4/9 (Sat) the power of nudge to win at behavioral change (Host:Rosie)

[Rosie]

Hi All,

Let's discuss about the power of nudge to win at behavioral change!

What is Nudge theory?
The nudge concept was popularized in the 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by behavioral economist Richard Thaler and legal scholar Cass Sunstein, two American scholars at the University of Chicago.
In Nudge, Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that takes our humanness as a given. They show that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society. Using colorful examples from the most important aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how thoughtful “choice architecture” can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice. Nudge offers a unique new take—from neither the left nor the right—on many hot-button issues, for individuals and governments alike.

Why do I choose this topic?
Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat. It is a fascinating look at how we can create environments or ‘choice architecture’ to help people make better decisions. But one of the reasons it’s been so influential is because it helps us understand why people sometimes make bad decisions in the first place. If we really want to understand how we can nudge people into making better choices, it’s important to understand why they often make such poor ones.

Reference materials
https://expertprogrammanagement.com/202 ... explained/
Nudge Theory Explained

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33ODewJG8Fg
What is a Behavioral Nudge? (7:23)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVTg3ZsNTTY
Learn the power of nudge to win at behavioral change (6:14)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=2eTRaLe0ocU
Examples for Behavioral Nudge (2:16)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmh_xMMJ2Pw
Create a Healthy Plate (2:45)

Questions for discussion:

Session 1:
Q1. Nudge Theory 1 -The Mechanics Of The Brain (Two cognitive systems)
The automatic system takes care of most of our behavior for us. It´s fast, unconscious, able to think in parallel (meaning that it can handle many processes at the same time), associative (it bundles things together that seem similar) and it does it all dirt cheap in terms of energy consumption.The reflective system is almost exactly opposite. It´s slow, conscious, serial (meaning that only one process can take place at any time), analytic and consumes a lot of energy. The reflective system works by creating hypotheses and testing these with prior knowledge while sorting between relevant and irrelevant bits and pieces of information. You can activate this system by will. The reflective system is active whenever you´re asked to complete a puzzle, figure out where to go out on a Saturday evening or just faced with how much you want to pay for a house.

How do two systems in your brain cooperate in your daily life?

2. Nudge Theory 2 - Choice architecture
Nudge Theory is based upon the idea that by shaping the environment, also known as the choice architecture.
What is choice architecture? What are good examples for choice architecture?

3. Nudge Theory 3 - Bias and Blunder
Exploration of choice architecture is important that being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. We often make bad decisions involving education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, the family, and even the planet itself.
What are most common biases that prejudice our decision making?

Session 2:
4. Can you apply nudge theory process to find tips for better diet habits?
5. Can you apply nudge theory process to find tips to make people willing to attend yoyo meeting actively?
6. To build up a good habits, do you think willpower play a major role or environment? Can we resist temptation?

Agenda:
3:45 ~ 4:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
4:00 ~ 4:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
4:10 ~ 4:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
4:50 ~ 5:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
5:10 ~ 5:15pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
5:15 ~ 5:55pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
6:00 ~ 6:20pm Summarization (20 mins)
6:20 ~ 6:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements


Meeting Date: As shown on the Subject Line
Meeting Time: 4:00pm – 6:30pm
Meeting Venue: 丹堤咖啡 Dante Coffee (Minimum Order $80)
Address: 台北市濟南路三段25號[MAP]-捷運忠孝新生站3號出口步行3分鐘

Important Notes:
1. We advise participants to print out the discussion questions and bring them to the meeting for reference. As for the supporting articles, feel free to print them out, as well, according to your preference.
2. We suggest that participants read the articles and think about the questions in advance.
3. Newcomers should prepare a two-to-three minute self-introduction in English to deliver when called upon by the host before the start of the discussion. The host may also ask you to give brief feedback about the meeting at the conclusion of the meeting.
4. We conduct the entire meeting in English. All participants should have at least moderate English-conversation skills and be able to articulate your ideas for each discussion question.
5. We welcome newcomers and other guests to attend the meetings and join the discussion freely for three times. After that, we hope you will consider becoming a YoYo English Club member. We charge a NT$1000 lifetime membership fee.

[Kooper]

Nudge is a fantastic approach for the public sector to intervene people’s behaviors without infringing on their freedom of choice. What’s even appealing is that the intervention can be made in a least intrusive and less costly way. Given all these potential benefits that the nudge approach brings, any government that wants to help their residents make better, healthier choices should embrace it.

On the flip side, nudge can also be a powerful weapon for businessmen to lure customers into overconsumption. It wouldn’t surprise me if salesmen around the world have scrambled to jump on the nudge bandwagon.

Nudge itself is a neutral tool, but guess which side – the public or the private sectors – can make the best use of it? Unfortunately, free market competition always makes the private sectors more efficient, effective, and innovative than the cumbersome government bureaucracy. Introduction of the nudge approaches, by applying all what behavior economists have found to the design of choice architecture, might arguably end up doing more harms than good to the world, I’m afraid.

[Kooper]

How can we apply the nudge technique at an individual level? The key is to design personal choice architectures that work best to us. For instance, to eat healthier, we could buy and use smaller plates and bowls, which painlessly cut the default size of serving for every meal. We can also arrange food at refrigerator and kitchen cupboards in a way that makes healthier food more likely to be selected. When it comes to better financial decisions, we can set automatic transfer of money to saving account right on every payday. That helps us set aside money, live within our means, and build up savings down the line.

Those might sound easy, but to change the context in which we make a decision toward a more desired result, it requires us either to actively gain knowledge of behavior economy or to have learnt the hard way by trial and error. Designing a choice architecture is a process with heavy cognitive load, especially if we want to make it effective. Once this critical step is done correctly, it’ll be all downhill from there.

[Iris Wu]

Nudging is a subtle way of changing our behavior or habits.
The more I read about this, the more I wish we can apply nudge theory to perfect our English as second language learning. From YoYo English Club long term prospective, how to nudge people to join YoYo and diligently attending meetings is something we can brainstorm about.