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How sadness equals profit

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calonso On January 16, 2014




Orlando, Florida
#1New Post! Feb 08, 2008 @ 23:32:49
FEAR = SADNESS = PROFIT(for them).
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPENDING.ENJOY YOUR $600 REFUND CHECKS


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- If you're sad and shopping, watch your wallet: A new study shows people's spending judgment goes out the window when they're down, especially if they're a bit self-absorbed.

Study: Sad shoppers deny that their mood makes them spend more.

Study participants who watched a sadness-inducing video clip offered to pay nearly four times as much money to buy a water bottle than a group that watched an emotionally neutral clip.

The so-called "misery is not miserly" phenomenon is well-known to psychologists, advertisers and personal shoppers alike, and has been documented in a similar study in 2004.

The new study released Friday by researchers from four universities goes further, trying to answer whether temporary sadness alone can trigger spendthrift tendencies.

The study found a willingness to spend freely by sad people occurs mainly when their sadness triggers greater "self-focus." That response was measured by counting how frequently study participants used references to "I," "me," "my" and "myself" in writing an essay about how a sad situation such as the one portrayed in the video would affect them personally.

The brief video was about the death of a boy's mentor. Another group watched an emotionally neutral clip about the Great Barrier Reef, the vast coral reef system off Australia's coast.

On average, the group watching the sad video offered to pay nearly four times as much for a sporty-looking, insulated water bottle than the group watching the nature video, according to the study by researchers from Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford and Pittsburgh universities.

Thirty-three study subjects -- young adults who responded to an advertisement offering $10 for participation -- were offered the chance to trade some of the $10 to buy the bottle. The sad group offered to trade an average of $2.11, compared with 56 cents for the neutral group.

Despite the big difference, participants in the sad group typically insisted that the video's emotional content didn't affect their willingness to spend more -- an incorrect assumption, said one of the study's co-authors.

"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.

"Because the study used real commodities and real money, results hold implications for everyday decisions," according to the authors of the study, to be published in the journal Psychological Science, and presented Saturday at a meeting of the Society for Social and Personality Psychology.

Edward Charlesworth, a Houston-based clinical psychologist who was not involved in the study, suggested the misery-is-not-miserly phenomenon is rooted in a culture that encourages people to buy to feel better.

"Certainly, the advertising industry knows that," Charlesworth, citing as an example a 1970s McDonald's fast-food jingle, "You deserve a break today."

Charlesworth frequently sees clients in his clinical practice who overspend to deal with difficulties.

"It's not necessarily that you go to the mall and go on a shopping spree," said Charlesworth, author of a book on stress management. "It's often more subtle -- you spend a bit more on something than you normally would. But if you magnify that over the course of a year, or a lifetime, those little things add up."

Personal shoppers, who make a business of prowling the aisles for others, say they frequently see clients stray from their budgets when they're feeling blue.

"At that point, cost isn't usually a factor," said Kalyn Johnson, of New York City-based Style by Kalyn Johnson. "They say, 'If I can have these wonderful shoes, I'll look better, and feel better.'

"But on the back end, I've seen buyer's remorse. This kicks in after they realize that new pair of shoes, or iPod, or whatever, didn't make them feel better, and then there's that sense of, 'Oh my God, why did I spend money on this?"'

The study released Friday was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health. Besides Lerner, the other study authors were Carnegie Mellon's Cynthia Cryder, Stanford's James Gross, and the University of Pittsburgh's Ronald Dahl.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
GeneticAnomaly On May 25, 2020
Marvellous, simply m





, United Kingdom
#2New Post! Feb 08, 2008 @ 23:42:39
So what does this mean....advertisers are now going to get us feeling s***ty so they can hike the prices!
calonso On January 16, 2014




Orlando, Florida
#3New Post! Feb 10, 2008 @ 18:28:59
Quote:
So what does this mean....advertisers are now going to get us feeling s***ty so they can hike the prices!


That wouldn't have any strategical advantage. They would just let the rest of the world make you feel s***ty and then appear glamorous and happy to lure you to their advertisement. Like for example, theirs a gum commercial where everyone is looking depressed on a subway train, then when a guy puts the gum in his mouth, every one starts dancing like their at a club. Now that just doesn't make any sense to me because I know that no gum is going to make me feel like that, but subconsiously I'm drawn to that happy idea.
donnaleemason On April 08, 2008




Beach, North Dakota
#4New Post! Feb 24, 2008 @ 19:32:53
I can see how that would happen, I think you are more inclined to want instant self gratification when you are unhappy.
But, as for making sad ads.
I don't know that that would work.
Donna
sazzie On August 22, 2010




Being naughty :P, United Kingd
#5New Post! Feb 24, 2008 @ 19:38:33
Shopping makes me feel good when I'm down so I don't give a monkeys what the advertisers do, still feels the same to me
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