Book: Nudge

Author

Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein

Summary

Practical recommendations for how to design systems that support people in making the right choices.

Takeaways

The design of the environment in which choices have to be made (choice architecture) often greatly influences the results, e.g. the order of food items in a cafeteria or the order of options and default values on a website. The goal of designing choice architectures should be to nudge people to make a choice that best reflects their true intention.

Any “sludge” or obstacles that can get in the way of making the right choice should be reduced, e.g. too many or too complicated options, should be reduced.

Quotes

“Our goal, in short, is to help people make the choices that they would have made if they had paid full attention and possessed complete information, unlimited cognitive ability, and complete self-control."

“The false assumption is that almost all people, almost all the time, make choices that are in their best interest or at the very least are better than the choices that would be made by someone else. We claim that this assumption is false—indeed, obviously false. In fact, we do not think that anyone actually believes it on reflection."

“The discussion thus far suggests that people may most need a good nudge for choices that require memory or have delayed effects; those that are difficult, are infrequent, and offer poor feedback; and those for which the relationship between choice and experience is ambiguous."

“So, if you remember just one thing from this book, let it be this. If you want to encourage people to do something, Make It Easy. If you’re so inclined, hum it to the tune of the old Eagles song: ‘Take It Easy.'"