S. La Branche (IPBC Scientific Coordinator): stephane.labranche@ipbc-science.org

 

Even in ‘purely’ scientific issues, such as the climate, biodiversity or health crises (ex: Covid!) or in everyday operation and decisions as well as management, the human factor is absolutely fundamental both as the causes of these crises but also as sources of solutions! In other words, Solving even a scientific or technical problem requires the integration of the human factor.

The call for publication for the first volume has already received an important number of proposals for chapters, with over 45 authors from 20 countries, 14 disciplines, 35 universities and research institutes and covering a wide range of subjects at the heart of behavioral change and non change such as: behavioral sciences, communication sciences, ecology, health and environment, management, medecine, human behavior modeling, neurosciences, nursing, psychology, semiology, social medicine, sociology, socioeconomics, zoosemiotics…

 

Researchers are from the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA…

 

Beyond its obvious scientific interest, the IPBC’s First Main Report (PR-1) aims to:

• Undertake a review of the multidisciplinary literature in behavioral sciences. What do law, psychology, neurobiology, sociology, economics, ergonomics and so on say about drivers of behavioral change and non-change (DBCNC)? About 30 disciplines are already represented by IPBC scientists;

• Report also on what these sciences do not know and which knowledge could be useful and important to understand, so as to propose i) empirical solutions to obstacles to change and ii) new areas of research;

• Draw the attention of scientific, private, public, media and civil society actors to the importance of i) taking the human factor into account in transitions and to ii) the IPBC work on this issue.

 

 

Chapters are now in the final editing and formating phase, the end of a complex process, that began with a first review by S. La Branche, IpbC’s scientific coordinator. This first phase is attentive to scientific content, language clarity, as well as respect for the IpbC’s institutional goals and frame of mind. Many questions, proposals and discussions were integrated directly into the text and sent back to the author for modification. Then, each text was sent to two other authors. The first is a specialist of the subject, having published (and often cited in the text’s reference) in peer reviewed journals. The second author is only indirectly expert of the question but may be, for example, expert of a model analysed in the text, or may have a different analysis of the same issue. This way, we take a first step toward transdisciplinarity, one of our goals.      

 

 

 

VOLUME 1: MONODISCIPINARY CHAPTERS – short abstracts

 

– Ansart, S., Ottaviani, F., Duymedjian, R., Poissonnier, H. et Steiler, D. (UNESCO Chair towards a culture of economic peace, Grenoble Ecole de Management). “Homo economicus vs. Entrepreneurial moderation practices: a reality with transformative potential.”

Issue: Non capitalistic entrepreneurial values and their effects on corporate culture, actions and operations.

Discipline: Management sciences.

 

– S. Blanco, D. Gotteland, O. Trendel (Grenoble School of Management, France): “The role of implicit cognition in firms’ pro-environmental efforts”.

Issue: Do unquestioned, norms perceived as obvious, slow down or accelerate change efforts at the institutional level, which ones and why?

Discipline: Management sciences and management.

 

– M. Bonaiuto, V. Vitale (University of Rome, Italy): “Sociopsychological interventions as a factor of change for transition”.

Issue: Do existing individual and collective measures aimed at change work, to what extent, why, and under what conditions?

Discipline: Psychology of development and socialization, environmental psychology.

 

– D. Couvet (Center for Ecology and Conservation Sciences, CNRS, France), E. Bessa (Univ. of Brasília, Brazil): “Towards an ecological citizenship inclusive of human and non-human: potential impacts on behavior”

Issue: What role does our perceptions of non-human rights, and perceptions of our relationships to them, play in efforts for change?

Discipline: Biodiversity, sustainability sciences.

 

– D. Guyatt (United Nations PRME Working Group on Sustainability Mindset): “Beyond data: the behavioral factors that slow down virtuous investments by investors”.

Issue: Which factors lead companies to engage or not in investment congruent with ecological transition?

Discipline: Management sciences and management.

 

– H. Jalin and C. M. Daouda (Univ. of Nantes, France); A. Sapin (Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium): “Can ecoanxiety save our civilization?”

Issue: Anxiety sometimes leads to paralysis, denial or, on the contrary, to radical actions. Why is this the case or not?

Discipline: Psychology.

 

– J. Saint-Charles, S. Yates, C. Alloing, A-S. Gousse-Lessard (Univ. of Quebec in Montreal, Canada): “The role of communication as a factor in behavior change”.

Issue: What are the effects of communication, its modes, its contents, its vectors and its sources, on practices?

Discipline: Science communication.

 

– Carlos A. Trujillo (Univ. Dos Andes, Columbia): “Poverty as a factor of behavioral changes for sustainable lifestyles?”

Issue: What role does poverty play in the perceptions and practices associated with the transition?

Discipline: Economics.