8216;Payday proximity changes behaviour8217;

8220;Our findings are surprising because previous research has always considered preferences to be relatively stable,not changing much over time.

8220;We find that not only do preferences change during such a short duration 8212; paycheck to paycheck,but also that they fluctuate between a promotion and a prevention focus,8221; said Himanshu Mishra.

Newly paid consumers are more likely to spend money on 8220;promotion-focused8221; products and services 8211; those that make their lives better,if even in a small way. And,as previous payday gets further away,though,consumers are motivated to choose products that are 8220;prevention-focused8221; 8211; that preserve their current standard of living,say the researchers.

8220;As time goes by and your paycheck is almost spent,you want to maintain your status quo. The results could have several real world applications,8221; Mishra said.

The study was done in two segments.

In the first,61 participants 8212; all with full-time jobs 8212; were asked to document their buying choices over a month-long period,categorising purchases as things they 8220;aspired8221; to buy or 8220;ought8221; to buy.

In the second segment,they asked 152 participants to choose between a series of identically priced and sized products. The snack choice,for example,was chocolate cake promotion focused or fruit salad prevention focused.

The researchers found that the proportion of 8220;aspired8221; products declined and proportion of 8220;ought8221; products increased as the participants got further away from their paychecks.

They also demonstrated that these results were not related to declining checking account balances during the month or to product prices. After the participants chose their products,some actually received their choices through random -selection process in order to make the study more realistic.

8220;The idea was,whatever choice they were making should have some real consequences,8221; Mishra said.