Paper, Research

Choice Architecture in Conflicts of Interest

Default options significantly influence individuals’ tendencies to comply with public policy goals such as organ donation. My co-author Scott Hawkins and I extend that notion and explore the role defaults can play in encouraging (im)moral conduct. Our findings support a more nuanced perspective on the implication of the different types of costs associated with default options and offer practical insights for policy, such as taxation, to nudge honesty.

Paper: Mazar, Nina and Scott A. Hawkins (2015), Choice Architecture in Conflicts of Interest: Defaults as Physical and Psychological Barriers to (Dis)honesty, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 59 (July), 113-117. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2015.04.004.