NUDGIS: Novel Understanding of Designs for Good Intervention Strategies in the food environment

The NUDGIS research program examines the effectiveness of nudges, defined as subtle rearrangements of the choice context, to gently suggest healthier food choices by taking advantage of previous priming research to influence healthier choices in such a way that they do not rely on effortful decision making. Although the priming literature suggests several mechanisms that may explain in what way subtle environmental cues influence such complex behaviour as food choices, most priming research has been conducted in single lab studies, precluding an assessment of their effectiveness and robustness outside the lab. The program acknowledges this limitation and specifically addresses the maintained effectiveness of subtle rearrangements in complex setting. The program entails four projects, addressing (1) the role of social context and (2) emotions as nudges in lab settings and real life contexts by employing lab studies, community studies, and fMRI studies; (3) the role of awareness and salience of nudges to examine their impact on autonomy and motivation for healthy food choices and the potential negative side effects is behaviour is influenced without having a clear understanding of its cause; and (4) robustness and long-lasting effectiveness of multi-cue nudges that influence food choice by multiple pathways. As a whole, the program will contribute to our understanding of the working mechanisms of nudges by incorporating notions from the priming literature and examining them in context. The program will result in the formulation of rules to design effective nudges that help to make the healthy choice the easy choice.