Nudging with Care: The Risks and Benefits of Social Information

Cristina Bicchieri and Eugen Dimant

No 2019-02, Discussion Papers from The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham

Abstract: Norms and nudges are both popular types of interventions. Recent years have seen the rise of 'norm-nudges' - nudges whose mechanism of action relies on social norms, eliciting or changing social expectations. Norm-nudges can be powerful interventions, but they can easily fail to be effective and can even backfire unless they are designed with care. We highlight important considerations when designing norm-nudges and discuss a general model of social behavior based on expectations and conditional preferences. We present the results of several experiments where norm-nudging can backfire, and ways to avoid these negative outcomes.

Keywords: Norm-Nudges; Nudge; Social Information; Social Norms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-02
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Journal Article: Nudging with care: the risks and benefits of social information (2022)
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