Research

We investigate how disclosing the existence of a default—informing individuals that a choice has already been made on their behalf—affects interest in engaging with decision-making processes in three high-stakes contexts: advance care planning, organ donation, and retirement savings. Across several studies, we find that participants exposed to a disclosed default, regardless of alignment with their preferences, show significantly greater interest in learning how to document their choices compared to when there is no default. We further show that heightened perceived urgency is driving this effect. These findings extend the existing literature on defaults, which has primarily focused on how defaults influence final choice outcomes, by highlighting their potential to catalyze proactive engagement. Our results have significant implications for designing interventions that increase participation in critical medical and financial planning decisions, with the potential to improve alignment between individual preferences and life outcomes.