Choice architecture

Choice architecture is the insight that how choices are presented steers choosing, independent of the options themselves. Defaults, order, the number of options and the wording of alternatives all shape what people pick: the default often wins, the middle price point attracts, and too many options paralyse. A nudge is a deliberate intervention in that architecture that directs behaviour without forbidding options or changing prices. For marketers this is daily work, from shelf layout to checkout flow. It also raises the ethical line: the same techniques that make choosing easier can manipulate when they work against the chooser's interest.

Covered in