The Relationship between Systems Thinking and the New Ecological Paradigm

Abstract

The goal of the present research was to examine the relationship between the cognitive paradigm systems thinking and an ecologically informed worldview, specifically the New Ecological Paradigm. One hundred and fifteen psychology undergraduate students completed an online questionnaire assessing systems thinking, ecological worldview, environmental value-orientation, connectivity to nature, and environmental behaviors. Results demonstrated that systems thinkers possess a stronger ecological worldview and sense of connectivity with nature, harbour biospheric environmental values, and engage in more pro-environmental behaviors than those scoring low on systems thinking. Furthermore, it was found that systems thinking both uniquely predicted and was predicted by the New Ecological Paradigm. Moreover, results demonstrated that systems thinkers are better able to acknowledge 'system membership' and possess a greater understanding of the characteristics of complex ecological systems and their mutual influence on social-economic domains. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Keywords systems thinking; cognitive paradigm; complex adaptive system; environmental worldview; New Ecological ParadigmThe traditional approach to resolving environmental dilemmas is in need of reform. These predicaments are complex and affect not only the ecological spheres of society but also implicate social and economic domains as well (Holland, 1995;Walker and Salt, 2006;Folke et al., 2010). It has been argued that the traditional, mechanistic way of thinking is inadequate to accurately perceive the multifaceted, fluid, and emergent nature of complex social, ecological, and economic phenomena (Goerner, 2007;Wulun, 2007;Moore and Westley, 2011;Meyfroidt, 2013). To tackle these challenges a new perceptual framework has been proposed; one that may facilitate the capacity to acknowledge the emergent and unpredictable characteristics of complex systems. This construct has been termed systems thinking (Checkland, 1981;Richmond, 1993;Maani and Maharaj, 2004; Randle and Stroink, 2012). What Is Systems Thinking?Systems thinking is a trans-disciplinary construct that has been promoted as a means of being able to better comprehend and mitigate complex social-ecological dilemmas (Bosh et al., 2007;Fazey, 2010). It arose concurrently with complexity theory, quantum physics, and general systems theory during the mid-20th century and has been argued to be essential for perceiving and understanding the behavior of complex adaptive systems (CASs) (Fazey, 2010;Moore and Westley, 2011;Henning and Chen, 2012).A CAS is a collection of individual nodes (i.e. agents and elements) that self-organize and exchange information amongst each other locally to produce spontaneous and emergent global outcomes (Holland, 1995;Cilliers, 1998;Gunderson and Holling, 2002;Edson, 2012). CASs are dynamic, fluid, comprised of positive and negative feedback loops, have no central authority, and are inseparably entwined with, and contained within, other CASs. Because of the constant ...

The Development and Initial Validation of the Paradigm of Systems Thinking

“…We define systems thinking as a cognitive paradigm with which people come to perceive themselves and the world to be dynamic entities that display continually emerging patterns arising from the interactions among many interdependent connecting components. Thus, systems thinking is conceptualized as a worldview that encompasses core beliefs, values and assumptions concerning reality and guides personal or societal philosophies and epistemologies (Davis and Stroink, ). In this worldview, systems thinkers possess a mindset that is more holistic than reductionist, possess an expanded understanding of causality and recognize that systems undergo constant change.…”

“…Thus, there appears to be a growing interest in the psychology of systems thinking (Davis and Stroink, ; Thibodeau et al, ) but only a small number of publications to date. As a result, the primary purpose of this paper is to delve deeper into systems thinking as a psychological construct and to explore how it operates as a cognitive paradigm.…”

Situating a Measure of Systems Thinking in a Landscape of Psychological Constructs

“…Prior work has also established the construct and predictive validity of the measure. For instance, prior work with the scale has revealed differences in how systems thinkers represent complex problems like environmental dilemmas (Davis and Stroink, ) and social issues (Thibodeau et al ., ) and approach problems that require creative thinking (Randle, ). Davis and Stroink (), for example, showed that systems thinkers were more likely to engage in pro‐environmental behaviour when presented with a complex environmental dilemma (Davis and Stroink, ).…”

An Animated Visual Representation of Real‐Time Resource Flows Through a Community Enhances Systems Thinking

“…Concurrently, Davis and Stroink worked to develop a survey‐based ‘Systems Thinking Scale’ (STS) designed to measure an individual's ‘tendency to perceive and understand relevant phenomena as emergent from complex, dynamic and nested systems’ (Davis and Stroink, ). In the STS assessment, the respondents rate their degree of agreement with 15 statements on a Likert scale.…”

“…Davis and Stroink used a sample of college students to compare their measure of systems thinking with several well‐established measures of cognitive and behavioural relationships to the environment including the Connectedness to Nature Scale (Mayer and Frantz, ), an Environmental Behavior Scale (Mayer and Frantz, ), the New Ecological Paradigm (Dunlap et al, ), the Environmental Motives Scale (Schultz, ), and the Marlow‐Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne and Marlowe, ). They found that those who scored high in systems thinking had a stronger ecological world view and connection to nature and were more likely to engage in pro‐environmental behaviours than those who scored low (Davis and Stroink, ). Thibodeau et al () expanded on this work through surveys of adults in the USA drawn from a Mechanical Turk sample.…”