Two leading academics explain where behavioural science went wrong and argue we should stop blaming personal failure for society's ills
Nick Chater and George Loewenstein first met when they were invited to join David Cameron's 'Nudge' advisory board back in 2013. The premise behind it was that persuading individuals to take responsibility for change was the answer to systemic problems. Since then, their research has led to the opposite conclusion- that the status-quo interests of corporate and government bodies and sectors are not only well served by this strategy, but that they actively promote and manipulate it.
Drawing on their own huge expertise in behavioural psychology, the authors expose a wide range of eye-opening examples of manipulation - and why it works - and give us a clear understanding of where responsibility for necessary change really lies. From pensions to obesity to climate change - the rich and powerful have pulled off a sleight of hand- blaming individuals for society's problems while lobbying to shape the rules in their own favour. Chater and Loewenstein argue that if we truly want to solve these problems, we must rewrite the rules for the common good, rather than try to \"fix\" the victims of bad policies.
