A Shopping-Scanner Darkly

An anonymous reader writes "Using functional MRI scans, researchers have found which parts of the brain are active when people consider buying something and can predict whether or not they'll ultimately bite. One of the main findings was that rather than weighing a choice between the pleasure of making a purchase and the delayed gratification of using the dough for something else, the brain is actually weighing between the pleasure of buying and the pain of forking over the cash."

Comments

In other words....

[StressGuy]

From the Article:

"One of the main findings was that rather than weighing a choice between the pleasure of making a purchase and the delayed gratification of using the dough for something else, the brain is actually weighing between the pleasure of buying and the pain of forking over the cash."

So, in short, they are considering if the item is worth the asking price? That actually sounds a lot like a rational thought process to me.

Re:In other words....

[WhyDoYouWantToKnow]

I seem to remember several months/years ago someone linked this to humanity's ancient roots as hunter-gatherers - when we were out scrounging up food, we had to think quickly and decisively and make immediate choices based only on what data were directly in front of us. Today, shopping presents enough of the right stimuli to re-activate this portion of the brain that circumnavigates costly (processing-time-wise) long-term thinking and instead makes quick, short-sighted decisions. Hence impulse buying from otherwise rational people. Does anyone remember this article? Or am I just making it up?

Are you telling me that my desire to walk into the local electronics superstore and purchase one of those flat, wide-screen TV's with the really cool mirrors is actually based on an evolutionary, instinctual if you will, response passed along through the genetic roots received from my ancestors developed during their hunter-gatherer days and not based on the commercials that have been airing with the kid out in the middle of the field with the rainbow coming out of her hand?

Well...duh.

[O'Laochdha]

I mean, when you're considering whether to buy something out of the ordinary, do you think "but I could spend this money on something else!" No, you think "but I'll have less/no pocket money left..." Maybe then the other things come to mind, but the first thought is that you'll have a smaller surplus. On some level, the first may be why you want more money, but it isn't the first thing you think of. This isn't some hidden mechanism of our brains; it's pretty intuitive.

That explains desire for free items

[192939495969798999]

If the brain doesn't have to worry about forking over cash, that explains why free items are so ridiculously popular... even something that people would sign away their privacy or credit to get, like free t-shirt for credit card apps that you see all over any college campus.

Re:That explains desire for free items

[Anonymous Coward]

I knew I'd get turned down, but I got a free shirt for 2 minutes of my time filling out the form.

These days you most likely WON'T get turned down. The mindset seems to have switched from "Who's trustworthy enough to have our card" to "Who can we change into an indentured servant today?"

Who funded this research?

[Da Rabid Duckie]

Could it be Best Buy?

I can see it now: the information they learn from this study ends up in their sales manuals on how to upsell customers and make them purchase more than what the needed/wanted.

Joking, of course... but it could still happen.

Re:Who funded this research?

[calderra]

upsell customers and make them purchase more than what the needed/wanted. That's not a joke. Ever wonder why Best Buy employees are always so keen to sell you CD-Rs, or cables, or gift cards, or magazine subscriptions, or to get you to go online and fill out a survey, (ect)? Also, the razor model of profit for new electronic devices rests solely on this principle- sell a device at a loss or near cost, and make it back on all the extras you can sell to consumers. Modern business IS talking people into buying what they don't need/want.

See also: Telemarketing, SPAM, Publisher's Clearing House (although that's also technically a lottery)...

Re:This part of my girlfriends brain

[metlin]

Maybe you should hand her hard cash instead of a piece of plastic. ;)

Re:always pay cash!

[WhyDoYouWantToKnow]

Isn't that one of the precepts of science? To give explanations for long-known behaviors.

Economist Over-Think

[adavies42]

One of the main findings was that rather than weighing a choice between the pleasure of making a purchase and the delayed gratification of using the dough for something else, the brain is actually weighing between the pleasure of buying and the pain of forking over the cash.

Well, duh. Only economists actually think about opportunity cost. Everyone else considers spending vs. not spending. (Not to say they're wrong, since they're not, it's just that they have a tendency to over-estimate the depth of thought people put into economic decisions.)

Re: "I sometimes wonder if god's just a mean kid."

[Sponge Bath]

... God's equivalent of an 8th grade project and he got a D-?

Who is qualified to rate God's work?