Ramírez-Ramón, David

Addressing pressing social-environmental challenges requires the involvement and connection of interdependent actors with varying perspectives. Inducing perspective-taking can heighten other-regarding considerations and actions in favour of socially desirable outcomes in such situations. By encouraging decision-makers to consider broader perspectives, perspective-taking can foster concern for the well-being or expectations of others and/or for upholding personal and social norms. As a result, perspective-taking can compel prosocial behaviour. In this presentation, we draw on an extensive literature review and behavioural data obtained from fieldwork to explore how perspective-taking alters individuals' assessments of decision situations. Specifically, we examine how perspective-taking induces decision-makers to connect with, appreciate, and feel compelled to address others' needs when feasible and convenient (i.e., helping is within the realm of possibilities and not detrimental to their well-being). Our data comprises the behaviour of 206 farmers in a Peruvian watershed who learned through videos or field trips about the watershed's social and ecological conditions and interactions. A subset of these downstream farmers was asked to consider the perspectives of farmers living and working upstream while undertaking this learning activity.