What exactly is nudging? Nudging is a behavioural science tool that has gained increasing attention in recent years. In three parts, we will go deeper into nudging, what it is, what opportunities and risks there are and how you can use it in your communication. Here in part 1 we go through what nudging is. Stay tuned!
Nudging is linked to evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology is the basis of all human behaviour, and thus nudging. Behaviour often has proximal and ultimate explanations such as fear makes us avoid something dangerous, pleasure makes us do more of what is good for us and we feel a desire to add to a social community.
What is nudging?
Nudging is about making a change in the choice situation that makes a person behave in a desired way, without prohibiting or removing any options. Nudging can not be coercive, it is about getting people to behave in a better way. See examples below.
This paper holder will encourage people to use less paper when drying their hands. The green paper should be associated with forests and make people feel that using too much paper is bad. It also conveys WWF message through the text "save paper - save the planet" which is a very targeted text against too much paper use harming the planet.
Four overarching nudging principles
It is said that nudging consists of four overarching principles, also known as EAST, which stands for easy, attractive, social and timing.
Simple
Behaviour is influenced by how difficult or easy something is to do. The degree of difficulty that a person experiences is based as much on the person's own circumstances as on how difficult something actually is. If we want to increase the frequency of a behaviour, the behaviour must become easier to perform.
Attractive
It is often about two things: attracting attention and doing something desirable. To act in a new way, we first need to recognise that it is possible to behave in a different way to what we are used to.
Social
Other people affect us more than most people realise. We humans are people animals and basically being part of the group is about survival. Therefore, we are extremely influenced by what people around us do and think. This influence often occurs at three different levels: what most people do, what people we look up to do and what people close to us do.
Timing
It is usually said that timing is about two things: when in time a call comes and when in time the consequences come. Major life changes often take place in conjunction with other major life changes, the so-called fresh start effect. People are more likely to start something new if they can link it to, for example, a day that feels new.
How does a nudge work?
Nudging consists of different processes, in each process questions are asked and observations on the person's behaviour are made. Once you have completed the process, you can start applying the nudging method in your communication.
Target behaviour: How a person behaves now
Diagnosis: What could be the problem? Are there any obstacles?
Design: What can we do about it?
Experiment: Looking at different options, trying different things, does it have an effect?
Analysis: Did it work?
Behavioural strategy for further work: How will the new behaviour be maintained?
So what exactly is nudging?
Nudging is a behavioural science tool that involves making a change in the choice situation that causes a person to behave in a desired way, without prohibiting or removing any options. A nudge consists of six steps: target behaviour, diagnosis, design, experiment, analysis and behavioural strategy for further work. It helps you to develop a nudging approach that you can then use in your communication. Nudging is also made up of four principles (EAST) that deal with how people behave and are the basis of how nudging works.
This was part 1 of 3 about nudging. Now you know what nudging is and how it works. I next part we will talk about the opportunities and risks of nudging. Don't miss it!
