Multiple Choice, Single Answer (Reading) — practice #rmcsa-009

Behavioural economists have shown that the way choices are presented can strongly influence the decisions people make. In one well-known finding, far more employees enrol in workplace pension schemes when enrolment is automatic and they must actively opt out, compared with schemes that require them to opt in. The default option, it turns out, carries surprising weight, partly because people tend to stick with whatever requires no effort and partly because a default seems to signal a recommended course of action. Governments and companies have applied this insight to areas ranging from organ donation to energy contracts. Critics caution that such 'nudges' can be used to serve the designer's interests rather than the chooser's, raising ethical questions. Supporters reply that defaults are unavoidable, since every choice must be framed somehow, so designers should at least frame them responsibly.