Sadness makes people more shortsighted when it comes to money, a paper reports.
Researchers showed subjects short films known to instill sadness, disgust or neutral feelings. Then the participants were asked to choose between getting money right away or getting a larger sum months later. (click below to read more)
People typically discount future rewards heavily. But in this case, those who were shown the sad film discounted the future much more than others. One example: People shown the "neutral" film required $56 to forgo $85 three months later, but people shown the sad movie required only $37.
The findings are consistent with prior research showing that positive feelings increase patience, the authors said, and imply that grief or similar feelings could impair financial decision-making.
"The Financial Costs of Sadness," Jennifer Lerner, Ye Li, Elke Weber, Psychological Science (November)
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