Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
Let’s start off today with a quick review of a fallacy we covered earlier in the podcast: the Fallacy of Accent. The Fallacy of Accent happens when you change the meaning of a phrase or sentence by placing the accent on a certain word in the sentence. If you were to see that same sentence written on a page, you wouldn’t know where the emphasis or the accent is meant to go. But when you read it, you can place emphasis on almost any word in the sentence to create a totally different meaning! So, the question to ask yourself if you think you’re facing the Fallacy of Accent is: “What was the original premise or intention of the statement?”
If you want to review or hear more about this fallacy, go back & check out Episode 42.
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Alright, today’s new fallacy is called The Sunk Cost Fallacy. This one will be short & to the point b/c you’re going to get it quickly. The Sunk Cost Fallacy happens when someone refuses to abandon a certain course of action simply b/c they’ve already invested heavily into it, even when it’s clear that it would be more beneficial to abandon that course of action than to continue in it.
Here’s an example of what the Sunk Cost Fallacy sounds like: Say you’re at a movie with a friend and the movie is terrible…you’re bored silly. You whisper to your friend, “dude, let’s get out of here, this movie is awful.” and your friend says, “No way, we’re already 20 minutes into it, besides, I paid twenty bucks to see this movie. I’m staying.” Ok, do you see the fallacy there? Just b/c you’ve already invested 20 minutes and $20 into a terrible movie, does that really mean you should spend another hour watching a terrible movie? No! Punishing yourself with an additional hour doesn’t get back your 20 minutes or your $20! Those are already gone. You don’t need to throw more time at an already bad decision!
Maybe you’ve heard the phrase before: “There’s no use throwing good money after bad money.” Or maybe you’ve heard the saying, “If you find yourself in a hole, the best thing you can do is to stop digging.” That’s sort of what the Sunk Cost Fallacy is like. Just b/c you’ve already wasted money on something that doesn’t justify continuing to waste MORE money on that same thing! Cut bait & move on. Whatever was already invested, whether it be money, time, energy, etc. is already gone. You can’t get it back. And continuing to spend more money, time or energy on a bad idea isn’t going to change the fact that it’s a bad idea or investment or decision or whatever it was. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and prevent yourself from making future losses as well.
Companies commit this fallacy all the time. They’ll keep a bad employee way longer than they should b/c they already invested thousands of dollars into training that employee. This never pays off in the long run b/c a bad employee will always continue to cost the company more money and headaches. The training money is spent, they can’t get it back. Better to find a new, good employee who will give them a good return on their training investment!
Sometimes people will do this in relationships, too. Say you’ve been dating someone but you’ve come to realize they’re just not right for you or the relationship just isn’t a good one. Don’t be the person who says, “Well, we’ve been together for 6 months, we may as well just stay together at this point.” No! If the relationship isn’t good, staying in it won’t make it better! Move on and find the right person for you!
Now, I do have an example of how the Sunk Cost Fallacy may actually work in your favor! Think of a gym membership! Oftentimes, people buy gym memberships b/c they think that the fact that they’re paying for the membership every month will be incentive to actually go to the gym and workout! And sometimes they’re right. So it could benefit you in some scenarios!
Ok, so the question to ask yourself if you think you’re facing a Sunk Cost Fallacy: “Is it really a good idea to keep doing this just b/c I’ve been doing it?” *repeat*
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
