In 2008, Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein came up with the Nudge Theory. This theory mainly discusses about how decisions made may be affected by design of choices. It is believed that people tend to be more motivated to do the decisions they made, hence “nudges” are done to give indirect encouragement, and avoid giving direct commands. By sharing simple suggestions or choices and providing more positive reinforcement, rather than using demanding commands, strict rules, and punishments, will encourage and influence people better.

The Nudge Theory are often influenced by five cognitive biases, as follow:

  • Anchoring

Anchoring refers to how a person makes a decision based on the first information or value they heard.

For example, a shirt is being sold at $100. Some people may think that this is expensive and not worth buying. On the other hand, when the same shirt is being sold with an initial price of $750, but the initial price is crossed out and said to be discounted to only $100 now, then most people will think that it is a good deal and is worth it to buy because of the huge discount in price.

  • Availability Heuristic / Availability Bias

Availability heuristic refers to how a person decides the odds of an event occurring based on similar past events. This kind of bias is also shown when there are choices presented, and a person’s decision will be affected by how easily they come up with examples from the different choices.

For example, there are many news showing people becoming rich after winning the lottery, and it’s very difficult to find news showing people whose lives were ruined because of the same action. This will cause people to think that lottery will bring fortune and be encouraged to play the lottery as well, since people will believe that the chances of winning the lottery is high.

  • Representative Heuristic / Representativeness

Representative heuristic refers to how people assume things that suits the stereotype they have in their mind, to be more common.

For example, you met a guy on the street wearing a complete formal suit. Your thought will directly connect to the guy being a businessman instead of having thoughts that he might be a security guard who dresses up for a formal event.

  • Status Quo Bias / Defaults

The status quo bias or defaults is usually done when making decisions that can maintain someone’s current status or situation, or in simpler terms, to make things stay as the same way it currently is.

There are two types of defaults, “opt-in” and “opt-out”. Opt-in default refers to when the decision, by default, is already including the individual into the situation, and the individual has to choose the opt-out option to not be a part of it. Meanwhile, opt-out default refers to when the decision, by default, is already leaving the individual out of the situation, and the individual has to choose the opt-in option to be a part of it.

For example, in an event, there will be an afterparty. The organizer may believe that majority of the guests will be joining the afterparty, hence they used the opt-in default, and gives an opt-out option. This means that people who will not be joining the afterparty will have to tick the checkbox in the form, to show that they are not joining the afterparty. Meanwhile, the opt-out default does the opposite. If the organizer thinks that most people will not join the afterparty, they will use the opt-out default. This means that people who wants to join the afterparty will have to tick the checkbox in the form, to show their willingness to attend.

  • Herd Mentality / Narrow the field

Herd mentality refers to the action when people tend to follow the trend of others or the most common decisions. Simply said, herd mentality refers to the behaviour of following what the majority chooses.

Narrowing the field refers to the act of filtering options. Sometimes there are too many options presented. So, people will have to “narrow the field” to reduce their options, by removing unnecessary or unfitting options.

For example, when trying to “nudge” targeted people, try to get a list of reasons that can push them to agreeing to your request. Then, from the list, use the herd mentality method to know which reasons will be the most effect one. After finding that out, then you will be able to carry out your negotiation much more effectively.

However, nudge is only about giving the small push needed as the first step towards the goal. Without the second and following steps, there will never be any change. Psychology teaches us something we need after a nudge, known as the stages of change.

  • Precontemplation (Denial)

In this first stage, people tend to think that there is no need for any change. Even if others have hinted that the individual is facing an issue, yet he/she may not believe them yet.

  • Contemplation

This stage is about being indecisive. People in this stage realized that they need to change, but nothing has been done to make that change. This is where people usually make the pros and cons list. They start thinking if the change is really needed and how it will affect them.

  • Preparation

In this stage, people try to understand better about the changes they need to make. They might be gathering information on how to change and what method should be used to make that change. Some might even start taking small steps towards the change already! Although, most of the time they still lack the commitment to implement the change permanently.

  • Action

The action phase is where people get the ball rolling. They may start keeping track of their changes, but they will still need support from others to encourage them to keep up the change.

  • Maintenance

Maintenance means that the individual is focus on keeping the change for the long run and is committed to not regress back to their old habits. They are keen to make these changes permanent.

  • Termination (Habit)

This last stage is where the old habit has been left into the past. Those habits lost their appeals to the individual and there is a guarantee that the individual won’t return to their past habit. In conclusion, this is where the goal is reached.

SDG: