Status Quo Bias
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30
CORE DEFINITION
People tend to avoid change and maintain the status quo because change entails unknown risks and decision costs.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
Source of resistance. When marketing a new product, your competitor is not the rival product but the user's 'old habits'. To overcome status quo bias, your product improvement must be 10x better, or you must significantly reduce the user's switching costs (e.g., one-click migration).
Anchor fast decisions
People prefer to maintain the status quo, and any change requires stronger reasons to be accepted. The mechanism involves loss aversion, inertia, and decision costs.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/3Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8E%B0%E7%8A%B6%E5%81%8F%E5%B7%AEverified
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