Nudging the World Towards Improvement

For the last five days, all I can think about are nudges. A nudge is a subtle influencer, a quiet reminder. Its a cue, a signal to gently push you towards an action. My wife, Megan, sent me a great article about nudges from the New York Times this week. The article talked about the kinds of nudges that can improve our lives in small ways. For example, the cafeteria that puts fruit at eye level and moves candy to a low traffic area nudges you to eat healthier. The company that pays you bi-weekly instead of twice a month nudges you towards saving more money (it turns out that people paid bi-weekly save more because they get two “extra” checks a year -- 26 pay periods versus 24 pay periods).

In a new book called Nudge (which I am currently devouring), Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler describe how nudges work. Essentially, nudges are about creating a meaningful “choice architecture” -- the context in which people make decisions. In other words, setting up the conditions for the individual to make the “proper” choice. Of course, the use of the word “proper” immediately raises concerns. Its easy to imagine people or organizations designing choice conditions that are not in the best interests of the end-user. But that’s not really what Sunstein and Thaler have in mind when they talk about nudges.

In many cases, nudges are simply intended to move us from “automatic” processing mode, to “reflective” processing mode. Returning to the cafeteria example above, the intention of the nudge is to get the lunch-time visitor to at least consider the apple over the Snickers bar (for those who know my personal nutrition habits, I’m sure you’re chuckling as you read this). What I love about nudges is their subtlety. I love incentives too -- incentives are like nudges but they’re just more obvious. Part of the reason incentives work is that we make them plainly known so that people can take advantage of them. Nudges operate quietly, eliciting desired behaviors without having to pay for it.

For the last five days, I’ve been thinking about nudges and seeing them everywhere. If you went online Saturday (March 29th), you likely saw Google’s “black” homepage -- a nudge about Earth Hour and the need for energy conservation (they are actually getting what I would consider to be silly backlash about their efforts). This is a perfect example of how I believe we can use nudges to improve the world every day. Google updates their homepage all the time -- why not take advantage of that fact by adding in a nudge that reminds people about the need for conservation. The experience planners behind Google’s homepage understand their role as choice architects and they are leveraging their fortunate position in a responsible way (consistent with Sunstein and Thaler’s vision).

The new challenge I take from this nudge-mindset is to find ways to consistently apply it. What are the ways that I can incorporate positive nudges into the experiences that I have a hand in designing? And I urge you (or nudge you if you prefer) to look for the opportunities to design positive nudges into the work that you do.

If you have thoughts about nudges or other examples of nudges, please share them. In my mind, nudges are small ideas with potentially big impacts.