In one area of life or another, most of us can see a need for change. Rationally, we know that our current way of doing things isn't necessarily the best one. Yet when the moment comes to commit to change, a powerful inertia tends to keep us exactly where we are. Have you ever blamed yourself for not breaking out of your comfort zone? If so, getting to know status-quo bias may help you better understand what's really going on behind the scenes.
Status-quo bias refers to the widespread, strong preference people have for keeping things as they are. This preference isn't necessarily grounded in the status quo being genuinely better, or in uncertainty about the alternatives — it is, quite simply, a fondness for the status quo itself. The Nobel laureate in economics Daniel Kahneman and his colleagues studied status-quo bias in detail, and documented it in the celebrated book Thinking Fast and Slow. There is a later study (1) on status-quo bias and consumer choice that goes like this: imagine that residents of California have six electricity companies (A, B, C, D, E and F) to choose from. Some offer a more reliable supply, but at a higher price. Others are the reverse, while still others sit in the middle on both quality and price.
The researchers recruited two groups of participants. One group was told they were currently using a company that supplied high-quality but expensive electricity (Company A, their status quo), and then asked whether they would like to switch to another provider. Around 60% chose to stick with the status quo, and only a tiny fraction (5.7%) switched to the cheapest, lowest-quality company (Company F). You might wonder: isn't it simply that Company A's package was the more attractive one? In fact, no — status-quo bias was at work. The other group was told they were currently using Company F (their status quo), and likewise around 60% chose to stick with the status quo, with only 5.8% switching to Company A. This shows that, for most people, the packages from Company A and Company F are neither better nor worse than each other; it was the fondness for the status quo that led each group to carry on using Company A or Company F respectively. In this example, the reluctance to change the status quo wasn't born of a fear of the unknown, since all the information about the packages was laid out plainly. So this example demonstrates that people simply have a fondness for the status quo — and that is status-quo bias.
The reach of status-quo bias is very wide. For instance, when you sign up for a newsletter online, you'll sometimes notice that a checkbox for one option has already been ticked for you — a sign that the company is using status-quo bias to nudge you towards choosing that option (truth be told, we use this trick too, to improve the revenue from our own activities). Beyond its commercial applications, in everyday life status-quo bias explains why building good habits is so hard, and why the eagerness to try a new opportunity can ultimately fizzle out.
Why does status-quo bias exist? In fact, two further cognitive biases (cognitive biases) lie behind it: loss aversion and the endowment effect. The former explains how people generally avoid losses, even when a loss could be exchanged for a greater potential reward; the latter explains how we tend to greatly overvalue the things we already possess. Changing the status quo inevitably means giving up something we already have and greatly overvalue — which runs counter to both of these human tendencies at once, and so changing the status quo is especially difficult.
However reluctant we may be, breaking out of the comfort zone at the right moment is an important capacity to cultivate. So how can we face up to status-quo bias, and the other cognitive biases that are everywhere? As the saying goes, "know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle." I believe the first step is to become aware that these biases exist. The next time you feel daunted by the prospect of change, it's worth pausing to consider whether sticking with the status quo really is the better choice, or whether you're being swayed by status-quo bias and unable to decide with a clear head.
References
Hartman, R. S., Doane, M. J., & Woo, C. K. (1991). Consumer rationality and the status quo. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106(1), 141-162.
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