Lively Women

Sad Shopping Means Increased Spending

by Kristen King on February 13th, 2008

A study released earlier this month indicates that people who make purchases while feeling down in the dumps spend considerably more money than their emotionally neutral or happy counterparts.

"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. (source)

Have you ever looked back on a shopping experience, or maybe a series of them, and realized that you spent more than you intended because you were feeling blue? Leave a comment.

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Tags: womens health, woman, health, sadness, shopping, spending, mood

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