Abstract
People often make inefficient decisions for themselves and the community (e.g. they underuse medical screenings or vaccines and they do not vote) also because of their individual characteristics, such as their level of avoidance or anxiety. In recent years, governments have successfully applied strategies, called “nudges”, to help people maximizing their decisions in several fields; however, the role of individual characteristics has been poorly explored. The present study investigated whether one kind of nudge, the default option (automatic enrolment in a specific plan), can modulate the influence of such individual differences, promoting favourable decisions in different field, such as the medical and civic ones. One hundred and eighty-three participants completed the Trait Anxiety Inventory, the General Decision-Making Styles Inventory and scenarios about health and civic decisions. Participants have hypothetically been enrolled by default or not enrolled in specific plans and had to decide whether adhere or not to the plan proposed. Result showed that the default option drives anxious and avoidant individuals, who usually refuse to make a choice due to their overestimation of negative events’ occurrence, to undergo medical screenings and vaccine and to vote more. Nudge confirmed its effectiveness in favouring better decisions among people according to their individual differences.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and materials
The data of this study are openly available in OSF repository at https://osf.io/sfk38/?view_only=9f8ec7a17de34ceba2f28d91e7ee03f8.
References
Altmann S, Falk A, Heidhues P, Jayaraman R (2014) Defaults and donations: evidence from a field experiment. Discussion paper no. 8650, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) (Bonn). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2534708
Alós-Ferrer C, Hügelschäfer S, Li J (2016) Inertia and decision making. Front Psychol 7:169. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00169
Aps LRMM, Piantola MAF, Pereira SA, Castro JT, Santos FAO, Ferreira LCS (2018) Adverse events of vaccines and the consequences of non-vaccination: a critical review. Rev Saúde Públ 52:40. https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2018052000384
Ariely D (2008) Predictably irrational: the hidden forces that shape our decisions. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-135323-9
Banerjee S, John P (2021) Nudge plus: incorporating reflection into behavioral public policy. Behav Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2021.6
Bavolar J, Orosova O (2015) Decision-making styles and their associations with decision making competencies and mental health. Judgm Decis Mak 10(1):115–122
Beyth-Marom R, Fischhoff B, Quadrel MJ, Furby L (1991) Teaching decision making to adolescents: a critical review. In: Baron J, Brown RV (eds) Teaching decision making to adolescents. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc, pp 19–59
Browning M, Behrens TE, Jocham G, O’Reilly JX, Bishop SJ (2015) Anxious individuals have difficulty learning the causal statistics of aversive environments. Nat Neurosci 18(4):590–596. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3961
Bruine de Bruin W, Parker AM, Fischhoff B (2007) Individual differences in adult decision-making competence. J Pers Soc Psychol 92(5):938–956. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.5.938
Byerly H, Balmford A, Ferraro PJ, Wagner CH, Palchak E, Polasky S, Ricketts TH et al (2018) Nudging pro-environmental behavior: evidence and opportunities. Front Ecol Environ 16(3):159–168. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1777
Cacciatore P (2017) Italian Observatory on Healthcare Report. Health status and quality of care in the Italian Regions. https://www.osservatoriosullasalute.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ro-2017-premessa_inglese.pdf
Cacciatore P (2018) Italian Observatory on Healthcare Report. Health status and quality of care in the Italian Regions. https://osservatoriosullasalute.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ro-2018-premessa_inglese.pdf
Cerruto M (2012) La partecipazione elettorale in Italia. Quad Sociol 60:17–39
Chapman GB, Li M, Colby H, Yoon H (2010) Opting in vs opting out of influenza vaccination. J Am Med Assoc 304:43–44. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.892
Choi JJ, Laibson D, Madrian BC, Metrick A (2003) Optimal defaults. Am Econ Rev 93(2):180–185. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282803321947010
Codagnone C, Bogliacino F, Veltri GA (2016) Nudge, ovvero la “spinta gentile”: comportamento umano e politiche pubbliche in Aggiornamenti Sociali. Capisaldi, pp 718–729
Cotterill S, Moseley A, Richardson L (2012) Can nudging create the big society? Experiments in civic behaviour and implications for the voluntary and public sectors. Volunt Sector Rev. https://doi.org/10.1332/204080512X649405
Coventry LM, Jeske D, Blythe JM, Turland J, Briggs P (2016) Personality and social framing in privacy decision-making: a study on cookie acceptance. Front Psychol 7:1341. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01341
