Such an assignment makes the choice of that setting or value more likely, this is called the default effect.
[1] A TV or computer monitor typically comes with a button to "restore factory presets".
This allows the settings for brightness, contrast, color, etc., to be returned to the defaults recommended by the manufacturer.
A 1982 Apple Computer manual for developers warned: "Please do not ever use the word default in a program designed for humans.
In Fortran, the INIT parameter on a declaration defines an initial default value for that variable.