Nudge and individual characteristics in decision-making

People often tend to make inefficient decisions for the community well-being (e.g they do not invest money, they overuse medical screening or do not engage in politics) due to their individual differences, such as level of avoidance or anxiety. In recent years, Governments has successfully applied strategies, called “nudges”, to help people maximizing their decisions in economic and health areas, however the role of individual characteristics has not explored. The present study investigated whether Nudges, in particular default ones in which people were assigned to one program by Institution, can modulate the influence of such individual differences, promoting favourable decisions. 97 participants completed the Trait Anxiety Inventory, the General Decision Making Styles and scenarios about economic, health and civic domains. Participants have been enrolled (opt-out) or not enrolled (opt-in) in specific plans and had to decide whether to accept or change their condition. Result showed that opt-out condition drives people high in anxiety and avoidance to invest more and to be more engaged in politics, whereas in health field it helps those low in anxiety to be more prone to undergo medical screening. Nudge confirms its effectiveness in favoring better decisions among people according to their individual differences.