mind over matter

                                                                            photo by technicolorcavalry

Before you pull out your credit card, consider whether you’re just drowning your sorrows in an extravagant purchase. A new study from four universities found that sadness, even temporary, leads people to open their wallets wide. Participants watched either a sad video clip or an emotionally neutral one, then were given the opportunity to trade some of their participation cash for a water bottle. On average, the newly saddened group offered to pay about four times as much for the water than the group that watched the neutral video.  

“This is a phenomenon that occurs without awareness,” Jennifer Lerner, a Harvard professor who studies emotion and decision making, said in a phone interview. “This is really different from the idea of retail therapy, where people are feeling negative and want to cheer themselves up by shopping. People have no idea this is going on.”

The researchers concluded sadness can trigger a chain of emotions leading to extravagant tendencies. Sadness leads people to become more focused on themselves, causing the person to feel that they and their possessions are worth little. That feeling increases willingness to pay more - presumably to feel better about themselves.

I’m not having the best weekend, and I did make buy a dress on impulse today. Now I come home, see this, and feel guilty about the random purchase. Thanks a lot, researchers. Next thing we know, Target will start screening The Green Mile near the entrance…