Alison Hoffman Looking Outwards Week-01

As a Decision Science student you learn that there are three main types of decision making theories- Normative (what decisions we should make), Descriptive (what decisions we do make), and Prescriptive (how we can make better decisions). Personally I tend to be more interested in studying prescriptive theories because the by the nature there is more room for creativity. Nudging is one common type of prescriptive theory that allows people to make better decisions by making the optimal decision more effortless.

In a freshman year course, a professor showed a video showing a Volkswagon campaign using a nudge. In order to get more people to take the stairs rather than the escalator they turned the stairs into working a piano. The stairs worked as keys, playing notes as people walked up and down. By making the stairs interactive and fun, Volkswagon was able to get people to make a better, more beneficial decision.

I found this installation fascinating. While it took real time and effort to write the script and build the hardware to turn the stairs into a working piano, and Volkswagen made absolutely no profit from this, it was a great experiment to show how interactive design can influence behavior, and in the case, influence decision making. I admire how effective this project was. Moving forward in my academic career, I would like to explore how design and digital interaction can influence and improve consumer decision making. This project has shown me that can be effective.