Stories

We open the July issue of the Civic Science Series with insights from host partner Emily Falk, neuroscientist and professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania, on leveraging tools from neuroscience to address complex challenges like climate change—with compassion and collaboration.

Snuggling in bed recently, one of my kids whispered in my ear: “What kind of world do you think I’ll grow up into?” Like many young people, he’s been worried—about climate change as he has seen kids his age dying in the recent Texas floods, about war, and about whether people in our community have places to live and enough to eat. He knows I’m worried too, about the erosion of our collective investments in science, education, and health—tools we need to meet these challenges and more.

This conversation echoes many I’ve had lately with students, colleagues, and friends. In my work directing Penn’s Communication Neuroscience Lab and the Climate Communication Division of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, we focus on the intersection of health, climate, and equity. That means we confront hard realities every day: cancer, racism, climate disasters. As scientists and citizens, so much of what we care about requires effort now for outcomes that may not arrive for years. It’s easy to feel like we aren’t doing enough, to feel discouraged or disconnected from the impact of our work, and it can be hard to make choices that feel “right.”

Lying in bed with my kid’s smooth cheek resting against my chest, I took a deep breath and told him the truth: I don’t know exactly what the world will look like as he grows up, but I do know there are so many people working to make it better. I also shared three tools with him that help me in these situations: purpose, connection, and joy.

In part motivated by wanting to share how research in psychology and neuroscience has shaped my decision-making and helped me align what I care about with my day-to-day energy, I wrote a book called What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change. The book explores how our brains make decisions, and how we can use that information to support change in ourselves and others and connect with other people more effectively.

I focus on three core brain systems: one that helps us calculate value, another that shapes our sense of self, and a third that allows us to understand the thoughts and feelings of others. I hope that understanding these systems might give us more compassion for ourselves and others, make it easier to open up to new ideas and behaviors, sync up with others, and build cultures that we want to be part of.

One insight from this science is especially relevant now: Our brains prioritize rewards that come sooner rather than later, that will benefit ourselves or the people closest to us, and that we feel confident will materialize. On the surface, this could make long-term, collective challenges hard to act on. But purpose and connection can shift those calculations. Feeling connected to others activates the brain’s reward system and regulates stress. Working as part of a community makes the benefits of our efforts more concrete and immediate. Reflecting on our bigger purpose and values helps us stay open, engaged, and resilient. When we reflect on our core values, it helps us zoom out to see the bigger picture, which in turn helps us take in information that might challenge our prior beliefs, assumptions, or ways of doing things.

And importantly, when we act with purpose, we influence others. The brain calculates what’s valuable based on what people around us are doing, and what they approve of. This means that each of us plays a role not just in the work itself, but in making purpose, connection, and joy contagious.

Since joining the Civic Science Fellowship community, we’ve felt buoyed by your commitment and determination. It’s inspired us to experiment and expand, from intervention tournaments to motivate climate action, to co-designed messaging to increase youth voter engagement, to a new graduate course called Climate Communication and Community that’s built around youth participatory action research. We’ve also deepened our exploration of conversation as a tool for change, examining what happens in the brain when people connect and find common ground—and, as Ovidia Stanoi’s work that’s highlighted in this newsletter explores, what happens when people talk about climate change.

What kind of world will we build together? That depends on how we choose to spend our time, attention, and energy, and on the stories we tell, the people we bring in, and the joy we make space for along the way.

Emily Falk is a Professor of Communication, Psychology, Marketing, and Operations, Informatics, and Decisions at the University of Pennsylvania; Vice Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication; and Director of the Communication Neuroscience Lab and the Climate Communication Division at the Annenberg Public Policy Center.