REFLECTIVE NUDGES: SCAFFOLDING FOR A COGNITIVE APPROACH TO DELIBERATIVE ARGUMENTATION

Abstract

This thesis aims to gain a deep understanding of deliberative argumentation (DA)—a constrained form of argumentation that satisfies the norms of political deliberation—and to explore various design interventions that facilitate it. I start out surveying key literature from deliberative democracy and democratic deliberation to formulate a functional definition for DA. I argue for the evaluation of DA using cognitive markers—reflective attention, comprehensive evaluation, other-regarding orientation and autonomous preference formation (i.e. the cognitive approach to DA). I then evaluate existing design approaches for DA and argue for the use of a non-intrusive design paradigm called Reflective Nudges (RNs) to cater to the cognitive approach. I present three studies, each implementing one type of RN—1) Content-type RN, 2) Interface-type RN, and 3) Group-type RN. Results show that these RNs are conditionally effective for the cognitive approach and broadly supportive of the argumentative theory of reasoning.