Learning from Evidence in a Complex World
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11023955 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John D Sterman (0000-0001-7476-6760, The author is with the MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Mass., corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 96 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 505-514 |
| Publication date | 2006-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048 |
| Publisher | American Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2105/ajph.2005.066043 |
| PMID | 16449579 |
| PMCID | PMC1470513 |
| OpenAlex | W2157800154 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 164 |
| References cited | 42 |
Policies to promote public health and welfare often fail or worsen the problems they are intended to solve. Evidence-based learning should prevent such policy resistance, but learning in complex systems is often weak and slow. Complexity hinders our ability to discover the delayed and distal impacts of interventions, generating unintended “side effects.” Yet learning often fails even when strong evidence is available: common mental models lead to erroneous but self-confirming inferences, allowing harmful beliefs and behaviors to persist and undermining implementation of beneficial policies. Here I show how systems thinking and simulation modeling can help expand the boundaries of our mental models, enhance our ability to generate and learn from evidence, and catalyze effective change in public health and beyond
Cognitive psychology · Economic growth · Economics · Machine learning · Mental health · Policy learning · Political science · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Public economics · Public health · Public health interventions · Public policy · Resistance (ecology) · Risk analysis (engineering) · Unintended consequences · Welfare · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Computer Science · Health Policy Implementation Science · Medicine · Mental Health Research Topics · Psychology
Community Organizing and Community Building for Health and Welfare
Toward a Political Ecology of Mind
Addressing the commercial determinants of unhealthy beverage exposure
Mapping Interrelated Factors in Health in All Policies Implementation in Local Governments
Irritations and Unforeseen Consequences of the Urban
Planning for suicide prevention in Thai refugee camps
Systems thinking, knowledge and action
Visualization of causation in social-ecological systems
Opportunities and obstacles to socioecosystem-based environmental policy in Mexico
A Community-Based Systems Learning Approach to Understanding Youth Violence in Boston
Fomentar la salud mediante las alianzas de investigación en América Latina
Promoção da saúde através de parcerias para a pesquisa na América Latina
Understanding Diabetes Population Dynamics Through Simulation Modeling and Experimentation
System Dynamics Modeling for Public Health
The philosophy of simulation
Diffusion in Sociological Analysis
Coevolution of Decision‐Making and Social Environments
Implications of the Foresight Obesity System Map for Solutions to Childhood Obesity
Conceptual Approaches to the Study of Health Disparities
Food Insecurity and Mental Health among Females in High-Income Countries
Systems Science Methods in Public Health
Large‐System Transformation in Health Care
Systems Thinking to Improve the Public's Health
Social determinants in an Australian urban region
Systems thinking and complexity
Complexity
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Understanding the Problem of Access to Public Health Insurance Schemes among Cross-Border Migrants in Thailand through Systems Thinking
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Tous les modèles sont faux, mais la complexité est utile
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Bringing new tools, a regional focus, resource-sensitivity, local engagement and necessary discipline to mental health policy and planning
When primary healthcare meets queerstory
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Measuring, Modeling, and Forecasting the Mental Wealth of Nations
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Analyzing the Finnish University funding system through system-based simulation
System dynamics gamification
Introduction to the Theme Issue on Dynamics of Health Behavior
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Using participatory system dynamics learning to support Ryan White Planning Council priority setting and resource allocations
Common Ingroup Identity, Perceived Similarity, and Communal Interracial Relationships
Reframing evidence in evidence-based policy making and role of bibliometrics
A study of dynamic fuzzy cognitive map model with group consensus based on linguistic variables
Community‐Based System Dynamics for Mobilizing Communities to Advance School Health
(Re)configuring the criminal justice response to human trafficking
Congruence of appropriation and provision in collective water provision in Central Namibia
Exploring the Relevance of Complexity Theory for Mixed Methods Research
Understanding barriers to decision making in the UK energy-food-water nexus
Urban phosphorus sustainability
Understanding how to create healthier places
Using community-based system dynamics modeling to understand the complex systems that influence health in cities
Building a Methodological Foundation for Impactful Urban Planetary Health Science
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Mapping the Intellectual Structure and Evolution of Systems Thinking
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Applying Structural Systems Thinking to Frame Perspectives on Social Work Innovation
Adaptive policing for a climate crisis
The Development of a Questionnaire to Assess Research and Evaluation Capacity-Building
Simulation games as a catalyst for social learning
Strengthening Social Capital for Adaptive Governance of Natural Resources
Tracking Outcomes of Social Capital and Institutional Innovations in Natural Resources Management
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Geographic information science I
Mapping factors associated with a successful shift towards healthier food retail in community-based organisations
Policy Modeling to Support Administrative Decisionmaking on the New York State Hiv Testing Law
Sustaining Attention to Sustainability, Health, and Well-Being in Urban Regeneration
Climate Change
An application of Extended Normalisation Process Theory in a randomised controlled trial of a complex social intervention
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Evaluating a complex health promotion intervention
Reducing STEM test anxiety through classroom mindfulness training for lower secondary school children
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The politics of agricultural policy and nutrition
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ICCM data quality
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Uncovering the Dynamic System Driving Older Adults' Vitality
Deciding on secession
Climate change 2001
Stratospheric sink for chlorofluoromethanes
Why Ordinary People Torture Enemy Prisoners
All models are wrong
Bathtub dynamics
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Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among US Children, Adolescents, and Adults, 1999-2002
Economic Reasons for Conserving Wild Nature
The Implications of Regional Variations in Medicare Spending. Part 1
Judgment under Uncertainty
The structure of scientific revolutions
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Administrative behavior
Risk Behaviors of Youth Living With HIV
System Dynamics Modeling for Public Health
Understanding Diabetes Population Dynamics Through Simulation Modeling and Experimentation
| Unique citing works | 164 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 8,2 |
| Citation span | 2006 - 2026 (21) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 149 |