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Jadrian Wooten's avatar

What an interesting application of the topic! I'm glad that he shared this story with you because I hadn't heard it before today.

Lary Doe's avatar

Decision Theory which is an umbrella term for Sunk-Cost Fallacy, Loss Aversion and Indentity Lock-in can blind a person from making a rational choice when they can't separate themselves from the "thing".

Dating the wrong person? The same second guessing feeling is the parallel everyone can relate to. Stay? Move-On? Take some corrective measure (therapy)?

Being able to divorce the notion of "failure" from "this isn't working the way I need it to" is some serious internal work.

Abdullah Al Bahrani's avatar

It is. I see it with entrepreneurs a lot. I also see it with the decision on what to study. I stuck with a chemical engineering major way too long for this reason.

Lary Doe's avatar

The Washington Post put out another poorly sourced article yesterday about earning potential for "certain" graduate degrees. Pre vs Post degree earnings are meaningless for all the obvious variations.

This is why under 25's are having difficultly processing reliable info, being told before they make a choice they'll fail isn't good for their mental health.

Michael Prunka's avatar

That is wild — I had no idea there was a sort of epidemic with these ski resorts. Do you liken it at all to all the instances of stadiums that are built specifically for, say, hosting a World Cup that become deserted shortly after the big event concludes? I’ve always been fascinated by the sheer magnitude of wasted resources whenever that happens.