“The world we have created is a product of our thinking. If we want to change the world, we have to change our thinking.” — Albert Einstein
o Ancient Greek culture emphasized individualism, an independent view of the self, and analytic thinking
o The West is still heavily influenced by ancient Greek values, beliefs, and style of thinking
o An over-reliance on analytic thinking is not conducive to solving sustainability issues
o Incorporating behavioral sustainability — a more holistic framework — is the path to a better collective future
Table of Contents
The Best of Both Worlds: The Importance of a Balanced and Integrative Perspective
Introducing Behavioral Sustainability as an Integrative Solution
Like everyone else in the U.S. and across the world, I spent most of 2020 wondering what our collective future will look like. There has been a lot to contemplate, including the worsening climate crisis, intensifying racial tensions around the BLM movement, wildfires, hurricanes, and the COVID-19 global pandemic. Why has the U.S. — given its vast resources and infrastructure — been unable to contain the COVID-19 outbreak to the same degree as other countries, including my home country of Japan, have? Why is the U.S. still grappling with institutionalized racism decades after the official end of slavery? Why can’t we reduce and eliminate extreme inequality?
As a cross-cultural behavioral scientist, my instinct is to understand human behavior — how we act, and how we make choices and decisions — using a cultural lens. And using that lens, I have always suspected that individualism is a key part of the problem. Individualistic tendencies don’t exactly help us when we need to tackle sweeping issues that involve the well-being of countless stakeholders. But I knew I was still missing something in my theory. A few weeks ago, I had an epiphany: to put ourselves on a better, more sustainable trajectory, we need to change how people, specifically, individualists, behave by changing how they think.
Individualism didn’t just appear out of thin air. Individualistic beliefs and behaviors are tied to a certain style of thinking that is prevalent in the West. Without understanding how this style of thinking influences how people behave, we can’t change how people behave. And to understand and ultimately change how people think, we need to tap into the knowledge behavioral science researchers have gained about human psychology, styles of thinking, and behavior.
Now that I have arrived at this idea, I feel compelled to share it with as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, because we — all humans — need to care about sustainability for our own sake. While the world would indeed be a better place if everyone had the means and the interest to care about the well-being of life on earth and behaved better towards each other, we would be naïve to think that the end goal is that. Whether you care about the plight of people on the other side of the world or not, ultimately, the sustainability of the earth’s vast ecosystems determines everyone’s quality of life. The difficult truth is that it is only a matter of time until even the affluent will become unable to protect themselves from the effects of unsustainable practices and climate change. In fact, this year’s global pandemic, extreme weather, and wildfires are emblematic of this shifting reality, as even the most privileged were stripped of their ability to travel, see their friends and family, and enjoy the outdoors. We need to get serious about building a world that is worth living in and worth passing onto future generations. It’s time to figure out how to change our collective behaviors.
In this article, we will first explore the historical and cultural influences on decision making; we will then examine in detail the relationship between our culture and our psychology, and how our different styles of thinking manifest in our behaviors. Finally, we will conclude with my concept of behavioral sustainability, and why I think it is a critical framework that can help us build a better future.