Neil’s Reviews > The Power of Fifty Bits: The New Science of Turning Good Intentions into Positive Results – Practical Behavioral Science for Better Choices and Changed Behavior > Status Update

People are reliably adverse to losses. That is most of us tend to work harder to avoid losses than to pursue gains.

A loss is always defined relative to a reference point and the reference point could be the status quo and expected outcome or even one that seems like it could have been yours had things just gone slightly different.