Switcher’s curse, status quo bias, and prevalence-induced concept change: an experimental investigation.

This project investigates how individuals form and update beliefs under uncertainty by combining two psychological and economic biases: prevalence-induced concept change (concept creep) and dynamic decision biases (status quo bias vs. switcher’s curse). Using incentivized laboratory experiments programmed in oTree, we will first test whether concept creep replicates in economic settings with real monetary stakes, then provide the first empirical evidence on the switcher’s curse by contrasting it with the status quo bias using Bayesian updating as a benchmark, and finally integrate both phenomena in a unified framework. The research will advance understanding of judgment and decision making across psychology and economics, with implications for economic behavior, and organizational decision-making.