Sex, money, love,_and_stuff[1]

Running head: SEX, MONEY, LOVE, STUFF 1

Sex, Money, Love, and Stuff; a Review of the Neurological and Neurochemical Correlates of

Consumption and Pleasure

John K. Carvalho

Macalester College


Abstract

The current trend in neuromarketing is to apply neuroimaging techniques and

neuroendocrinological ideas to help explicate relatively new phenomena discovered in the areas

of consumption and purchasing behavior. Given neuromarketing’s status as a rapidly emerging

field, much of the research is fairly scattered and sporadic. Therefore, we aim to collate a variety

of the current research into a single report. Recognizing the multiple tracks that the research

travels, we first divide our relevant behaviors and topic areas into subcategories like impulse and

value, discussing neurological areas that have been indicated in each. In the second section, we

discuss the beginnings of research done into hormonal influences on purchasing and

consumption behavior. Finally, we make several suggestions for further areas of research.


Consumption on some level can seem a little strange. Take one example.Save the last

three hundred years or so (a mere blink in evolutionary time), human beingshave managed to

eliminate their own waste fairly naturally; perhaps they used a hole in the ground or a wooden

shack housed on the periphery of one’s property.Now, consider the Toto MS990CGR-12

Neoresttoilet. According to its product description, it “has an automatic lid opener, automatic

flush and automatic air purifier. It also features a heated seat with a remote control” (Lindner,

2008). It retails for $5980, or approximately the average per-capita income of Botswana (UN,

2009). It requires the utmost care to maintain, it is nearly impossible to effectively service at US

dealers, unless one is lucky enough to reside in a major metro area. However, to those who

actually purchase one or several to outfit their living quarters, such considerations are likely

moot.

Certainly, this consumption is wasteful and “conspicuous, term left to psychology by the

sociologist ThorsteinVeblein, loosely defined as “attaining and exhibiting costly items to impress

upon others that one possesses wealth or status (Sundie et. al, 2011). Now, not all consumption

is this extreme. However, two aspects of this type of consumption are especially important and

generalizable and can thus serve as points of entry for a much broader discussion. First,

universality across culture. These displays have been recognized in cultures as varied as

Polynesian Islanders, Melanesian foraging communities in Australia, and Japan (Bird & Smith,

2005; Godoy et. al, 2007). Additionally, we can place this type of consumption, as we can place

most consumption, into an evolutionarily influenced paradigm that derives naturally from a

perspective of reproductive fitness and life history. And while conspicuous consumption is

perhaps more overt sexual signaling, nearly all consumption can be considered as a studied


strategy of demonstrating one’s evolutionary fitness to other potential mates and allies.(Sundie

et. al, 2011; Miller, 2009).

However, a broad study of “sex, money, love, and stuff” from merely anevolutionary

standpoint would be incomplete. Focusing exclusively on these general, abstract considerations

would ignore significant progress that has been made on two fronts: both mapping and

understanding the brain areas that are indicated in a variety of consuming behaviors, and

furthermore understanding the hormonal and neurochemical indicators of a variety of these

behaviors. This is where the present review focuses.

We will first divide our behaviors of interest into several subtopics, like value, pleasure,

and impulse. We will then look at the relevant areas of brain activation for each subtopic.Next,

we will review research that explores the link between hormones and neurotransmitters and a

variety of consumption behavior. At times, sex will enter into the discussion; as it should,

considering the links between consumption and sexual signaling. At times, evolutionary

psychology will unavoidably enter back into the discussion. However, our primary foci will be,

in order, the two that we have discussed above. First, we’ll take a quick look at an emerging

field.

What is Neuromarketing?

