status quo bias
STAY-tus KWOH BY-us
ˈsteɪtəs kwoʊ ˈbaɪəsListen
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Dictionary meaning
a cognitive bias in which individuals show a disproportionate preference for the current state of affairs, experiencing any change from the baseline as a loss even when the change would be objectively beneficial; related to loss aversion and the endowment effect, status quo bias influences decisions about health plans, pension defaults, software interfaces, and political institutions; it helps explain why harmful default settings persist, why people fail to switch energy providers despite significant potential savings, and why reformers find it so difficult to displace existing institutions even when their deficiencies are widely acknowledged
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