Thinking, Fast and Slow · chapter 26 · id thinking-fast-and-slow-c26-02-losses-are-felt-approximately-

“Losses are felt approximately twice as strongly as equivalent gains (loss aversion coefficient ~2.0-2.5).”

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Receipts

Tversky & Kahneman (1992), Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 5(4)DOI registry: valid

Estimated loss aversion parameter lambda at approximately 2.25 in Cumulative Prospect Theory.

Yechiam (2019), Psychological Research 83(7)DOI registry: valid

Evidence for loss aversion in the sense of asymmetric sensitivity is more mixed than commonly assumed. Losses consistently increase arousal and attention, but asymmetric valuation is context-dependent. Distinguished loss aversion from loss attention.

Gal & Rucker (2018), Journal of Consumer Psychology 28(3)DOI registry: valid

Many findings attributed to loss aversion can be explained by status quo bias and inertia. Loss aversion fails to appear in multiple contexts: goods held for exchange, certain risky choice paradigms. The 2x coefficient is not universal.

This claim is a stable, citable object. If you can falsify a verdict, tell us — corrections are loud here.