EPISODE · Nov 28, 2023 · 29 MIN
“Voter” vs. “Vote”: How one letter changed elections
from Nudge · host Phill Agnew
There’s an incredibly simple way to make your message more persuasive. In fact, it’s as simple as changing a letter. In today’s episode, Professor Christopher Bryan shares his studies on messaging. He’s convinced people to vote, persuaded children to tidy up, and students to stop cheating. How? By using nouns, over verbs. Sign up for the Nudge Newsletter: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list Chris’s study: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1103343108 Chris’s website: https://voices.uchicago.edu/bryan/ Be A Voter (Iowa video): https://youtu.be/YYY6tWR8qQk?si=8xxk6-DDl0_F_Lt9 *CORRECTION: There’s a point where Christopher says that the average effect of a piece of GOTV mail is 2% pts. In fact, it’s half a percentage point. The 2% effect he was thinking of is the effect of receiving a GOTV phone call from a live human (i.e., not a robocall).
What this episode covers
There’s an incredibly simple way to make your message more persuasive. In fact, it’s as simple as changing a letter. In today’s episode, Professor Christopher Bryan shares his studies on messaging. He’s convinced people to vote, persuaded children to tidy up, and students to stop cheating. How? By using nouns, over verbs. Sign up for the Nudge Newsletter: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list Chris’s study: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1103343108 Chris’s website: https://voices.uchicago.edu/bryan/ Be A Voter (Iowa video): https://youtu.be/YYY6tWR8qQk?si=8xxk6-DDl0_F_Lt9 *CORRECTION: There’s a point where Christopher says that the average effect of a piece of GOTV mail is 2% pts. In fact, it’s half a percentage point. The 2% effect he was thinking of is the effect of receiving a GOTV phone call from a live human (i.e., not a robocall).
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“Voter” vs. “Vote”: How one letter changed elections
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