Status-quo Bias

Notes

Status-quo bias is when we prefer the existing situation over changing it, despite being offered a better alternative. It is a sort of sticking with Defaults in a Path Dependence way. Perhaps it also includes a fear of Uncertainty, a preference for loss aversion, like the phrase "prefer the devil you know", even when we know that it could be better, we fear that it might be worse, so we prefer to keep the situation as it is even though it is far from optimal. It hides a form of Pessimism, thinking that if something is going to change, it will be for the worse.

Those who prefer the status quo probably have a Fixed Mindset, they believe that we are too bound by our circumstances that any attempt to change it will do more harm than good, or be a waste of them. It is also a form of Helplessness, where we fail to take action to improve our lives.

We are highly affected by both Momentum that pushes us to stay in our course, and high Upfront costs that makes the first step, which is the most important one, the hardest to make.

Visual

Overview

🔼Topic:: Cognitive Bias (MOC) ↩️Origin:: 🔗Link::