Hamzagic Zachariah I, Mah Eric Y, Derksen Daniel G, Bernstein Daniel M
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada.
University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2025 Mar 4. doi: 10.3758/s13423-025-02656-y.
The sunk-cost effect (SCE) refers to the continuation of an activity after investing resources in the activity. Current developmental research on the SCE in childhood is mixed, but some researchers suggest that sunk-cost judgments decline with age after childhood. To better understand age differences in sunk-cost judgments across the lifespan, we conducted two experiments with the widest age range used in the literature thus far to examine the SCE across the lifespan, while using the same measures for all ages. Samples ranged from 2 to 97 years of age (Experiment 1: lab-based, N = 682; Experiment 2: community sample, N = 378). We found a similar pattern across both experiments: Adults and adolescents consistently made sunk-cost judgments, but children did not. We also observed differences in age patterns between different sunk-cost measures, suggesting that researchers should consider how individuals of different ages might respond to different decision-making vignettes. Our findings suggest that children do not consistently make sunk-cost judgments like older children and adults.
沉没成本效应（SCE）是指在对某项活动投入资源后仍继续该项活动。目前关于儿童期SCE的发展性研究结果不一，但一些研究人员认为，沉没成本判断在儿童期之后会随着年龄增长而下降。为了更好地理解整个生命周期中沉没成本判断的年龄差异，我们进行了两项实验，采用了迄今为止文献中使用的最广泛的年龄范围来研究整个生命周期中的SCE，同时对所有年龄段使用相同的测量方法。样本年龄范围从2岁到97岁（实验1：基于实验室，N = 682；实验2：社区样本，N = 378）。我们在两项实验中都发现了类似的模式：成年人和青少年始终会做出沉没成本判断，但儿童不会。我们还观察到不同沉没成本测量方法在年龄模式上的差异，这表明研究人员应考虑不同年龄的个体可能如何对不同的决策情境做出反应。我们的研究结果表明，儿童不会像年龄较大的儿童和成年人那样始终做出沉没成本判断。
