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Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by Cass R. Sunstein, Richard H. Thaler
ks2_alwaysreading's review against another edition
1.0
Several classmates of mine recommended this book and it was honestly a disappointment. It was so slow to get in to and I felt like ideas kept repeating throughout the book. Not to mention that some of the chapters had no interest to me at all. The writing tone was very bland, too. Malcolm Gladwell is a much better author for books like this than these two are.
alexgogola's review against another edition
4.0
Not so much an introduction to behavioral economics, as much as a long list of nudges.
parkingwallow's review against another edition
Thought provoking, emphasizes the idea of giving people freedom to do what they want, but making it easier for them to do the things that will make them better off.
zaherii's review against another edition
The book is very basic and explains nothing on how to improve decision making. It talks about politics and finance in most of the cases which is none the of my business so I stopped. But I did finished Book summary from google.
aislingnuttall7's review against another edition
4.0
A book that changed everything!
1. Nudge = any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or changing their economic incentives.
2. Intervention must be cheap and easy to avoid to count as a nudge; nudges are not mandates
3. LIBERTARIAN PATERNALISM - can be taken by all political parties bc pays no burden on taxpayers
4. Examples of nudges:
a. Default settings - if option is presented as the default it will attract a large market share
i. Really helpful to know what recommended settings are as opposed to choosing yourself
ii. Change default rule to make savings automatic
iii. BETTER THAN ACTIVELY CHOOSING BC DEFAULTS ARE CHOSEN BY EXPERTS
b. Sending reminders about financial decisions
c. Judgments can be nudged back in the correct direction of true probabilities, improving decision making, public and private
d. Frames - choices depend on the way in which problems are stated - are powerful nudges
e. Daylight saving time (putting the clocks back) = nudge to wake up earlier
f. Social influence = most effective way to nudge bc we like to conform:
i. Most people learn from others (SCT) - how individuals and societies develop
g. Dog owners carrying plastic bags encourages others to do same even tho risk of being fined for unclean dog walking is 0
h. Measurement effect - asking someone what and when and how they are going to do smth makes them more likely to follow through w it
i. 25% increase in voting in election if asked if they were going to vote next day (2016)
i. Door handles are nudges
i. Stimulus response compatibility if violated by door handles that are assumed to be pulled but acc require pushing
j. Gmail / outlook nudges
k. Webpages w useful stats and social norms stated are good nudges
l. Toxic release inventory = competition to not get on environmentally bad blacklist
m. Up college acceptance by making it compulsory to sign up to community college in order to graduate
n. Presumed consent for organ donation - 42 vs 82%
o. Mandated choice best option for donation schemes - when renewing driver’s license, tick a box. Family cannot refute
p. People do not get enough feedback on contribution to pollution - impose taxes or penalties on those who pollute = LIBERTARIAN PATERNALISM
q. Smoking accounts - 53% more likely to quit, depositing money otherwise spent on cigs for 6 months and getting money back after a negative urine test, otherwise money goes to charity
5. Econs respond to incentives, humans respond to incentives and nudges
6. Maximising choices offered - policy of freedom not paternalism
7. Our understanding of human behaviour can be improved by understanding that people systematically go wrong
8. Automatic system is associated w older brain parts
9. Being bilingual means you speak both langs w system 1 as opposed to reflecting on system 2
10. Rules of thumb are helpful but they can lead to cognitive bias
a. More likely to fear smth the more examples they can think of for it (availability heuristic)
11. Governments are likely to align their policies in a way that fits peoples’ fears, fuelling the bias
12. Representativeness heuristic causes people to confuse random fluctuations (like cancer clusters or the hot hand theory in NBA) with causal patterns
