Struggling to Let Go: The Role of Prior Investment in Goal Disengagement

Abstract

Prior research on goal disengagement has established that being able to let go of unattainable goals is positively related to well-being. While the benefits of goal disengagement have been well-established, relatively little is known about what influences the likelihood of disengagement from personal goals. I propose that prior investment directly reduces the likelihood of disengagement and can reduce responsiveness to signals that disengagement is adaptive. I report five studies (total N = 1217) that examined whether prior investment (previously invested resources) negatively relates to goal disengagement. Study 1 demonstrates that prior investment is negatively associated with disengagement from personal goals. Study 2 replicates Study 1 and also demonstrates that prior investment reduces the effect of unattainability on disengagement, suggesting that prior investment is associated with reduced responsiveness to unattainability. Studies 3 and 4 replicate Studies 1 and 2 in experimental contexts. In Study 3, participants were less responsive (i.e., disengaged less) from an unattainable lab task when perceived prior investment was manipulated to be higher (vs. lower). In Study 4, participants were less responsive to lower perceptions of goal attainability when perceived prior investment was manipulated to be higher (vs. lower) on a personal goal. Finally, Study 5 generally replicated these patterns in a longitudinal design: prior investment predicted greater goal commitment one month later and reduced the effect of attainability on goal commitment and goal disengagement one month later. I position these studies within a broader framework of “hooks” that can reduce the likelihood of goal disengagement. Implications for understanding goal disengagement discernment and the sunk costs fallacy are discussed.