Klontz and his team at Creighton University have made it their mission to help people learn to activate their emotional brain — to help them feel the long-term benefits of saving.
In one of Dr. Klontz's newest studies, he tested people's ability to save when they were coached from a logical or emotional perspective. While the logical group was educated about the importance of saving, the emotional group was asked to bring in a personal keepsake, an item they saved purely for emotional reasons.
In the emotional group, Klontz asked participants to consider the values and feelings associated with their keepsake and tie those to goals for their future. For example, one participant brought in his grandfather's money clip, which held a connection to family, one of his core values. It also reminded him of a sense of safety and security, motivating him to save more for his own family.
"We wanted to activate the emotional brain to show them that the same reason they saved [a memento] would be the same reason they save for the future," he says. "This bridged the gap between present and future.’”
In the end, participants who had their emotional brain stimulated saved nearly 200 per cent more.