13. People grow to look alike after living together for so many years bc:
a. Shared diet
b. Imitation of facial expressions
14. Social influence comes in 2 forms: info and PEER PRESSURE (to avoid wrath or gain favour)
a. We want strangers to like us
15. Asch study - econs would speak out their independent mind, humans do not (75% confirmed wrong answer at least once)
16. Conformity explains fascism
17. Herd behaviour
18. The spotlight effect - conforming to what they think people expect
19. Everyday we are influenced by people who are not trying to influence us
20. Increase public awareness of the behaviour you want to promote - not amount who have not voted
21. Don’t let someone know they’re doing better than the norm
22. Once a day = best drug taking method bc least opportunities to forget
23. Warnings have to be infrequent or else they will be ignored
24. Less money for retirement if you change jobs every 5 years - benefits are not ventured by employees until 5+ years
25. Have only had to think about retirement saving recently bc mortality rate has lowered
26. Simplify the process
27. Nudges = making schemes more automatic
28. They have minimal effect on those who don’t need help bc they can be easily avoided
29. Helps self control problems, irrationality and social influences
1. Nudge = any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or changing their economic incentives.
2. Intervention must be cheap and easy to avoid to count as a nudge; nudges are not mandates
3. LIBERTARIAN PATERNALISM - can be taken by all political parties bc pays no burden on taxpayers
4. Examples of nudges:
a. Default settings - if option is presented as the default it will attract a large market share
i. Really helpful to know what recommended settings are as opposed to choosing yourself
ii. Change default rule to make savings automatic
iii. BETTER THAN ACTIVELY CHOOSING BC DEFAULTS ARE CHOSEN BY EXPERTS
b. Sending reminders about financial decisions
c. Judgments can be nudged back in the correct direction of true probabilities, improving decision making, public and private
d. Frames - choices depend on the way in which problems are stated - are powerful nudges
e. Daylight saving time (putting the clocks back) = nudge to wake up earlier
f. Social influence = most effective way to nudge bc we like to conform:
i. Most people learn from others (SCT) - how individuals and societies develop
g. Dog owners carrying plastic bags encourages others to do same even tho risk of being fined for unclean dog walking is 0
h. Measurement effect - asking someone what and when and how they are going to do smth makes them more likely to follow through w it
i. 25% increase in voting in election if asked if they were going to vote next day (2016)
i. Door handles are nudges
i. Stimulus response compatibility if violated by door handles that are assumed to be pulled but acc require pushing
j. Gmail / outlook nudges
k. Webpages w useful stats and social norms stated are good nudges
l. Toxic release inventory = competition to not get on environmentally bad blacklist
m. Up college acceptance by making it compulsory to sign up to community college in order to graduate
n. Presumed consent for organ donation - 42 vs 82%
o. Mandated choice best option for donation schemes - when renewing driver’s license, tick a box. Family cannot refute
p. People do not get enough feedback on contribution to pollution - impose taxes or penalties on those who pollute = LIBERTARIAN PATERNALISM
q. Smoking accounts - 53% more likely to quit, depositing money otherwise spent on cigs for 6 months and getting money back after a negative urine test, otherwise money goes to charity
5. Econs respond to incentives, humans respond to incentives and nudges
6. Maximising choices offered - policy of freedom not paternalism
7. Our understanding of human behaviour can be improved by understanding that people systematically go wrong
8. Automatic system is associated w older brain parts
9. Being bilingual means you speak both langs w system 1 as opposed to reflecting on system 2
10. Rules of thumb are helpful but they can lead to cognitive bias
a. More likely to fear smth the more examples they can think of for it (availability heuristic)
11. Governments are likely to align their policies in a way that fits peoples’ fears, fuelling the bias
12. Representativeness heuristic causes people to confuse random fluctuations (like cancer clusters or the hot hand theory in NBA) with causal patterns
13. People grow to look alike after living together for so many years bc:
a. Shared diet
b. Imitation of facial expressions
14. Social influence comes in 2 forms: info and PEER PRESSURE (to avoid wrath or gain favour)
a. We want strangers to like us
15. Asch study - econs would speak out their independent mind, humans do not (75% confirmed wrong answer at least once)
16. Conformity explains fascism
17. Herd behaviour
18. The spotlight effect - conforming to what they think people expect
19. Everyday we are influenced by people who are not trying to influence us
20. Increase public awareness of the behaviour you want to promote - not amount who have not voted
21. Don’t let someone know they’re doing better than the norm
22. Once a day = best drug taking method bc least opportunities to forget
23. Warnings have to be infrequent or else they will be ignored
24. Less money for retirement if you change jobs every 5 years - benefits are not ventured by employees until 5+ years
25. Have only had to think about retirement saving recently bc mortality rate has lowered
26. Simplify the process
27. Nudges = making schemes more automatic
28. They have minimal effect on those who don’t need help bc they can be easily avoided
29. Helps self control problems, irrationality and social influences
earthbender514's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
1.75
This was actually pretty enjoyable to read, I thought the tone was very accessible which definitely made it a fine book to read. I think I'd have found it more interesting if I didn't have a background in psychology, I already knew quite a lot of the heuristics they mentioned. Also because it was published nearly 20 years ago it was a bit outdated, both in policy and in examples (quite a lot of "helping people lose weight easier" type stuff which jarred me).