Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

It is now commonplace to hear that addressing the grand challenges of today’s society – climate change, obesity, ageing populations, pandemics – requires substantial changes in individuals’ behaviour (e.g., Newell & Moss, 2021). This call to arms places cognitive and behavioral science at the forefront of understanding how such widespread change can be achieved. Answering that call has led many researchers to make bold claims for the potential of simple techniques that facilitate positive behaviour change without impinging on people’s freedom of choice (e.g., Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). These techniques, collectively and colloquially known as ‘nudges’ capitalize on promoting ‘desirable’ options by making changes to the choice architectures (physical, social and psychological) in which decisions are made.