Mind & behavior · 2001
Do past costs and progress toward finishing jointly relate to how strongly people stick with a decision?
Yes. An analysis of responses from 340 participants supported considering them together: costs already incurred and progress toward completion were separately related to commitment, and the relationship between costs and commitment varied with completion level. The abstract does not describe the participants or decision task, so how widely this applies is unclear.
Details
The study examined why people become more committed to a course of action they have already chosen. The author proposed that costs already incurred and the need to finish a project could provide complementary explanations rather than competing explanations.
Participants' responses supported this view. The relationship between past costs and commitment followed a curved pattern rather than a straight line, and it differed depending on how close the project was to completion. This supports considering costs and progress together rather than assuming that past costs have the same relationship with commitment at every stage. An alternative model was not supported, but the abstract does not explain its predictions.
The abstract does not report the direction or size of these patterns, or enough methodological detail to establish cause and effect. The findings therefore do not show that higher past costs always mean stronger commitment. They also do not establish that the original choice was mistaken.
What do you think?
Good conversations begin with curiosity.
You can read comments without an account. Sign in to write.
Loading comments…