What is the Status Quo Bias?

Oasis11-I know that President Ronald Reagan experienced a lot of status quo bias.

Many in the Republican Party wanted to make small changes, but President Reagan had bold ideas and put those ideas to action. Although the status quo media bias often referred to him as a dumb Hollywood actor, he was able to become one of the most powerful and admired President’s of all time.

His bold measures helped businesses create 25 million jobs as a result of him cutting taxes from 70% to 24%.

Also during his Presidency, the United States was able to conquer communism in Eastern Europe and most importantly, the Soviet Union.

The economic pressure that President Reagan applied as a result of the arms race is what actually collapsed the Soviet economy. One of the most famous words that President Reagan uttered was, “Mr. Gorbachov, tear down that wall.”

The Berlin Wall came down not too long after President Reagan spoke those words which were an incredible feat. Sometimes having the confidence in you to challenge the status quo can lead to great accomplishments and it President Reagan’s case it sure did.

I think that the biggest offenders of the status quo bias have to be the mainstream media. They cover stories with such a slanted viewpoint that many viewers feel alienated.

For example, if a politician or celebrity does not have a liberal leaning they are often belittled or discredited in some fashion.

This is the reason why many liberal leaning shows have the lowest ratings. Consider, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. When Obama was elected he spoke of the President as, “Giving him tingles up his leg”. This is a commentator that is supposed to be neutral.

This same commentator interviewed Representative Michelle Bachman from Minnesota the night of the congressional elections and he said to an elated Bachman, “You keep saying the same thing over and over again like if you are in a trance.” Bachman then retorted something with regards to his leg tingling as to say that it probably no longer does. It was a disrespectful treatment of sitting congresswomen that should not be tolerated.

Subway-I remember that race, I kind of felt bad for Christine O’Donnell.

I think that politics is infamous for status quo thinking. Each party has their platform and tries to stick to it as much as possible, but sometimes those that challenge their party as well as the status quo bias around them and take chances are often successful.

Joe Machin, a Democrat governor of West Virginia ran for senate and won because of his conservative positions on many issues that challenge the status quo bias of the Democrat party.

One of his most famous ads involved him taking a shotgun and shooting through the cap and trade legislation that so threaten the coal miners of West Virginia.

He was one of the few Democrats that had a successful senate bid in a largely conservative state.

Anon91390- That was a great point you made. You seem to know quite a bit about marketing. What I wanted to say is that I agree with the writer that there is a large degree of status quo bias in decision making especially in politics.

For example, with regards to the senatorial race in Delaware of Christine O’Donnell many establishment Republicans did not support her candidacy because she defeated Mike Cassell, who many deemed to be a status quo Republican who served Delaware for many decades.

As a matter of fact, there was some controversy that she would not receive funding from the Republican Party which was made by a member of the Republican senatorial committee.

Later they retracted the statement and said that Christine O’Donnell would receive the $42,000 of funding that she was entitled to.

Many establishment Republicans like Karl Rove were very vocal in their opposition to Christine O’Donnell enough so that it may have been the reason that her candidacy did not receive any traction as she lost by a considerable margin.

'The status quo bias can also play a role in the world of marketing, as companies have learned to their chagrin when they radically redesign packaging or ingredients of popular products.'

Great article. Just wanted to point out the following. I do not believe the changing of ingredients could be used as an example of measurement of status quo bias reliably, as such a change is in essence a real change to the product itself.

The packaging or branding of the same products definitely would qualify as a good measurement but having a negative feeling on changes made to the actual product is a true loss vs gain bias rather than a support for the status quo.

I believe the status quo bias you describe has to do with judging the current idea or thing against possible changes and having a bias towards the status quo or current and not definitive changes, that actually change the thing itself.

Once the thing itself is to be changed, the data of opinion collected could simply be an indication of the preference of the ingredients themselves.

I think it is important to understanding this specific bias distinguished from one that arise from actually taking the changes themselves into consideration.

If it is not, the data could be misinterpreted due to the fact that the person's judgement of the change itself could come to a conclusion that may appear to support the status quo, i.e., "I like x brand the way it is so don't want it changed." (would qualify, because I am showing a bias for the current thing based on not wanting to take a chance on losing the current product as it is), vs. "I don't like corn syrup as much as sugar so don't want them to change their current (sugar) recipe." (would not, as this is a preference based on what is actually being changed and what biases I may have on the ingredients themselves rather then on simply the current vs changed).