Abstract
AbstractSocial innovation projects commonly refer to operationalized theories of change to inform strategy and to deliver intended outcomes. Community‐based sustainability campaigns, as one example, emphasize the elicitation of pro‐environmental activities and decision‐making among members of a host community, drawing on mainstream psychological theories of behaviour, motivation and cognitive (mental) processes. Locating an argument within the neurobiological base of structure determinism, this paper explores how theories of change for sustainability campaigns might be reimagined through the lens of enactive theory. Following a brief introduction to the enactive model of embodied cognition, implications associated with trying to operationalize the model to inform how theories of change are mapped out and used in sustainability initiatives are discussed. The paper concludes by drawing on insights from approaches to psychotherapy, which also endeavoured to apply this model of mind, and considers these within the strategic context of sustainability initiatives and public engagement.
Highlights
Humanity has reached an existential crisis point with evidence indicating potentially catastrophic climate change becoming overwhelming, necessitating an immediate and radical shift in our modus vivendi
Studies evaluating the processes and impacts of local sustainability initiatives have emerged over the last decade (e.g., Mayne, Darby, & Hamilton, 2012), few studies directly engage with the implicit models of cognition upon which many theories of change are based (Arvesen, Bright, & Hertwich, 2011; McFarlane, 2006)
Sustainability initiatives do focus on these facets, generally, the theories of change favoured are based on psychological models that have little to say about the body per se
Summary
Humanity has reached an existential crisis point with evidence indicating potentially catastrophic climate change becoming overwhelming, necessitating an immediate and radical shift in our modus vivendi. KEYWORDS enactive cognition, learning, structural coupling, sustainability initiatives, theories of change These intended processes of engagement and elicitation are frequently modelled using theories of change, which draw heavily on psychological accounts of learning, cognition and behavioural triggers.
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