• USA Today/AP, Friday, February 8, 2008 12:15 PM

A new study by researchers from four universities finds that people who feel sad spend more freely--especially when their sadness triggers greater "self-focus."

That response was measured by counting how frequently study participants used references to "I," "me," "my" and "myself" in writing an essay about how a sad situation such as the one portrayed in a sadness-inducing video clip would affect them personally. They offered to pay nearly four times as much money to buy a water bottle than a group that watched an emotionally neutral clip, according to the study by researchers from Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford and Pittsburgh universities.

The researchers conclude that sadness can trigger a chain of emotions leading to extravagant tendencies. Sadness leads people to become more focused on themselves, causing them to feel that they and their possessions are worth little. That feeling increases willingness to pay more--presumably to feel better about themselves.

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