The subfield that involves utilizing visual imaging techniques to understand and predict

consumption and purchasing behavior is loosely known as neuromarketing, a term that

sometimes carries over into areas of neuroeconomics and decision neuroscience; the long-term

aim is often the optimization and streamlining of business and marketing objectives (Garcia

&Saad, 2008; Ariely&Berns, 2010). There is some disagreement that exists about whether or not

a single area in the brain is directly responsible for this list of behaviors, but most research does


in fact seem to suggest that they are not directed by one area but instead are a conglomeration of

a wide variety of cognitive functions in a wide variety of areas. That being said, there are certain

areas of primary prominence and importance to these processes: the orbitofrontal cortex,

striatum, and insula all are areas of focus- other miscellaneous areas have been differentially

indicated as well (e.g., Padoa-Schioppa& Assad, 2006; Ariely&Berns, 2010).

Because the field is still relatively new (a November 13th, 2011PsycINFO search for the

term showed a mere 24 peer-reviewed journal articles), a brief introduction to the topic is

provided simply to help provide a sort of explanatory framework under which much of the

following research could be placed.

Perceptions of Value

A large part of consumption and pleasure revolves around ideas of value. Value

motivates purchasing behavior, and it is logical that we derive pleasure from that which offers us

value. Logically, then, we would assign the most value to those items or options from which we

derived the most pleasure, or the “strength of the current subjective experience (e.g., Kahneman,

Wakker, &Sarin, 1997). Understanding how closely related the two concepts are, I’ll use them

both throughout this section.

In the last decade, a variety of studies have helped lay the explanatory framework for the

newer research I examine here. This earlier research has suggested not only that people give

tremendous weight to what they perceive an item’s “value” to be, but that their perception of an

item’s value and efficacy is based on cues that are not always particularly obvious (Rao et. al,

1989), and frighteningly easy to manipulate (e.g., Shiv, Carmon, &Ariely, 2005).Furthermore,

this manipulation can be done implicitly and outside subjects’ conscious awareness. More recent

research, then, has used neuroimaging to begin to understand brain areas that are differentially


activated in these situations. As a result of this research, three major areas that have thus far

been indicated in the perception and understanding of value are the orbitofrontal cortex, the

striatum, and the insula.

The Orbitofrontal Cortex

The orbitofrontal cortex is a prefrontal cortex within the frontal area of the brain and is

most directly involved in cognitive processing and decision making- in humans, it consists of

Broadmann areas 10, 11, and 47 (Kringelbach, 2005). Anatomically, it is the area of the

prefrontal cortex that “receives projections from the magnocellular, medial nucleus of the

mediodorsal thalamus” (Fuster, 1997).

As noted, the orbitofrontal cortex has been indicated in both primates and humans as

being important whenever consumers perceive and evaluate value, be it economic value or

otherwise (e.g., Padoa-Schioppa& Assad, 2006; Kringelbach, 2005).The OFC has been also

implicated in a variety of other contexts, from responses to music (Kringelbach et. al, 2003) to

reminders of money (O’Doherty et. al, 2001).

Recently, Plassmann and colleagues provided additional evidence of the importance of

the OFC in value propositions, even when subjects were being misled about value.In their

experiment, subjects were told that they were participating in a study wherein they would be

asked to rate the tastes of various wines, after taking small sips and being instructed to hold the

liquid in their mouths for a period of time. Wines were presented with simultaneous price cues.

However, though subjects were told they were sampling five wines, they were in fact sampling

only three wines, two of which were each administered once in concert with a high price, and

once in concert with a low price. For clarity, the six stimuli were $5 wine (wine 1), $10 wine

(wine 2), $35 wine (wine 3, a distractor), $45 wine (wine 1), $90 wine (wine 2), and a neutral


solution. What was interesting (and perhaps not particularly surprising) was that reports of

experienced pleasantness were strongly correlated with price cues. That is, when told that the $5

wine was in fact a $90 dollar wine, subjects enjoyed it more. Interestingly, though, this was not

just a question of perception. When tasting the “expensive” $5 wine, subjects also showed

increased blood-oxygen-level-dependent activity in the OFC. Subjects appeared to not merely be

fooled on a level of superficial perception, but on a very real neurological level as well

(Plassmann et. al, 2008).

Reinforcing the evolutionary nature of many of these areas and phenomena we

mentioned, indications of similar circuitry with similar purposes have been found in primates.

