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Uncommon Knowledge

The price of sadness

And other surprising insights from the social sciences

Feeling sad? It’ll cost you

Just as you wouldn’t let a friend drive drunk, you might not want to let a friend make financial decisions while sad. In several experiments, people who were put in a sad mood—by watching a sad video and writing about a sad experience—sought more immediate gratification, preferring smaller, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards.

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