Sharing what I have learned from what I have read: A blog by Joe Abittan
Writing specifically about new employee enrollment in retirement savings plans, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their book Nudge write, "One study finds that the more options in the plan, the lower the participation rates. This finding should not be surprising. With more options, the process becomes more confusing and difficult, and some people will … Continue reading Too Many Options
In many decision situation there is a default choice. Many online forms already have a bubble selected as you scroll through, there are many opt-out clauses in hospital disclosures, and when you go to sign-up for a social media platform there are pre-set security and information sharing agreements and settings. These defaults can matter a … Continue reading More On Default Choices
"Rare, difficult choices are good candidates for nudges," write Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler. Throughout their book Nudge, Sunstein and Thaler try to encourage limitations on nudges. They acknowledge that anytime people are in a position to influence decision-making by determining how choices are designed and structured, they will be providing people with nudges, regardless … Continue reading A Limitation on Nudges
American capitalism makes a mistake in assuming that people have all the information they need to make a rational choice. As anyone who has ever purchased a car knows, consumers do not always have all the valuable information they need to make a good decision in an exchange, and often, one party has far more … Continue reading Nudges Are Unavoidable
In their book Nudge, Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler argue in favor of libertarian paternalism. Their argument is that our world is complex and interconnected, and it is impossible for people to truly make decisions on their own. Not only is it impossible for people to simply make their own decisions, it is impossible for … Continue reading Paternalistic Nudges
My wife works with families with children with disabilities and for several years I worked in the healthcare space. A common idea between our two worlds was that the people being assisted are the experts on their own lives, and they know what is best for them. Parents are the experts for their children and … Continue reading Do People Make the Best Choices?
The idea of paternalism in the United States is full of contradictions, challenges, and conflicting opinions. Many people in the country don't want to be told what to do by anyone, and don't want to appear as though they are accepting paternalistic messages or nudges. Some people fully buy into the idea of paternalism, looking … Continue reading Paternalistic Choice Architects
I will discuss defaults in depth when I begin writing about Nudge by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, but it is important to think about our responses to default choices in the context of Daniel Kahneman's research in Thinking Fast and Slow. Kahneman argues that we can think of our brains as having two different … Continue reading Defaults Matter
My wife works with families with children with disabilities and one of the things I learned from her is how to ask children to do something. When speaking with an adult, we often use softeners when requesting that the other person do something, but this doesn't work with children. So while we may say to … Continue reading Frame Bound vs Reality Bound
"Losses evokes stronger negative feelings than costs. Choices are not reality-bound because System 1 is not reality-bound," writes Daniel Kahneman in Thinking Fast and Slow. We do not like losses. The idea of a loss, of having the status quo changed in a negative way without it being our deliberate choice, is hard for … Continue reading Framing Costs and Losses