For example, when monkeys were deciding between and ascertaining the relative quality of

beverage options (either water or a sweetened Kool-Aid), OFC neurons were shown to aid in the

encoding of each choice’s respective value and in then promoting a final decision of the

beveragethat appeared to offer the highest value (Padoa-Schioppa& Assad, 2006).

Finally, recent research has helped shed light on specialization within the cortex, as

different areas within the OFC seem to be indicated for slightly different aspects of behavior. By

exposing a subject pool of college males to money and visually erotic pictures (a task which

undoubtedly the subjects only agreed to do under extreme duress), recent fMRI research has both

further explained the nature of this hedonic pleasure center, and provided additional evidence to

understand it from within an evolutionary framework. It appears that the OFC has “reward-

specific representations”, areas within the cortex that are preferentially indicated depending on

the situation. The anterior lateral OFC, a structure that is phylogenetically more recent, appears

to process monetary gains, whereas it appears that the posterior lateral OFC, evolutionarily an

older structure, was the most key in processing and understanding basic erotic stimuli. This


seems inherently logical from an evolutionary standpoint- certainly humans needed the ability to

assess and respond to stimuli closely associated with reproduction before they required the

ability to handle money or developed its association as a secondary reinforcement (Sescousse,

Redoute, &Dreher, 2010).

The Striatum

The striatum is a subcortical area of the forebrain that can be divided into three areas.

They include the ventral area, which is associated with limbic functioning, the central area,

which is indicated in associative functioning, and the dorsal area, which seems most indicated in

sensorimotor functioning. The most important output areas of the striatum target motor and

cognitive action systems and premotor brainstem areas (Haber, et. al, 2000); the area is

phylogenetically older, and found in some form in a variety of mammals and primates.

In a direct contrast to the base nature of the value appraisals encoded in the OFC, the

striatum seems to be most activated during situations that involve slightly deeper, more complex

choice decisions and value encodings.For example, the striatum was strongly indicated when

being asked to differentiate between hypothetical choices and real choices, which have been

shown to differentially activate common value areas(Kang et. al, 2011).

Elucidating further the ability of the striatum to appraise and understand much less

tangible, more abstract ideas of value and reward, recent work has also been done to highlight

the striatum’s role in combining various abstract reward “currencies” (the promise but not

possession of money, social approval, et cetera) into a common currency of sorts,and then help

make a judgment of value and encourage a decision. In this case, subjects (who were

simultaneously being scanned in an fMRI machine) were allowed to make the choice whether to

donate hypothetical money to a variety of charities or whether to keep the money. However, the


key manipulation was that during some of the forced-choice donation decisions, subjects were

made to believe that their choice was being watched and recorded by visible (and important)

observers in an adjacent room. The behavioral evidence was unsurprising- the mere presence of

observers increased donation rates, as subjects clearly were invested in being seen by others as

the type of people who do things like donate to charity whenever given the opportunity.

However, neuroimaging results showed that activation in the striatum immediately before the

decision was significantly affected by the presence of observers. Proportionality was observed as

well: particularly high striatal activations were observed when a high social reward was

expected, and also when there was the possibility for the acquiring of money without an

accompanying social cost (Izuma, Saito, &Sadato, 2009).

Even more recent research has brought the importance of the striatum to an even higher

level. Because activation in this area was indicated for the first time in value considerations when

no choice task was actually required, striatal activity was used to essentially predict future

purchasing behavior. Subjects passively viewed twenty consumer goods, ranging from

Dreamgirls DVDs to art prints by Dali, while being instructed to simply think about how much

they would theoretically pay for the item in question. Later, removed from the scanner, subjects

were presented with pairs of items from the list they had just viewed and were asked a simple

question: which of these would you like to purchase? Significantly, the subjects’ preferential

answer to that question could be strongly correlated to the level of BOLD activation that they

had previously shown in the striatum, even though they had previously been engaged in mere

passive viewing. That is to say, had experimenters wanted to pick which item the subject would

choose to buy, they needed only to look and see for which of the two items the subject had

shown the highest BOLD activation in the striatum.


