Embodied Political Cognition

Nothing remains to be said about the ecological crisis other than that individuals are massively variable in their responsiveness to it. It is abundantly clear to even a casual observer that the widely divergent worldviews present in contemporary populations reflect underlying temperaments, but temperament is rarely addressed as an intrinsic dimension of politics. A wealth of research exists on the many variables which correlate with political perspectives, but very little on how transformations of worldviews occur. The Embodied Political Cognition group is producing a systemic understanding of how people undergo the transformation in their embodied states of being necessary to comprehend and respond to our converging crises.

We follow an iterative process, consisting of three phases. First, a period of literature review, broad hypothesis formation, and narrative collection. Some narratives will be presented on our podcast and video series Metanoia: How Worldviews Change. We collect descriptions of people's journey to an ecologically responsive worldview from a wide range of initial starting points as well as discuss and attempt to theoretically integrate what we are hearing. Second, a period of explicit hypothesis formation, research design, and further data collection. Third, a period in which we experiment with protocols for shifting worldviews that we develop in the course of our research. These may consist of, for instance, group processes, collective actions, gatherings, or media production.