You’ve probably done your own version of this. It’s been a rough week, you go out for one thing, and you come home with three. And the person who sold them to you could see that rough week on you before you’d noticed it yourself.

That isn’t a hunch. In one experiment, people who had just watched a sad scene from an old movie offered almost four times as much for a plain water bottle as people who had watched a calm film about a coral reef. It was the same bottle. The only thing that changed was their mood.

I spent 30 years in marketing, and a big part of that job was knowing what mood the customer would be in. Here’s what that looks like from the other side of the counter, and what you can do about it.

The one idea: a hot state

When a feeling gets strong enough, it starts doing some of your thinking for you. I call that a hot state.

The clearest test of it I know comes from Amsterdam. Researchers asked about 200 office workers to pick a free snack they’d get a week later, either fruit or something like a candy bar. Some chose right before lunch, when they were hungry, and some right after, when they were full. The snack was a week away, so how hungry they were that day shouldn’t have mattered. It did. The hungry group picked a lot more junk food.

That’s the catch with a hot state. While you’re in it, you assume you’ll feel the same way later. And anyone selling to you would much rather you decide now, while the feeling is still running the show.

Mood 1: Sad, lonely or worn down

Back to the water bottle. Here’s the honest part: that first study was small, only about 30 people. Ten years later, the same lab ran it again with new people. The effect showed up again, but it was smaller. So sadness does make people pay more, just not four times more every time. The researchers’ explanation is that sadness turns your attention inward, and buying something feels like a way to fix the feeling.

What gives it away: you say more than you meant to. “It’s been a hard year,” to someone who only asked if you needed help finding anything. You stay and chat longer than you need to, because you’re buying company as much as the product. Romance scammers build a whole business on this, and so do a lot of the “opportunities” that show up right after a funeral or a layoff.

In fairness, plenty of people who notice you’re down are just being kind. More on where the line is below.

Mood 2: Angry or feeling wronged

Researchers have found that people who tend to run angry expect things to go their way. They rate risks as smaller and are more willing to gamble. A large replication with almost 800 people found the same pattern.

What gives it away: you walk in with a grievance. “I’m so done with my current provider.” You tell the story of how the last company ripped you off, and what you want most is for someone to take your side.

Here’s how it gets used. The pitch opens by agreeing with you. “Oh, those guys? They do that to everybody.” Now the salesperson is on your team, and you’re about to make a big switch while you’re still mad. Sometimes you really were ripped off, and switching is the right call. Just make that call after you’ve cooled off, not while you’re still on the phone with the person who agreed with you.

Mood 3: Excited or in a hurry

This one has a tell on the seller’s side too. The friendly small talk before a pitch (“How’s your day going? Any big plans this weekend?”) is partly there to find out whether you’re in a good mood.

What gives it away: you lean in, you’re nodding before they finish the sentence, and you ask how soon you can have it before you ask how much it costs. A skilled salesperson keeps that excitement up on purpose, because the feeling has an expiration date. Sleep on it, and the hot state cools off, and so does the sale. That’s why the deposit “to hold your spot” shows up right when you’re most excited.

Real deadlines exist, and sometimes the excitement is right. The check is simple: was the deadline there before they met you?

The scam manual, in one line

At the end of 2025, Reuters reported on two handbooks recovered from raided scam compounds in the Philippines. They’re step-by-step guides to building a fake online relationship and then moving the person into a fake investment. On day one, the plan is to share “emotional experiences.” Money doesn’t come up for days. One line sums up the whole strategy:

“As long as the emotions are in place, the client’s money will naturally follow.”

In other words, they read your mood first, and the pitch comes second. Nobody can read your mind, and they don’t need to. Your mood is showing, and they’re trained to look for it.

The fix: name the weather

You beat them to it. Before you make any decision that costs money, check your mood the way you’d check the weather before you leave the house. Say what mood you’re in, out loud, in one plain sentence. “I’m sad and I’m shopping.” “I’m angry and I’m about to switch.” “I’m excited and they want a deposit.”

