“…given the psychological principle of loss aversion (whereby we dislike losses more than we enjoy gains), the fear of a miserable experience looms heavy in our minds…”
Indulge me as I set up a scenario for you. It’s Tuesday night — taco night at Temptress Telulah’s Treehouse. You’ve had a rough day at work, it rained while you waited for the bus that evening, and you’re just looking forward to arriving at your regularly scheduled Tuesday with your fantastic partner. You see it in the distance and then receive a text from your partner. They inform you that they’ve been invited out to do fajitas at Frisky Frank’s Funhouse and hope that you’ll join them and their colleagues. You love fajitas, Frisky Frank’s is three stops before Temptress Telulah’s, you love your partner’s work colleagues, but you reply, “Sorry, I’ll see you another time.”
Why do you do this? In Behaviour Economics Saved My Dog, Dan Ariely believes he knows the answer, “…given the psychological principle of loss aversion (whereby we dislike losses more than we enjoy gains), the fear of a miserable experience looms heavy in our minds…”
It’s not that you think that fajitas on Tuesday will be a bad experience, it’s just that you fear that it’ll be worse than your experience of going for tacos. When given the choice between something familiar and something new — you stick with the familiar due to the possibility of facing a loss even though it could be a massive gain.
This isn’t just a taco vs fajitas situation. It relates to just about EVERYTHING in your life. From your choice of work shirt to morning beverage to job to partner to vacation spot and more. When making decisions, how often do you pick the potential gain vs. the potential loss?
Take a look at your recent vacations. Is there much variety in them? Do you always do the all inclusive in Mexico because you did it once and had a fantastic time and now fear doing anything different?
Take a look at your haircut. Have you used the same stylist for 15 years, because you fear that the new person would mess it up?
Take a look at your morning brew? Is it always the same thing? Do you even know what’s on your coffee house’s menu? Would you dare try a new item and risk starting your morning off on the wrong foot?
In each of these scenarios — what’s the big deal? Nothing!
Let’s say you decide to do a week long walking tour through Spain and hate it. Why’d you hate it? Did you hate it before you got there? Did you hate it cuz it wasn’t exactly as wonderful as you recalled the all inclusive? Even though the all inclusive last year gave you food poisoning?
When you went to the new hair cutting place and they cut off three inches instead of two did you cry yourself to sleep and point out to everyone (who didn’t notice) what a disastrous haircut you had? Forgetting, of course, the many haircuts in 15 years that you disapproved of from your original stylist.
Finally, did adding nutmeg and soy milk really throw off your entire day? Or would you acquire a similar love for it as your cinnamon and almond milk concoction that you didn’t actually like at first, but kept drinking cuz your boo insisted that it was healthy for you and you went with it.
I get it. Seriously, I do. The familiar is comforting. You feel like you gain every moment that something familiar occurs. However, I’d like for you to look at your daily routine and adjust it ever so slightly today and see if there’s any benefit. Try it once, then try it again, and keep trying.
You can still hit up taco night on Tuesdays on occasion, but be open and ready to experience a number of new Tuesday activities. You may learn to love Tumbling Tuesdays at the trampoline place or even Toffee Tuesdays at the candy factory.
Don’t let your life be ruled by this thought, “given the psychological principle of loss aversion (whereby we dislike losses more than we enjoy gains), the fear of a miserable experience looms heavy in our minds…”
