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It's On You

How they rig the rules and we get the blame for society's problems

Nick Chater and George Loewenstein first met when they were invited to join David Cameron’s ‘Nudge’ advisory board back in 2013. The premise behind it was that persuading individuals to take responsibility for change was the answer to systemic problems. Since then, their research has led to the opposite conclusion: that the status-quo interests of corporate and government bodies and sectors are not only well served by this strategy, but that they actively promote and manipulate it.

Drawing on their own huge expertise in behavioural psychology, the authors expose a wide range of eye-opening examples of manipulation - and why it works - and give us a clear understanding of where responsibility for necessary change really lies. From pensions to obesity to climate change - the rich and powerful have pulled off a sleight of hand: blaming individuals for society's problems while lobbying to shape the rules in their own favour. Chater and Loewenstein argue that if we truly want to solve these problems, we must rewrite the rules for the common good, rather than try to "fix" the victims of bad policies.

About Nick Chater

Nick Chater is Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School. He has won four national awards for psychological research, and has served as Associate Editor for the journals Cognitive Science, Psychological Review, and Psychological Science. He was elected Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society in 2010, Fellow of the British Academy in 2012, and Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science in 2014. Nick advises the UK Government, and co-founded Decision Technology, a consultancy applying psychology to business. Nick was resident scientist and co-creator of Radio 4's, The Human Zoo. He is recipient of the 2023 Rumelhart Prize from the Cognitive Science Society. He lives in Oxford
Details
  • Imprint: WH Allen
  • ISBN: 9780753562154
  • Length: 336 pages
  • Price: £22.00
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