It sounds too simple to work, but there’s decent evidence it helps. In one study, people who were afraid of spiders spent time close to a big, live tarantula, and some of them were asked to describe what they were feeling out loud. A week later, facing a different spider in a different room, those people got less physically worked up than the people who had tried to talk themselves out of the fear or distract themselves. They still said they felt just as scared. Their bodies just didn’t react as much.

Putting the feeling into words gives you a little distance from it. Once you’ve named it, you can ask the question the seller is hoping you won’t: would tomorrow-me say yes to this? If you can’t answer that, say “I’ll get back to you tomorrow,” and let tomorrow-you decide.

Naming the weather is also the first move of the Source Test, the check we use on this channel for anything that wants your money or your trust. Stake: who gets what if I say yes today? Source: is there anything behind this deal besides how I feel right now? Steelman: giving the other side a fair hearing. If I still want it tomorrow, maybe it really is a good deal.

Where the line is

Here’s the strongest argument against all of this: everybody reads moods. Every good doctor does it, and so does every good friend. A salesperson who notices you’re upset and says, “Come back next week,” is using the same skill for the opposite purpose. What matters is what they do with what they see. Do they slow you down, or hurry you up?

I’ve been on the other side of this. Right after the holidays, I ran campaigns built on one idea: you didn’t get what you really wanted, so take the gift money and buy it yourself. When gas prices spiked and people were furious at the pump, I sold commercial electric vans into that anger. The vans were a good product, but the anger is what got me the meeting. And every spring, when tax refunds landed, I pushed a luxury item nobody needed. I never had to read anyone’s mind. The calendar told me what mood people would be in.

You can’t hide your mood, and you don’t have to. You just have to notice it before anyone else does, and say it out loud.

Questions people ask

Why do I buy things when I’m sad?

Sadness tends to turn your attention inward, and buying something can feel like a way to fix the feeling. In one small study, people who had just watched a sad film offered almost four times as much for the same water bottle. A later rerun by the same lab found the effect again, but smaller.

What is a “hot state”?

It’s any moment when a feeling is strong enough to do some of your thinking for you. While you’re in one, you assume you’ll feel the same way later. In one study, hungry office workers picked far more junk food for a snack they wouldn’t get for a week.

Does being angry make you take more risks?

It tends to. People who often run angry rate risks as smaller and are more willing to gamble, and a large replication with almost 800 people found the same pattern. Salespeople use it by agreeing with your anger, then pitching a big switch while you’re still upset.

How do scammers use emotions?

They read your mood before they ask for anything. A scam manual recovered from a raided compound in the Philippines, reported by Reuters, tells workers to share “emotional experiences” on day one and wait days before mentioning money. Its summary line: “As long as the emotions are in place, the client’s money will naturally follow.”

How do you stop impulse buying?

Before you spend, name the weather: say your mood out loud in one plain sentence, like “I’m sad and I’m shopping.” Then ask whether tomorrow-you would say yes. If you can’t answer, say “I’ll get back to you tomorrow” and let tomorrow-you decide.

Sources

• Cryder, C. E., Lerner, J. S., Gross, J. J., & Dahl, R. E. (2008). Misery is not miserly: Sad and self-focused individuals spend more. Psychological Science 19(6), 525–530.
• Garg, N., Williams, L. A., & Lerner, J. S. (2018). The misery-is-not-miserly effect revisited: Replication despite opportunities for compensatory consumption. PLOS ONE 13(6).
• Read, D., & van Leeuwen, B. (1998). Predicting hunger: The effects of appetite and delay on choice. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 76(2), 189–205.
• Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2001). Fear, anger, and risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 81(1), 146–159.
• Lu, Efendić & Feldman (2025). Registered replication of Lerner & Keltner (2001), n = 780. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
• Kircanski, K., Lieberman, M. D., & Craske, M. G. (2012). Feelings into words: Contributions of language to exposure therapy. Psychological Science 23(10), 1086–1091.
• McPherson, P., Huang, H., & Levine, A. (Dec 31, 2025). A scammer’s guide: How cybercriminals plot to rob a target in a week. Reuters.