The difference between what you could have paid and what the store is now asking sends the medial prefrontal into overdrive and you out the door, empty-handed. - NEWSWEEK
But there's another, more fundamental reason why we buy less when we pay with cash. When you hand over a stack of 20s, you have less of something tangible: your billfold is lighter. That causes a brain region that registers negative feelings (bad smells, unfairness, social ostracism) to become more active than when you charge a purchase. Humans have evolved to pay attention to the messages the insula sends, with the result that it hurts to pay cash. There is no such feeling of loss when you pay with plastic, so the insula doesn't react. Credit cards anesthetize the otherwise painful act of paying. |
clipped from www.newsweek.com
2 comments:
What a load of bull! Of course paying with plastic may not hurt immediately but as sure as nuts, it's gonna hurt like hell for the next couple of months. People find themselves in trouble because they have to gratify themselves instantly!
This is about the brain's response to shopping at the time of purchase. The point of issueing credit cards is to encourage consumption because the brain doesn't register anything. When you have cash and you hand it over, it registers.
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