Luxury goods help repair self-esteem

So I’m pretty darn certain that what this study is telling me is that if I don’t do as well as I’m hoping in my upcoming half-marathon, that I have a good reason to buy myself a designer handbag:

When your ego is threatened, you’re more likely to spend more on a luxury purchase and to charge it on a credit card. Two studies were conducted involving a computer test, and participants who were told their test results revealed them to be not too bright, those people were more willing to splurge and use plastic. (you can get the full deets in the link above).

But the finding that caught my interest most, and this is a direct quote:

“Luxury items are especially effective at reassuring us of our value.”

See? What’d I tell ya? Maybe I won’t try so hard in my race after all…

4 Comments May 6, 2011