EVEN when money is short, an occasional high-end experience is tempting. From luxury clothes to a round of golf, splurging not only makes people feel better, but may also enhance their status with their friends and relations. And for those without much status to start with, that seems to matter more. Researchers have long observed that people who have low incomes spend a bigger fraction of their earnings on things they perceive as status-enhancing than do those with money in more abundance. However, work by Blaine Landis and Joe Gladstone of University College, London, suggests that this is not equally true of everyone. Differences in personality have a big effect on how people respond to poverty.
In their study, just published in Psychological Science, Dr Landis and Dr Gladstone analyse a year of data from more than 700 British bank accounts in 2014. They sort purchases into categories, ranging from high-status (foreign air travel, electronic goods and so on) to...Continue reading
Source: Science and technology http://ift.tt/2w1HeQ3
EmoticonEmoticon