We’ve all experienced the sunk cost fallacy: when you are deep into a task and tell yourself that you’ve come this far, so you may as well finish it. We do this even if it’s no longer logical to finish. So why do we do it?
Hosted by: Brit Garner
———-
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow
SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It’s called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at https://www.scishowtangents.org
———-
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:
AAdam Brainard, Greg, Alex Hackman, Sam Lutfi, D.A. Noe, الخليفي سلطان, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, Scott Satovsky Jr, Charles Southerland, Patrick D. Ashmore, charles george, Kevin Bealer, Chris Peters
———-
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow
Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow
———-
Sources:
https://www.nj.com/onlinegamblingnj/2013/12/how_the_sunk_cost_fallacy_can.html
https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/resources/mini-encyclopedia-of-be/sunk-cost-fallacy/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0749597885900494
https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/uvicecon103/chapter/1-2-opportunity-costs-sunk-costs/
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1991-11275-001
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01136/full
https://www.jstor.org/stable/258647?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
https://web.colby.edu/cogblog/2017/04/21/throwing-good-money-after-bad-why-we-fall-victim-to-the-sunk-cost-fallacy-and-how-to-beat-it/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17371099
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1368430298012005
https://www.springer.com/us/book/9781461295518
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797617752641
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anxiety-files/201409/letting-go-sunk-costs
Image Sources:
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/maybe-im-not-meant-for-a-desk-job-gm1131960080-299892824
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/asian-gay-couple-having-argument-with-each-other-in-bedroom-thoughtful-gay-man-having-gm955632136-260912555
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/american-dollar-bills-gm919003034-252773788
https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/business-and-banking-icons-gm601135230-103376317
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/european-woman-hiding-face-under-the-clothes-she-is-oulling-sweater-on-her-head-gm1009926826-272238651
https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/female-cello-player-gm1146771562-309120715
Watch Now