Medial Frontal Cortex

It appears that the medial frontal cortex is also indicated in perceptions of pleasure and

product attractiveness, and more abstract conceptions of “willingness to purchase”, and a variety

of other ancillary purchase-related behaviors. In general, the MFC is implicated in anticipation,

and potentially additionally implicated in basic value assessments (similar to the OFC), and has

been indicated in a manner similar to the striatum when it comes to predicting purchase behavior

(e.g., Knutson et. al, 2007).

However, some of the most promising, specific new research seems to indicate the MFC

as being key in perception of and understanding of brand loyalty. Lin, Tuan, and Chiu considered

MFC activation using an interesting protocol (near-infrared ray imaging), but compared it as it

differed between those who are loyal to a certain brand, and those who are not. So, in the luxury

space it appears that those who are particularly brand loyal are more sensitive than switchers in

being able to tell between both luxury and generic brands and being able to differentiate between

attractive and unattractive products, and that increases in MFC activity is correlated strongly

with this entire process (Lin, Tuan, & Chiu, 2010). This seems logical- certainly one who has a

strong predilection for Gucci handbags is probably very astute at both quickly spotting fake

Gucci bags, and quite fast at visual perception and categorization of the bags whenever and

wherever they might encounter them.

Perceptions of Pleasure

Although a thorough discussion of how we neurologically derive and understand

concepts of value is key to any discussion of consumption behavior, there are other key

psychological, neurological, and emotional mediators of these types of decisions. I would argue

that considerations of pleasure and attachment are an important consideration when discussing


these behaviors. Although we have mentioned that value and pleasure are related and used them

somewhat interchangeably, some research considers not our encodings of value or propensity to

make forced-choice decisions, but hones in on more visceral feelings of joy, connection, or

pleasure.

The Insula

It is a fairly familiar experience to encounter those who claim addiction to their various

technological items, be them Blackberries or iPhones. What is perhaps more surprising is that

recent (if controversial) research has suggested that “addiction” might be perhaps the wrong

word to use to describe the feeling to which the consumers refer. Branding and marketing

consultant Martin Lindstrom, with the aid of a neuromarketing firm, recently invited such a

group of self-professed iPhone “addicts” into a room, where they underwent fMRI scanning

while being played audio and video of an iPhone ringing.

The neural location of addiction is complex and poorly understood, but is typically

thought to involve a variety of brain areas, including strong involvement of the striatum, reduced

volume (in the case of drugs) in much of the dopaminergic circuitry (specifically the

periaqueductal grey matter), and much of the prefrontal cortex (e.g. Barros-Loscertales et. al,

2011).

However, in this case, Lindstrom found something very different-comparatively very

little activation in any of these areas, and a tremendous amount of activity in the insular cortex,

an area strongly associated with love and compassion. So, it certainly seems that in a

neurological sense, people are not addicted to their iPhones, but rather are very much in love

with them (Lindstrom, 2009).

Impulse Control: Regulating and Resisting Hedonic Temptation


There is a vast psychological literature on impulse buying, its correlation to the depletion

of stores of willpower, and the like (e.g., Vohs& Faber, 2007), but only relatively recently has

the research moved to integrate neuroimaging and the neurochemical approach. In this case,

cutting-edge research has been able to highlight the ways that we struggle to resist temptation.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Perhaps the most notable and relevant new line of research seeks to tie together impulse

control in the realm of money and purchasing to visceral and neurological, physical inhibitory

drives that can be quantified, imaged, and measured. This phenomenon is called “inhibitory

spillover”, and the anterior cingular cortex seems to be the key area of interest.

Tuk and colleagues provoked feelings of urination urgency in subjects, and self-reported

higher levels of bladder pressure were found to actually lead to subjects’ improved abilities to

resist the making of impulsive financial choices (in this case the choice was between a small

reward the next day and a much larger reward several days later). These results suggest

extraordinarily strong connections between visceral drives and neurological activity (Tuk,

Trampe, &Warlop, 2011). That is to say, the inhibition required in “holding it in” carries over to

the inhibition required to resist financial temptation.

