In a world beset with problems, how can we encourage people to act differently? It seems almost daily that new studies emerge telling us how human action is causing planetary degradation, how changes to our diets could lead to us living longer healthier lives, or that financially we are in danger of returning to the debt related crises of the previous decade. At the same time how many of us adjust our behaviour in response to such information?
In this new book Professor Chris Brown explores people's reactions to Optimal Rational Positions: propositions that set out requirements for change. For example the need to reduce carbon emissions to minimize the impacts of climate change is an Optimal Rational Position; as is the need to engage in 30 minutes of exercise a day, to eat more healthily or to drink less alcohol. It seems obvious that we should want to pursue Optimal Rational Positions because they espouse the types of behaviours that will enable us to live healthier, happier or more productive lives; that can improve the lives and outcomes of others; or that can help us ensure social and environmental sustainability. Yet at the same time we often fail to change our behaviours to those which might be most optimal. Outlining an exciting and innovative route forward, and with real-life case studies from education, How Social Science Can Help Us Make Better Choices provides a new way to think about why people make the choices they make and, vitally, the role social science can play in response.
Industry Reviews
The author considers the role of social science in helping people make better choices and explores people's reactions to optimal rational positions, propositions that set requirements for change. He argues that because these positions consist of a combination of hard facts and a general desire to improve people's lives, they present people with a substantive requirement to do something different, and that people should want to pursue optimal rational positions because they put forth the types of behaviors that will enable them to live healthier, happier, or more productive lives; improve the lives and outcomes of others; or ensure social and environmental sustainability. He discusses how optimal rational positions can be obtained by understanding what is needed to change people's perspectives and behaviors, and how the plan of action can be implemented to help achieve this change. He describes the idea of optimal rationality; how semiotic analysis can fill gaps in rationality; an optimal rationality case study from education (of teachers who are not using evidence-informed practice to improve teaching and student outcomes); how the semiotic idea of "scenes" can be used to change the desirability of an optimal rational position and people's wish to be associated with it; and lessons from this work for social science and the ways researchers can develop approaches to maximize the types of optimal rational position-related behavior to improve lives. -- Annotation (c)2018 * (protoview.com) *
