The Sunk Cost Fallacy and Risk-Taking Behaviour. Evidence from a computer game experiment
We examine whether behavioural sunk costs are related to an increased willingness to make risky decisions. Rational agents’ decisions should not be contingent on sunk costs; however, foregoing research suggests that individuals in fact do react to such costs. Few studies have examined behavioural su...
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UiT Norges arktiske universitet
2020
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/19523 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/19523 2023-05-15T18:49:26+02:00 The Sunk Cost Fallacy and Risk-Taking Behaviour. Evidence from a computer game experiment Skognes, Martin Tangstad Noste, Hannah Sire Kristoffersen 2020-05-31 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/19523 eng eng UiT Norges arktiske universitet UiT The Arctic University of Norway https://hdl.handle.net/10037/19523 openAccess Copyright 2020 The Author(s) Risk-Taking Behaviour Sunk Costs Experiment Avalanche Decision-making SOK-3901 Master thesis Mastergradsoppgave 2020 ftunivtroemsoe 2021-06-25T17:57:43Z We examine whether behavioural sunk costs are related to an increased willingness to make risky decisions. Rational agents’ decisions should not be contingent on sunk costs; however, foregoing research suggests that individuals in fact do react to such costs. Few studies have examined behavioural sunk costs and risk-taking with “real stakes”, which is an important topic of research as many projects require investments in time and effort. If it is the case that behavioural sunk costs influence risk-taking decisions, it will be a particularly important finding in the field of risk-taking in avalanche terrain, as these types of activities are associated with large behavioural sunk costs. Our analysis is based on data from an experiment held at the start of 2020, with participants (N=65) from the psychology faculty at the University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway. We are unable to find evidence of sunk cost effects. We do, however, find that risk-taking falls with time spent playing the game. This finding can either represent a learning effect or perhaps a reversed sunk cost effect. Master Thesis Arctic University of Norway University of Tromsø University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Norway Tromsø |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
Risk-Taking Behaviour Sunk Costs Experiment Avalanche Decision-making SOK-3901 |
spellingShingle |
Risk-Taking Behaviour Sunk Costs Experiment Avalanche Decision-making SOK-3901 Skognes, Martin Tangstad Noste, Hannah Sire Kristoffersen The Sunk Cost Fallacy and Risk-Taking Behaviour. Evidence from a computer game experiment |
topic_facet |
Risk-Taking Behaviour Sunk Costs Experiment Avalanche Decision-making SOK-3901 |
description |
We examine whether behavioural sunk costs are related to an increased willingness to make risky decisions. Rational agents’ decisions should not be contingent on sunk costs; however, foregoing research suggests that individuals in fact do react to such costs. Few studies have examined behavioural sunk costs and risk-taking with “real stakes”, which is an important topic of research as many projects require investments in time and effort. If it is the case that behavioural sunk costs influence risk-taking decisions, it will be a particularly important finding in the field of risk-taking in avalanche terrain, as these types of activities are associated with large behavioural sunk costs. Our analysis is based on data from an experiment held at the start of 2020, with participants (N=65) from the psychology faculty at the University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway. We are unable to find evidence of sunk cost effects. We do, however, find that risk-taking falls with time spent playing the game. This finding can either represent a learning effect or perhaps a reversed sunk cost effect. |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Skognes, Martin Tangstad Noste, Hannah Sire Kristoffersen |
author_facet |
Skognes, Martin Tangstad Noste, Hannah Sire Kristoffersen |
author_sort |
Skognes, Martin Tangstad |
title |
The Sunk Cost Fallacy and Risk-Taking Behaviour. Evidence from a computer game experiment |
title_short |
The Sunk Cost Fallacy and Risk-Taking Behaviour. Evidence from a computer game experiment |
title_full |
The Sunk Cost Fallacy and Risk-Taking Behaviour. Evidence from a computer game experiment |
title_fullStr |
The Sunk Cost Fallacy and Risk-Taking Behaviour. Evidence from a computer game experiment |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Sunk Cost Fallacy and Risk-Taking Behaviour. Evidence from a computer game experiment |
title_sort |
sunk cost fallacy and risk-taking behaviour. evidence from a computer game experiment |
publisher |
UiT Norges arktiske universitet |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/19523 |
geographic |
Arctic Norway Tromsø |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway Tromsø |
genre |
Arctic University of Norway University of Tromsø |
genre_facet |
Arctic University of Norway University of Tromsø |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/19523 |
op_rights |
openAccess Copyright 2020 The Author(s) |
_version_ |
1766243023434285056 |