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Decision MakingMember ingredient
Sunk Cost Effect
An irrecoverable past cost can influence whether someone uses, continues or adds to something, even when the next decision should depend on future costs and benefits.
Public evidence overview
One checked source, with its limits.
This preview is not the complete evidence base. Use it as a question to investigate in your own product, not as a prediction of what an individual will do.
Checked source previewAcademic paper
Sunk cost in investment decisions
Research-assisted source review
- What it supports
- Larger initial investments reduced the likelihood of further investment—a robust reverse sunk cost effect—even though participants reproduced the standard effect in hypothetical scenarios.
- Where it may not transfer
- The controlled investment task is not a consumer product journey and competing explanations include risk and loss preferences. The contrast with vignettes shows that elicitation method matters rather than proving that sunk costs never influence real decisions.
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