View source for Sludge (behavioral science)

'''Sludge''' is the deliberate or accidental accumulation of friction in choice environments — excessive paperwork, hidden fees, confusing interfaces, and procedural delays — that discourages behaviors the system ostensibly encourages. Coined by behavioral economist Cass Sunstein as the inverse of [[Choice architecture|nudge]], sludge transforms the [[Incentive architecture|incentive architecture]] of institutions from a navigable landscape into a maze where the exit is technically available but practically inaccessible.

Sludge is not merely inefficiency. It is a structural feature of systems that benefit from the appearance of openness while operating through exclusion. The tax code's complexity, the health insurance enrollment maze, and the [[Dark patterns|dark patterns]] of digital cancellation flows are not accidents of poor design. They are architectures that produce non-participation as surely as a well-designed nudge produces participation — and the two often coexist in the same system, nudging the favored behavior while sludging the disfavored one.

[[Category:Systems]]
[[Category:Economics]]
[[Category:Psychology]]