The use of credit cards stimulates the brain’s reward system and the need for additional spending, according to a recent MIT study that examined the neuroscience of buying things.
Credit card purchases tell us that we are “stepping on gas” and that more “purchase desires” will be generated in the future, said Drazen Prelec, study author and professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Previous research has shown that people tend to spend more when paying by credit card. For this new study, researchers used magnetic resonance imaging machines to see what happens to the brain when people are asked to buy an item with cash or a credit card.
While inside the MRI, participants were shown various items on screen, from video games to beauty products, which they could add to the shopping cart. They had the option to pay for the products with $ 50 in cash or a credit card.
The study authors wrote that people were more willing to buy items with more expensive credit than cash and spent more generally when using a credit card.
When people bought things with a credit card, MRI showed that a region of the brain’s reward system, called a striatum, was activated. The stratum is responsible for releasing dopamine and participates in reward, reinforcement, pleasure, and even addiction.
“Brain reward networks that are activated with all kinds of rewards are activated through a credit card purchase,” Prelec said.
Credit card “signals,” such as logos or buy buttons now, basically “activate the search for rewarding products,” the study’s authors wrote.
Cash payment did not activate reward networks.
What about credit cards?
For starters, the brain rewards network “has been chronically sensitized by previous experience with credit cards,” the study’s authors wrote. In other words, “the act of putting that plastic credit card in your hand is associated with pleasant purchases,” Prelec said in the statement.
Other studies have shown that paying with a credit card “can set aside costs,” the study’s authors wrote. Because you can defer credit card payments, separate your purchase from payment and you won’t have to experience the tangible, immediate sting of spending money, as you do with cash.
It also matters if you pay with the credit card you use for commodities, compared to one you use for things like travel and restaurants. 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 gas for your card,” he said.
As consumers adopt new payment systems, such as contactless payment, it’s important for people to understand how neural reward mechanisms influence our spending habits, he said.
Take a look at: Use this calculator to see exactly the value of your third coronavirus stimulus control
Do not miss it: This type of therapy can help people with depression to be more productive at work: study