Cronqvist H, Thaler RH, Yu F (2018) When nudges are forever: Inertia in the Swedish Premium Pension Plan. AEA Pap Proc 108:153–158. https://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20181096
Crossley CD, Highhouse S (2005) Relation of job search and choice process with subsequent satisfaction. J Econ Psychol 26(2):255–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2004.04.001
Curseu PL, Schruijer SG (2012) Decision styles and rationality: an analysis of the predictive validity of the General Decision-Making Style Inventory. Edu Psychol Meas 72:1053–1062. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164412448066
Damgaard MT, Nielsen HS (2018) Nudging in education. Econ Educ Rev 64:313–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2018.03.008
Damnjanović K, Graeber J, Ilić S, Lam WY, Lep Ž, Morales S, Pulkkinen T, Vingerhoets L (2018) Parental decision-making on childhood vaccination. Front Psychol 9:735. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00735
Dewberry C, Juanchich M, Narendran S (2013) Decision-making competence in everyday life: the roles of general cognitive styles, decision-making styles and personality. Pers Ind Differ 55(7):783–788. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.06.0
Ebeling F, Lotz S (2015) Domestic uptake of green energy promoted by opt-out tariffs. Nat Clim Chang 5:868–871
Facione NC (1993) Delay versus help seeking for breast cancer symptoms: a critical review of the literature on patient and provider delay. Soc Sci Med 36(12):1521–1534. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(93)90340-a
Faul F, Erdfelder E, Lang AG, Buchner A (2007) G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behav Res Methods 39(2):175–91. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03193146
Flynn KE, Smith MA (2007) Personality and health care decision-making style. J Gerontol 62(5):261–267. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/62.5.P261
Forberger S, Reisch L, Kampfmann T et al (2019) Nudging to move: a scoping review of the use of choice architecture interventions to promote physical activity in the general population. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 16:77. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-019-0844-z
Gambetti E, Fabbri M, Bensi L, Tonetti L (2008) A contribution to the Italian Validation of the General Decision-Making Style Inventory. Pers Ind Differ 44(4):842–852. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PAID.2007.10.017
Gambetti E, Zucchelli MM, Nori R, Giusberti F (2022) Default rules in investment decision-making: trait anxiety and decision-making styles. Financ Innov. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40854-021-00329-y
Van Gestel LC, Kroese FM, De Ridder DTD (2018) Nudging at the checkout counter—a longitudinal study of the effect of a food repositioning nudge on healthy food choice. Psychol Health 33:800–809. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2017.1416116
Gigerenzer G, Goldstein DG (1996) Reasoning the fast and frugal way: models of bounded rationality. Psychol Rev 103(4):650–669. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.103.4.650
Gigerenzer G, Selten R (eds) (2001) Bounded rationality: the adaptive toolbox. The MIT Press
Goswami I, Urminsky O (2016) When should the ask be a Nudge? The effect of default amounts on charitable donations. J Mark Res 53(5):829–846. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.15.0001
Grupe DW, Nitschke JB (2013) Uncertainty and anticipation in anxiety: an integrated neurobiological and psychological perspective. Nat Rev Neurosci 14(7):488–501. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3524
Hansen PG, Jespersen AM (2013) Nudge and the manipulation of choice: a framework for the responsible use of the nudge approach to behaviour change in public policy. Eur J Risk Regul. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2555337
Howley P, Ocean N (2022) Can nudging only get you so far? Testing for nudge combination effects [Social norms and energy conservation]. Eur Rev Agric Econ, Found Eur Rev Agric Econ 49(5):1086–1112. https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbab041
Hummel D, Maedche A (2019) How effective is nudging A quantitative review on the effect sizes and limits of empirical nudging studies. J Behav Exp Econ (formerly J Soc-Econcs), Elsevier 80(C):47–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2019.03.005
Iancu I, Bodner E, Ben-Zion IZ (2015) Self esteem, dependency, self-efficacy and self-criticism in social anxiety disorder. Compr Psych 58:165–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.11.018
John P, Smith G, Stoker G (2009) Nudge nudge, think think: two strategies for changing civic behaviour. Polit Q 80(3):361–370. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923X.2009.02001.x
Johnson EJ, Goldstein DG (2004) Defaults and Donation Decisions. Transplantation 78(12):1713–1716. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.tp.0000149788.10382.b2
Kahneman D, Tversky A (1979) Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 47(2):263–291. https://doi.org/10.2307/1914185
Koszegi B (2003) Health anxiety and patient behavior. J Health Econ 22(6):1073–1084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2003.06.002
