Human enthalpy

Nudges, changing things, UX for life

October 19, 2024 — October 21, 2024

cooperation

culture

economics

evolution

incentive mechanisms

mind

social graph

utility

wonk

On large changes in human behaviour requiring small activation energy. Is this a natural category? I’m reluctant to say so, but the idea comes up so often that I will audition it.

1 On small changes in my own behaviour

Nate Soares, Dive in
Milan Cvitkovic — Things you are allowed to do
Willingness to look stupid
Aspire: A Tool to Help You Improve Your Life
Keir Bradwell, #1: In-group Cheems
The radical idea that people aren’t stupid paired with How to achieve self-control without “self-control”

2 At a societal scale

Intermittently made famous by think-pieces about high-impact behavioural interventions, e.g. Broken Windows (Kelling and Wilson 1982) and Nudge (Thaler and Sunstein 2009). This usage tends to get controversial, because of moral issues about transparency, agency, consent…

3 References

Banerjee, Grüne-Yanoff, John, et al. 2024. “It’s Time We Put Agency into Behavioural Public Policy.” Behavioural Public Policy.

Kahneman. 2012. Thinking, Fast and Slow.

Kahneman, Sibony, and Sunstein. 2022. Noise.

Kelling, and Wilson. 1982. “Broken Windows.” The Atlantic.

Luguri, and Strahilevitz. 2021. “Shining a Light on Dark Patterns.” Journal of Legal Analysis.

Thaler, and Sunstein. 2009. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness.