"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."
It doesn't seem the researchers actually tested whether buyers are weighing delayed gratification. All they demonstrated was that buyers consider whether the price for the item is fair; I'm sure that is what everyone does before they decide to purchase now, or something that will be purchased later. Also, is saying "here's 20 bucks for free, go and spend it in our elaborate experiement" really replicating the scenerio in which people make purchasing decisions? Don't we normally have to earn our money?
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"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." It doesn't seem the researchers actually tested whether buyers are weighing delayed gratification. All they demonstrated was that buyers consider whether the price for the item is fair; I'm sure that is what everyone does before they decide to purchase now, or something that will be purchased later. Also, is saying "here's 20 bucks for free, go and spend it in our elaborate experiement" really replicating the scenerio in which people make purchasing decisions? Don't we normally have to earn our money?