Misery wants control: The roles of helplessness and choice in the sadness–consumption relationship

Abstract

Sadness has an appraisal theme of loss and helplessness and prior research has shown that sadness leads to increased (vs neutral or happy) hedonic food consumption (e.g. M&M’s). In this research, we test the robustness of sadness’ effect on consumption and further argue that it is the innate helplessness associated with sadness (situational helplessness) that links sadness and hedonic consumption. Specifically, we find that an opportunity to make a choice (increased sense of control) attenuates sadness’ effect on hedonic consumption (study 1) and that making a choice attenuates the helplessness experienced by sad individuals at that moment (general helplessness), thereby reducing hedonic consumption (study 2). Moreover, we show that this effect extends to choice for both self and others (study 2). Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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