Sunk Cost Fallacy

The sunk cost fallacy is most dangerous when we have invested a lot of time, money, energy or love into something. This investment becomes a reason to carry on, even if we are dealing with a lost cause. The more we invest, the greater the sunk costs are, and the greater the urge to continue becomes. Relationships are not immune to the sunk cost fallacy, especially when one believes that having invested a lot of time, money, energy or love into the relationship, it would not be ideal to give up on such a relationship midway through. This is irrational. The amount of time, money, energy or love invested into the relationship should play no role.

What counts is the relationships’ future. This irrational behaviour is driven by a need for consistency. After all, consistency signifies credibility. We find contradictions abominable. If we decide to call quits on a relationship halfway through, we create a contradiction: we admit that we once thought differently. Carrying on with a meaningless relationship delays this painful realisation and keeps up appearances. It leads to costly, even disastrous errors of judgement.

Common thinking flaw: ‘We’ve already sacrificed so much for this relationship; it’d be a mistake to give up now.’ But beware of doing so for the wrong reasons, such as to justify continuing in such a relationship. Rational decision-making requires you to forget about the time, money, energy or love invested into the relationship to date. No matter how much you have already invested, only your assessment of the future and its benefits to the parties counts.