Home > Work > Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
141 " 14. Procrastinator’s Clock. For those who are chronically late to meetings, there’s the Procrastinator’s Clock, a downloadable program for your computer, that displays a digital clock that is guaranteed to be up to fifteen minutes fast. How fast? Well, that’s the nudge. You are never exactly sure because the clock unpredictably speeds up and slows down. That assures that users can’t game the system. We think that this device might help the lawyer of this team (who shall remain nameless) get to Noodles on time for lunch. A physical version of this clock has already been patented by a company called Emergent Technologies. "
― Richard H. Thaler , Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
142 " (Second marriage, Samuel Johnson once quipped, “is the triumph of hope over experience.”) "
143 " On average, those who eat with one other person eat about 35 percent more than they do when they are alone; members of a group of four eat about 75 percent more; those in groups of seven or more eat 96 percent more. "
144 " Often we can do more to facilitate good behavior by removing some small obstacle than by trying to shove people in a certain direction. "
145 " The Spotlight Effect One reason why people expend so much effort conforming to social norms and fashions is that they think that others are closely paying attention to what they are doing. If you wear a suit to a social event where everyone else has gone casual, you feel like everyone is looking at you funny and wondering why you are such a geek. If you are subject to such fears, here is a possibly comforting thought: they aren’t really paying as much attention to you as you think. "
146 " 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. Nudges are not mandates. "
147 " Not all urinals are fun and games, though. Take the “Piss Screen” (yes, that’s the name), also from Germany. It is a game, but one with a serious message: Don’t drink and drive. Billed as “an interactive experience—not to be mistaken for the Wii,” the Piss Screen is actually a pressure-sensitive inlay set in urinals that simulates what it’s like to hit the road after a few drinks. "
148 " When people have a hard time predicting how their choices will end up affecting their lives, they have less to gain by numerous options and perhaps even by choosing for themselves. A nudge might be welcomed. "
149 " Or consider this one: people’s judgments about strangers are affected by whether they are drinking iced coffee or hot coffee! Those given iced coffee are more likely to see other people as more selfish, less sociable, and, well, colder than those who are given hot coffee.27 This, too, happens quite unconsciously. "
150 " It is particularly hard for people to make good decisions when they have trouble translating the choices they face into the experiences they will have. "
151 " Two of the best restaurants in Chicago (Alinea and Charlie Trotter’s) give their diners the fewest choices. At Alinea diners just decide whether they want fifteen very small plates or twenty-five tiny ones. At Charlie Trotter’s, the diner is asked only whether to limit the dining to vegetables or not. (In both, one is asked about dietary restrictions and allergies.) The benefit of having so little choice is that the chef is authorized to cook you things you would never have thought to order. "
152 " Unfortunately, some of life’s most important decisions do not come with many opportunities to practice. Most students choose a college only once. Outside of Hollywood, most of us choose a spouse, well, not more than two or three times. Few of us get to try many different careers. "
153 " Generally, the higher the stakes, the less often we are able to practice. "
154 " Self-control issues are most likely to arise when choices and their consequences are separated in time. "
155 " Drawing on some well-established findings in social science, we show that in many cases, individuals make pretty bad decisions—decisions they would not have made if they had paid full attention and possessed complete information, unlimited cognitive abilities, and complete self-control. "
156 " Those given iced coffee are more likely to see other people as more selfish, less sociable, and, well, colder than those who are given hot coffee. 27 This, too, happens quite unconsciously. "