London - If you’ve been having a bad day, it might be a good idea to lock away that credit card.
For we are more likely to make expensive purchases when we feel down - and then pay on plastic to avoid the guilt linked with splurging out cash, research shows.
The finding may help explain why at a time of economic doom and gloom, high streets seem to attract big-spending shoppers.
To test the theory, volunteers were asked to do a computer test.
Regardless of the results, half were told they were not intelligent because their score was low.
The other half were told they had performed well in the trial at the London Business School and Cornell University in New York.
When both groups were asked how they might pay for something they wanted, people who had their egos dented were more likely to consider credit. The psychological pain caused by spending large amounts of cash outweighed the shopping trip’s boost to self-esteem, researchers concluded.
In a follow-up study, they found that luxury items were particularly good at boosting bruised egos.
Volunteers wanting to buy designer jeans were prepared to pay 30 percent more if they “performed badly”, reported the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. They were 60 percent more likely to use credit cards.
However, those buying cheaper everyday jeans did not increase how much they would pay if their self-esteem was threatened. And this did not change their willingness to use credit over cash.
The studies also show how lax lending policies - for example, high interest mortgages for poor consumers - can have disastrous results. - Daily Mail