It is the time of the year when you are swamped with discount sales. Such sales typically prompt us to splurge on products that we otherwise would not buy! Why do discounts excite us?

Suppose there is a sale on home furnishings. You do not particularly require bed-sheets or upholstery for your home, but you and your family nevertheless decide to pay a visit to the store.

You find bed-sheets and furnishings at 40 per cent discount. How would you react?

You will most likely get excited. This excitement will be gender-neutral, unless you happen to be a person who takes least interest in how your house looks! What is the upshot? You will end up filling the shopping cart with half a dozen bed-sheets and some upholstery to say the least. Why?

It is not the bed-sheets and furnishings that really excite you! Rather, it is the anticipation of getting a discount that prompts to purchase more than you actually need.

Consider this. A book that retails for Rs 800 is available for Rs 75. You may not consider buying it at full price because you are a technology architect and the book is on zoology. But at Rs 75, you may reason that it is worth knowing about the bulls and the bears, even if it has nothing to do with the stock market!

EMOTIONAL TRIGGER

We react much the same way whether the discount is available on books or bed-sheets. The reason is because we buy with our emotions! That is, we are emotional about the present and rational about the future.

And discount is available in the present- here and now.

The question is: What drives our emotion?

As you are aware, we have the logical and the emotional brain. Discounts trigger our emotional brain. And often in such situations, the emotional brain overpowers the logical brain. But there is more.

You are likely to be swayed by discounts even if you are a left-brained person (such people tend to use more of their logical brain). Why?

The pre-frontal cortex and the insula, parts of your brain, play an important part in your decision-making process. The pre-frontal cortex weighs the benefits of buying the product.

The insula triggers the emotions behind the decision including the pain of paying for it. Studies in neuroscience have shown that your pre-frontal cortex lights up while your insula becomes silent when you stumble on discounts.

So, it does not matter whether you are emotional or logical. You are likely to be swayed by discounts- sometimes, if not always. Blame it on your neurophysiology, if you will!

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