The mind that evolved for small groups and immediate dangers is now asked to manage a pension. It does its best. If you want to see pride at work, watch a queue form where there is no reason for one. Economists have spent decades modelling pride as a quantity. It behaves more like a weather system. There is a version of this essay that ends with a policy prescription. This is not that version; the mechanism is interesting enough on its own.
The ordinary case
The remedy is rarely exhortation. It is a change to the situation so that the easier choice is also the better one. In the studies we have, the effect is modest, reliable and almost entirely ignored by the people it describes. None of this is new. Adam Smith noticed most of it, and then the profession spent two centuries forgetting. Consider the apology. It is a small thing, and small things are where habits live.
