Cass R. Sunstein

RICHARD H.. SUNSTEIN THALER (CASS R.)

Nudge has transformed the way individuals, companies and governments look at the world - and in the process has become one of the most important books of the twenty-first century. This completely updated edition offers a wealth of new insights for fans and newcomers alike - about COVID-19, diet, personal finance, retirement savings, medical care, organ donation, and climate change. Every day we make decisions: about the things we buy or the meals we eat; about the investments we make and the time we spend; about our health and that of the planet. Unfortunately, we often choose badly. We are all susceptible to biases that can lead us to make bad decisions that make us poorer, less healthy and less happy. And, as Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein show, no choice is ever presented to us in a neutral way. But by knowing how people think, we can make it easier for them to choose what is best for themselves, for their families and for society. With brilliant insight and wonderful levity, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how best to nudge us in the right directions, without ever restricting our freedom of choice.

Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness, the Final Edition

Nudge

Nudge users to visualize doing an action and to create a plan. How might we nudge users to question, consider, and create plans? 

Selena Yang

The idea for these follow-up questions came from research by psychologist Peter Gollwitzer, who found that people were more likely to fulfill their goals if they had made explicit "implementation intentions." The theory worked well in this situation. Prompting voters tour out by 4.1 percentage points!

Examples of investment goods: exercising, flossing, and healthy eating. Costs are borne immediately but the benefits are delayed.

Self control issues are more likely to arise when chooses and their consequences are separated in time. 

With respect to health, romance, and money, it is not at all hard to exploit people’s lack of information. If one of those things is at stake, companies have a strong incentive to exploit behavioral biases, including availability, unrealistic optimism, and anchoring. And they certainly try to create informational cascades and sometimes they succeed.

Nudge quotes

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