Sure tightwads spend less money. The question is why, and what to do with that knowledge. A recent academic article examines how the pain of paying drives them to spend conservatively, even more than they would ideally like to.

Published in the April issue of Journal of Consumer Research, “Tightwads and Spendthrifts” uses a spendthrift-tightwad scale to measure individual differences in the tendency to experience a pain of paying.

Tightwads are those whose pain of paying might deter spending more than their rational minds would. The survey explains to respondents: “[Some] people have trouble spending money. Perhaps because spending money makes them anxious, they often don't spend money on things they should spend it on.” Don't confuse tightwads with those that are highly frugal. The report notes they may look similar in terms of spending, but those who are frugal spend less because they enjoy saving, not because the idea of spending is painful.

Spendthrifts' failure to feel that pain may lead them to spend more than they would prefer. The survey says: “Some people have trouble limiting their spending. They often spend money—for example on clothes, meals, vacations, phone calls—when they would do better not to.”

The difference between tightwads and spendthrifts is the greatest in situations that amplify the pain of paying and smallest in situations that diminish the pain of paying.

For example, some of the respondents were asked if they would pay a “$5 fee” for overnight delivery of a free set of videos as a thank you for completing a fictional survey. Others were asked if they would pay a “small $5 fee.” While spendthrifts were significantly more likely to say they would pay the fee (38 percent vs. 19 percent), the difference was much smaller for those who pay the “small” fee (37 percent vs. 28 percent). Calling the fee “small” helped mitigate the pain of paying for it.

The report says many retailers provide increasingly painless ways to pay, such as with a credit card. It suggests that finding ways to ease the pain of spending will cause those tightwads to spend more.

According to the research, tightwads outnumber spendthrifts 3-to-2. Males were two-and-a-half times more likely to be tightwads than spendthrifts. Age also made a difference: Tightwads outnumber spendthrifts 49-to-9 among the respondents 71 and older. The report points out that the data may point to the effects of growing up in different generations rather than people get more tightwaddish as they grow older.

The research found that among credit-card users, spendthrifts are three times more likely than tightwads to carry debt, and they tend to carry more debt. In addition, they tend to keep less money in savings. The research found little correlation with income levels.