The Physiology of Spending, The Brain and eCommerce Spending.

“What was going through your mind when you bought that?” Now, thanks to this awesome infographic from the folks at moneysupermarket.com, you can finally answer the age-old question about how our brains influence our eCommerce spending habits:

eCommerce Spending Demystified

Which part of your brain were you using when you made the decision?

• The mesial prefrontal cortex which makes decisions based on personal preference, before money comes into play.
• The insular cortex where you feel actual pain relative to spending money, pushing you to make more financially responsible (read: cheaper) choices.
• The nucleus accumbens, the gambler in our brain, which urges us to go ahead with decisions it feels will pay off in the end, ignoring the other parts of our brain and that feel less-than-confident.

What do casino chips, one-click-ordering, budget panning all have in common? They are all tricks designed to fool our insular cortexes by replacing actual cash, or even the very act of removing ones wallet from their pocket, with abstract tokens to reduce the pain related to spending.

Knowing how we are constantly manipulated can help you curb overspending.

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