By David Jesse
Detroit Free Press
(MCT)

Got those mid-winter blues?

Break out the credit card and hit the shopping mall, or maybe even the vending machine, a new study from the University of Michigan suggests.

Research done by U-M marketing professors Scott Rick and Katherine Burson and doctoral student Beatriz Pereira suggests that making buying decisions can “help to restore a sense of control and reduce sadness,” a news release on the study said.

In one study of 45 female undergraduates, 44 percent chose to buy a snack after viewing a movie clip that portrays a bullying incident. Participants rated their emotions at the beginning and end of the experiment. At the end of the study, the sadness scores of buyers were significantly lower than those of nonbuyers, the news release said.

“Previous critiques of sadness and shopping pointed to how terrible it was. No one stopped to see if people actually felt better or if buying a candy bar helped to cure negative emotions,” Burson said.

The study then set up a second scenario, described in the press release as this:

“100 adults who participated online viewed a movie clip that portrayed the death of a boy’s mentor. Then the participants were randomly assigned to either choosing or browsing conditions.

“Choosers were told to imagine buying $100 worth of products by placing them in a shopping cart. They were then presented with 12 products, each priced at $25, and asked to select four by dragging them into a shopping cart.

“Browsers were presented with the same 12 products and asked to judge which four would be the most useful when traveling, by clicking on four products and dragging them into a box labeled travel items.

“Because only some products were appropriate for travel, but all may be desirable when shopping, choosers had more of an opportunity to implement their preferences and experience a sense of control. As a result, at the end of the study, the sadness scores of choosers were significantly lower than those of browsers.”

“We think there are benefits to buying something new and showing it off. But when it comes to alleviating sadness, actively choosing between products is essential, even if those choices are hypothetical,” Rick said. “Shopping is a natural, easy vehicle for choice. There are other situations that afford opportunities to choose and restore personal control, but they may be less tempting and harder to find than the mall.”

Burson said that if you’re on a budget and want to realize the benefits of retail therapy, there’s a way.

“The people who simply imagine that they are buying have less sadness at the end of the experiment, suggesting that imaginary shopping may have some of the restorative benefits we see in real shopping, which might be the ultimate solution,” she said.

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