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decision
You stick to the status quo to avoid making a choice.
The default effect is your tendency to accept a pre-set option because it requires no active decision-making.
Whether it is a software setting or a retirement plan, the path of least resistance is usually chosen by default. You equate the default with a recommendation or a normative standard, assuming it is the 'intended' path. This allows you to avoid the mental labor and potential regret associated with making an active, original choice.
You are often living in the options others chose for you.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Johnson and Goldstein, 2003
- What the check found
- Johnson and Goldstein (2003) is the seminal paper identifying the default effect. While the provided reference material was irrelevant to the claim, the citation and definition are accurate to the source.
- 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.