Not mere trickery: Effects of behavioral nudges persist despite disclosure
Thursday, December 3, 2015 - 16:46
in Psychology & Sociology
Nudging people toward particular decisions by presenting one option as the default can influence important life choices. However, many policymakers and some critics of behavioral interventions have raised serious ethical concerns, arguing that nudging people toward an option without their awareness is unethical, and that defaults only work because people are not aware that they are being manipulated by them. If people knew they were being nudged, the argument goes, they would resist the influence of the default or even, possibly, react by deliberately rejecting the default.