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    Presented at the 2012 Conference on Gender, Bodies, & Technology. The authors of “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness” (2008) assert that those who are in a position to design artifacts and public spaces should consider themselves “choice architects”. There is no such thing as a “neutral design”. Human behavior is constantly “nudged” by surrounding environments. Furthermore, the authors assert that choice architects should adopt a philosophy of “libertarian paternalism” - a term they define as liberty-preserving design that influences humans to make better choices that they would themselves make if they could (1) pay full attention to the decisions they make and (2) possess complete information (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). At the heart of their argument is a breadth of psychological research that demonstrates human tendencies to make poor decisions due to their surroundings and the people around them. However, libertarian paternalism is intrinsically different from the underlying philosophies of other design paradigms. For instance, participatory design is a methodology that stems from Marxism perspectives. Participatory designers believe the proverbial “workers on the shop floor” have a more correct interpretation of what is really going on and should therefore be drawn into design processes as equal partners. This is in contrast to libertarian paternalism, which implies that the designers are in a unique and better position to pay full attention to the decisions they and others will make. Indeed, libertarian paternalism does not address the difference of social standing between would-be designers and would-be users of resulting design. When we view this with respect to how technology is currently designed and developed (largely by young, white, middle-class, males), we see gender (in)equality as a potential issue for the spreading adoption of libertarian paternalist perspectives. In this paper we critically reflect on what it means to design a “nudge” in terms of design philosophies and societal impact.

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    Presented at the 2012 Conference on Gender, Bodies, & Technology. The authors of “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness” (2008) assert that those who are in a position to design artifacts and public spaces should consider themselves “choice architects”. There is no such thing as a “neutral design”. Human behavior is constantly “nudged” by surrounding environments. Furthermore, the authors assert that choice architects should adopt a philosophy of “libertarian paternalism” - a term they define as liberty-preserving design that influences humans to make better choices that they would themselves make if they could (1) pay full attention to the decisions they make and (2) possess complete information (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). At the heart of their argument is a breadth of psychological research that demonstrates human tendencies to make poor decisions due to their surroundings and the people around them. However, libertarian paternalism is intrinsically different from the underlying philosophies of other design paradigms. For instance, participatory design is a methodology that stems from Marxism perspectives. Participatory designers believe the proverbial “workers on the shop floor” have a more correct interpretation of what is really going on and should therefore be drawn into design processes as equal partners. This is in contrast to libertarian paternalism, which implies that the designers are in a unique and better position to pay full attention to the decisions they and others will make. Indeed, libertarian paternalism does not address the difference of social standing between would-be designers and would-be users of resulting design. When we view this with respect to how technology is currently designed and developed (largely by young, white, middle-class, males), we see gender (in)equality as a potential issue for the spreading adoption of libertarian paternalist perspectives. In this paper we critically reflect on what it means to design a “nudge” in terms of design philosophies and societal impact.

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    49 views10 pages

    What Does It Mean To Design A "Nudge"?

    Uploaded by

    megthekiwi
    Presented at the 2012 Conference on Gender, Bodies, & Technology. The authors of “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness” (2008) assert that those who are in a position to design artifacts and public spaces should consider themselves “choice architects”. There is no such thing as a “neutral design”. Human behavior is constantly “nudged” by surrounding environments. Furthermore, the authors assert that choice architects should adopt a philosophy of “libertarian paternalism” - a term they define as liberty-preserving design that influences humans to make better choices that they would themselves make if they could (1) pay full attention to the decisions they make and (2) possess complete information (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). At the heart of their argument is a breadth of psychological research that demonstrates human tendencies to make poor decisions due to their surroundings and the people around them. However, libertarian paternalism is intrinsically different from the underlying philosophies of other design paradigms. For instance, participatory design is a methodology that stems from Marxism perspectives. Participatory designers believe the proverbial “workers on the shop floor” have a more correct interpretation of what is really going on and should therefore be drawn into design processes as equal partners. This is in contrast to libertarian paternalism, which implies that the designers are in a unique and better position to pay full attention to the decisions they and others will make. Indeed, libertarian paternalism does not address the difference of social standing between would-be designers and would-be users of resulting design. When we view this with respect to how technology is currently designed and developed (largely by young, white, middle-class, males), we see gender (in)equality as a potential issue for the spreading adoption of libertarian paternalist perspectives. In this paper we critically reflect on what it means to design a “nudge” in terms of design philosophies and societal impact.

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    What does it mean to design a nudge?

