By Jason Hreha

Glossary

Default

Updated Published 2 min read

What is a default?

A default is the option that takes effect when a person makes no active selection. It can be a preselected setting or an outcome specified by a policy. For example, a form can begin with a delivery method selected while allowing the user to choose another method.

What is the default effect?

The default effect is a change in choice caused by which option is set as the default. Imagine two versions of the same statement-delivery form. Both offer paper and electronic statements, but one starts with paper selected and the other with electronic statements selected. If otherwise comparable users make different choices because of that starting selection, the difference is a default effect.

A default is therefore part of the decision’s design; a default effect is what happens when that design influences selection. It can overlap with status quo bias, but a preset option can affect a first-time choice even when the person has no previous selection to preserve.

How defaults influence choice

A meta-analysis by Jachimowicz and colleagues (2019) found that defaults often influence choices, with substantial variation across studies. Proposed explanations include avoiding the effort of switching, treating the default as a recommendation, and viewing it as the current state. These explanations need not operate equally in every case.

Madrian and Shea (2001) found higher participation after a company introduced automatic enrollment in a retirement plan. Employees also tended to remain at the default contribution rate and investment allocation. Enrollment, contribution size, and eventual financial wellbeing are different outcomes.

A default is not an active choice

Remaining with a default—sometimes called defaulting—does not tell you whether someone preferred it, overlooked it, accepted it as advice, or found switching too difficult. It also does not prove that the person understood the option, benefited from it, or formed a habit.

The distinction matters in organ donation. Registration or presumed-consent rules are not the same as completed donations or transplants. A 2025 study of organ-donation policies reported that adopting opt-out rules could reduce living donations, alongside its analysis of deceased donations. A subsequent critique by Stefan Felder questions whether that result survives changes in the comparison countries and policy timing, including how pandemic years are handled. It is inaccurate to attribute all country differences in actual donation to a default alone.

Using defaults responsibly

A product might begin with optional data sharing switched off while allowing people to enable it. Someone still has to decide what happens when the settings are untouched. That gives the designer responsibility for making the default clear and the alternatives easy to select.

A default can change a recorded choice without changing an underlying preference. Measure the outcome that matters, not only how many people left the setting alone. The broader choice architecture also includes how options are explained and how much work it takes to select them.

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