Shopping doesn't make you happy, but cash does, a neuroeconomist tells The Wall Street Journal

Shopping doesn&#039;t make you happy, but free cash does

(Image credit: The Wall Street Journal/YouTube)

published 23 June 2015

The Wall Street Journal's Tanya Rivero invited Dr. Paul Zak, a neuroeconomist, on her Lunch Break program to explain why shopping makes people happy. It turns out that, according to his studies, it doesn't. Zak and his colleagues at the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies — "We measure brain activity while people make decisions involving money and other people," Zak explained — studied people shopping, with some shoppers receiving a surprise award at checkout, either $40 cash or a gift of handmade chocolate.

The people who got the cash experienced an immediate and lasting jolt of oxytocin, the love and connection hormone in the brain. But doesn't shopping produce feelings of happiness by itself, Rivero asked? "Surprisingly not, actually," Zak explained. "It was stressful when you shopped, you had a budget you had to meet, you're shopping under time pressure, and it wasn't really fun." What about the shoppers given candy? "Chocolate was OK, people kind of liked it," Zak said, "but money beats chocolate." For more on his findings, and his advice for people who indulge in "shopping therapy," watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.