The Financial Costs of Sadness
Abstract
We hypothesized a phenomenon that we term myopic misery. According to our hypothesis, sadness increases impatience and creates a myopic focus on obtaining money immediately instead of later. This focus, in turn, increases intertemporal discount rates and thereby produces substantial financial costs. In three experiments, we randomly assigned participants to sad- and neutral-state conditions, and then offered intertemporal choices. Disgust served as a comparison condition in Experiments 1 and 2. Sadness significantly increased impatience: Relative to median neutral-state participants, median sad-state participants accepted 13% to 34% less money immediately to avoid waiting 3 months for payment. In Experiment 2, impatient thoughts mediated the effects. Experiment 3 revealed that sadness made people more present biased (i.e., wanting something immediately), but not globally more impatient. Disgusted participants were not more impatient than neutral participants, and that lack of difference implies that the same financial effects do not arise from all negative emotions. These results show that myopic misery is a robust and potentially harmful phenomenon.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Lerner et al. (2013) found that subjects in a sadness-induction condition were more impatient and chose to accept an immediate payout of less money instead of waiting to receive more money after a delay.
“In another study, subjects in a sadness-induction condition were more impatient and chose to accept an immediate payout of less money instead of waiting to receive more money after a delay (Lerner et al. 2013).”
From Profiling consumers who reported mass marketing scams: demographic characteristics and emotional sentiments associated with victimization (2024) · cites this paper as Lerner et al. 2013
Cites
(2011) · Cited by 14,317 · see citing works
Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness
(2008) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.46-0977 · Cited by 11,614 · see citing works
Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: New procedures and recommendations.
Shrout, P. E., & Bolger, N. (2002) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/1082-989x.7.4.422 · Cited by 11,335 · see citing works
(2012) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.102.7.i · Cited by 7,275 · see citing works
Golden eggs and hyperbolic discounting
Laibson, D. (1997) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/003355397555253 · Cited by 6,122 · see citing works
Time Discounting and Time Preference: A Critical Review
Frederick, S., Loewenstein, G., & O’Donoghue, T. (2002) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/002205102320161311 · Cited by 6,106 · see citing works
Parfit, D. (1986) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/019824908x.001.0001 · Cited by 5,803 · see citing works
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness
Adkisson, R. V. (2008) · The Social Science Journal · doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2008.09.003 · Cited by 5,680 · see citing works
Handbook of Affective Sciences
(2002) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195126013.001.0001 · Cited by 5,104 · see citing works
Schwarz, N., & Clore, G. L. (1983) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.45.3.513 · Cited by 4,952 · see citing works
The principles of psychology, Vol I.
James, W. (1890) · doi:10.1037/10538-000 · Cited by 4,514 · see citing works
Time Discounting and Time Preference: A Critical Review
Frederick, S. W., Loewenstein, G. F., & O’Donoghue, T. (2002) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.40.2.351 · Cited by 4,116 · see citing works
Mood and judgment: The affect infusion model (AIM).
Forgas, J. P. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.1.39 · Cited by 3,470 · see citing works
Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.1.146 · Cited by 3,325 · see citing works
Self-citationO’Donoghue, T., & Rabin, M. (1999) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.89.1.103 · Cited by 3,128 · see citing works
Separate neural systems value immediate and delayed monetary rewards
McClure, S. M., Laibson, D. I., Loewenstein, G., & Cohen, J. D. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1100907 · Cited by 3,089 · see citing works
Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion-specific influences on judgement and choice
Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2000) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/026999300402763 · Cited by 2,386 · see citing works
Self-citationAppraisal Processes in Emotion: Theory, Methods, Research
(2001) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195130072.001.0001 · Cited by 2,384 · see citing works
Anomalies in Intertemporal Choice: Evidence and an Interpretation
Loewenstein, G., & Prelec, D. (1992) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.2307/2118482 · Cited by 2,305 · see citing works
(2010) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.47-6626 · Cited by 2,234 · see citing works
An economic theory of self-control.
Thaler, R. H., & Shefrin, H. M. (1981) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/260971 · Cited by 2,203 · see citing works
Emotion elicitation using films
Gross, J. J., & Levenson, R. W. (1995) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699939508408966 · Cited by 2,179 · see citing works
Heroin addicts have higher discount rates for delayed rewards than non-drug-using controls.
Kirby, K. N., Petry, N. M., & Bickel, W. K. (1999) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.128.1.78 · Cited by 2,171 · see citing works
Judgment of contingency in depressed and nondepressed students: sadder but wiser?
Alloy, L., & Abramson, L. (1979) · Journal of experimental psychology. General · doi:10.1037//0096-3445.108.4.441 · Cited by 1,733 · see citing works
Judgment of contingency in depressed and nondepressed students: Sadder but wiser?
Alloy, L. B., & Abramson, L. Y. (1979) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.108.4.441 · Cited by 1,692 · see citing works
An Economic Theory of Self-Control
Shefrin, H., & Thaler, R. H. (1977) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w0208 · Cited by 1,595 · see citing works
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Katz, D. (1965) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/h0021466 · Cited by 1,407 · see citing works
All Negative Moods Are Not Equal: Motivational Influences of Anxiety and Sadness on Decision Making
Raghunathan, R., & Pham, M. T. (1999) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.1999.2838 · Cited by 1,243 · see citing works
Hastorf, A. H., & Isen, A. M. (1982) · Elsevier eBooks · Cited by 1,030 · see citing works
Attention in delay of gratification.
