We think of Germany as being fairly similar culturally to Belgium right? How about Denmark and Sweden? Sure. Well than what might explain the massive disconnect between these culturally similar countries and their willingness to be organ donors? While only 12% of Germans and 4% of Danes are organ donors, 100% of Belgians and 68% of Swedes are registered organ donors. What on earth could explain it?
The answer, although so simple, challenges our ideas about rational decision-making. The difference lies in the wording of the forms at the DMV. That’s it. In Germany and Denmark, the form reads: Check here if you want to participate in the organ donor program. In Belgium and Sweden, it says: Check here if you do not want to participate in the organ donor program.
In both cases, very few people bother to check the box, but the results of that indifference cause the drastic difference we see in the statistics. Pretty amazing. This is from Dan Aierly’s TED Talk on Irrationality in Decision-Making. I just bought this book, and highly recommend checking him out.