This activity is designed for participants to learn about status-quo bias and the importance of context. Participants will also learn a heuristic for counteracting status quo bias.
Warm-up question: Should public health officials re-poison the water supply??
Reflection
Think of a problem in your organization where some people want to maintain the status quo, and other people want things to change. Can you use the reversal test to make progress on this problem?
Side quest: Sometimes, people disagree about how to define the status quo due to their different roles:
So far, human life expectancy in developed countries has increased over the 20th’centruy, largely due to biotechnological investment, which is increasing the pace of technological change. Imagine that the use of CRISPR technology has the potential to radically improve human wellbeing, eliminating disability and extending people’s lives by 50%. Now consider a meeting about how to regulate life-extending technologies like CRISPR. All parties agree with the precautionary principle, but:
· Disability advocates say, do not use CRISPR on humans. (maintain position)
· Biologists say, do not stop the natural progress of science. (maintain speed of development)
· Investors say, do not slow the pace of innovation. (maintain acceleration of development)