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florenceh 's review for:
Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness
by Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein
Every day we make choices about our lives, what we eat, buy, how we invest our money. There are two ways in which we make these decisions, impulsive and rational. Most often people make impulsive decisions, and we end up with more decisions, misaligned with our prior intentions. How many people succeed at dieting? Or New year's resolutions?
Every day we are given choices, and our choices are heavily influenced by the context they are given, e.g. if we are choosing our lunch meal, if the first thing we see is healthy, we are more likely to choose a healthy option. If we set goals and invest in the goal, we are also more likely to commit to it, because we don't want to lose out. We are more motivated by penalties than rewards.
By knowing how people think, we can use sensible “choice architecture” to nudge people toward the best decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society, without restricting our freedom of choice.
I think this is an empowering concept, it really speaks to something I have always struggled to understand, why humans inherently make such bad decisions for themselves. With a world which is increasing in our knowledge, technology and capabilities, we seem to be decreasing our individual abilities to make good decisions. An example of this is how our obesity rates in the western world are continuously increasing.
I am excited about this thinking, because it is clear that many of the new age technology start-ups, such as Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok whom play to human psychology, and provide entertainment that becomes second nature, creating an easily formed habit. Why can't we start applying these human psychology and sociology techniques in government to encourage people to form positive habits, like using active modes of transport, or to eat healthily, why can't we make these choices, the path of least resistance.
I think more traditional areas of business could really take a page out of the books of companies like Facebook, they have an opportunity to do an even better job, by influencing people in a positive social direction.
Every day we are given choices, and our choices are heavily influenced by the context they are given, e.g. if we are choosing our lunch meal, if the first thing we see is healthy, we are more likely to choose a healthy option. If we set goals and invest in the goal, we are also more likely to commit to it, because we don't want to lose out. We are more motivated by penalties than rewards.
By knowing how people think, we can use sensible “choice architecture” to nudge people toward the best decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society, without restricting our freedom of choice.
I think this is an empowering concept, it really speaks to something I have always struggled to understand, why humans inherently make such bad decisions for themselves. With a world which is increasing in our knowledge, technology and capabilities, we seem to be decreasing our individual abilities to make good decisions. An example of this is how our obesity rates in the western world are continuously increasing.
I am excited about this thinking, because it is clear that many of the new age technology start-ups, such as Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok whom play to human psychology, and provide entertainment that becomes second nature, creating an easily formed habit. Why can't we start applying these human psychology and sociology techniques in government to encourage people to form positive habits, like using active modes of transport, or to eat healthily, why can't we make these choices, the path of least resistance.
I think more traditional areas of business could really take a page out of the books of companies like Facebook, they have an opportunity to do an even better job, by influencing people in a positive social direction.