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

当信念被人类从他们的环境中获得的信息所塑造时，信念就是人类构建他们的偏好和行动的基本参数。这一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有关的个人信仰形成和决策；(B)网络和社会空间关系对个人信仰和决策的影响有多大以及以何种方式影响；(C)个人相互作用和应对对个人所依赖的森林资源以及对当地社会政治和体制结构的综合影响是什么。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，以帮助分析随着时间的推移人类信念和行动的动态、它们的相互作用以及它们对环境结果的影响。这项研究将建立在通过国际林业资源和机构计划在森林环境中进行研究的十年经验的基础上，并将采取步骤，以确定环境变异性(从物理和社会政治条件)和这种变异性的不可预测性在多大程度上影响资源使用者收集的信息，以及人类对不同信息源的可靠性水平。通过关注信念、个人可以归类的相关维度，以及不同群体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现有人类-环境动态知识的两个关键空白：(1)缺乏系统的、基于经验的关于塑造群体中信仰分布的背景特征的研究，以及(2)缺乏对确定群体中信仰分布如何塑造管理资源的集体行动的关注。通过重点研究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执行具有重要意义的问题。该项目所关注的生态和社会进程是全世界数十万个家庭资源治理成果的基础。该项目将能够审查资源治理政策、人类生计、人类信念的变化以及与集体行动有关的代理人的决策之间的相互作用。随之而来的见解将有助于设计更有效的政策和治理机制。2005财年NSF人类和社会动力学竞赛(HSD)颁发的奖项支持这一项目。NSF的所有董事和办公室都参与了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.