Abstract
The problems and challenges associated with planetary health are vast and interconnected, and are therefore requiring of research which takes an all-of-society perspective. Following calls for input from behavioural scientists in discussions about planetary health, we here present a review and synthesis of recent research on utopian thinking and lay beliefs about societal change. For some time, utopian theorists have recognised the capacity of ideals for society to motivate social change behaviour, but this has largely been ignored by behavioural scientists. However, recent research has shown that utopian thinking elicits social change behaviour among ordinary people, and that a utopia with pro-environmental content tends to be especially motivating. Furthermore, changes which are seen as increasing levels of warmth and morality in society elicit greater levels of support and motivation to bring about those changes. These findings have implications for how social movements for planetary health can proceed and provide hope for motivating the necessary social change. We present this work in the hope that it can contribute to the furtherance of efforts for the achievement of planetary health.
Highlights
The achievement of planetary health is likely to require significant cultural transformation.Human behaviour, lifestyles, and culture affect important drivers of planetary health like the level of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions [1]
Since planetary health entails a variety of interconnected systems and challenges, and is dependent upon creating change across the whole of society, we believe that an important perspective which behavioural science can bring to bear is an understanding of how ordinary people understand societal change; in particular, how ideals for society—utopias—are understood and whether they have motivating effects
We present a review of emerging behavioural scientific research on utopian thinking—whether people engage in it, its content, and whether it tends to elicit motivation for societal change
Summary
The achievement of planetary health is likely to require significant cultural transformation. Lifestyles, and culture affect important drivers of planetary health like the level of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions [1]. Inasmuch as people are motivated to pursue a vision of their ideal society, they may be motivated to change their lifestyle and culture to be more consistent with their utopian vision [3]. If people’s utopian visions contain an image of a healthy planet, this may motivate them to engage in environmentally significant behaviours. We present a review of emerging behavioural scientific research on utopian thinking—whether people engage in it, its content, and whether it tends to elicit motivation for societal change. We thereby hope to bring these perspectives to the attention of those engaged in debate, discussion and research about planetary health
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