Feeling and Calculation: The Impact of Lay Rationalism Thinking Mode on Mental Budgeting

Abstract

Mental budgeting is a cognitive process that helps individuals control consumption expenditures. Previous literature has shown that mental budgeting is influenced by people’s cognitive capabilities and emotions, which indicates a potential influence of thinking modes on mental budgeting. Under the view of lay rationalism, the present three studies investigated the relationship between thinking modes (i.e., calculation-based thinking and feeling-based thinking) and mental budgeting, as well as the moderating effect of product types that participants consume. It was found that, first, the scores of lay rationalism, which indicate calculation-based thinking, were positively correlated with the mental budgeting levels of college students (Study 1a) and newcomers in the workplace (Study 1b); second, the activation of calculation-based thinking (vs. feeling-based thinking) decreased participants’ consumption willingness (Study 2); and third, the calculation-based thinking exhibited a stronger binding effect in participants who consumed only hedonic products than in participants who consumed only utilitarian products (Study 2). The results demonstrated the effects of lay rationalism thinking mode and product types on mental budgeting, which highlighted different implications for consumers and merchants.