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Is there a Sunk Cost Effect in Committed Relationships?

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Sara Rego
Sara Rego
Sara Rego
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Joana Arantes at University of Minho
Joana Arantes
Paula Magalhães at University of Minho
Paula Magalhães
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Abstract and Figures

The sunk cost effect occurs when a prior investment in one option leads to a continuous investment in that option, despite not being the best decision. The aim of the present paper was to study the role of the sunk cost effect in committed relationships. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 902) were presented with an unhappy relationship scenario in which they needed to make a choice: to stay or end the relationship. Results showed that the likelihood of participants staying in the relationship was higher when money and effort, but not time, had been previously invested in that relationship. In Experiment 2, the time investment was manipulated and the sunk cost was evaluated using a different methodology. Specifically, instead of having a dichotomous decision, participants (N = 275) choose how much time they would be willing to invest in the relationship. Results revealed a sunk time effect, that is, participants were willing to invest more time in a relationship in which more time had already been invested.
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Is there a Sunk Cost Effect in Committed Relationships?
Sara Rego
1
&Joana Arantes
1
&Paula Magalhães
1
Published online: 29 November 2016
#Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract The sunk cost effect occurs when a prior investment
in one option leads to a continuous investment in that option,
despite not being the best decision. The aim of the present
paper wasto study the role of the sunk cost effect in committed
relationships. In Experiment 1, participants (N=902)were
presented with an unhappy relationship scenario in which they
needed to make a choice: to stay or end the relationship.
Results showed that the likelihood of participants staying in
the relationship was higher when money and effort, but not
time, had been previously invested in that relationship. In
Experiment 2, the time investment was manipulated and the
sunk cost was evaluated using a different methodology.
Specifically, instead of having a dichotomous decision, partic-
ipants (N= 275) choose how much time they would be willing
to invest in the relationship. Results revealed a sunk time effect,
that is, participants were willing to invest more time in a rela-
tionship in which more time had already been invested.
Keywords Sunk cost effect .Time .Effort .Money .
Committed relationships
Every day individuals have to make decisions about a variety
of issues and, in many of these choice situations, deliberate in
terms of costs and benefits. Imagine that you have decided to
go to the cinema to watch a movie, about which you had high
expectations, and you paid $6 for the ticket. However, mid-
way through the movie you are increasingly bored and, even
though you have made a great effort to stay for the last hour,
the movie is not what you expected. Would you leave the
movie theater? The answer is probably BNo^. We could argue
that his choice was being influenced by your past investment
in terms of money, time, and effort watching the movie, there-
fore biasing your decision to stay until the end. This dilemma
is called the sunk cost effect (Arkes 1996; Arkes and Ayton
1999; Arkes and Blumer 1985). What about if you were in an
unhappy committed relationship? Would you leave or would
you stay? The aim of the present study is to understand wheth-
er the sunk cost effect influences this decision.
The sunk cost effect occurs when a prior investment of
money, effort, or time leads to a continuous investment in a
failing path of action when the logical response would be to
stop investing (Arkes and Blumer 1985). This is considered an
irrational economic behavior because only future costs and
benefits, not past costs, should influence decision making
(Bornstein and Chapman 1995) because past investments can-
not be undone. In the situation described above, the rational
behavior would be to leave the movie theater and use the time
for a walk, or other more pleasant activity, instead of staying
until the end of the movie due to the previous investment.
This effect has been documented in several studies with
humans (Arkes and Blumer 1985; Bornstein et al. 1999;
Coleman 2009; Cunha and Caldieraro 2009;Moon2001;
Navarro and Fantino 2007,2009; Staw and Fox 1977)and
nonhuman animals (Macaskill and Hackenberg 2012;
Magalhães and White 2013,2014; Navarro and Fantino
2005). The sunk cost effecthas also been observed in a variety
of contexts and with different methodologies, as well as in
laboratory (Keasey and Moon 2000;Moon2001) and field
settings (Arkes and Blumer 1985; Staw and Hoang 1995).
As evidenced by the literature, the sunk cost effect is a very
pervasive phenomenon and several explanatory theories to
explain it have arisen over the years. For example, according
*Paula Magalhães
pmagalhaes@psi.uminho.pt
1
Department of Basic Psychology, School of Psychology, University
of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Curr Psychol (2018) 37:508–519
DOI 10.1007/s12144-016-9529-9
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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