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August 10, 2026Political PsychologyOpen Access

Consistency, not waste aversion, explains apparent sunk‐cost effects in politics

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Authors

MMMarco MatteiJMJohn Michael

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Overview

Experiments explore how commitment influences voter evaluations of political leaders, suggesting a focus on consistency.

Key Points

  • The aim is to clarify whether sunk costs influence how voters assess political leaders or if current decisions prevail.
  • Three preregistered experiments with a total of 1462 participants using vignettes about a national rail project.
  • Manipulated sunk costs, leaders' decisions, campaign commitments, and reminders of prior voting behavior.
  • Used Bayesian ANOVA and structural equation modeling to analyze the effects.
  • Higher evaluations were observed when leaders continued a project compared to when they abandoned it.
  • No significant effects of sunk costs or campaign commitments on evaluations were found.
  • Perceived commitment positively influenced evaluations, while abandonment was viewed negatively.

Cite This Study

Mattei et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a797d479c20a9bbd318484dhttps://doi.org/10.1111/pops.70185
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