Changing Minds

Jonathan Carr-WestDeputy Programme Director,

RSA

So the whole question thus comes down to this: can the human mind master

what the human mind has made?Paul Valery

The significant problems we face can not be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

Albert Einstein

Core hypothesis

• Major social change occurs when profound challenges are matched by powerful new solutions

• Technological, economic and social progress has created complex, unpredictable challenges

• Emerging knowledge about how we think may help us to respond to these challenges

How?

1. Through the application of insights from neuroscience, behavioural economics, social psychology etc. to concrete public policy challenges

2. New ways of thinking about ourselves and our relationship to the world allow the emergence of new ideas

What have we learnt?

• More robust theories about how our minds evolved and for what function

• Better understanding of the physical processes in the brain that underpin mental operations

• Better understanding of the idiosyncrasies of human cognitive processes and more sophisticated predictive accounts of why people and societies act as they do

• Crucial new discoveries about the plasticity of the brain and its relationship to external environments

What have we learnt?

• More robust theories about how our minds evolved and for what function.– Evolutionary psychology– Modular theory of mind

“the mind is a system of organs of computation designed by natural

selection to solve the problems faced by our evolutionary ancestors in their

foraging way of life” (Pinker)

What have we learnt?

• Better understanding of the physical processes in the brain that underpin mental operations

What have we learnt?

• Better understanding of the idiosyncrasies of human cognitive processes and more sophisticated predictive accounts of why people and societies act as they do – Prospect theory (Kahneman)– Post rationalising happiness (Gilbert)– Psychology of persuasion (Cialdini)– Social ‘physics’ (Schelling)– Language ‘framing’ the physical world

(Pinker)

What have we learnt?

• Crucial new discoveries about the plasticity of the brain and its relationship to external environments– Flynn effect– neurogenesis

What does this all add up to?

• Emphasis on process as well as content of thought

• Recognition that conscious mind is only part of the picture

• Other factors play a role in determining our cognitive capacity and the content of our thought

Aspects of the self

SystemEnvironmental

Cultural Social

MindConscious/Unconscious

Physical organismBody/brain

Natural sciences

Philosophy

Psychology

Social

sciences

Why does this matter?

• Understanding mechanisms allows us to plan better interventions :– public health in C19th– athletics training– health to fitness

Societies do not always survive

Unless they find new ways to think about themselves and their relation to the world

Imagine if…

• Our responses to contemporary challenges were informed by the best scientific knowledge about how we think and behave?– Ageing population– Inequality– Learning– Well being

Imagine if…

• And of course there may be implications for business:– Employee performance– Learning– Organisational structure– Management– Workspace

Imagine if…

• New ways of thinking about ourselves enabled decisive shifts in how we think about:– Social solidarity– Collective agency– Relationship to natural world

• A new enlightenment?

What is the RSA doing?

1. Building a public debate– Lectures– Articles– Online discussion

What is the RSA doing?

1. Building a public debate2. Analysing public policy implications

– Workshops with scientists and policy makers

What is the RSA doing?

1. Building a public debate2. Analysing public policy implications3. Cross disciplinary work to develop

new ways of thinking about thinking – Books– Articles– New research agenda

What is the RSA doing?

1. Building a public debate2. Analysing public policy implications3. Cross disciplinary work to develop

new ways of thinking about thinking

When?

• Scoping pamphlet: August 08• Keynote lectures: Sept – Dec 08• Public Policy workshops: Jan – March

09• Additional research & development:

March – Sept 09