Nick Chater

Nick Chater, behavioural scientist and former member of the UK Behavioural Insights Team, reflects on the rise and limits of nudge-style policies. He explains how nudges differ from regulation and why experiments often focus on individuals. Conversations cover climate policy, auto-enrolment, smart meters, corporate framing, and when systemic rules beat subtle interventions.

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.

Brian Lowry, Stanford psychologist who studies how selves form in relationships, and Nick Chater, behavioral scientist critiquing individual-focused solutions, debate whether the independent self is real and why we blame individuals for social problems. They contrast personal-choice explanations with systemic forces, discuss experiments on shifting self-perception, and explain how corporations benefit from blaming people.