Nudging Research Paper

In our new age of democracy and laissez-faire markets, there is an immense sense of freedom and trust in the system. Not only do we have unrestricted competition in the market but also access to widely circulated information due to advancements in technology. Along with the advent of the Internet and the rise of social media usage comes the idea of being monitored on the Internet. When we use the Internet on a daily basis, we are subjecting ourselves to a number of different risks and even while there are “disclosure” or privacy agreements, they scarcely do enough to protect us. Big corporations have access to and can precisely monitor what we are browsing on the web. Furthermore, they can use this information to specifically cater to our interests and push us to buy specific items through advertisements.
Nudging can be defined as the
As Bovens wrote in his article “Why couldn’t I be nudged to dislike a Big Mac,” he distinguishes between the conceptions of nudging and prodding. While nudging pushes people towards making certain decisions, prodding is fundamentally trying to control people. He also discusses the ethics behind health campaigns that are targeted towards making people stop eating Big Macs from McDonalds, as they are unhealthy. Even though this type of a prod is helping people in the long run, there needs to be a classification between when self-determination must be valued. In general, nudging is different from subliminal images as it is not a hidden fact that people are being manipulated as long as they become aware of