Today’s NY Times has an article on the pathbreaking “nudge” research of Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago. Here’s a sample:
“The flies in the men’s room urinals of the Amsterdam Airport have been enshrined in the academic literature of economics and psychology. The flies — images of flies — were etched in the porcelain near the urinal drains in an experiment in human behavior. After the flies were added, spillage on the men’s room floor fell by 80 percent. ‘Men evidently like to aim at targets,’ said Richard Thaler.”
I’ve asked research assistants to do some laborious things over the years, but isn’t asking them to measure the quantity of urine on the floors of public restrooms a bit much?
7:18 am on February 8, 2009
