How often have you walked into a store for a particular purchase and returned with bags full of things you didn’t really need, but couldn’t resist the temptation? Is it possible to overcome this temptation and stop being an impulsive buyer, asks the BBC.
Researchers from the Department of Psychology at Julius Maximilian University in Würzburg, Bavaria, led by Dr. Anand Krishna, decided to tackle this problem (their study was published in PLOS One).
Sometimes, scientists write, you make a purchase out of pure curiosity – for example, you take a delicacy that you have not tried before. Or you want to pamper yourself with something unusual. It can be anything – a chocolate bar, room decoration or designer jeans.
Sometimes you enjoy a spontaneous purchase, and sometimes you feel a burning guilt for wasted money. Most people know how to suppress this sudden urge to buy something that is not much or not necessary at all, but for this they must first be aware of the risk.
According to Dr. Krishna, it is impossible to separate the category of people prone to impulse buying, but the results of his team’s research provide a tool to protect against such behavior.
For example, those who like to enjoy life are, by definition, spontaneous. When they are in a good mood, they strive to experience joy, and without realizing it, they are attracted to the thing that promises to enhance that joy.
In this case, a relatively small pulse in the opposite direction is usually enough to pick up. Such an impulse, according to Krishna, can be the note “Stop!” in the wallet or something.
But there are people who care about safety and for them a note in their wallet will not be enough, they need time to think. Even impulsive purchases do not happen to them immediately.
“Is it really as tasty as it looks?” – thoughts run through their heads at the sight of a delicacy. However, the rejection process also takes more time. A detailed reminder message “I shouldn’t make reckless purchases today” will work for them, which they have to repeat several times, moving between the shelves with goods.
It may seem that such people are not at all at risk of spontaneous shopping, but this is not the case. If they are in a positive mood, their desire to please themselves is no less than that of those who seek natural pleasure. It’s just that the decision-making process for such people will take significantly longer.
At the same time, the authors of the study admit that they still do not understand the behavior of cautious buyers in situations where time is running out.
So don’t be surprised if, after getting on the scales in the morning and finding an unpleasant weight gain, you vowed not to approach the shelf with sweets, and then in the store you were irresistibly attracted to pick up a bar of chocolate in front of the box office itself (and they are often strategically placed there) when there is absolutely no time for reflection.
