Nudge Design, Honors Option presentation

1. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
What is Nudge Design?

2. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
What are the dimensions of these tables?

3. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Explanation of Table Test
• Tabletops are equal length
• Human judgment is biased
• Confidence in incorrect answer

4. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Nudge Design Definition
“A nudge, as we will use the term, is any aspect of
the choice architecture that alters people’s
behavior in a predictable way without forbidding
any options or significantly changing their
economic incentives. To count as a mere nudge,
the intervention must be easy and cheap to avoid.”
Page 6 of Thaler & Sunstein’s Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth & Happiness (2008)

5. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Nudge Design Definition
• Understanding how decision making takes place
• Given right context, pushed into particular
behavior
• Changes way choices are presented

6. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Nudge Design Uses
• Encourage positive behavior
• Shaping emotion/ attitude toward brand
• Consciously “changing” behavior is new
• Use knowledge of nudge design to make a
positive impact on society

7. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
A Little More About Why It’s Important…
http://player.vimeo.com/video/37628342

8. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Opposition to Nudge Design
• “Big Brother”
• Idea that it limits choices
• Some think it is “forcing” a behavior
• Guided by economics

9. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Human Nature Influence on Decisions
• As seen in tabletop test
• Cognitive bias; mental shortcuts
• Many conscious and unconscious factors

10. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Framing Example
You buy a small coffee in the Student Center every
morning. It is usually $2.50. Today, they raised the
price and it is now $3 for your morning coffee.

11. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Framing Definition
Judging options as losses or gains relative
to some perceived starting reference point

12. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Design Tip
• Encourage positive behavior by emphasizing
associated gains rather than associated losses
• To discourage a behavior, make it seem
undesirable by emphasizing associated losses

13. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Default Bias Example
Do you all sit in assigned seats? No? Are you
sitting in the same seat everyday anyway?
How much do you tend to tip waiters?

14. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Default Bias Definition
The tendency to go along with an existing
situation or selection rather than taking action
to change it; therefore, more likely to choose
default setting

15. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Design Tip
• To encourage a specific option, make it the
default
• Likewise, to discourage a specific option, don’t
make it the default

16. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Present Bias Example
Who online shops regularly?
Do you wait to buy something until it goes on sale?
Have you ever spent extra on expedited shipping
when regular shipping would only take 4-5 days?

17. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Present Bias Definition
Time plays a big role in decision making; people
generally prefer gains that happen in the present
(instant gratification) to gains that occur in the
future (time discounting)

18. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Design Tip
• To encourage a behavior where the positive
outcomes are delayed, introduce present
benefits to make the desired outcome more
appealing
• To encourage a behavior usually associated with
a loss, delay losses so they occur in the future

19. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
Choices as a 21st Century Designer
1. Ignore what you know
2. Participate openly
3. Quietly manipulate behavior

20. Nudge Design Amanda Bentley
How to Make Change at Hofstra
See something you don’t like? Use the nudge
design tools you just learned to fix it!
• Healthy food choices in the Student Center
• Donations in the atrium
• Moral choices of your peers