Status value alters both preferences and actual brain pleasure pathways

Evidence

But just as we internalize conventions, status value acts on our brains at a subconscious level. Conventions with high status value simply appear to us as beautiful ingredients for a dream life, whereas the conventions with low status value appear disturbing, toxic, or immoral. We often rationalize the allure of status value by attributing our attraction to other values, such as use value (practicality), exchange value (cost), sentimental value (memories), or idiosyncratic personal preferences. Empirical research is beginning to find proof that extrinsic information such as status value not only motivates our choices but even alters how we experience pleasure. A recent neuroscience experiment discovered that subjects preferred cheaper wines when unaware of the price, and then preferred the taste of expensive wines once prices were revealed. More interestingly, the subjects’ pathways of brain activity changed along with their change in preference. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 155

Categorization

• QUESTION: The famous wine-price study (often attributed to Hilke Plassmann or Baba Shiv) — worth chasing the exact source for how brain activation changed.
• XREF: connects to: Status-seeking makes many choices nonrational yet still materially rewarding — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 187; People rationalize status desires as quality and beauty preferences — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 294; Status pursuit rationally outweighs practical utility in many consumer decisions — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 154

Broader Connections

• People rationalize status desires as quality and beauty preferences #expands (0.74) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 294
• Status-seeking makes many choices nonrational yet still materially rewarding #expands (0.72) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 187