interdisciplinary research project will investigate (a) how social-ecological and political-economic conditions shape individual belief formation and decision making related to collective action, (b) how importantly and in what ways do network and social-spatial relationships affect individual beliefs and decisions, and (c) what are the aggregate effects of individual interactions and responses on the forests resources on which individuals depend and on local socio-political and institutional structures. To answer these questions, the investigators will use data from India, Uganda, and Bolivia to build and test statistical and computational models that help analyze the dynamics of human beliefs and actions over time, their interactions, and their influence on environmental outcomes. The research will build upon a decade-long experience of research in forested environments through the International Forestry Resources and Institutions program and will take steps toward establishing the degree to which environmental variability (from both physical and social-political conditions) and the degree of unpredictability of such variation affect information collected by resource users and the level of reliability humans attach to different sources of information.By focusing on beliefs, the relevant dimensions along which individuals can be grouped, and the differential involvement of different groups of individuals in collective action to govern forest resources, this project will help fill two critical gaps in existing knowledge about human-environmental dynamics: (1) the absence of systematic, empirically based research on the features of the context that shape the distribution of beliefs in a population and (2) the lack of attention that has been given to determining how the distribution of beliefs in a population shapes collective action to govern resources. By focusing on human-environment interactions related to forest resources in specific sites, the project aims to shed new light on questions that are important to theoretical development as well as the design and implementation of public policy. The ecological and social processes on which the project focuses underpin resource governance outcomes for hundreds of thousands of households all over the world. The project will permit an examination of interactions between resource governance policies, human livelihoods, changes in human beliefs, and the decision making of agents related to collective action. Ensuing insights will facilitate the design of more effective policies and governance mechanisms. An award resulting from the FY 2005 NSF-wide competition on Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) supports this project. All NSF directorates and offices are involved in the coordinated management of the HSD competition and the portfolio of HSD awards.