The tendency of decision makers to remain committed to poor decisions, even when doing so leads to increasingly negative outcomes, is referred to as escalation of commitment. This phenomenon occurs because once a decision is made, it can be difficult to rationally reevaluate and admit that it was poor. Decision makers may continue investing time, money, and effort into the failing course to avoid recognizing their mistake, influenced by factors such as personal pride or the irrational belief that more investment might recover losses. Escalation of commitment is closely related to the sunk cost fallacy and is sometimes described as "throwing good money after bad" by continuing to invest in a failed or failing cause.