Although the neural correlates of urination are many, and the pathways are located

throughout the brain, the anterior cingulate cortex appears to be equally key in both inhibiting

urination and cognitive inhibition (Berkman, Burklund, & Lieberman, 2009; Griffiths &Tadic,

2007; see also Fowler, Griffiths, & de Groat, 2008). To add further context, the ACC was also

recently shown to be activated less frequently and with less strength in those with compulsive

buying psychological disorders when they were given the opportunity to make purchase

decisions (Raab, Elger, Neuner, & Weber, 2011), suggesting that those who were, in effect,


giving into temptation were activating the ACC at a lower level as they eventually succumbed to

their desires.

Hormonal Activation

In the area of neuromarketing, the most important hormonal/neurochemical activations

are of testosterone and estrogen.Given the evolution-oriented discussion surrounding

consumption; the link between consumption and sex, evolutionarily, seems to be strong.

Testosterone

Testosterone has been implicated in a variety of behaviors tangentially related to our

topic. One can synthesize a variety of applicable literature to suggest that higher levels of

testosterone seem to be indicated in risk-taking behavior of a variety of sorts, ranging from

making risky financial decisions to pathological gambling (e.g., Senstrom et. al, 2011; Olsen &

Cox, 2001). One can furthermore extrapolate that risk taking financial decisions certainly would

be correlated with risky purchasing behavior and impulsive consumption strategies.

The interaction between testosterone and consumption (especially conspicuous

consumption) has only begun to be studied recently. There is, of course, the basic argument that

any consumption at all serves as a mechanism that allows humans to signal their social status and

mating potential to prospective allies and mates (e.g., Miller, 2009). Testosterone, being a key

sex hormone, would then logically be involved. Conspicuous consumption, by this rationale, is a

sort of wasteful signaling. Think of a male peacock’s tailfeather plumes; they’re large, unwieldy-

they render peacocks easily visible to predators, slow down their travel. So, amale peacock with

large feathers is essentially communicating “look at me; I have body parts that should make me a

target to predators and lessen my survival chances, yet I’m still alive; as such, I must be

genetically fit to mate.” Given testosterone’s status as a sex hormone, it is thus unsurprising to


find an interaction between testosterone and aggressive, conspicuous consumption. Men were

made to drive both a dilapidated old station wagon and a high-end Porsche convertible in public

spaces, and men’s testosterone levels (as measured by saliva immunoassay) actually increased

after driving the Porsche in public and decreased after driving the station wagon (Saad&Vongas,

2009).

For more context, recent research has used the biopsychosocial approach and attempting

to trace the key behavioral correlates of testosterone throughout the lifespan (e.g., White,

Thornhill, &Hampson, 2007). Prenatal influences of testosterone are actually fairly well

established as well, as recent research has found that testosterone levels and their accompanying

effects seem to be set before birth.

Stenstrom and others (2011) looked at second to fourth digit length ratio (2D:4D), a well

known indicator of prenatal testosterone exposure, and tested subjects to ascertain their level of

risk-taking behavior across five different behavioral domains: financial, health, social, ethical,

and recreational. The researchers found that those who had digit length ratios that were

indicative of high-level prenatal exposure to testosterone were in fact more likely to exhibit risk-

taking behaviors, though chiefly across the social and recreational domains, which the

researchers theorize is likely because evolutionarily, these were the two domains that were likely

the most effortless for individuals to use to most quickly and efficiently demonstrate their

general social and mating desirability.

In sum, much of the testosterone-related research seems to highlight two main ideas.

First, when given the opportunity to interact with products of a certain value and thus associate

with those products, men saw increases in their sex hormones. Second, testosterone levels seem

to be positively correlated with a high level of risk taking behavior, across several domains-


research is needed to explore how those behaviors translate into the purchasing sphere, and

perhaps how testosterone levels change how consumers interact with marketing messages.

Advertising strategies for a variety of companies in the CPG space thrive on driving purchasing

through making customers “feel more manly”- what neurological factors are at play here?

