Why is Council ‘Nudging’ us into compliance?

Do we know how and when our personal decisions are being manipulated? This doesn’t just happen at supermarkets or in a car dealership; our own Waipa District Council (WDC) Comms team exists for this purpose. Because propaganda isn’t taught in schools, it’s often dismissed as historical, only relevant to WW2 Germany. Perhaps understanding behavioural psychology is seen as relevant only for those who want to help others, for instance with fitness training or mental well-being.

The reality is, for decades, investigations into what motivates a consumer’s response to different methods of public relations (PR), advertising and salesmanship have deepened. And now, of course, propaganda and behavioural science takes on new meaning with the power of the internet and artificial intelligence (AI) to harvest, present and manipulate global data, invisibly and without our informed consent.

Thaler and Sunstein’s 2009 book ‘Nudge’ brought this modern twist of advertising tactics to a wider audience. Nudge popularised the terms ‘behavioural insights’ or ‘behavioural economics’ as a label for improving government policies in ways that can ‘nudge’ people in directions that are viewed as ‘improvements.’ But Thaler and Sunstein’s book focused on potential financial benefits and avoided ethical dilemmas such as how these ‘improvements’ are defined.

Thaler, Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, was advisor to the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), and instrumental in expanding BITs international academic influence. Known widely as the ‘Nudge Unit’, BIT published a report for the UK Government entitled MINDSPACE: Influencing behaviour through public policy. BIT strategies within MINDSPACE used the mnemonic to present nine ways to influence and change public behaviour, based on outcomes from well-established psychological experiments. Although we may believe we make a free and ‘correct’ choice, in reality our decisions can be deliberately manipulated through refined psychological tactics, without us even being aware of how and when these tactics have been applied. For instance, the Stanford Prison Experiment showed the influential consequences of ingroup vs outgroups dynamics. However, without informed consent, implementing these strategies (as the report’s authors themselves point out) is immoral:

“The more powerful and subtle behavioural change approaches are, the more they may provoke public and political concern. Citizens may accept their application on other people, but may not be so happy about their use on themselves. Behavioural approaches embody a line of thinking that moves from the idea of an autonomous individual making rational decisions to a ‘situated’ decision-maker, much of whose behaviour is automatic and influenced by their ‘choice environment’. […] Policy-makers wishing to use these tools summarised in MINDSPACE need the approval of public to do so.” (pg 73, my emphasis)

But no public approval was sought by the Nudge Unit. Seemingly dismissing ethics as beyond its remit, the Nudge Unit gained commercial funding in Public Private Philanthropic Partnerships (PPPPs). Formal contracts were established with many Governments, including Australia in 2012. During 2014, our own NZ Dept of the Prime Minister & Cabinet (DPMC) also established an initiative using BIT.

With no independent oversight or regulation, commercial interests can quickly override individual best interests, human rights and freedoms. As Nudge Units expanded globally, their strategies took on a life of their own: here was a quick way to bypass the usual inconvenient, time-consuming and costly advertising codes of practice and publishing protocols. Consultants jumped on the bandwagon. Nudge techniques are now widely used in a variety of communications and policies on regional and national levels, for instance in changing road layouts, recycling rubbish or energy use. Easily recognisable as childlike language or cartoon images, these strategies are also used by WDC. For instance, coercive messaging encourages us into the ‘convenience’ of using the Antenno App for WDC services. As I will explain in another article, this App is not in our best interest!

The good news is, by familiarising ourselves with these powerful psychological strategies, we can quickly identify when nudge techniques are being used and more importantly, why. It is profit that often drives these mind-game campaigns and sadly, ratepayers rarely benefit.