Nudging you to act...

Placing fresh fruit at eye level by the supermarket check-out counts as a nudge. But is nudge theory really a euphemism for psychological manipulation?

07 October 2020

Presented by Ed Kessler.

Production by Tara Zammit, David Perry, Claire Curran.

DOMINOES.jpg

A line of dominoes falling in succession

Credit:

CC0, via Pixabay

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Nudge Theory was developed as a tool of political policy fairly recently. Placing fresh fruit at eye level by the supermarket check-out would count as a nudge; banning junk food would not. Is nudge theory a euphemism for psychological manipulation or is it a practical way of improving things? Ed Kessler nudges Beth Singler and David Halpern, Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team, to talk about the pros and cons.