Mischel, W., & Ebbesen, E. Β. (1970) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0029815 · Cited by 1,015 · see citing works
Heart Strings and Purse Strings: Carryover Effects of Emotions on Economic Decisions
Lerner, J. S., Small, D. A., & Loewenstein, G. (2004) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00679.x · Cited by 959 · see citing works
Self-citationBeyond simple pessimism: Effects of sadness and anger on social perception.
Keltner, D. J., Ellsworth, P. C., & Edwards, K. (1993) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.64.5.740 · Cited by 894 · see citing works
Present-Biased Preferences and Credit Card Borrowing
Meier, S., & Sprenger, C. D. (2009) · American Economic Journal Applied Economics · doi:10.1257/app.2.1.193 · Cited by 798 · see citing works
Lateral prefrontal cortex and self-control in intertemporal choice
Figner, B., Knoch, D., Johnson, E. J., Krosch, A. R., Lisanby, S. H., Fehr, E., & Weber, E. U. (2010) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2516 · Cited by 706 · see citing works
Self-citationBeyond simple pessimism: Effects of sadness and anger on social perception.
Keltner, D. J., Ellsworth, P. C., & Edwards, K. (1993) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.64.5.740 · Cited by 637 · see citing works
Time and Decision: Economic and Psychological Perspectives on Intertemporal Choice
Güth, W. (2004) · The Journal of Socio-Economics · doi:10.1016/j.socec.2004.04.003 · Cited by 596 · see citing works
‘Willpower’ over the life span: decomposing self-regulation
Mischel, W., Ayduk, O., Berman, M. G., Casey, B. J., Gotlib, I. H., Jonides, J., Kross, E., Teslovich, T., Wilson, N. L., Zayas, V., et al. (2011) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsq081 · Cited by 595 · see citing works
Risk Preferences Are Not Time Preferences
James Andreoni, A., & Sprenger, C. D. (2012) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.102.7.3357 · Cited by 473 · see citing works
Aspects of endowment: A query theory of value construction.
Johnson, E. J., Häubl, G., & Keinan, A. (2007) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.33.3.461 · Cited by 472 · see citing works
Individual laboratory-measured discount rates predict field behavior
Chabris, C. F., Laibson, D., Morris, C. L., Schuldt, J. P., & Taubinsky, D. (2008) · Journal of Risk and Uncertainty · doi:10.1007/s11166-008-9053-x · Cited by 416 · see citing works
Asymmetric Discounting in Intertemporal Choice
Weber, E. U., Johnson, E. J., Milch, K. F., Chang, H. H., Brodscholl, J., & Goldstein, D. G. (2007) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01932.x · Cited by 381 · see citing works
Self-citationHappiness and Time Preference: The Effect of Positive Affect in a Random-Assignment Experiment
Ifcher, J., & Zarghamee, H. (2011) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.101.7.3109 · Cited by 370 · see citing works
Time discounting over the lifespan
Read, D., & Read, N. (2004) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2004.01.002 · Cited by 331 · see citing works
Time and Decision: Economic and Psychological Perspectives of Intertemporal Choice
Loewenstein, G. F., Read, D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2003) · Cited by 302 · see citing works
Mood and heuristics: The influence of happy and sad states on sensitivity and bias in stereotyping.
Park, J., & Banaji, M. R. (2000) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.6.1005 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
Aging and decision making: a comparison between neurologically healthy elderly and young individuals
Kovalchik, S. A., Camerer, C. F., Grether, D. M., Plott, C. R., & Allman, J. M. (2004) · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2003.12.001 · Cited by 217 · see citing works
Cryder, C. E., Lerner, J. S., Gross, J. J., & Dahl, R. E. (2008) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02118.x · Cited by 208 · see citing works
Self-citationEmotion Priming and Attributions for Terrorism: Americans' Reactions in a National Field Experiment
Small, D. A., Lerner, J. S., & Fischhoff, B. (2006) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2006.00007.x · Cited by 198 · see citing works
Self-citationPyone, J. S., & Isen, A. M. (2011) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1509/jmkr.48.3.532 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. S. (2015) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043 · Cited by 2,913 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Malleability of Intertemporal Choice
Lempert, K. M., & Phelps, E. A. (2016) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2015.09.005 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Higher Income Is Associated With Less Daily Sadness but not More Daily Happiness
Kushlev, K., Dunn, E. W., & Lucas, R. E. (2015) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550614568161 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
The Vivid Present: Visualization Abilities Are Associated with Steep Discounting of Future Rewards
Parthasarathi, T., McConnell, M. H., Luery, J., & Kable, J. W. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00289 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
DeLiema, M., & Witt, P. (2024) · Security Journal · doi:10.1057/s41284-023-00401-5 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“In another study, subjects in a sadness-induction condition were more impatient and chose to accept an immediate payout of less money instead of waiting to receive more money after a delay (Lerner et al. 2013).”
The Economics of Losing a Loved One: Delayed Reward Discounting in Prolonged Grief
Maccallum, F., & Bonanno, G. A. (2016) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702615605827 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., & Weber, E. U.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lerner, Jennifer S.
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-11-13
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 72-79
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2169078981
- Cited by
- 247
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 7
- FWCI
- 7.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Accounting › Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- sadness, impatience, intertemporal choice, delay discounting, present bias, financial costs, negative emotions, disgust
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Aged, Choice Behavior, Decision Making, Female, Humans, Impulsive Behavior, Judgment, Male, Middle Aged, Motivation, Problem Solving, Reward, Socioeconomic Factors, Thinking, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
