MIXORA CONCEPT
Loss aversion
A pattern in which losses relative to a reference point can influence choices more strongly than comparable gains.
People often evaluate changes as gains or losses from a current state rather than only by final outcomes. The size and consistency of the asymmetry depend on the task, stakes and reference point.
What “Moderate evidence” means
The pattern has meaningful research support, but its size or reliability depends more strongly on context, population, measurement or competing explanations.
VISUAL EXPLANATION · MARKER BOARDLosing a favorite paint from a set may feel more important than adding an equally useful new one feels beneficial.
Loss aversion is a descriptive tendency, not a rule that every person always values every loss exactly twice as much as a gain.
Which reference point makes this outcome feel like a loss?
A change in judgment caused by how equivalent or closely related information is presented.
→thoughtAnchoringInsufficient adjustment of a judgment away from an initial value or reference point.
→thoughtSunk-cost fallacyContinuing a choice because of resources already spent even when those resources cannot be recovered and no longer improve the future options.
→thoughtProbabilityA formal way to represent uncertainty or long-run regularity, depending on the interpretation used.
→SOURCES & TRUST
References
Last reviewed
- 01Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under RiskAcademic source
Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky · 1979 · Econometrica
Foundational descriptive model of choices framed as gains and losses relative to a reference point.
What the source labels mean
- Primary source
- Original work, experiment, standard or historical text.
- Academic source
- Scholarly research or review published for an academic audience.
- Reference source
- An expert standard, encyclopedia or institutional explanation that summarizes a field.
- General reference
- A practical specialist resource useful for application, but not treated as decisive research by itself.