We’ve written before about the upside of down economies: people grow closer. Now comes word of yet another silver lining in …
Psychology of Money
License To Sin: When Good Behavior Leads To Bad Results
Most people are taught early to believe in what we might call “momentum morality”: the idea that good (or bad) actions lead to further good (or bad) habits. Economists and other philosophical types call these feedback loops …
The Secret to Memorable Vacations: Keep ’Em Short and End ’Em Sweet
In an earlier post we described research showing that people get more long-lasting satisfaction from money spent on experiences than money spent on material goods. If you read that post and took it to heart — humor us — an …
Why (Bill) Size Really Does Matter
In some Big Apple circles there’s a concept referred to as “The New York City Street Tax.” This isn’t anything official. Rather, the idea is that the simple act of walking through the city—walking through any bustling city, …
5 Tricks To Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick
A new year, a new batch of resolutions! Alas, these promises to ourselves rarely produce long-lasting results. (Depending on the source, nearly nine in 10 resolutions don’t take.) Worse, failed resolutions could be harmful if …
Why the Smell of Cinnamon Makes You Spend Money
Every December, you vow it’s not going to happen and yet, without fail, you return home from your Christmas shopping with far more than you intended. Do you ever wonder why? The answer might surprise you, because you’ve …
Why You Should Shop For Cars When You’re Grumpy
Nearly all accounts about why people have the tastes and preferences that they do center around the idea that the human brain has been “wired” to have those tastes and preferences because of advantages they provided to our …
Married Couples Know Less About Their Debt Than Single People
A new study published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York took a sweeping, multi-year look at data about the debt Americans carry and how much we know about those debts. One strange finding: Single people are much better at …
One More Reason It Pays To Switch Banks
Recent media focus concerning the price of brand loyalty—sparked in part by Bank of America’s decision to start charging fees for debit card users—recalls some interesting research from a few years back that suggests there’s …
Is Your Partner Cheating On You? Blame the Economy!
Researchers at the University of Kansas just found one more piece of bad news about this so-called recovery: A crummy economy could prompt men, even those in monogamous relationships, to seek out more sex partners.
When Metaphors Attack!
We're wired to understand complex concepts by grounding them in simpler ones. It's often an effective way to get by in a complex world–but can lead us astray when it comes to our finances.