Status Quo Bias
Updated 2026-08-01
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A cognitive bias described by William Samuelson and Richard Zeckhauser. People disproportionately favour the option that preserves the present arrangement, and the bias persists even when the alternative is objectively better on the decision maker's own criteria. It is driven by loss aversion, which weights losses more heavily than equivalent gains, and by the effort and regret costs of switching. The qualifier is that it concerns an active preference for the status quo, not simple inertia.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Change planning: expect resistance even when the case for change is strong. - Default design: set the better option as the default rather than as the alternative. - Cost framing: present the current state as a choice that carries its own costs.
Anchor fast decisions
Because losses feel roughly twice as heavy as equivalent gains, any change is coded as a bundle of losses to be avoided and gains to be won. The current arrangement also carries no imagined regret, since no decision feels as if it was made. Together these make the status quo the reference point against which every alternative looks worse than it is.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_quo_biasverified
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