Active Choice

A choice architecture approach requiring an individual to make an explicit selection rather than passively accepting a default.

Source: Keller PA, Harlam B, Loewenstein G, Volpp KG. Enhanced active choice: a new method to motivate behavior change. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2011;21(4):376-383. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.06.003.

Active choice requires an individual to make an explicit selection rather than passively accepting a default. The person must actively choose among the options rather than being enrolled in one by inaction. Requiring this explicit selection is the defining feature of active choice By stripping away the automatic default and making a person decide, the approach can raise engagement with a decision, though it also places the effort of choosing squarely on the individual.

Source: Keller PA, Harlam B, Loewenstein G, Volpp KG. Enhanced active choice: a new method to motivate behavior change. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2011;21(4):376-383. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.06.003.

Active choice avoids relying on a default, since it is a choice architecture approach that requires an explicit selection rather than the passive acceptance of a preset option. By removing the automatic default, it makes the individual decide. This turning away from a default is central to active choice By stripping away the automatic default and making a person decide, the approach can raise engagement with a decision, though it also places the effort of choosing squarely on the individual.

Source: Keller PA, Harlam B, Loewenstein G, Volpp KG. Enhanced active choice: a new method to motivate behavior change. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2011;21(4):376-383. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.06.003.

Active choice is a choice architecture approach, a way of structuring how options are presented so that an individual must make an explicit selection rather than accept a default. It shapes the decision setting rather than the options themselves. Being a choice architecture approach built on requiring explicit selection is what active choice is By stripping away the automatic default and making a person decide, the approach can raise engagement with a decision, though it also places the effort of choosing squarely on the individual.

Source: Keller PA, Harlam B, Loewenstein G, Volpp KG. Enhanced active choice: a new method to motivate behavior change. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2011;21(4):376-383. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.06.003.

Active choice requires an explicit selection so that the individual actively engages with the options instead of drifting into a default by inaction. Compelling a deliberate choice is the point of the approach, ensuring the decision is consciously made. This insistence on an explicit selection is what distinguishes active choice from default-based arrangements By stripping away the automatic default and making a person decide, the approach can raise engagement with a decision, though it also places the effort of choosing squarely on the individual.

Source: Keller PA, Harlam B, Loewenstein G, Volpp KG. Enhanced active choice: a new method to motivate behavior change. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2011;21(4):376-383. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.06.003.

Active choice is a choice architecture approach requiring an individual to make an explicit selection rather than accept a default, while decision-making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from alternatives using preferences, evidence, constraints and anticipated consequences. Active choice forces that decision-making to be carried out rather than bypassed by a default. The two are connected, since active choice compels a deliberate act of decision-making By stripping away the automatic default and making a person decide, the approach can raise engagement with a decision, though it also places the effort of choosing squarely on the individual.

Source: Keller PA, Harlam B, Loewenstein G, Volpp KG. Enhanced active choice: a new method to motivate behavior change. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2011;21(4):376-383. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.06.003.