The nonfungibility of mental accounting: A revision

• Yuntong Gou

  Fourth Military Medical University

• Yuan Jiang

  Fourth Military Medical University

• Rui Li

  Fourth Military Medical University

• Danmin Miao

  Fourth Military Medical University

• Jiaxi Peng

  Fourth Military Medical University

Nonfungibility is taken to be the fundamental characteristic of mental accounting. We put forward the hypothesis that nonfungibility is not absolute: that there is a flow of money from an account containing consumer items of low psychological value to an account containing consumer items of high psychological value. To evaluate the hypothesis we designed 2 related experiments, and invited 236 undergraduates and 240 male workers to participate in the research. It was shown in Study 1 that there was a flow of money from a luxury account to either a communication or a food account, and from a communication account to a food account, but not in the opposite directions. In Study 2 it was found that with the increased attractiveness of a gamble, the flow of money into an entertainment account from other accounts became more likely. The results in this study offer preliminary evidence of the agility of mental accounts.

1. Yuntong Gou, Fourth Military Medical University
   Department of Psychology, School of Aerospace Medicine
2. Yuan Jiang, Fourth Military Medical University
   Department of Psychology, School of Aerospace Medicine
3. Rui Li, Fourth Military Medical University
   Department of Psychology, School of Aerospace Medicine
4. Danmin Miao, Fourth Military Medical University
   Department of Psychology, School of Aerospace Medicine
5. Jiaxi Peng, Fourth Military Medical University
   Department of Psychology, School of Aerospace Medicine

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