Self-nudging and the citizen choice architect

Abstract

This article argues that nudges can often be turned into self-nudges: empowering interventions that enable people to design and structure their own decision environments – that is, to act as citizen choice architects. Self-nudging applies insights from behavioral science in a way that is practicable and cost-effective, but that sidesteps concerns about paternalism or manipulation. It has the potential to expand the scope of application of behavioral insights from the public to the personal sphere (e.g., homes, offices, families). It is a tool for reducing failures of self-control and enhancing personal autonomy; specifically, self-nudging can mean designing one's proximate choice architecture to alleviate the effects of self-control problems, engaging in education to understand the nature and causes of self-control problems and employing simple educational nudges to improve goal attainment in various domains. It can even mean self-paternalistic interventions such as winnowing down one's choice set by, for instance, removing options. Policy-makers could promote self-nudging by sharing knowledge about nudges and how they work. The ultimate goal of the self-nudging approach is to enable citizen choice architects’ efficient self-governance, where reasonable, and the self-determined arbitration of conflicts between their mutually exclusive goals and preferences.

How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online

“…The competence of acting as one's own choice architect, or self-nudging, can be boosted 110 . For instance, when users can customize how their news feed is designed and sorted (Fig.…”

Citizens Versus the Internet: Confronting Digital Challenges With Cognitive Tools

“…Taking at least some control of one's proximate online environment must complement other policy measures (e.g., data privacy protection by default), not replace them-not least because it is effective only for those who are motivated enough to actively intervene in their own choice architecture. One class of behavioral intervention that focuses on engaging with one's proximate choice environment is self-nudging (Reijula & Hertwig, 2020). Self-nudging is a cognitive boost that fosters people's competencies to design their proximate environment in a way that works best for them.…”

“…One class of behavioral intervention that focuses on engaging with one’s proximate choice environment is self-nudging (Reijula & Hertwig, 2020). Self-nudging is a cognitive boost that fosters people’s competencies to design their proximate environment in a way that works best for them.…”

Organic defaults in online‐shopping: Immediate effects but no spillover to similar choices

“…Third, interventions that can be self‐designed seem a promising way to foster internal attributions of the subsequent behaviors and thus promote positive spillover (Hertwig, 2017; Hertwig & Grüne‐Yanoff, 2017; Lades, 2014; Reijula & Hertwig, 2020). Giving people the option to reflect on a choice situation increases the salience of one's identity and attitudes (Lades, 2014) and should therefore increase consistency needs and the likelihood of spillover.…”