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RE: My Theory About Relationships and the Sunk Cost Fallacy

Ah, I've never thought of how possessing, in and of itself, makes us value something more, but of course it does, you're right. I think we tend to think that we value something we possess just because of its functionality, but possessing by itself can also make us value something. Weird, but true.

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I was reading the other day about an experiment. You can find a summary here. There were some people who really wanted to get tickets to an important basketball game and there was something like a competition to get them, ending in them having to camp out for a week and be always available, and then enter a lottery too. They all tried hard but only some of them managed to get the tickets. The experimenters then asked those who had won the tickets how much they were willing to sell them for. They gave a really high price, with an adequate excuse (this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, I will have stories to tell my children, etc). They then asked the people who hadn't won how much they were willing to pay for them. Their proposed prices were way lower, and they also had excuses for that (I can use all that money to travel or do something more useful). It's impressive how much more we value something, just because we own it.