Leong FT, Morris J (1989) Assessing the construct validity of Holland, Daiger, and Power’s measure of Vocational Identity. Meas Eval Couns Dev 22(3):117–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481756.1989.12022920
Lerman C, Hughes C, Trock BJ, Myers RE, Main D, Bonney A, Abbaszadegan MR, Harty AE, Franklin BA, Lynch JF, Lynch HT (1999) Genetic testing in families with hereditary nonpolyposis coloncancer. J Am Med Assoc 281(17):1618–1622. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.281.17.1618
Lerman C, Schwartz MD, Miller SM, Daly M, Sands C, Rimer BK (1996) A randomized trial of breast cancer risk counseling: Interacting effects of counseling, educational level, and coping style. Health Psychol 15(2):75–83. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.15.2.75
Lerner JS, Keltner D (2000) Beyond valence: toward a model of emotion specific influences on judgment and choice. Cogn Emot 14:473–493. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999300402763
Lerner JS, Keltner D (2001) Fear, anger, and risk. J Pers Soc Psychol 81(1):146–159. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.1.146
Loewenstein G, Friedman JY, McGill B, Ahmad S, Linck S, Sinkula S et al (2013) Consumers’ misunderstanding of health insurance. J Health Econ 32(5):850–862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.04.004
Maner JK et al (2007) Dispositional anxiety and risk-avoidant decision-making. J Pers Ind Differ 42:665–675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.08.016
Mathews A, MacLeod C (2005) Cognitive vulnerability to emotional disorders. Annu Rev Clin Psychol 1:167–195. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.143916
Mathis K, Steffen AD (2015) From rational choice to behavioural economics. In: European perspectives on behavioural law and economics. Springer, Cham, pp 31–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11635-8_3
Mirsch T, Lehrer C, Jung R (2017) Digital Nudging: altering user behavior in digital environments. 13. In: Internationale tagung wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017). St. Gallen, Switzerland
Morse CR, Afifi WA, Morgan SE, Stephenson MT, Reichert T, Harrison TR, Long SD (2009) Religiosity, anxiety, and discussions about organ donation: understanding a complex system of associations. Health Commun 24(2):156–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410230802676755
Moseley A, Stoker G (2010) Encouraging civic behaviour: a randomised control trial of interventions to influence organ donor registration. In: Political studies association conference, Edinburgh, 29 March–1 April
Nickerson DW, Rogers T (2010) Do you have a voting plan?: Implementation intentions, voter turnout, and organic plan making. Psychol Sci 21(2):194–199. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41062187
Nori R, Zucchelli MM, Giancola M, Palmiero M, Verde P, Giannini AM, Piccardi L (2022) GPS digital nudge to limit road crashes in non-expert drivers. Behav Sci 12:165. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12060165
Nosarti C, Crayford T, Roberts JV, Elias E, Mckenzie K, David AS (2000) Delay in presentation of symptomatic referrals to a breast clinic: patient and system factors. Br J Cancer 82(3):742–748. https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.1999.0990
O’Keeffe M, Traeger AC, Hoffmann T et al (2019) Can nudge-interventions address health service overuse and underuse? Protocol Syst Rev, Br Med J. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029540
Parker AM, Bruine de Bruin W, Fischhoff B (2007) Maximizers versus satisficers: decision-making styles, competence, and outcomes. Judgm Decis Mak 2(6):342–350
Pedrabissi L, Santinello M (1998) Inventario per l’ansia di «Stato» e di «Tratto»: nuova versione italiana dello STAI Forma Y: Manuale. Firenze: Organizzazioni Speciali
Piccoli GB, Soragna G, Putaggio S, Mezza E, Burdese M, Vespertino E, Bonetto A, Jeantet A, Segoloni GP, Piccoli G (2006) Efficacy of an educational programme for secondary school students on opinions on renal transplantation and organ donation: a randomized controlled trial. Nephrol Dial Transplant 21(2):499–509. https://doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfi238
Pichert D, Katsikopoulos KV (2008) Green defaults: information presentation and pro environmental behavior. J Environ Psychol 28:63–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2007.09.004
Reubsaet A, Brug J, Nijkamp MD, Candel MJ, van Hooff JP, van den Borne HW (2005) The impact of an organ donation registration information program for high school students in the Netherlands. Soc Sci Med 60(7):1479–1486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.07.014
Riaz MN, Riaz MA, Batool N (2012) Personality types as predictors of decision making styles. J Behav Sci 22:99
Russ FA, McNeilly KM, Comer JM (1996) Leadership, decision making and performance of sales managers: a multi-level approach. J Pers Sell Sales Manag 16(3):1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/08853134.1996.10754060
Savadori L (2020) Nudge: opportunità o moda passeggera? G Ital Psicol 47(2):487–494 (in press)
