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The disgust-promotes-disposal effect

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  • Seunghee Han
  • Jennifer Lerner
  • Richard Zeckhauser

Abstract

Individuals tend toward status quo bias: preferring existing options over new ones. There is a countervailing phenomenon: Humans naturally dispose of objects that disgust them, such as foul-smelling food. But what if the source of disgust is independent of the object? We induced disgust via a film clip to see if participants would trade away an item (a box of unidentified office supplies) for a new item (alternative unidentified box). Such “incidental disgust†strongly countered status quo bias. Disgusted people exchanged their present possession 51% of the time compared to 32% for people in a neutral state. Thus, disgust promotes disposal. A second experiment tested whether a warning about this tendency would diminish it. It did not. These results indicate a robust disgust-promotes-disposal effect. Because these studies presented real choices with tangible rewards, their findings have implications for everyday choices and raise caution about the effectiveness of warnings about biases.
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Suggested Citation

  • Seunghee Han & Jennifer Lerner & Richard Zeckhauser, 2012. "The disgust-promotes-disposal effect," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 101-113, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jrisku:v:44:y:2012:i:2:p:101-113
    DOI: 10.1007/s11166-012-9139-3
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    1. Cryder, Cynthia E. & Lerner, Jennifer & Gross, James J. & Dahl, Ronald E., 2008. "Misery Is Not Miserly," Scholarly Articles 37093805, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    2. Knetsch, Jack L, 1989. "The Endowment Effect and Evidence of Nonreversible Indifference Curves," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 1277-1284, December.
    3. Schweitzer, Maurice, 1994. "Disentangling Status Quo and Omission Effects: An Experimental Analysis," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 457-476, June.
    4. Hammond, D. & Fong, G.T. & McDonald, P.W. & Brown, K.S. & Cameron, R., 2004. "Graphic Canadian cigarette warning labels and adverse outcomes: Evidence from Canadian smokers," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(8), pages 1442-1445.
    5. Samuelson, William & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1988. "Status Quo Bias in Decision Making," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 7-59, March.
    6. Ritov, Ilana & Baron, Jonathan, 1992. "Status-Quo and Omission Biases," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 49-61, February.
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    Cited by:

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    6. Nikhil Masters & Tim Lloyd & Chris Starmer, 2024. "Do emotional carryover effects carry over?," Discussion Papers 2024-09, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Disgust; Status quo bias; Decision making; Disposal; Emotion; D03; C93; D81;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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