Estrogen

Similar to the importance of testosterone in males, females seem to have a fair amount of

relevant behaviors mediated by the relevant sex hormone, estrogen. From an endocrinological

standpoint, human females are especially unique. Importantly, human females are one of the

rarer species that do not clearly advertise their peak points of fertility throughout the ovulatory

cycle in a way that is visible or obvious to male conspecifics. So, while much of the testosterone-

consumption link appears to be sexually motivated, we might think of females’ task in this

situation as being even more urgent. Lacking any natural outward signs of peak fertility, it then

comes to patterns of consumption and choices of accouterments to advertise this most valuable

information.

The body of research that addresses these types of changes across the fertility cycle is

still emerging. Nonetheless, recent research has begun to lay the explanatory groundwork for

more advanced inquiries that are sure to follow. A sample of thirty women that were currently

partnered in relationships and had not taken any contraceptives for a period of ninety days were

photographed in their typical dress, with their hands at their sides. Over the course of several

weeks, women were photographed at both their high-fertility point in their ovulatory cycle, and

at a time of lower fertility in their cycle. Impartial judges were asked to look at the pictures and

attempt to discern whether the women were in their most fertile phases or whether they were not.

At levels that were significantly above chance, judges selected photos of women in their fertile


phase and deemed those photographs as representative of the subject “trying to look more

attractive.” As such, it appears that women naturally and subconsciously engage in grooming and

ornamentation strategies in order to help indicate their most fertile phase to potential suitors

(Haselton et. al, 2006).

Recent research continued that line of reasoning even further. It appears that at their

hormonal peak, women unconsciously choose products that enhance their appearance (i.e.

choosing asexy, revealing skirt over a conservative pantsuit). Hormonally regulated, it appears

that this effect may emanate from a desire to outdo attractive women that are potential rivals. As

such, it followed that when the researchers reduced the salience of these potential rival women,

the ovulatory effect on these product choices reduced as well (Durante et. al, 2010).

Conclusion and Directions for Future Research

As noted, neuromarketing and the application of neuroimaging techniques to

consumption and purchasing behavior is a relatively new field. The general trend that has been

explicated here is that although consumption and purchasing behavior has been studied fairly

extensively in the last decade or so (and has led to findings that are on their own quite

interesting), it is only recently that neuroimaging protocols have been applied, and

neurochemical considerations have been made. Connections are still being drawn between prior

research and strategies to integrate new techniques. There are ethical considerations as well,

since much of this research is being integrated into business decisions (e.g., Ariely& Burns,

2005). As the field grows, though, the applications will lead to research and application in a

variety of areas.

Consider for a moment the work done on placebo effects, perceptions of value, and

quality (see Baba, Ariely, & Shiv, 2005; Plassman et. al, 2008). As we become more and more


familiar with the ways that perceptions of price and quality are so thoroughly integrated into the

brain on a deep, neurochemical level, the applications in marketing could be interesting indeed,

and the potential points for problems could become clear. For example, are discount drug

problems a particularly good idea, if it appears that perceptions of a product’s value and

therefore its efficacy can be so easily manipulated?

Additionally, the discussion of hormones was brief, precisely because the research

presently is still fairly thin. Especially with estrogen, more research needs to be developed to

fully understand the significance of changes in purchasing behavior throughout the ovulatory

cycle. An interesting angle that merits exploration here would be how cyclical changes mediate

female purchasing behavior when the items they are purchasing are not for them. It is accepted

wisdom in marketing circles that women are responsible for approximately eighty percent of

household purchases. Therefore, novel research should aim to flesh out the changes in

purchasing and behavioral presentation women undergo during these cycles and see if the

changes are reflected in purchases for her spouse or her family members. During the peak of her

reproductive cycle, could she be concerned, for example, with clothing her male partner in a less

attractive way in order to continue to stave off potential female competitors? The possible

answers to these and other questions could have immediately applicable effects in marketing

contexts, especially given the segmentation strategies used by marketers.

