r/cogsci

The setup, from Arkes and Blumer (1985): you've bought a $100 ski trip to Michigan. Weeks later you buy a $50 one to Wisconsin, which you think will be more fun. Then you notice they're on the same weekend, and neither ticket can be returned.

Both are already paid for. The only question left is which weekend you'd enjoy more. 33 of 61 students still picked Michigan.

The second experiment used real money. The Ohio University Theater sold season tickets at random prices: $15, $13 or $8. Over the first five plays, full-price buyers used 4.11 tickets each. The discount groups used 3.32 and 3.29. By the last five plays, the difference had gone.

I put these together with Levitt's coin-flip study (20,000+ people; the ones the coin told to make a change were happier six months later) in one page. It also has a quiz on when past costs do count: https://sheets.works/data-viz/sunk-cost-fallacy

Happy to be corrected. The theatre figures are from page 128 of the paper

Hi everyone — I put together this free interactive resource for exploring cognitive biases and related effects. I thought it might be relevant and helpful here.

https://thebiasmap.com

It’s adapted from the Cognitive Bias Codex, with 188 entries, plain-English explanations, everyday examples, sources, and short animated videos. Credit for the original Codex is on the site.

I’d appreciate any feedback or corrections.