Inertia

In my wiki page about brand loyalty, insistence, and habit, I talked about 'inertia'. The text described intertia as purchasing a specific brand or product simply out of laziness or habit, not because you actually feel a connection to the brand.

While walking to class yesterday, I noticed that people do a lot of things out of inertia - take for example the pathways through the grass and snow on campus. Even though the pathway was a solid sheet of ice yesterday, I saw several people staying directly on the path the entire way across the lawn. Literally a foot off of the path was grass. Did anyone venture off of the path onto the far less slippery and dangerous grass? No, except for me.



Another example of human inertia are the desks/tables that students sit at in class. I am definately guilty of this one - instead of moving to new seating positions within the classroom, many students often choose the same exact spot day in and day out - and, if someone sits in 'your' spot, you get upset.