In a more neurological sphere, the challenge is twofold. Number one, specificity- the

OFC, we have seen, is key in representing value encodings. However, considering Plassmann

and others (2008), an interesting manipulation would be to repeat the study of wine preference

but with something like so-called “expert reviews” being manipulated, rather than price cues, to

see if the effect is repeated. Such an experiment would help explain further the exact nature of


the “value” that is encoded in the OFC. The second challenge will be integrating the hormonal

work (which, as stated, remains thin) with the neuroimaging work to establish a more holistic

look at how these processes work in concert.


References

Ariely, D., &Berns, G. S. (2010). Neuromarketing: the hope and hype of neuroimaging in

business. NatureReviewsNeuroscience, 11, 284-292.

Barros-Loscertales, A., Garavan, H., Bustamante, J. C., Ventura-Campos, N., Llopis, J. J.,

Belloch, V., Parcet, M. A., & Avila, C. (2011). Reduced striatal volume in

cocaine-dependent patients. NeuroImage, 56, 1021-1026. doi:

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.02.035

Berkman, E. T., Burklund, L., & Lieberman, M. D. (2009). Inhibitory spillover: Intentional

motor inhibition produces incidental limbic inhibition via right inferior frontal cortex.

NeuroImage, 47, 705-712. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.04.084

Bird, R. B., & Smith, E. A. (2005). Signaling theory, strategic interaction, and symbolic capital.

Current Anthropology, 46(2), 221-248.

Durante, K. M., Griskevicius, V., Hill, S. E., Perilloux, C., & Li, N. P. (2011). Ovulation,

female competition, and product choice: Hormonal influences on consumer

behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(6), 921-934.

Fowler, C. J., Griffiths, D., & de Groot, W. C. (2008).The neural control of micturition.Nature

Reviews Neuroscience, 9, 453-466. doi: 10.1038/nm2401

Fuster, J.M. The Prefrontal Cortex, (Raven Press, New York, 1997).

Gakhal, B., & Senior, C. (2008). Examining the influence of fame in the presence of beauty: An

electrodermal 'neuromarketing' study. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 7, 331-341. doi:

10.1002/cb.255


Garcia, J. R., &Saad, G. (2008). Evolutionary neuromarketing: Darwinizing the neuroimaging

paradigm for consumer behavior.Journal of Consumer Behaviour,7, 397-414. doi:

10.1002/cb.259

Griffiths, D., &Tadic, S. (2007). Bladder control, urgency, and urge incontinence: Evidence

from functional brain imaging. Neurourology and Urodynamics, 27(6), 466-474. doi:

10.1002/nau.v27:6/issuetoc

Han, Y. J., Nunes, J. C., &Dreze, X. (2010). Signaling status with luxury goods: The role of

brand prominence. Journal of Marketing, 74, 15-30.

Haselton, M. G., Mortezaie, M., Pillsworth, E. G., Bleske-Rechek, A., & Frederick, D. A. (2006).

Ovulatory shifts in human female ornamentation: Near ovulation, women dress to impress.

Hormones and Behavior, 51, 40-45. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2006.07.007

Izuma, K., Saito, D. N., &Sadato, N. (2009). Processing of the incentive for social approval in

the ventral striatum during charitable donation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(4),

Kahneman, D., Wakker, P. P., &Sarin, R. (1997). Back to bentham? explorations of

experienced utility. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112, 375-405.

Kang, M. J., Rangel, A., Camus, M., &Camerer, C. F. (2011). Hypothetical and real choice

differentially activate common valuation areas. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31(2), 461-

468. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1583-10.2011

Knutson, B., Rick, S., Wimmer, G. E., Prelec, D., &Loewenstein, G. (2007). Neural predictors

of purchases.Neuron, 53, 147-156. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2006.11.010

Kringelbach, M. L. (2005). The human orbitofrontal cortex: Linking reward to hedonic

experience. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6, 691-702. doi: 10.1038/nrn1748


Levy, I., Lazzaro, S. C., Rutledge, R. B., &Glimcher, P. W. (2011). Choice from non-choice:

predicting consumer preferences from blood oxygenation level-dependent signals

obtained during passive viewing. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31(1), 118-125. doi:

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3214-10.2011

Lin, C., Tuan, H., & Chiu, C. (2010). Medial frontal activity in brand-loyal consumers: A

behavior and near-infrared ray study. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and

Economics, 3(2), 59-73. doi: 10.1037/a0015461

Lindström, M. (2011). Brandwashed, tricks companies use to manipulate our minds and

persuade us to buy. Crown Business.

