Depressed? Don't Go to the Mall!

Feeling sad or depressed?  Cross off shopping from your list. Researchers have just proven that sad people are big spenders:

In a recent experiment one group of people was shown a sad video clip about the death of a boy's mentor, while another group viewed a non-emotional clip about the Great Barrier Reef.

Researchers then produced an insulated water bottle and asked how much of the $10 the participants were getting paid they'd be willing to give up in exchange for the bottle.

People who had seen the Great Barrier Reef video agreed to pay on average about 50 cents. People in the group that had been primed to feel sad offered up four times that price, more than $2 on average — but were unaware that the video had any impact on their spending.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.


Comments (5)

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Newest 5 Comments

Isn't this what our entire consumer-based economy is founded on? Trying to make people as unhappy as possible, and getting them to think buying crap they don't need (or to "ask their doctor" for a little happy pill)?
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When I lived out in the country (we had 10 acres, most neighbors had 10 to 20 acres) there were all sorts of wildlife running around. Deer, coyote, red foxes, kestrels, eagles, red tail hawks, moles, voles and, yes, groundhogs! There was one groundhog that we named "the sentry" because it liked to sit on top of a wooden fence post and would stay there for hours just watching the cars and the world go by. One day my hubby and I went for a walk down the road which was unusual because we didn't do that often. A few hundred feet away from our home by the side of the road we heard a high sharp whistling noise. Upon investigation I found a baby groundhog dangling upside down with it's ankle caught in the crook of a small bush. Mama groundhog was frantic, running up to her baby and then scooting away when I approached. I bent the limb of the bush down and the baby landed on some scrub, unharmed, thank goodness! Mama ran to her baby and they scurried off to safety. I have sometimes wondered what might have happened had we not gone for a walk that very day.
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