Nudging in the Time of Coronavirus
How nudging can mitigate public and personal crises.
Reading Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s Nudge, I didn’t immediately grasp its powerful potential. What a difference a few years makes. Nudging is critical in my work as an educator beyond the classroom. But more important, I’ve found that thinking about nudging keeps me grounded, tethered to myself in these turbulent times.
So, let’s talk nudging.
Nudges are “ideas about how small changes in the words we use or the way we think can have a huge impact on behavior and outcomes”.¹ Founded in the burgeoning field of behavioral economics, nudging aims to influence individuals to make better decisions for themselves. But what does this mean?
Well, when you have power to influence someone else’s choices — whether it’s to buy more fruit at the grocery store or contribute more to a retirement plan — your own choices about how you present information or design the environment matters. In the face of too many choices, lots of people suffer the anxiety of choice overload.
Good nudging relies on clean choice architecture. Nudging displays choices in a way that frees individuals from the anxiety of choosing and empowers them to make the choice that best suits them.
Grocery stores placing fresh and nutrient-dense food at the front of the store is a nudge for better public health. The nudge makes it easy to find and choose the healthy and abundant options located right at the front of the store.
Incorporating the nudge as a tool in my kit of professional practices elevates my work with students. I’m empowered to be a more effective educator. I’ve used nudging to support students and staff through stress and encouraged them to seek help when they need it. I’ve nudged them to join study groups before finals, actually talk to their professors, and set better academic goals.
And with this new and uncertain future on the horizon, nudging can be a more powerful tool than ever — provided it’s used correctly.
As COVID-19 continues to creep across countries, public health and government officials are vociferously encouraging increased social distancing and hygiene practices. Nudging is helping with that! The placement of hand sanitizers near doors at the entryways of stores, and availability of wipes around high-touch items (card readers, pens, countertops) are simple examples.
South Korea is a textbook example of nudging for good. There, policy officials are taking proactive steps to “flatten the curve” and curb COVID-19. Their actions focus on mass availability of testing so that individuals could self-isolate, thus reducing spread and preventing harsher negative impact on their economy. To find solutions, they utilized the Nudge principle: “make it easy.”
Korean officials needed a way to 1) make testing widely available while 2) limiting contact between individuals and front line healthcare officials and 3) minimizing exposure of a possibly infected individual to others to limit the spread of the virus.
And thus, they created drive-thru testing sites² spread out across the country. From the (relative) isolation of one’s car, individuals could be tested as easily as if they were pulling into a fast food restaurant, or a bank to make a quick withdrawal. This is a nudge! And South Korea is reaping clear benefits from this policy that makes it easy for citizens to stay safe and contribute to the public’s health — they’re beginning to flatten their curve of total confirmed cases.
This policy is coming under consideration here in the United States as concerns about the virus grow. It is one of several potential tools that officials can adopt. As the U.S. braces for potential widespread lock downs, officials will be best served by creating proactive practices to nudge folks to stay home, or get tested as available, rather than sit back and eventually turn to extreme methods of enforcement³.
But nudging isn’t confined to official policy acts. Small changes, in how we act or think — this is something we can do ourselves without relying on external policy forces. Let’s take goal setting and personal growth. Many people struggle to act on set goals, often because the goals themselves loom large: Write a book. Run for office. Make a medical breakthrough. Because of the size and importance these lofty ambitions, individuals give up early, overwhelmed and frustrated by themselves.
This is especially true during times of tumult and turmoil. This unique time of social distancing presents us all with challenges that may seem insurmountable. It’s more important than ever that we have the skills we need to cope, survive, rebuild, and then thrive.
“Self-nudging”, a concept coined by psychologist Amy Cuddy, describes how the act of creating “small goals” is more powerful than big ones, and thus more actionable for individuals to achieve. Specifically, self-nudging relies on tracking outputs with as much weight as outcomes. So, instead of write a book, the goal becomes write something once a week — say Friday. The goal becomes smaller. It’s made easier. As the habit muscle of write every Friday flexes with practice, you grow stronger in other areas. Then, your goal can become write multiple times a week. And then later, share your stories. Get feedback. Write more.
In truth, that’s why I’m writing this write now. The world is changing, and I’m not quite ready to live and die with regrets that I didn’t aim for more. To be and do more. As things look dire and unpredictable, it’s also an opportunity to rise to face new challenges.
In a sense, I’m writing this to serve as my own future nudge. To encourage future me to write every Friday, and then keep writing. To remind me I am capable of harnessing positive creative energy even in the face of harrowing times. To start a practice, and ultimately form a habit. To maybe even nudge others to do the same, in their own way.
A Friday nudge⁴. Small acts to restructure how I choose to spend my time and life. Because now more than ever I need to keep practicing what makes me a good educator and learner.
[1] This link goes to a TED Radio Hour podcast with Richard Thaler. It’s about 4 minutes, and well worth the listen.
[2] South Korean officials specifically cite American fast food drive-thru chain’s as inspiration for the idea.
[3] Nudging indeed is rooted in the notion that Thaler and Sunstein term libertarian paternalism, and thus are specifically intended to provide choice to individuals. Extreme enforcement methods are not nudges.
[4] Also known as a weekly bite of Fudge.
