Why do(n’t) people support being nudged towards healthier diets?

'Nudging' in restaurants: are we more likely to choose low-calorie options if they are printed in bold on the menu? Photo: StockSnap/Pixabay Researchers investigate how individual characteristics and the design of food choice -nudges- influence support for their adoption Researchers conducted an online survey to analyse support for five different nudge scenarios. Then, one aspect of the design was changed, allowing the researchers to pinpoint how these design variations affected public support. Photo: Simone Wahnschafft You may not realise it, but -nudge- has been used by businesses, policy-makers and governments for years to prod the public into making different choices. Small changes in our environment can -nudge- us into different behaviours without restricting the options available to us. For example, printing the low-calorie options in bold on a menu, or showing the calorie information, might change what we choose to eat. But does the public support this? And how do subtleties in how -nudge- interventions are designed affect support, if at all? Research led by the Universities of Göttingen and Bonn set out to examine public support for nudge scenarios with different design variations, each aimed at promoting healthy and/or sustainable food choices. The researchers showed there were two promising ways to improve public support for nudging strategies: reducing the effort people must expend to avoid the nudged option they would usually want to follow; and improving the transparency of the nudge.