The entrenchment effect: Why people persist with less-preferred behaviors

Abstract

This research examines a perplexing but all too common phenomenon in which people actively forego nearly costless opportunities to switch from less-preferred tasks to preferred alternatives. The authors investigate such failures to change and identify a novel underlying cause—entrenchment, a state of heightened tedious task-set accessibility. A series of experiments demonstrate that a significant subset of participants choose to continue a less-preferred task when given an opportunity to change to a preferred alternative (Studies 1-4a). The more participants repeat a less-preferred task, the more difficult constructing a new task set feels, increasing the proportion who do not switch to their preferred task (Studies 2a-2b). Finally, disrupting task continuity attenuates entrenchment and increases switching (Studies 3-4b). This research contributes to the understanding of why people get stuck in ruts, continuing less-preferred activities when they could easily switch to better alternatives, and provides insights to help manage behavior change.