IAQ LEXICON
This Is Not A Dictionary.
The IAQ Lexicon is a living map of ideas discovered inside questions.
Every IAQ article can introduce a new concept, reveal a hidden mechanism, or give a name to a pattern that did not have one before. When an idea becomes strong enough, it may enter the Lexicon.
But not every candidate appears here. There are far more Lexicon candidates living inside IAQ articles than the concepts currently published on this page. The Lexicon grows selectively, as ideas connect, deepen, and begin to form families of their own.
What Do The Levels Mean?
A higher level does not mean “better.” It means deeper in the conceptual chain.
The article feeds the Lexicon.
The Lexicon connects the articles.
Sometimes one question creates a word that helps us ask the next question differently.
Not all words are written. Some are discovered.
IAQ Lexicon
Escalation of Commitment
New resources are recruited to defend an old decision from becoming a verdict.
The investment of additional money, time, or effort in a failing decision because withdrawal would confirm that the earlier commitment was mistaken. Escalation of Commitment turns evidence of failure into a reason for further investment, enlarging the very loss that continued spending is meant to rescue.
Examples
- repeatedly repairing an unreliable product to justify buying it
- purchasing accessories to activate an unused hobby
- adding budget to a failing system approved by the same manager
- buying more of a declining investment to validate the first purchase
- extending a disappointing course because the real value is said to come later
Related Concepts
First Appeared In
Why Do People Pay More to Avoid Admitting a Previous Purchase Was a Mistake?
Origin
Selected from the IAQ Everyday Economics and Incentives series as a child of Sunk Cost Effect that specifically captures active reinvestment made to protect a previous decision.