The Loss of Loss Aversion: Will It Loom Larger Than Its Gain?

@article{Gal2017TheLO,
  title={The Loss of Loss Aversion: Will It Loom Larger Than Its Gain?},
  author={David Gal and Derek D. Rucker},
  journal={Microeconomics: Intertemporal Consumer Choice \& Savings eJournal},
  year={2017}
}
  • David Gal, D. Rucker
  • Published 30 September 2017
  • Psychology
  • Microeconomics: Intertemporal Consumer Choice & Savings eJournal
Loss aversion, the principle that losses loom larger than gains, is among the most widely accepted ideas in the social sciences. The first part of this article introduces and discusses the construct of loss aversion. The second part of this article reviews evidence in support of loss aversion. The upshot of this review is that current evidence does not support that losses, on balance, tend to be any more impactful than gains. The third part of this article aims to address the question of why… 
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Early studies of the utility function of gains and losses are examined, and the original evidence for loss aversion reported by Kahneman and Tversky is examined, suggesting that loss aversion proponents have over-interpreted these findings.
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Three theories of how people make decisions under risk and, as a consequence, value potential losses are reviewed: expected-utility theory, prospect theory, and risk-sensitivity theory.
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TLDR
It is shown that the pattern of results reported in Walasek and Stewart (2015) should not be taken as evidence that loss aversion can disappear and reverse, or that decision by sampling is the origin of loss aversion, and that the experimental paradigm violates measurement invariance, and is invalid.
Moderating Loss Aversion: Loss Aversion Has Moderators, But Reports of its Death are Greatly Exaggerated
Loss aversion, the principle that losses impact decision making more than equivalent gains, is a fundamental idea in consumer behavior and decision making, though its existence has recently been…
The Loss of Loss Aversion: Paying Attention to Reference Points
We agree with Gal and Rucker (2018, in press) that loss aversion is not as firmly established as typically assumed. We affirm, however, the more general principle put forward within Prospect Theory…
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TLDR
Loss aversion was reduced in the second session of decisions when the stakes had been higher in the previous session, and suggests a role for idiosyncratic experiences in the development of individual differences in loss sensitivity.
Bringing (Contingent) Loss Aversion Down to Earth — A Comment on Gal & Rucker's Rejection of “Losses Loom Larger Than Gains”
Although we disagree with some of Gal and Rucker’s (2018 – this issue) specific evidence and with their overstated conclusion regarding loss aversion, their overarching message makes a worthwhile…
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TLDR
The value function was based on the loss aversion principle, which meant that the psychological value (or intensity) of losing (−500$) was much more than the value of gaining (+500$).
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Are We Attracted by Losses? Boundary Conditions for the Approach and Avoidance Effects of Losses
TLDR
The findings suggest that both the approach and avoidance effects of losses exist and can be accounted for by increased investment of cognitive resources with losses (i.e., loss attention), and clarify the loss attention account in indicating that losses increase exploitative behavior based on experienced outcomes.
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References

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In defining limits to loss aversion, Novemsky and Kahneman (2005) offer important new data and a needed summary of appropriate ways to think about loss aversion. In this comment to Novemsky and…
How to Make Loss Aversion Disappear and Reverse: Tests of the Decision by Sampling Origin of Loss Aversion
TLDR
This work offers a new psychological explanation of the origins of loss aversion in which loss aversion emerges from differences in the distribution of gains and losses people experience, and is able to find loss aversion, loss neutrality, and even the reverse of losses.
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The principle of loss aversion is thought to explain a wide range of anomalous phenomena involving tradeoffs between losses and gains. In this article, I show that the anomalies loss aversion was…
Is loss-aversion magnitude-dependent? Measuring prospective affective judgments regarding gains and losses
Prospect Theory proposed that the (dis)utility of losses is always more than gains due to a phenomena called ‘loss-aversion’, a result obtained in multiple later studies over the years. However,…
On the Descriptive Value of Loss Aversion in Decisions under Risk: Six Clarifications
Previous studies of loss aversion in decisions under risk have led to mixed results. Losses appear to loom larger than gains in some settings, but not in others. The current paper clarifies these…
Predicting the intensity of losses vs. non-gains and non-losses vs. gains in judging fairness and value: A test of the loss aversion explanation
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TLDR
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TLDR
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In this article, the authors propose some psychological principles to describe the boundaries of loss aversion. A key idea is that exchange goods that are given up “as intended” do not exhibit loss…
Three Cheers—Psychological, Theoretical, Empirical—for Loss Aversion
This note emphasizes the special role of prospect theory in drawing psychophysical considerations into theories of decision making with respect to risk. An example of such a consideration is the…
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