Human Behavioural Traits and the Polycrisis: A Systematic Review

Nick King and Aled Jones ()
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Nick King: Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK
Aled Jones: Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-25

Abstract: Polycrisis has recently emerged as a term to capture the human predicament, and analyses of the drivers of this have identified causes such as economic growth. However, identification of the fundamental, underpinning causes is needed to effectively mitigate the polycrisis, and human behavioural traits are likely to comprise such fundamental drivers. Specifically, traits that have become maladaptive in the context of modernity are particularly important. We identify three particular maladaptations that are likely the most direct contributors to the polycrisis: warfare; resource overexploitation; and human cognitive biases. A systematic literature review using these maladaptations identified key studies from which behavioural traits underpinning the maladaptations were highlighted. These identified traits form the basis of suggested leverage points in the global system to reduce the likelihood of a polycrisis.

Keywords: maladaptations; Earth system; warfare; resource overexploitation; cognitive biases; leverage points; collective wisdom; human intelligence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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