Nudging and how it works
- Nudge the Animation: Helping people make better decisions
. An explanation of why we nudge, how nudges work and provides us with some simple examples of nudges in different fields. From University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. 2013. - Psychology and ELT – Nudging . Richard Thaler, University of Chicago economist and co-author of Nudge, explains in simple terms how nudges and choice architecture work. 2014.
- David Halpern on Nudge Theory . Renowned behavioural scientist David Halpern of the UK’s Behavioural Insights Team discusses how minor tweaks can have a huge effect in the world of decision-making. From the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). 2015.”An introduction to Thaler and Sunstein’s book Nudge – A Macat Psychology Analysis” , with a clear, everyday example to help people stop smoking. From Macat. 2016.
- Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2009). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. New York: Penguin Books.
- Hansen, Pelle Guldborg. “What is nudging?” . Behavioural Science & Policy Association.
Choice architecture
How we make decisions is influenced by a set of conditions and factors that we call “choice architecture.” Nudging means choice architects (e.g. policy makers, urban designers, teachers, etc.) make small changes in choice architecture to make better behaviour easy. Learn more about choice architecture here:
- A very thorough introduction to behavioural economics .
- A conference summary with an excellent explanation of applications of choice architecture, from a session presentation by Richard Thaler. Rockrohr, Phil. “Thaler Explains How ‘Choice Architecture’ Makes the World a Better Place” (2008).
- An overview of different ways (beyond nudging) that we can alter choice architecture, with examples. Wood, Paul. “The Six Principles of Good Choice Architecture” (2014).
Fast and slow thinking
Our brains make decisions using one (or both) of two thinking processes, coined “fast and slow” by Nobel Prize winning author Daniel Kahneman. The fast thinking process operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control. The slow thinking process allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including complex computations. Learn more about the fast and slow thinking processes here:
- Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- An excerpt from Kahneman’s book, in which these two ways of thinking are introduced. Kahneman, D. (2012). “Of 2 Minds: How Fast and Slow Thinking Shape Perception and Choice [Excerpt]” in Scientific American.