Nudges and sludges: The joint influence of decisiveness and political values alignment on perceived messaging effectiveness

Abstract

Focused on liberals’ responses to conservative-framed interventions. Participants evaluated five nudges and five sludges addressing conservative values, such as privatized healthcare and merit-based employment. Decisiveness was measured using the Need for Cognitive Closure scale, while political values alignment was determined based on voting behavior and self-identified political affiliation. Highly decisive liberals found sludges more effective than nudges in conservative-framed contexts, supporting the hypothesis that sludges encourage reflection without overt persuasion. Nudges, in contrast, showed limited efficacy in value-incongruent scenarios, challenging their presumed universality in influencing decision-making. In the secon experiment all the nudge and sludge interventions came from the Biden administration. Highly decisive conservatives found sludges more effective than nudges in liberal-framed contexts, supporting the hypothesis that sludges encourage reflection without overt persuasion. Nudges, in contrast, showed limited efficacy in value-incongruent scenarios, challenging their presumed universality in influencing decision-making.