Health nudges: How behavioral engineering can reduce chocolate consumption.

The present chapter explores behavioral techniques to support consumers in moderating their chocolate consumption. Supporting consumers to resist the lure of chocolate is important because obesity is on the rise, and systematic overconsumption of chocolate may bring about severe health consequences. The chapter starts from the observation that various cues in the decision environment can threaten consumer self-control by shifting the balance between short-term and long-term considerations about consumption in favor of the former. A behavioral engineering approach is presented to help consumers deal with situational influences, and change behavior in a sustainable way. In a first part, nudging is introduced as a behavioral technique that can be applied in support of food choice-making. As the effect of nudges typically fades once they disappear from the decision environment, the second part of the chapter explores mechanisms that can extend behavioral effects of nudges and eventually yield stable changes in behavior.

ISBN:9780198726449

Jaar van publicatie:2016