September 2004

Scientists in a new field of study called behavioral economics have made some provocative findings about how consumers? feelings affect their buying and selling decisions. In a study published recently in the journal Psychological Science, the researchers found that emotions that have nothing to do with the transaction at hand can influence what price people are willing to pay to buy something and what price they are willing to accept when they sell. ?We?re showing for the first time that incidental emotions from one situation can affect economic transactions in unrelated situations,? says Jennifer Lerner of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.