How default settings doubled organ donation rates in the U.S.

Lack of organs available for donation is a significant problem in the United States, where the default option - defined as the condition present when someone fails to make a decision - is not to be a donor. This shortage is confusing, as approval rates of organ donations in the U.S. are significantly high, hovering around 95%.¹ 

To investigate this discrepancy between attitudes and action, researchers created a survey in which respondents were asked whether or not they would be donors in one of three conditions: opt-in (default is not to be a donor), opt out (default is to be a donor), or a neutral condition where they chose with no prior default. They found that the donation rates under the opt-out condition were twice as high than in the opt-in condition. These findings reflect the power of the default option and suggest this could be a way to increase donation rates, thus saving lives.