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Sustainability

Title

Sustainability

Author

Tainter, Joseph A.
Taylor, Temis G.
Brain, Roslynn G.
Lobo, José

Research Area

Social Processes

Topic

Environmental and Climate Change

Abstract

Research needs in sustainability encompass a range of topics spanning much of social and behavioral science. Sustainability requires understanding human cognition, capacity to reason and make decisions, capacity for long‐term planning, understanding trade‐offs, risk perceptions, communication techniques, innovation, the consequences of improvements in efficiency, energy and other resources, complexity in problem solving, and other matters. We discuss research accomplishments and needs in the four most important areas of sustainability: (i) risk perceptions; (ii) influencing behavior; (iii) resources and economics; and (iv) problem solving and complexity.

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