    Meg Dickey-Kurdziolek, Stacy Branham, Joon Suk Lee <mdickey, sbranham, dolomite> @ vt.edu

    Philosophy of Design and Society

    Overview
    What is a Nudge? Choice architects: godly or human? Artifacts: inert or active? Libertarian paternalism: guidance or control? Summary

    Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness


    [I]n many cases, individuals make pretty bad decisions decisions they would not have made if they had paid full attention and possessed complete information, unlimited cognitive abilities, and complete selfcontrol.

    Intro to the book and some stats about the book was judged Best Book of the Year by The Economist

    Nudge Example: Designing the healthy cafeteria

    Example of a nudge - why we need nudges People unconsciously make bad decisions in certain circumstances : unaware, aroused/hot emotions Nudge: Help people make the decisions they would have made if they possessed all necessary information

    Choice Architects, Artifacts, & Libertarian Paternalism


    Choice Architects - people with the responsibility for organizing the context in which people make decisions. Nudge Artifact - any aspect of choice architecture that alters peoples behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or signicantly changing their economic incentives. Libertarian Paternalism Philosophy- liberty-preserving design that inuences humans to make better choices that they would themselves make if they could (1) pay full attention to the decisions they make and (2) possess complete information

    We are going to talk about each of these points and where the nudge philosophy breaks down

    Choice Architects: Godly or Human?

    One of the troubling aspects about Nudge is that there are few references to choice architects being subject to the same human failings they use to support the notion of nudges. Choice

    architects feel hot emotions too, they also have their own values, agendas, and motivations. At one point the authors state that they are keenly aware that governments are populated by
    outlawing of specific undesirable behavior. Somehow the

    Humans (p. 80). However, rather than reflecting on the impact this has on the governments ability to design choice architecture, they use this observation to support the notion of small carefully designed nudges, rather than outright

    act of designing of a nudge should somehow allow a human to transcend their failings and enable to become the godly choice architect.

    Artifacts: Inert or Active?


    There Are No Neutral Artifacts Artifacts as embodied values (Langdon Winner, Do Artifacts Have Politics?) Artifacts are appropriated Guns + People = People with Guns (Lucy Suchmans Presentation on Human-Machine Recongurations, 2010)

    Other problems that we see in the notion of nudge is that the ways the authors of the nudge views designed artifacts. First. As the authors of nudge also agree and As Langdon Winnner once said there

    are no value neutral artifacts. With or without knowing it, a designer always brings his or her own set of beliefs and morals into building artifacts.
    However, it is one thing to notice and admit that there cannot be a value neutral design, and another to condescendingly believe it is the designers job to liberate and emancipate people from what the designers view as inferior state through their nudge. Second. Design is not just about what is put into the artifact, but also how the people take and interact with it. As Lucy suchman once said Guns, People and People with Guns are three different things.

    Artifacts and People mutually dened and recongure the meaning of each other.
    entirely ignores this aspect of design. For them design is done when designers create the artifacts.

    And the nudge idea

    But we are saying design is not complete without understanding how the artifacts get recongured in the hands of the users.

    Libertarian Paternalism: Guidance or Control?


    libertarian paternalism is paradoxical, misleading paternalism with supercial commitment to freedom power relationships being swept under the rug constructs designer as parent, user as child user as uncritical, unengaged actor

    * dont put enough stock in how contradictory libertarian and paternalist philosophies are * control: really just paternalism with the supercial commitment to freedom * power: elephant & ; cafeteria example and value producer vs. consumer

    people in authority of restricting the freedom and responsibilities of those subordinate to or otherwise dependent on them in
    the policy or practice on the part of their supposed interest an extreme laissez-faire political philosophy advocating only citizens.

    minimal state intervention in the lives of

    Consequences of Nudge in Society


    Who are the choice architects of our society? Choice architect inherently privileged How do values and intent impact design? Underestimate the power of a designer Overestimate the power of artifact appropriation What philosophy do they follow? Where is the user involvement (action model, design process, artifact enactment, designer reexivity)?

    Choice architects can be anyone who is in a position to design, but when we think of the designers who have the most impact on our society today, we think of designers of technology (computer scientists) and designers of policy (politicians). Wealthy young white males + Old white males Philosophy: * Intra-action, irreducible tension between actor and artifact, soc. dist. cog. * PD, DBR, AR * ambiguity as resource for design, staying open to interpretation, processlessness * the Nudge philosophy/book as a (failed) reexive artifact for designer

    Meg Dickey-Kurdziolek <mdickey@vt.edu>

    Thank you!

    Stacy Branham <sbranham@vt.edu> Joon Suk Lee <dolomite@vt.edu>

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