Meet Corinne Condie: finding paths through conflict with behavioural science

By  Emily Brown 17 December 2024 4 min read

Corrine Condie’s work has taken her from wool farms to windfarms. The CERC Postdoctoral Fellow has a clear goal: to ease social conflict through science. 

Her entry into the field of behavioural psychology was somewhat serendipitous.

“I was an agricultural economics student looking for an interesting honours project,” Corrine said.

“What followed was a fascinating year of research into the Australian wool industry. By talking to people, we found out about the wool garments they wanted to buy... the result was easy to wear, brightly coloured, super soft, and machine washable.”

Corrine took her findings back to the industry, sparking innovation in production, processing, and marketing. It modernised the wool industry, by giving consumers a say in what they found on the shelves.

“It was fascinating, and I thought ‘this is the life for me!’” Corrine said.

Helping science have a positive impact

To become widely adopted and have a positive impact, new technologies need to be accepted and valued by society. Giving people a stake in the innovation journey is key to advancing science responsibly. This means ensuring that new science and technologies are developed hand-in-hand with those who use them.

“Too often, the limiting factor in achieving transformational change is the human or social dimension,” Corrine said.

For example, in the 1990s, horse-riding was the most dangerous sport in the world – largely due to head and chest injuries. Many equestrians didn’t wear helmets. At the University of Washington in Seattle, Corrine initiated an equestrian injury prevention program.

“We linked up the equestrian community – pony clubs, farmers, racing and trail riding groups – with engineers from one of the largest bicycle helmet companies,” Corrine said.

“Together we designed a new helmet, with a high safety rating. It was light weight, well-ventilated and could be worn as a Stetson, a colourful pony club helmet, or a racing cap,” she said.

“The result was more people wearing helmets, and a significant fall in injury rates.”

Attitude modelling: a family affair

While at university, she met her husband and research collaborator, Scott Condie.

Over the last five years, they have been using agent-based modelling to investigate diverse perspectives in areas of high marine-based conflict, such as salmon aquaculture and offshore wind generation.

“We call it the PAX model – for ‘people’s attitudes explained’,” she said.

Appropriately, Pax is also Latin for peace.

The model mimics the way people’s attitudes form and change, as they exchange views and consume news media. It carefully calibrates these processes against data from Corrine’s large surveys. It then accurately predicts the evolution of attitudes on a particular topic, among relevant groups of people.

Corrine’s team have been able to test strategies for reducing the conflict around environmental issues.

For example, how would people’s attitudes change if the government changed regulatory requirements, or industry ran a promotional campaign? What if key groups joined a collaborative learning process?

“The PAX model offers a way to test a strategy before carrying it out,” Corrine said.

“By better understanding people’s views and responses to change, it can help us navigate a more harmonious pathway for innovation,” she said.

“An approach that reduces conflict and brings people together virtually has a high chance of success in the real world – and it will always perform better than reacting as events unfold.”

What we’ve learnt about conflict

Using the surveys and modelling, Corrine can work out where different groups might stand on new science or technology. The model creates a virtual world, to explore what actions could help meet people’s needs and reduce the potential for community conflict.

According to the team’s research, there are four factors which feed conflict:

1. Perception or the difference between what a person thinks is happening and what is actually happening.
2. Communication or the difference between the information that people need to access in order to have an informed opinion, and the information that is out there and easy to find.
3. Governance or how much people believe they have been included in decision making processes, and their concerns acknowledged and acted upon.
4. Trust or the extent to which people believe that an innovation will be well regulated, environmentally sustainable, and responsive to community concerns.

“We don’t use what we learn from the PAX model to try to change anyone’s attitudes. Instead, we see how different strategies and policies play out among different groups of people,” Corinne said.

“That’s how we evaluate whether they’ll have a positive impact for society.” 

The wide blue yonder

In her ongoing research for our Responsible Innovation Future Science Platform, Corrine continues to explore how conflict plays out in marine spaces.

Coastal populations are growing. As industries such as aquaculture, energy and tourism expand into marine areas, conflict is increasing.

"However, the PAX model is helping researchers explore new possibilities for planning, decision-making and communication. It generates options for low-conflict pathways, which truly account for differing perspectives and attitudes toward new technologies," she said.

“From mitigating climate change, to generating renewable energy, or creating sustainable sources of fish – the PAX model offers a way forward for useful technologies to make a positive impact."