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Using credit cards stimulates the brain’s reward system and the urge to spend more, according to a recent MIT study that looked at the neuroscience of buying things.
Credit card purchases tell us to “refuel” and lead to more “shopping cravings” in the future, said Drazen Prelec, study author and professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, in a press release.
Previous research has shown that people tend to spend more when paying with a credit card compared to cash. For this new study, the researchers used MRI machines to see what happens in the brain when people are asked to buy an item with money or a credit card.
Inside the MRI, participants were able to see a variety of items on a screen, from video games to beauty products, which they could add to their shopping cart. They had the option of paying for the products with $ 50 in cash or a credit card.
People were more willing to buy more expensive items with credit than with cash, and overall spent more when using a credit card, the study authors wrote.
When people bought things with a credit card, MRI scans showed that a region of the brain’s reward system called the striatum was activated. The striatum is responsible for the release of dopamine, and is involved in reward, reinforcement, pleasure, and even addiction.
“The reward networks in the brain that are activated by all kinds of rewards are activated by a credit card purchase,” said Prelec.
Credit card “cues”, such as logos or buy it now buttons, “essentially activate the search for rewarding products,” the study authors wrote.
The cash payment did not activate the rewards networks.
So what about credit cards?
For starters, the brain’s reward network “has been chronically sensitized by past experience with credit cards,” the study authors wrote. In other words, “putting that plastic credit card in your hand is associated with pleasant shopping,” Prelec said in the release.
Other studies have shown that paying with a credit card “can forget the costs,” the study authors wrote. Since you can defer credit card payments, it separates the purchase from the payment in your mind, and you don’t have to feel the tangible, immediate sting of spending money, like you do with money. cash.
It’s also important to know whether you’re paying with the credit card you use most of the time, versus the one you use for things like travel and dining. Prelec said neural activity changes depending on the card: “The card you use for restaurants and vacations creates a different spending appetite than the card you use to buy gasoline for your card,” did he declare.
As consumers embrace new payment systems, such as contactless payment, it’s important for people to understand how the neural reward mechanisms at play influence our spending habits, he said.
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