Sunk-cost fallacy
Suffering or regretting?
Art by Victoria Fernandez
Consider ordering a large quantity of expensive food and feeling satisfied despite only eating a portion of it. Would you consume it in order to prevent financial waste?
Imagine you have been studying Chemistry for two years and despite your best efforts, you still don't understand it. Just because you have invested a lot of time, would you still select Chemistry or would you change your major?
Both of the above-mentioned imaginations may be examples of the specific effect called a sunk-cost fallacy.
Sunk-cost fallacy (Concorde effect)
The situation where someone is unwilling to change a method or action to take because they have put a lot of time and money into it, even though it is obvious that doing so would be better.
The sunk cost fallacy asserts that we are making irrational choices because we are considering factors other than the available options. The misconception has an impact on many facets of our lives, which results in less than ideal results.
We neglect to consider that the time, money, or effort we have already invested will not be repaid. Instead of considering present and future costs and benefits, which are the only ones that logically should matter, we frequently base our decisions on previous costs.
Advice:
Limiting your reliance on your emotions and keeping the future in mind can help you overcome this phenomenon. One thing you must keep in mind is that worrying about the past is pointless because it is already passed. People leave this world with their present and future selves, not their former selves.
This Friday, I invite you to think about something that you should change but can’t just because of the amount of time and effort put into it. Again, this is not forcing you to change something, the ball is always in your court, this was just a brief reminder of your future selves that you are responsible for thinking of.
Well, I think it depends on the situation you are in as life is dynamic, not static. The example you gave is so changeable although there are some similarities. If you decided to be a doctor but after studying for 2 years, your chemistry does not make any sense, it does not mean you should give up your will to be a doctor. This means you should change the way you study. In this case, the Sunk-cost fallacy is something that can help but people should think differently rather than like the fallacy mentioned above. If you always change your decisions and throw a towel when you think, it is impossible for you. Gradually you would be losing your assertiveness which is important to be successful. So my suggestion is different to some degree: The first thing first is that chose your major considering all aspects: your talent, your interest, and income as well and after that do not let other things disturb your way. Disturb everything that drug on you, such as people's opinions and their gossip about you, expert critics are an exception
I think not some but most times