Overcome loss aversion with hands-on experience
Loss aversion, the tendency to avoid losses more than achieving gains, often combines with ambiguity aversion to create a powerful bias in favor of the status quo. An effective way of helping people get past this is to give them a hands-on experience with a new possibility.
People tend to resist new behaviors because they’re crystal clear about what they’ll lose by changing but uncertain about what they’ll gain. When it comes to change, humans tend to overvalue what they’re losing while undervaluing what they gain. And no amount of cheerleading will allay the fears as fast a hands-on experience.[1]
See also:
- Loss aversion values avoiding losses more than achieving gains
- Ambiguity aversion favors the known over the unknown
- Status quo bias favors the current state
- Negativity dominance processes the bad more thoroughly than the good
- Negativity Instinct hinders thinking by emphasizing bad news
Crucial Influence – Grenny, et al. (2023), ch. 3 § “Ask People to ‘Just Try It.’” ↩︎