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There’s a lot more to this study than the news headlines that briefed its
release. In my opinion, the implications for economic decisions made in the
face of divorce are profound.
The
“Misery is Not Miserly” Effect, as it is labeled by researchers Cynthia E.
Cryder, et al., “is the tendency for sadness to carry over from past
situations to influence normatively unrelated economic decisions, increasing
the amount of money that decision makers give up to receive a commodity.”
How much more are those so afflicted willing to pay? When sadness is coupled
with self-focus, some individuals “gave up 30% more money to acquire a
commodity.”
In
my own divorce mediation practice, I routinely see this effect. It can be
very difficult to try and dissuade distressed marital partners from spending
significantly more on legal process than would otherwise be justified — for
the same outcomes. Further exacerbating this is the “adversarial system”
(the Court, by definition), which encourages and requires self-focus at a
time of extreme personal sadness over the losses associated with ending
marriage.
The
authors’ basic model works like this: Sad event + self-focus
š devaluation of
self š desire
to enhance self š
increased valuation of possessions (more broadly, I’d argue, “goods and
services”) that one might acquire. Identifying and now focusing on these
discrete elements as they relate to divorce suggests great opportunities for
improvement in court, support group, and mediation approaches.
—posted by Dell Deaton @11:50 AM EST 2/19/2008
OS 2531.80
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