{
  "id": "nudge.drift-steer",
  "term": "nudge",
  "sense": "drift-steer",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "published",
  "level": 15,
  "domain": "agency",
  "style": "window",
  "definition": "Power that sets no wall but pushes where drift goes inside another's window, so its choices go one way without its model holding the push.",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "power.over",
      "wall.range-end",
      "set.fix",
      "drift.aimless",
      "push.action",
      "choice.decision",
      "model.representation",
      "window.range",
      "go.movement",
      "inside.spatial",
      "way.method",
      "hold.physical"
    ],
    "interaction": "Each option stays open, so no wall is set and the chooser's reach is untouched; what moves is which way the parameter drifts when nothing else decides it. Because the push is not in the chooser's model, the choice reads to it as its own.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "power with no wall in it",
      "reach left whole while its use is steered",
      "a push that reads as one's own choice"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "Madrian and Shea (2001) found that when a US employer made 401(k) enrollment the default, far more new employees stayed enrolled than had opted in under the old rules.",
      "domain": "economics"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "gaslighting.hidden-edit",
      "type": "contrasts-with",
      "note": "both hidden from the target; a nudge steers drift inside the window, gaslighting edits the target's trust in its readings"
    },
    {
      "id": "constraint.limiting",
      "type": "contrasts-with",
      "note": "a constraint narrows the window with a wall; a nudge leaves the window and moves the drift"
    },
    {
      "id": "deterrence.modeled-wall",
      "type": "contrasts-with",
      "note": "deterrence works because the target models the power; a nudge works because it does not"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "nudge",
    "nudged",
    "nudges",
    "nudging"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "claude-opus-5-5:hand-curated",
    "date": "2026-09-28",
    "confidence": 0.85,
    "sources": [
      "schema/power-agency-phase.md"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-nudge.drift-steer"
}