How to Make Better Decisions (with science)

What's the one thing that can ruin your decision making abilities? It's sunk cost bias, where we are more likely to choose something we’ve invested time or money in, even if it’s not the best decision for our future wealth or happiness. I'm trying to improve my decision making, and I hope these psychology tips will equip you to make better decisions in your life 🤔

REFERENCES 📚
Arkes, Hal & Blumer, Catherine. (1985). “The psychology of sunk cost.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 35. 124-140. 10.1016/0749-5978(85)90049-4.

Ferrer, Rebecca A., Alexander Maclay, Paul M. Litvak, and Jennifer S. Lerner. "Revisiting the Effects of Anger on Risk-Taking: Empirical and Meta-Analytic Evidence for Differences Between Males and Females." Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 30.2 (April 2017): 516-526.

Lerner, J.S., Ye, L., Valdesolo, P., Kassam, K.S. (2015). Emotion and Decision Making
Annual Review of Psychology 66:1, 799-823.

Cryder, C. E., Lerner, J. S., Gross, J. J., & Dahl, R. E. (2008). Misery is not miserly: sad and self-focused individuals spend more. Psychological science, 19(6), 525–530. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02118.x

Grossmann I., Kross E. Exploring “Solomon’s paradox”: Self-distancing eliminates the self-other asymmetry in wise reasoning about close relations in younger and older adults. Psychol. Sci. 2014;25:1571–1580. doi: 10.1177/0956797614535400.

Hafenbrack AC, Kinias Z, Barsade SG (2014) Debiasing the mind through meditation: Mindfulness and the sunk-cost bias. Psychological Science, 25, 369–376. 10.1177/0956797613503853

[braincraft]

What's the one thing that can ruin your decision making abilities? Hi, I'm just over here trying to manage my sunk cost bias! I also take the elevator all of the time when it would just be quicker to take the stairs. But I've waited for the elevator, you know? Anyway, are there any decisions you struggle with? 👇 (hope these tips help!)

[WineZ]

Sunk Cost Bias. I'll definitely remember this.

I've been a game programmer for 4 years. But because the job is not that stable in my country, I decided to quit and start from scratch as a Full Stack Web Dev. It turns out the job pays more, it's more stable, and I could learn new things everyday.

Next step, I'll implement this in relationship. Will stop chasing after years of unsuccessful attempt.

[mattsven]

Really impressed by the quality of these latest crop of videos. Animation, illustration, branding... well done!

[YoLoScience]

Your style of explaining and your voice. I just loved it. ♥️

[jerry]

Sunk cost doesn’t just affect us. Whole governments fall for it.

[EleanorDrapeaux]

One thing's for sure, without sunk cost bias I'd be single

[Master_Therion]

The total cost to build Titanic was about 1.5 million pounds, or 7.5 million US Dollars in 1912. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $180 million today.
Now _that's_ what I call a sunk cost bias.

[Teefs]

I’m at the brink of a big lifestyle change and this is priceless information. This kind of thoughtful perspective shift on ourselves allows one to get excited by science and about our own well-being via really accessible educational videos! I feel so much smarter and more aware/in tune with myself and better grip on myself.

[alexwixom]

The relief is the reward of sunk cost bias. Often we only see the obstacles in our way, ordeals to deal with, rather than look for new solutions.

[QwertyUiop-bszr]

Thank you!!! I needed this, I will leave my kids now :D

[perspektiw]

You could also consider sticking to the Uber just because you wouldn't want the driver to have been stuck in traffic all this time all for nothing.

Imagine waiting in the traffic for a lot of time just to find your customer cancel the request when you're halfway through.

I'm not much of an empathic one myself, but this would suck to be in the place of the uber driver if you just choose to take the train twenty minutes after calling him.

[dmrc]

I know this affects me greatly, thanks for all the great videos to work on ourselves.

This channel is like a life lifehack 🙃

[superfishman]

I like your videos. I watched that video on why people don't keep New year's Resolutions, and it helped me too keep up with mine. My resolution was to wake up at 5:30a.m. as much as I can. I am still doing it even after failing, early on, for a couple weeks. I started doing it in December that way by January, I had already done it for a while. It is way more important to get back into it then it is to mess up a day.

[apophisxo]

I absolutely love Vanessa!!! Another great video! Thank you!!
I was speaking to this one guy about the merits of Cryptocurrrencies like Bitcoin. I was wondering how the fear of missing out influences how people judge an investment versus a speculation. It's pretty interesting, and the fear of missing out seems to influence us in other areas of life as well. Whether it's health fads, real estate, or just interest in a booth giving out free pretzels. This fear seems to push people to take interest and then to act in ways they would normally not care to. The sunk cost fallacy plays into Bitcoin as well as those that have held onto the coins from $20, 000 to $8, 000 feel an almost irrational devotion.

[alexwixom]

Also, tiny houses are cool! I don't understand folks who want mansions, who are all those extra rooms for? Just wasted space.

[countoonce]

I think that part of sunk cost bias is a social behavior- giving up on a plan signals to everyone who sees it that you made a bad plan, while people might not notice it's bad if you stick with it. Thus, it's kind of like trading a worse outcome for saving some reputation. Have you ever started walking but then realized you actually need to be going in the opposite direction and you just feel like an idiot if you turn around and go the other way? It's the same effect, you don't want to seem like an idiot when you are thinking about changing plans. I think knowing what's behind sunk cost bias can help you get a hold of it better, because if you don't address that part of it then your intuitive mind will still think on some level that it's justified because you are dismissing it without taking into consideration some of the important reasons why it's there. Just my two cents.

[BikeHelmetMk]

What the heck? Are you me? After stressful days, I sit down with a warm bowl of soup in front of my monitor and watch Living Big in a Tiny House, letting the positivity and simplicity wash over me. Always leaves me feeling better.

[mschrisfrank]

Sunk cost is one of the biases I try to be conscious of. I see my family members falling into it all the time.

[veetee]

I think we make it hard to choose when we amplify how important the decision means to us.. like for food, we don't think or try not to stress about it.. imagine if we used that same concept for anything else.

[joaofidalgo]

Great video :)
Interesting how this applies to so many things, i actually learned this in economy class. It has big consequences in political/economical decisions made around the word