The Psychology of a Cheapskate: Can You be Addicted to Saving Money? Saving money is one of the hardest things to do on a consistent basis. An estimated 28 percent of Americans don't have any money set aside for emergencies at all, and just under half of the American population claim to have less than three months' worth of household expenses saved. Yet a study conducted by Professor George Loewenstein of Carnegie Mellon found that despite the challenges people have with saving money, a significant 25 percent of study participants actually found it painful to spend money, even on basic and necessary needs. Are Americans Actually Addicted to Saving Money? While it seems more like a Utopian concept, the argument that some consumers may be addicted to saving money may not be as inconceivable as it sounds. The results uncovered that if participants liked the chocolate, the brain's reward center (the nucleus accumbens) demonstrated a positive reaction to seeing the candy -- this is the same area of the brain that is linked to other enjoyable acts like hearing music. Upon seeing the chocolate's price tag, however, the pain and disgust regions of the brain (the insula) showed activity -- a region that responds to such occurrences like smelling foul odors. These findings suggest that the brain's negative response to tapping into a bank account is its inherit way of reeling in consumers from seeking out too many pleasure-seeking experiences (i.e. chocolate, shopping sprees, etc.). This adverse response to the