Alavosius, M., Newsome, D., Houmanfar, R., & Biglan, A. (2016). A functional contextualist analysis of the behavior and organizational practices relevant to climate change. The Wiley Handbook of Contextual Behavioral Science, 513-530.
This chapter discusses positive human behavior in the context of a changing global climate. Critical foundations of the science of behavior include understanding the behavior of individuals and groups as being dynamic and adaptive. Behavioral science identifies functional relations between manipulable environmental variables and observable behaviors as the primary purpose of psychological investigation. The massive changes needed to address the problem of climate change require that virtually every organization in society change some of its practices. In approaching what changes must occur, the chapter considers the various types of organizations, by category, in search of a strategy for influencing the population of organizations. The challenge for the contextual behavioral science community is to do the extensive and difficult research needed to pinpoint the variables that will bring about the massive, yet crucial, changes in individual behavior and organizational action.