Knowledge, Technology & Policy 23 (3-4):461-482 (2010)
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Abstract |
Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s Nudge advances a theory of how designers can improve decision-making in various situations where people have to make choices. We claim that the moral acceptability of nudges hinges in part on whether they can provide an account of the competence required to offer nudges, an account that would serve to warrant our general trust in choice architects. What needs to be considered, on a methodological level, is whether they have clarified the competence required for choice architects to prompt subtly our behaviour toward making choices that are in our best interest from our own perspectives. We argue that, among other features, an account of the competence required to offer nudges would have to clarify why it is reasonable to expect that choice architects can understand the constraints imposed by semantic variance. Semantic variance refers to the diverse perceptions of meaning, tied to differences in identity and context, that influence how users interpret nudges. We conclude by suggesting that choice architects can grasp semantic variance if Thaler and Sunstein’s approach to design is compatible with insights about meaning expressed in science and technology studies and the philosophy of technology.
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Keywords | Trust Expertise Nudges Choice architecture |
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DOI | 10.1007/s12130-010-9127-3 |
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References found in this work BETA
The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in Sociology and History of Technology (25th Anniversary Edition with New Preface).Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes & Trevor Pinch (eds.) - 1987 - MIT Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
What It’s Like to Be a ___: Why It’s (Often) Unethical to Use VR as an Empathy Nudging Tool.Erick Jose Ramirez, Miles Elliott & Per-Erik Milam - 2021 - Ethics and Information Technology 1 (3):527-542.
A Political Justification of Nudging.Francesco Guala & Luigi Mittone - 2015 - Review of Philosophy and Psychology 6 (3):385-395.
EPIC: A Framework for Using Video Games in Ethics Education.Karen Schrier - 2015 - Journal of Moral Education 44 (4):393-424.
Nudge, Nudge or Shove, Shove—The Right Way for Nudges to Increase the Supply of Donated Cadaver Organs.Kyle Powys Whyte, Evan Selinger, Arthur L. Caplan & Jathan Sadowski - 2012 - American Journal of Bioethics 12 (2):32-39.
View all 8 citations / Add more citations
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