Collaborative Research: Responses to complex disruptive events: Cognition in a socio-political context

卫生和经济危机、极端风暴以及其他复杂和破坏性事件需要在高风险和不确定性的情况下做出决定。在这种情况下，个人经常求助于可信赖的来源，如亲密关系、社区领袖和政治官员，以获取有关风险、责任和如何最好地应对的信息。其中一些公共行为者的动机是战略性地突出围绕这类事件的某些叙述，这反过来又可以塑造其支持者的风险认知、信念和反应。通过一系列调查、利益相关者访谈和社交媒体分析，研究团队考察了影响个人如何受到极端天气和其他气候压力的影响、理解和应对的因素；以及公职人员和其他精英如何制定这些事件的框架，以及如何沟通责任和指责。这项研究通过考虑个人和更广泛的社会政治背景之间的相互作用，为跨学科研究和心理、社会和政治理论做出了贡献。这项工作对围绕复杂的破坏性事件(如新冠肺炎疫情或其他全球变化进程)的沟通和政策制定具有影响，并为政策制定者如何根据不同的背景和受众定制信息提供了见解。此外，这项研究使用纵向设计来预测某些行为是通往成本更高的行为的门户，还是提高环境意识、政治参与和社会规范变化的脚手架。沿海政策涉及联邦、地区、州和地方机构，这些机构的职责重叠，这可能导致相互冲突的激励。这项工作阐明了这些机构对个人及其反应的净影响。最后，研究人员与当地组织和政策制定者合作，共同编写许多研究材料，以最大限度地发挥这项研究对改善一线社区和子孙后代的福利和生计的贡献。具体地说，该项目评估个人和公众对极端气候事件和气候压力的个人和公众反应，这些事件和压力在更长的时间尺度上展开，例如海平面上升。学者们研究了塑造个人如何受到极端天气和其他气候压力的影响、理解和应对的因素和过程。他们问：(A)在复杂的破坏性情况下，感知的因果归因、风险、代理、反应能力和行为是如何相互关联的，以及这些关系如何依赖于个人特征或经验？(B)社会和政治影响如何影响个人的决策，当个人对事件的原因(S)越不确定时，社会和政治影响是否更具影响力？(C)政治家和媒体如何塑造围绕这些事件的叙述，对个人和社会有何影响？(D)行为如何反馈到归因、认知和相关行为？这些研究人员使用一种混合方法，将调查、定性访谈、行政数据和社交媒体数据结合起来，首次评估一起评估的多个结果。这项研究通过评估置身于复杂的物理和社会政治环境中的个人如何利用社会和公共信息来理解和回应模棱两可的线索，从而为心理、社会和政治理论做出贡献。这项工作还对围绕破坏性事件的沟通和政策制定产生了影响，包括流行病和迫在眉睫的气候变化危机。政治分析提供了对个人和政客之间关系的洞察，以及创建要求在韧性和防范道德风险方面进行投资的结构的重要性。沿海政策涉及联邦、地区、州和地方机构，这些机构的职责重叠，这可能导致相互冲突的激励。这项工作旨在阐明这些机构对个人及其反应的净影响，以改善弱势社区的福利和生计。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Health and economic crises, extreme storms, and other complex and disruptive events require decisions under high levels of risk and uncertainty. In these contexts, individuals often turn to trusted sources, such as close relations, community leaders, and political officials, for information about risks, responsibility and how to best respond. Some of these public actors are motivated to strategically highlight certain narratives surrounding such events, which can in turn shape the risk perceptions, beliefs and responses of their constituencies. Through a series of surveys, stakeholder interviews and social media analysis, the research team examines the factors that shape how individuals are impacted by, make sense of, and respond to extreme weather and other climatic pressures; and how public officials and other elites frame these events and communicate responsibility and blame. This research contributes to interdisciplinary research and psychological, social, and political theory by considering the interactions between individuals and the broader sociopolitical context. This work has implications for communication and policy making around complex, disruptive events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or other global change processes, and offers insights into how policy makers might tailor messages to different contexts and audiences. Furthermore, the research uses a longitudinal design to predict whether certain behaviors are a gateway for more costly ones, or a scaffolding for raising environmental awareness, political engagement, and social norm change. Coastal policy involves federal, regional, state, and local institutions that have overlapping responsibilities, which can lead to conflicting incentives. This work clarifies the net effect of these institutions on individuals and their responses. Finally,the researchers co-develop many of the study materials in partnership with local organizations and policy makers in order to maximize the contribution of this study to improve the welfare and livelihoods of front-line communities, and future generations. Specifically, this project evaluates individual and public attributions of and responses to acute extreme weather events and climatic pressures unfolding on longer timescales, such as sea level rise. The scholars examine factors and processes that shape how individuals are impacted by, make sense of and respond to extreme weather and other climatic pressures. They ask: (A) In complex disruptive situations, how do perceived causal attributions, risk, agency, response capacity, and behavior interrelate, and how do these relationships depend on individual characteristics or experience? (B) How do social and political influences affect individual decision-making, and are they more influential when individuals are more uncertain about the cause(s) of an event? (C) How do politicians and the media shape the narratives surrounding these events, and what are the implications for individuals and society? (D) How do behaviors feed back onto attributions, perceptions, and related behaviors? These researchers use a mixed-methods approach that combines surveys, qualitative interviews, administrative data and social media data to assess multiple outcomes evaluated together for the first time. The research contributes to psychological, social, and political theory by evaluating how individuals, embedded in complex physical and sociopolitical environments, make sense of and respond to ambiguous cues using social and public information. The work also has implications for communication and policy making around disruptive events, including pandemics and the looming crisis of climate change. Political analysis provides insight into relationships between individuals and politicians, and the importance of creating structures that mandate investment in resilience and preparedness to counteract moral hazard. Coastal policy involves federal, regional, state, and local institutions that have overlapping responsibilities, which can lead to conflicting incentives. The work aims to clarify the net effect of these institutions on individuals and their responses in order to improve the welfare and livelihoods of vulnerable communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.