Abstract
The influence of prior, irretrievable, investment (sunk cost) on commitment to medical treatment was investigated. Three studies were run investigating the influence of sunk cost in the form of money, time, and effort. A total of 637 participants (314 male) with a mean age of 19.58 years were recruited from an undergraduate population. A computer program simulated the process of arranging a course of physiotherapy. Participants invested one of three amounts of sunk cost (under budget, on budget, or over budget) into arranging sessions with a chiropractor. Participants then decided how much time they wished to commit to these chiropractor sessions or to an alternative treatment with a better chance of success. Results revealed a significant effect of invested money, a significant effect of invested effort, but no effect of invested time. Invested money produced a sunk cost effect, while invested effort appeared to exert influence via cognitive dissonance. The implications for healthcare decision-making are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychological Association. (1992). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist, 47, 1597–1611.
Arkes, H. R. (1996). The psychology of waste. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 9, 213–224.
Arkes, H. R., & Blumer, C. (1985). The psychology of sunk cost. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 35, 124–140.
Ǻstebro, T., Jeffrey, S. A., & Adomdza, G. K. (2007). Inventor perseverance after being told to quit: the role of cognitive biases. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 20, 253–272.
Bem, S. L. (1967). Self-perception: an alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychological Review, 74, 183–200.
Boehne, D. M., & Paese, P. W. (2000). Deciding whether to complete or terminate an unfinished project: a strong test of the project completion hypothesis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 81, 178–194.
Coleman, M. D. (2009). Sunk cost and commitment to dates arranged online. Current Psychology, 28, 45–54.
Eisenberger, R. (1992). Learned industriousness. Psychological Review, 99, 248–267.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Garland, H., Sandefur, C. A., & Rogers, A. C. (1990). De-escalation of commitment in oil exploration: when sunk costs and negative feedback coincide. Journal of Applied Psychology, 6, 721–727.
Girandola, F., & Gauthier, E. (2001). Organizational decision making: effects of accountability on escalation of commitment. European Review of Applied Psychology, 51, 111–119.
Heath, C. (1995). Escalation and de-escalation in response to sunk cost: the role of budgeting in mental accounting. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 62, 38–54.
Juliusson, E. Á., Karlsson, N., & Gärling, T. (2005). Weighing the past and the future in decision making. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 17, 561–575.
Klaczynski, P. A., & Cottrell, J. M. (2004). A dual-process approach to cognitive development: the case of children’s understanding of sunk cost decisions. Thinking and Reasoning, 10, 147–174.
Ku, G., Galinsky, A. D., & Murnigham, J. K. (2006). Starting low but ending high: a reversal of the anchoring effect in auctions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 975–986.
Liersch, M. J. (2007). Testing the boundary conditions of biases resulting from heuristic processes. US Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 68, 3418.
Moon, H. (2001). Looking forward and looking back: integrating completion and sunk cost effects within an escalation of commitment progress decision. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 104–113.
Rasker, J. J. (1995). Rheumatology in general practice. British Journal of Rheumatology, 34, 494–497.
Soman, D. (2001). The mental accounting of sunk time costs: why time is not like money. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 14, 169–185.
Staw, B. M. (1976). Knee deep in the big muddy: a study of escalating commitment to a chosen course of action. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16, 27–44.
Thaler, R. (1980). Towards a positive theory of consumer choice. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 1, 39–60.
US Bureau of the Census. (2003). Cited in, Effects of health care spending on the US economy. Retrieved January 19, 2010 from the World Wide Web http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/costgrowth/
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Coleman, M.D. Sunk Cost and Commitment to Medical Treatment. Curr Psychol 29, 121–134 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-010-9077-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-010-9077-7