Revisiting status quo bias: Replication of Samuelson and Zeckhauser
Qinyu Xiao, Choi Shan Lam, Muhrajan Piara and Gilad Feldman report two preregistered experiments with US participants recruited online, replicating four decision scenarios from Samuelson and Zeckhauser's 1988 paper. They define status quo bias as a general preference to stick with a previously chosen option, and they report strong empirical support for the bias in three of the four scenarios and no substantial support in the fourth, a choice of wagon colour. They also discuss explanations for the results drawn from the wider status quo bias literature.
Qinyu Xiao, Choi Shan Lam, Muhrajan Piara and Gilad Feldman report two preregistered experiments with US participants recruited online, replicating four decision scenarios from Samuelson and Zeckhauser's 1988 paper. They define status quo bias as a general preference to stick with a previously chosen option, and they report strong empirical support for the bias in three of the four scenarios and no substantial support in the fourth, a choice of wagon colour. They also discuss explanations for the results drawn from the wider status quo bias literature.
Written from the abstract as published with the paper, read 2026-10-28.
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(1988).” Meta-Psychology, 5. doi:10.15626/mp.2020.2470 https://doi.org/10.15626/mp.2020.2470