Science Friday Fixing Society's Toughest Problems? ‘It’s On You’
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Mar 6, 2026 Nick Chater, professor of behavioural science and coauthor of It's On You, explores how behavioral science and corporations shifted blame for big social problems onto individuals. He discusses the rise of nudges and the Nudge Unit, the limits of individual-focused fixes for climate change, the PR origins of the carbon footprint idea, and the case for system-level solutions.
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Behavioral Science Created The Individual Frame
- Behavioral interventions reframed systemic problems as individual failings.
- Nick Chater calls this iFrame thinking, which redirects attention from regulation to altering individual choices.
Inside The UK Nudge Unit Experience
- Nick Chater served on the UK's Behavioural Insights Team (the Nudge Unit) advising government in 2010.
- He recounts enthusiasm for nudges but later felt they only tinkered at the edges of large problems like obesity and pensions.
Six Years On The Climate Committee Changed His View
- Chater joined the UK's Climate Change Committee expecting behavioral fixes to help.
- After six years he found individual nudges produced negligible impact compared with decarbonizing the grid and large structural changes.
