Status Quo Bias and the Field of Interpersonal Violence: Research to Overcome Resistance to Change

This essay asserts that meeting the goal of preventing interpersonal violence (IPV) will require new approaches, a focus on root causes, and a commitment to fundamental structural changes; however there are forces which make the field of IPV resistant to change. The societal response to IPV is caught in a kind of inertia, seemingly unable to break away from the status quo of a dominantly legalistic approach. Drawing attention to forces perpetuating the status quo in IPV, this essay calls for IPV research to bring to light those external factors and power dynamics to identify and address them, toward new ways of responding to and ultimately, preventing IPV. The field would also benefit from research on the reasons for inertia in different IPV focus areas and different institutions, to help break through status quo bias and offer alternative models of responding, including preventive, community-based, and restorative models.