The Sunk-cost Effect as an Optimal Rate-maximizing Behavior

Pavlic, Theodore P.; Passino, K.M.

doi:10.1007/s10441-010-9107-8

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Traveling to new patches and the effort associated with capturing new prey (e.g., trial and error) are costly and may not yield an immediate energetic gain, however, greater familiarity with various food patches and improvement in efficiency of capturing prey may yield a net energy profit over an animal’s lifetime or that of its offspring [27,76,77]. A possible example of this would be the pursuit and capture of flightless waterfowl on land by polar bears.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dietary composition and spatial patterns of polar bear foraging on land in western Hudson Bay

Gormezano

Rockwell

2013

BMC Ecol

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BackgroundFlexible foraging strategies, such as prey switching, omnivory and food mixing, are key to surviving in a labile and changing environment. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in western Hudson Bay are versatile predators that use all of these strategies as they seasonally exploit resources across trophic levels. Climate warming is reducing availability of their ice habitat, especially in spring when polar bears gain most of their annual fat reserves by consuming seal pups before coming ashore in summer. How polar bears combine these flexible foraging strategies to obtain and utilize terrestrial food will become increasingly important in compensating for energy deficits from lost seal hunting opportunities. We evaluated patterns in the composition of foods in scat to characterize the foraging behaviors that underpin the diet mixing and omnivory observed in polar bears on land in western Hudson Bay. Specifically, we measured diet richness, proportions of plant and animal foods, patterns in co-occurrence of foods, spatial composition and an index of temporal composition.ResultsScats contained between 1 and 6 foods, with an average of 2.11 (SE = 0.04). Most scats (84.9%) contained at least one type of plant, but animals (35.4% of scats) and both plants and animals occurring together (34.4% of scats) were also common. Certain foods, such as Lyme grass seed heads (Leymus arenarius), berries and marine algae, were consumed in relatively higher proportions, sometimes to the exclusion of others, both where and when they occurred most abundantly. The predominance of localized vegetation in scats suggests little movement among habitat types between feeding sessions. Unlike the case for plants, no spatial patterns were found for animal remains, likely due the animals’ more vagile and ubiquitous distribution.ConclusionsOur results suggest that polar bears are foraging opportunistically in a manner consistent with maximizing intake while minimizing energy expenditure associated with movement. The frequent mixing of plant-based carbohydrate and animal-based protein could suggest use of a strategy that other Ursids employ to maximize weight gain. Further, consuming high rates of certain vegetation and land-based animals that may yield immediate energetic gains could, instead, provide other benefits such as fulfilling vitamin/mineral requirements, diluting toxins and assessing new foods for potential switching.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They would permit the bears to maximize calorie intake while minimizing energy expenditures associated with movement [12]. Non-energetic benefits, such as fulfilling vitamin/mineral requirements, diluting toxins, assessing new resources and learning processes, may also motivate seemingly unprofitable foraging behaviors [5,67,76,77]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary composition and spatial patterns of polar bear foraging on land in western Hudson Bay

Gormezano

Rockwell

2013

BMC Ecol

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“…Most chases of terrestrial prey we observed involved a short burst of running of less than a minute although some lasted longer (e.g., Iles et al, 2013). Polar bears engaging in longer chases could be in the process of learning (Pavlic and Passino, 2011;Iles et al, 2013) or deliberately attempting to tire and separate out vulnerable prey, a technique commonly used by grizzly bears (e.g., Gunther and Renkin, 1990). This is likely an energetically more costly tactic than ambushing or stalking but may be profitable, particularly for smaller bears (Gormezano et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Polar Bear Foraging Behavior During the Ice-Free Period in Western Hudson Bay: Observations, Origins, and Potential Significance

Gormezano

Ellis‐Felege

Iles

et al. 2017

American Museum Novitates

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During much of the year, polar bears in western Hudson Bay use energy-conserving hunting tactics, such as still-hunting and stalking, to capture seals from sea-ice platforms. Such hunting allows these bears to accumulate a majority of the annual fat reserves that sustain them on land through the ice-free season. As climate change has led to earlier spring sea-ice breakup in western Hudson Bay, polar bears have less time to hunt seals, especially seal pups in their spring birthing lairs. Concerns have been raised as to whether this will lead to a shortfall in the bears' annual energy budget. Research based on scat analyses indicates that over the past 40 years at least some of these polar bears eat a variety of food during the ice-free season and are opportunistically taking advantage of a changing and increasing terrestrial prey base. Whether this food will offset anticipated shortfalls and whether land-based foraging will spread throughout the population is not yet known, and full resolution of the issues requires detailed physiological and genetic research. For insight on these issues, we present detailed observations on polar bears hunting without an ice platform. We compare the hunting tactics to those of polar bears using an ice platform and to those of the closely related grizzly bear. We examine how the techniques are related and explore how they may have evolved. We also discuss how they may contribute to polar bear adaptability in the face of climate change projections.

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“…Braverman and Blumenthal-Barby (2012) defined the sunk cost effect as the tendency to follow a course of action, even after it has proved to be ineffective because the resources have already been invested. Such perspective may be a justification for people who choose to pursue an investment with a conscience who will not achieve the expected results just because they have already invested some resource and do not reflect on a more effective, more viable and less harmful alternative to correct the situation (Pavlic & Passino, 2010).…”

Section: Sunk Costs Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sunk cost effect in the decision-making process: an analysis with accounting and business administration students

et al. 2019

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Purpose: The objective of this paper was to analyze the influence of the sunk cost effect in the decision-making process of Accounting and Business Administration undergraduate students of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Methodology: The sample comprised 655 students, of which 347 were from the Accounting program and 308 from a Business Administration program. Data were collected through the application of structured questionnaires, based on the studies of Arkes and Blumer (1985), Rover, Wuerges, Tomazzia and Borba (2009) and Silva and Domingos (2010). After tabulation, the data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, as well as a Mann-Whitney U test to verify if there are differences between the answers of the Accounting and Business Administration students. Results: The main results suggest that the amount of sunk cost can influence the occurrence of the sunk cost effect, and this evidence is perceived through the mean values, considering that the reduction of the amount of sunk cost is inversely proportional to the average disposition of the respondents in continue investing in the course of action. In addition, to identify that the investigated students take the sunk costs into consideration in the decision-making process, it is verified that there is no statistically significant difference between the medians of the respondents with regard to the questions that allow identifying the susceptibility to the sunk cost effect in the context of business decision-making. Contributions of the Study: The study contributes to signal that the future professionals of Administration and Accounting are susceptible to the sunk cost effect, which can imply in a report of biased accounting information by future accountants, as well as biased decisions by future administrators. Furthermore, these results contrast previous evidence that suggests that agents from different areas of knowledge react differently to the presence of sunk costs.

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The Sunk-cost Effect as an Optimal Rate-maximizing Behavior

Cited by 5 publications

References 20 publications

Dietary composition and spatial patterns of polar bear foraging on land in western Hudson Bay

Dietary composition and spatial patterns of polar bear foraging on land in western Hudson Bay

Polar Bear Foraging Behavior During the Ice-Free Period in Western Hudson Bay: Observations, Origins, and Potential Significance

Sunk cost effect in the decision-making process: an analysis with accounting and business administration students

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