Unit1a Social Traps

1. ENVIRONMENTAL
PROBLEMS
Why & how do we get into them?
Attitudes
Social traps
How do we avoid them?

2. Attitudes—that get us into problems
Rosy Optimism: ignore problems
Frontier Attitude: believe we will never
run out
Tech Fix: trust science to solve all
problems
Gloom-And-Doom: feel useless to stop
problems

3. Attitudes
How do these attitudes lead to or
perpetuate environmental problems?
Each of these attitudes prevents people
from taking action or doing something to
fix problems.

4. Is this how you feel?
Get Fuzzy, 9/4/01

5. Attitudes—that avoid problems
Sustainability:
Attitude that supports continuation & renewal of life
and life support systems
Uses resources only at a rate that can be sustained
(maintained) forever.
An attempt to provide the best outcomes for the
human and natural environments both now and into
the indefinite future. It relates to the continuity of
economic, social, institutional and environmental
aspects of human society, as well as the non-human
environment

6. Social Traps: Origin of Concept
Based on John Platt's 1973 paper in American Psychologist
.
Ideas continued to be developed in an interdisciplinary
symposium held at the University of Michigan building
upon the concept of the "tragedy of the commons" in
Garrett Hardin's pivotal article in Science (1968)
Platt, recognized that individuals operating for short-term
positive reinforcement had a tendency to over-exploit the
resource which led to a long-term negative loss to society.

7. Social Traps: Definition
Any situation where what looks like a good
choice to me right now turns out to be the
wrong choice for society (usually including
me) in the long run.
A situation in which a person, if they make
a decision based on “me-here-now”
perspective makes the wrong decision in
the long-term/global context

8. Collective Social Trap
Also “Tragedy of the Commons”
Occurs when there is a shared resource
(e.g., air, water)
Each individual’s small effect adds up to a
big problem when many people’s effects
add together.

9. Collective Social Trap
Also “Tragedy of the Commons
“Commons” refers to community held pastures in
colonial New England villages
Each individual farmer’s cows only take a small
amount of grass
As more cows are added the commons becomes
overgrazed.
It is in farmer’s best interest to increase numbers
of cows
Individual farmer gains wealth, however, costs of
overgrazing shared by all.

10. Collective Social Trap
Also “Tragedy of the Commons”
Example: You and Air Pollution
When you drive your car, you contribute only
a small amount to the air pollution of your city
However, the combined total of all the cars
driving in a city add up to a big problem

11. Time Delay Social Trap
An action today results in a negative effect
in the future.
The action only has to happen once to
initate the long term negative effect.
Something is gained in the short-term, but
there are consequences to face in the long-
term

12. Time Delay Social Trap
Example 1: Nuclear Waste
In the short-term energy is gained, however in
the long-term, there is the problem of
radioactive waste disposal.
Example 2: Clear-cutting
Clear-cutting a forest results in lumber
production, however in the future there are
problems of erosion, flooding and loss of
biodiversity

13. Sliding Reinforcer
Social Trap
The first time the action occurs, the result
is positive
Every time a behavior is repeated, the
effects become less positive until they
become increasingly negative

14. Sliding Reinforcer Social Trap
Example: Pesticides
The first time a pesticide is used, it is very
effective at killing pests
As pesticides use continues, pest resistance
increases, so the amount and kinds of pesticides is
increased
With each application of pesticides, pest resistance
increases so more is used…
And down the line….as more is used the negative
effects on the environment increase while benefits
decrease

15. Externality Social Trap
The negative repercussions are put on
someone else (including other generations.

16. Externality Social Trap
Example 1: using fossil fuels today will
leave little for future generations
Example 2: River dumping…pollution
affects those downstream

17. Avoiding Social Traps
Education: Let people know about all the
long term consequences and the social trap
that is before them.
Pros?
People willingly cooperate
Cons?
People may not cooperate

18. Avoiding Social Traps
Rules/Laws: Make rules/laws to stop
people from doing the wrong thing.
Pros?
People will follow the law or suffer the
consequences
Cons?
Laws are to be broken; hard to enforce

19. Avoiding Social Traps
Change Trap to Tradeoff: Bring all the long
term consequences up front. This way, even people
only thinking of me-here-now still make the right
decision.
Pros?
It works
Cons?
It is hard to determine long term and societal costs; all
have to do it.