The Role Of Instruction And Pre-accountability In Sunk Cost Effect

Sunk Cost Effect is an universally irrational decision behavior or maladaptive economic behavior in our common work and life. It indicates that, if you invest money, energy and time in an project, you will have an inclination to invest more,although it is unworthy and uneconomical(Arkes & Blumer, 1985). Now, it still has an convention on how the instruction alleviating Sunk Cost Effect. Author probed into the influence of instruction, scenario, pre-decisional accountability on Sunk Cost Effect on the foundation of former researches. This paper contains two researches, the fist research focus on that if Sunk Cost Effect varies as the absence of instruction or not and different scenarios, the second research focus on that if pre-decisional accountability can reduce the incidence of Sunk Cost Effect in everyday problem.Finally, according to the results derived from the two researches, we induced follow conclusions.1. Instruction and scenarios have an interaction effect on Sunk Cost Effect.Only in specific scenario, instruction can induce lower incidence of Sunk Cost Effect.2. The results prop up these mechanism: Avoiding of waste, goal-substitution effect, optimism, social norm, study orientation, prospect theory, query theory, mental account theory, regret averse and passive value.3. In everyday problem, pre-accountability can reduce the incidence of Sunk Cost Effect in economic students.4. In everyday problem, pre-accountability makes all the subjects catch more reasons accounting to their deeper thought, but, only economic students became more rational.