CBC News ran an article on a new study which posits that using a credit card for purchases feels less like real money, so
people who use them are more impulsive.
So cash is apparently healthy?
Well if not healthy at least less impulsive when presented with all those yummy things on display at the grocery or the candy bars at check out! The study analyzed shopping patterns of 1000 people and discovered two things:
1. “There is the correlation between unhealthiness and impulsiveness of food items: unhealthy food items tend to elicit impulsive responses.”
2. “Cash payments are psychologically more painful than card payments, and this pain of payment can curb the impulsive responses to buy unhealthy food.”
The study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, notes that the purchase of unhealthy food products is influenced by many factors such as faulty beliefs and lack of knowledge.
But researchers suggest impulsivity may be the single most influential factor in an individual’s decision to buy unhealthy foods.
So maybe using check cashing establishments to cash your paychek isn’t so bad after all. Read more about this study at http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/10/20/con-cash-purchase.html#ixzz12zbsIJ5B
