Frequency Heuristic

Frequency

Even hard problems become easier with practice; solving them can even become automatic. Both of us have managed to learn how to serve a tennis ball into the service court with reasonable regularity (and in Sunstein’s case, even a bit of velocity, at least on a good day), but it took some time. The first time people try to execute this motion, they are lucky if the ball goes over the net, much less into the service box. Practice makes perfect (or at least better).

Unfortunately, some of life’s most important decisions do not come with many opportunities to practice. Most students choose a college only once. Outside of Hollywood, most of us choose a spouse, well, not more than two or three times. Few of us get to try many different careers. And outside of science fiction, we get one chance to save for retirement (though we can make some adjustments along the way). Generally, the higher the stakes, the less often we are able to practice. Most of us buy houses and cars not more than once or twice a decade, if that, but we are really practiced at grocery shopping. Most families have mastered the art of milk inventory control, not by solving the relevant mathematical equation but through trial and error.

The authors propose nudges for difficult, rare choices while preserving people’s freedom to choose. Their point is that limited opportunities to practice can make decision support useful.