Great article

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[url]http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/moneyhappy/131745[/url]

Fucking relevant to pickup IMO. And the PUA scene in general..

"Low power is an aversive state marked by a lack of control," says Derek Rucker, co-author with Adam Galinsky, both of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, of a study on powerlessness and consumerism in the Journal of Consumer Research. "If I have more of something than others, that's one thing I can use to compensate for being powerless -- I can acquire status."

Study respondents were asked to write about a time when they felt powerful or powerless. Afterward, they participated in an online auction that included high-status goods such as a fur coat and a silk tie. "For products with low or no association with status, there was no difference in the reservation price for those who had power or those with no power," says Rucker. "But for products associated with status, those who recalled they didn't have power indicated they were willing to pay more for them."

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Rucker says the spiral can be avoided simply by being aware of the phenomenon: "Alerting them to the behavior may be enough to change it. You can think about why it is you want this product -- is it because you're feeling powerless? Are there ways to circumvent this through more positive means -- means that don't have disastrous outcomes for spending?"


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Another reaction to powerlessness is seeing patterns and connections that don't exist, leading to poor judgment, according to research published in Science by Galinsky and Jennifer Whitson, an assistant professor at the Macomb School of Business at the University of Texas, Austin.

Subjects were presented with a series of "snowy" pictures, some containing images and others random dots. People who felt they lacked control more often perceived images in the latter. In another experiment, some participants were told the stock market was currently a volatile minefield and others that it was calm and predictable. Then both were presented with an equal amount of positive and negative information about a company, and asked whether they would invest.

Those primed to feel powerless by volatility "were more likely to make strong conclusions about [investing] that were unwarranted," says Whitson. "Those who chose not to invest remembered more negative phrases than they had seen."

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Awesome article! This very article is proof that the "pickup mentality" isn't only applicable to woman.. this works weather you are referring to the economy, being alpha in prison, or even trying to talk your way out of something :D