Post-purchase rationalization

Post-purchase rationalization is a cognitive bias whereby someone who purchases an expensive product or service overlooks any faults or defects in order to justify their purchase. It is a special case of choice-supportive bias.

Expensive purchases often involve a lot of careful research and deliberation, and many consumers will often refuse to admit that their decision was made in poor judgement. Many purchasing decisions are made emotionally, based on factors such as brand-loyalty and advertising, and so are often rationalized retrospectively in an attempt to justify the choice.

For example, a consumer cannot decide between two popular video game consoles, A and B, but in the end decides to purchase product A on the basis that many of their peers also own this console. After purchasing it, they find out that product A has a minimal amount of games and product B has more titles that the consumer would like to play. However, they do not wish to feel they made the wrong decision, and so will attempt to convince themselves, and their peers, that product A is better than product B, and the consumer's opinion is better than everyone's opinion.

This rationalization is based on the principle of commitment and the psychological desire to stay consistent to that commitment. Some authorities would also consider this rationalization a manifestation of cognitive dissonance.

See also

• Buyer's remorse
• Fanboy
• Sunk cost
• Choice-supportive bias
• Escalation of commitment
• List of cognitive biases
• Nintendo 3DS