• The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:30 AM

Emotion plays a much larger role in consumer-spending behavior than awareness of credit-card debt, according to a new study paid for by the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Ford Foundation. For many shoppers, the study asserts, knowledge of interest rates and mounting debt can be so depressing that it spurs them to binge shop to alleviate the gloom.

Of the 471 consumers whose spending decisions were studied by Richard Wiener, a professor of law and psychology at the University of Nebraska, about one out of every five shops to end a bad mood. Wiener says the proportion among consumers in general could be higher because many consumers don't understand how moods influence their spending decisions.

Half the participants received credit-card disclosure information that had been the standard before current bankruptcy laws took effect in 2005. The other half received the standard information under current laws. The results showed the enhanced disclosure information worked only on shoppers who had been ambivalent about making a purchase anyway.

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