Scott SG, Bruce RA (1995) Decision-making style: the development and assessment of a new measure. Educ Psychol Measur 55(5):818–831. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164495055005017
Shepperd JA, Grace J, Cole LJ, Klein C (2005) Anxiety and outcome predictions. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 31(2):267–275. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167204271322
Simons DJ, Shoda Y, Lindsay DS (2017) Constraints on generality (COG): a proposed addition to all empirical papers. Perspect Psychol Sci 12(6):1123–1128. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617708630
Singh R, Greenhaus JH (2004) The relation between career decision-making strategies and person-job fit: A study of job changers. Journal of Vocational Behavior 64(1):198–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-8791(03)00034-4
Smith LE, Amlôt R, Weinman J, Yiend J, Rubin GJ (2017) A systematic review of factors affecting vaccine uptake in young children. Vaccine 35(45):6059–6069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.09.046
Smith CA, Leslie DK (2004) Appraisal as a pervasive determinant of anger. Emotion 4(2):133–138. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.4.2.133
Smits M, Van Den Borne B, Dijker AJ, Ryckman RM (2005) Increasing Dutch adolescents’ willingness to register their organ donation preference: the effectiveness of an education programme delivered by kidney transplantation patients. Eur J Pub Health 16(1):106–110. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/cki055
Solijonov A (2016). Voter Turnout Trends around the World. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/voter-turnout-trends-around-the-world.pdf
Spielberger CD (2010) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology John Wiley & Sons Inc, Hoboken. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0943
Sreedevi VR, Chitra K (2011) Does personality traits influence the choice of investment? (March 30, 2012). IUP J Behav Financ 8(2):47–57. SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2031414
Sunstein CR, Reisch LA, Kaiser M (2019) Trusting nudges Lessons from an international survey. J Eur Public Policy 26(10):1417–1443. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2018.1531912
Teng C, Otero M, Geraci M, Blair RJ, Pine DS, Grillon C, Blair KS (2016) Abnormal decision-making in generalized anxiety disorder: Aversion of risk or stimulus reinforcement impairment? Psych Res 237:351–356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.12.031
Thaler R, Benartzi S (2004) Save more tomorrow™: using behavioral economics to increase employee saving. J Polit Econ 112(S1):164–187. https://doi.org/10.1086/380085
Thaler R, Sunstein CR (2008) Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. Yale University Press
Tiedens LZ, Linton S (2001) Judgment under emotional certainty and uncertainty: the effects of specific emotions on information processing. J Pers Soc Psychol 81(6):973–988. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.6.973
Valentino N, Brader T, Groenendyk E, Gregorowicz K, Hutchings V (2011) Election night’s alright for fighting: the role of emotions in political participation. J Polit 73(1):156–170. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022381610000939
Vinokur AD, Merion RM, Couper MP, Jones EG, Dong Y (2006) Educational web-based intervention for high school students to increase knowledge and promote positive attitudes toward organ donation. Health Edu Behav 33:773–786. https://www.jstor.org/stable/45056399
Woodruff, A. & Rossiter, B (2019). Change to Walking - Nudging People to Walk for Short Transport Trips, Journal of Transport & Health, 14, Supplement, September 2019,100741.
Wu AM (2008) Discussion of posthumous organ donation in Chinese families. Psychol Health Med 13:48–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548500701351992
Wu AM, Tang CS, Yogo M (2013) Death anxiety, altruism, self-efficacy, and organ donation intention among Japanese college students: A moderated mediation analysis. Australian Journal of Psychology 65:115–123. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12003
Funding
The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by MMZ and EG. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MMZ and FG and RN commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors report there are no conflict of interests to declare.
Ethical approval statement for research involving human participants
All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study has been approved by the Ethic Committee of University (Prot. no. 68248).
Informed consent
Each participant provided the written informed consent for participation and publication.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Editors: Don Ross (University of Cape Town), Andre Hofmeyr (University of Cape Town); Reviewers: Brian Monroe (University College Dublin), Celeste Campher (University of the Free State, Bloemfontein).
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Zucchelli, M.M., Gambetti, E., Giusberti, F. et al. Use of default option nudge and individual differences in everyday life decisions. Cogn Process 25, 75–88 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-023-01161-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-023-01161-1