Cashless effect (pain of paying)

Biological Parallel

Pain exists because immediate feedback shapes behavior better than delayed analysis. A burned hand recoils in milliseconds; the conscious recognition comes later. Cash transactions trigger immediate loss aversion—physical handover, diminishing wallet thickness, tactile feedback. Digital payments sever this sensory loop, like nerve damage that eliminates protective pain. We overspend not due to irrationality but because evolution built financial decisions on tangible resource transfer, and abstraction disables the warning system.