Setting default value for person column to current user in SharePoint 2013 using REST

Add a content editor WebPart to the New form of custom list and add the below code, replace line 18 SetUserFieldValue function parameter to your people picker column name.

	<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.10.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
	<script type="text/javascript">
	$(document).ready(function () {
	var userid = _spPageContextInfo.userId;
	function GetCurrentUser() {
	var requestUri = _spPageContextInfo.webAbsoluteUrl + "/_api/web/getuserbyid(" + userid + ")";
	var requestHeaders = { "accept" : "application/json;odata=verbose" };
	$.ajax({
	url : requestUri,
	contentType : "application/json;odata=verbose",
	headers : requestHeaders,
	success : onSuccess,
	error : onError
	});
	}
	function onSuccess(data, request){
	var loginName = data.d.Title;
	SetUserFieldValue("people",loginName);
	}
	function onError(error) {
	//alert(error);
	}
	function SetUserFieldValue(fieldName, userName) {
	var _PeoplePicker = $("div[title='" + fieldName + "']");
	var _PeoplePickerTopId = _PeoplePicker.attr('id');
	var _PeoplePickerEditer = $("input[title='" + fieldName + "']");
	_PeoplePickerEditer.val(userName);
	var _PeoplePickerOject = SPClientPeoplePicker.SPClientPeoplePickerDict[_PeoplePickerTopId];
	_PeoplePickerOject.AddUnresolvedUserFromEditor(true);
	}
	GetCurrentUser();
	});
	</script>

view raw PeopleDefaultValue.js hosted with ❤ by GitHub