O'Doherty, J., Kringelbach, M. L., Rolls, E. T., Hornak, J., & Andrews, C. (2001).

Abstract reward and punishment representations in the human orbitofrontal cortex.

Nature Neuroscience, 4(1), 95-102.

O'Doherty, J., Rolls, E. T., Francis, S., Bowtell, R., McGlone, F., Kobal, G., Renner, B., &

Ahne, G. (2000). Sensory-specific satiety-related olfactory activation of the human

orbitofrontal cortex. NeuroReport: For Rapid Communication of Neuroscience

Research, 11(2), 399-403.

Padoa-Schioppa, C., & Assad, J. A. (2006). Neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex encode

economic value. Nature, 441, 223-226. doi: 10.1038/nature04676

Plassmann, H., O'Doherty, J., Shiv, B., & Rangel, A. (2008). Marketing actions can

modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness. Proceedings of the

National Academy of Sciences, 105(3), 1050-1054.


Raab, G., Elger, C. E., Neuner, M., & Weber, B. (2011).The neural basis of compulsive buying.

In A. Muller & J. Mitchell (Eds.), Compulsive buying: Clinical foundations and

treatment (pp. 63-86). New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

Rao, A. R., & Monroe, K. B. (1989). The effect of price, brand name, and store name on buyers'

perceptions of product quality: An integrative review. Journal of Marketing Research,

26, 351-357.

Sescousse, G., Redoute, J., &Dreher, J. (2010). The architecture of reward value coding in the

human orbitofrontal cortex.The Journal of Neuroscience, 30(39), 13095- 13104.doi:

10.1523/jneurosci.3501-10.2010

Shiv, B., Carmon, Z., &Ariely, D. (2005). Placebo effects of marketing actions: Consumers

may get what they pay for. Journal of Marketing Research, 42(4), 383-393.

Saad, G., &Vongas, J. G. (2009). The effect of conspicuous consumption on men's

testosterone levels.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 10, 80-92.

doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.06.001

Stenstrom, E., Saad, G., Nepomuceno, M. V., & Mendenhall, Z. (2011). Testosterone and

domain-specific risk: Digit ratios (2d:4d and rel2) as predictors of recreational,

financial, and social risk-taking behaviors. Personality and Individual Differences,

51, 412-416. doi:10.1016/j/paid.2010.07.003

Sundie, J. M., Kenrick, D. T., Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., Vohs, K. D., & Beal, D. J. (2011).

Peacocks, porsches, and thorsteinveblen: Conspicuous consumption as a sexual

signaling system. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(4), 664-680. doi:

10.1037/a0021669


Tuk, M. A., Trampe, D., &Warlop, L. (2011). Inhibitory spillover: Increased urination urgency

facilitates impulse control in unrelated domains. Psychological Science, 22, 627-633. doi:

10.1177/0956797611404901

United nations statistics division. (2010, June). Retrieved from

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/socind/inc-eco.htm

Vohs, K. D., & Faber, R. J. (2007). Spent resources: Self-regulatory resource availability affects

impulse buying. Journal of Consumer Research, 33, 537-547.

White, R. E., Thornhill, S., &Hampson, E. (2007). A biosocial model of entrepreneurship: the

combined effects of nuture and nature. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28(4),

451-466.

Sex, money, love,_and_stuff[1]

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Andere mochten auch

Andere mochten auch (7)

Ähnlich wie Sex, money, love,_and_stuff[1]

Ähnlich wie Sex, money, love,_and_stuff[1] (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

Sex, money, love,_and_stuff[1]