CHOICE ARCHITECTURE, PERSUASION AND NUDGING

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

EB007

Academic Year of enrolment:

2021

Year of supply:

2021/2022

Type of Course:

Related/Supplementary

Degree:

Course of 2nd Cycle Degree in ECONOMICS AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Disciplinary Sector:

Social Psychology

Location:

PESCARA

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

PIETRONI Davide

Cycle:

Second semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

102

Prerequisites:

The proposed program will also allow students who have not previously matured disciplinary knowledge to reach the indicated training objectives. There are therefore no prerequisites, but supplementary readings can be recommended.

Objectives

The course contributes to the achievement of the educational objectives of the Course of Studies in Economics and Behavioral Sciences by providing the knowledge and skills of psychosocial and socio-cognitive sciences aimed at training experts in behavioral sciences for marketing interventions, policy design and control to promote public welfare, and enhancement of human resources.
During the course both methodological and ethical issues associated with the use of these tools will be explored and the advantages and disadvantages of interpersonal, organizational and collective influence processes will be discussed, deepening the integrative potential between nudging and boosting aimed at personal and social empowerment. With a wide use of case histories and examples, interventions of influence on different social scales, with different methodologies, with different investments and with different results will be illustrated.

Outcomes
The student will know the fundamental mechanisms underlying the processes of decision making, influence and persuasion.
The student will be able to recognize the environmental, social, communicative and cognitive components that can guide the behavior of individuals and groups.
The student will be able to distinguish the processes of influence that aim to give power from those that create dependence and loss of power.
At the end of the course the student will be able to plan a nudging intervention in different contexts, using different methodologies and knowing how to measure both direct and proximal as well as indirect and distal effects.

Contents

System 1 and 2 in decision and persuasion processes
Heuristics and persuasive levers
The fundamental principles of persuasion
The fundamentals of decision-making processes
The psychological models of the decision
Bias and heuristics in the decision
Ethical issues of influence and persuasion
The freedom to be influenced
Sociocognitive processes and influence
The impact of narrative persuasion
Imagery and persuasive processes
Emotional processes in influenza
Influence as the architecture of choice
The role of feedback and incentives
The impact of social leverage
Laziness and fear in directing choices
Influence and social welfare
From nudging to boosting

Extended Syllabus

After offering a broad overview of the historical developments of tools and strategies of collective influence, the course aims at the synergistic capitalization of the contributions of neuroscience, cognitive psychology and decision making, and social psychology in order to strengthen classical tools and refine innovative tools that aim to influence human attitudes and behaviors in an effective, stable and beneficial way.

During the course both methodological and ethical issues associated with the use of these tools will be explored and the advantages and disadvantages of interpersonal, organizational and collective influence processes will be discussed, deepening the integrative potential between nudging and boosting aimed at personal and social empowerment. With a wide use of case histories and examples, interventions of influence on different social scales, with different methodologies, with different investments and with different results will be illustrated.

The student will know the fundamental mechanisms underlying the processes of decision making, influence and persuasion.
The student will be able to recognize the environmental, social, communicative and cognitive components that guide the behaviour of individuals and groups.
The student will be able to distinguish the processes of influence that aim to give power to objectives from those that create dependence and loss of power.
At the end of the course the student will be able to plan a nudging intervention in different contexts, using different methodologies and knowing how to measure both direct and proximal as well as indirect and distal effects.

The main contents will concern:
System 1 and 2 in the processes of decision and persuasion
Heuristics and persuasive levers
The fundamental principles of persuasion
The fundamentals of decision-making processes
The psychological models of the decision
Bias and heuristics in the decision
Ethical issues of influence and persuasion
The freedom to be influenced
Sociocognitive processes and influence
The impact of narrative persuasion
Imagery and persuasive processes
Emotional processes in influenza
Influence as the architecture of choice
The role of feedback and incentives
The impact of social leverage
Laziness and fear in directing choices
Influence and social welfare
From nudging to boosting

Recommended Bibliography

Shotton, R. (2018). The Choice Factory: 25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy. Harriman House Limited.

Cialdini, R. (2007). Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. New York City: Harperbusiness. 320 pages. ISBN-10: 006124189X

Thaler, R. and Sustein, C. (2009). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New York: Penguin Group USA. 312 pages. ISBN-10: 9780143115267

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

The course is structured in 48 hours of frontal teaching, organized into 2 and 3 hours lessons, twice a week, according to the academic calendar. Different and synergistic teaching methods will be adopted:
Classroom lessons, exercises, simulations, individual and group projects, reports, field activities and didactic visits.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

The examination consists of three parts.
A written test to verify the acquisition of theoretical fundamentals.
A public presentation with the support of PowerPoint or similar programs, of a topic of interest to colleagues in the classroom.
The elaboration of an original nudging intervention project developed through group work (for attending students) or individual work (for non-attending students).
The final grade will be in thirtieth and calculated as follows: 50% Written test; 20% Presentation to an expert audience; 30% evaluation of the paper on the original nudging intervention project.

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Aree

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