A Sticky Situation: With Guests Richard Thaler, Wendy Wood & Susan Budowski

<p>Filling out an overly complicated form or waiting on hold for hours to speak with a customer service rep is a frustrating experience. And sometimes it seems like the process itself is designed to be difficult.</p><p>In this episode of <i>Choiceology with </i><a href="http://www.katherinemilkman.com/"><i>Katy Milkman</i></a>, we look at how friction––time, distance, complexity, or anything that gets in the way of your goals—can contribute to what Nobel Prize–winning economist Richard Thaler calls "sludge." </p><p>A young couple walks into a theme park and they are offered a gift card. The only catch is that they have to watch a 90-minute presentation about timeshares. By the end of the presentation, they are the owners of a timeshare in the timeshare capital of the world, Orlando, Florida. Getting into a timeshare contract was easy, but getting out of it turned out to be much more of a grind.</p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-budowski-4785a35/">Susan Budowski</a> tells the story of how her clients got out of a sticky situation, and she explains how many companies make it simple and quick to buy a timeshare but difficult and time-consuming to sell or get out of those contracts.</p><p>Susan Budowski is an attorney in Florida and Maryland who specializes in resolving timeshare matters.</p><p>Next, Katy speaks with <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/wendy-wood/">Wendy Wood</a> about her research on how people can leverage friction to help build positive habits and diminish negative ones.</p><p>You can read more in her book <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250159076/goodhabitsbadhabits"><i>Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick</i></a><i>.</i></p><p>Wendy Wood is the Emerita Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at Dornsife College at the University of Southern California.</p><p>Then, Katy speaks with <a href="https://www.chicagobooth.edu/faculty/directory/t/richard-h-thaler">Richard Thaler</a> about how sludge makes it difficult for people to achie