← all facts
decision making
You are statistically likely to choose the pre-selected option.
A 2003 study of organ donation found that countries with an opt-out policy had nearly 100% participation compared to 15% in opt-in countries.
People rarely exert the effort to change a default setting provided by an institution. We treat the pre-selected choice as a recommendation rather than a random assignment. This inertia dictates everything from software settings to retirement savings.
The choices you make are often just the paths of least resistance.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Johnson and Goldstein, 2003, Science
- What the check found
- The cited percentages reflect the range of data presented in the paper for opt-in vs. opt-out countries, though the results are correlational, not causative.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.