Debiasing the Mind Through Meditation

TLDR

The study examined whether mindfulness meditation can debias the sunk‑cost bias. The authors used a correlational study and three laboratory experiments, including a mindfulness‑meditation induction, to test how mindfulness increases resistance to the sunk‑cost bias and to identify temporal focus and negative affect as mediators. Results show that mindfulness meditation reduces the sunk‑cost bias by shifting temporal focus and lowering negative affect, thereby decreasing the influence of unrecoverable prior costs on decisions.

Abstract

In the research reported here, we investigated the debiasing effect of mindfulness meditation on the sunk-cost bias. We conducted four studies (one correlational and three experimental); the results suggest that increased mindfulness reduces the tendency to allow unrecoverable prior costs to influence current decisions. Study 1 served as an initial correlational demonstration of the positive relationship between trait mindfulness and resistance to the sunk-cost bias. Studies 2a and 2b were laboratory experiments examining the effect of a mindfulness-meditation induction on increased resistance to the sunk-cost bias. In Study 3, we examined the mediating mechanisms of temporal focus and negative affect, and we found that the sunk-cost bias was attenuated by drawing one’s temporal focus away from the future and past and by reducing state negative affect, both of which were accomplished through mindfulness meditation.