Women love online shopping much more than men, which is confirmed today by numerous marketing studies. Psychologists from different perspectives analyze this phenomenon.
A survey of two thousand Britons conducted in 2013 showed that most men get bored after about twenty-six minutes of shopping, while women feel great during two hours of a shopping marathon. For this reason, 80% of the stronger shopping trip with their half - a real test, and 45% flatly refuse such a pastime. Almost half of the joint exits end up in disagreements since it is common for men to make quick choices, while their companions need time and more carefully familiarize themselves with the goods in order to make a decision. What is hidden behind so many different behaviors when it comes to online shopping in Pakistan? This question was asked by the researcher in the field of transpersonal psychology Steve Taylor in his book "The Fall",
A survey of two thousand Britons conducted in 2013 showed that most men get bored after about twenty-six minutes of shopping, while women feel great during two hours of a shopping marathon. For this reason, 80% of the stronger shopping trip with their half - a real test, and 45% flatly refuse such a pastime. Almost half of the joint exits end up in disagreements since it is common for men to make quick choices, while their companions need time and more carefully familiarize themselves with the goods in order to make a decision. What is hidden behind so many different behaviors when it comes to online shopping in Pakistan? This question was asked by the researcher in the field of transpersonal psychology Steve Taylor in his book "The Fall",
HUNTERS AND GATHERERS
Until about the eighth millennium BC, all of humanity lived through the hunt for wild animals - this was done by men, and the gathering of wild fruits and plants is the prerogative of women. “At the same time, women can rightly be called true earners,” says Steve Taylor. “It is assumed that they brought from 80 to 90% of the food since the diet of our predecessors was predominantly vegetarian-only 10-20% of it was occupied by meat food.” Around the eighth millennium BC, agriculture and the domestication of animals began to emerge in the Middle East, which gradually spread in Asia and Europe. “It's no wonder that after so many thousands of years of hunting and gathering, it remained in our blood, referring us to our shopping habits,” says Taylor. - And when a woman does the shopping, "they realize their former instincts of“ gatherers, "only researching trees for the most worthy fruits now turns into a close study of one store after another." At the same time, men's shopping habits may be associated with the occupation also preserved in gene memory - hunting. And this can explain the fact that men are more likely focused on a single goal: to search for one subject in their field of vision and are not inclined to deviate from this. Indeed, in prehistoric times, they also had one task: to quickly kill the animal and go home. They did not have to, like women, spend much time neither on long movements in space nor on inspecting their prey, checking for edibility. They only hunted down the animal, killed it, and immediately delivered to the home. "Maybe, The desire of modern men to leave the store as soon as possible is also based on an ancient instinct: if the hunter left the dead animal for too long, other predators could encroach on him, ”says Steve Taylor. “In addition, the hot and humid climate also did not allow men to rest - the production had to be delivered as quickly as possible to a safe and secluded place.” The same animalistic theory of the connection of modern buying habits and the experience of “hunter-gatherers”, preserved in our genetic code, is proved by anthropologists Daniel Kruger and Dreyson Byker. ** As a result of a series of experiments in shopping centers, they found that women were much more successful in doing activities that were associated with leisurely gathering, even considering that the environment and objects did not correspond at all with what our predecessors had to face. At the same time, men scored big points in the competitions, which were associated with hunting... Online Shopping in LahoreSHOPPING - TWO DIFFERENT ROADS
“The very characteristics of the psychosexual development of men and women are directly reflected in differences in purchasing behavior,” says Jungian analyst Lev Khegay. Girls are brought up more social, docile, suggestible, collective. In the upbringing of boys, independence and individualism are emphasized, even to the point of allowing rebellion. And for women, going to the store is not only a necessity to get something but also an opportunity to relax and have fun, often to chat with friends. “For men, if they don’t have a goal to buy something specific, social dependence on the store and society can be annoying,” says Khegay. - If they have a need to buy something, they will do it with tenacity, fully focusing on the goal. Indeed, success and effectiveness are more important for men, while for women it is the process itself. ” It is no coincidence that according to statistics, representatives of the strong half make more purchases on the Internet. According to Lev Khegai, this gives them the opportunity to get all the information about the product and feel their competence, while maintaining the illusion of independence from society. There is a result, but there is no feeling of compulsion.
Family therapist Maria Askolskaya draws attention to the fact that joint online shopping is a good psychological lesson in its own way, aimed at the ability to feel a partner: he is tired, he is not very interested now, or, on the contrary, he is passionate and cannot interrupt. Given the objective gender differences, people have the opportunity to transfer this internal experience to other areas of family life, avoiding the desire to remake a partner for themselves, which is a common cause of quarrels. This turns out to be an opportunity to learn to give each other more mutual freedom, when, if necessary, supporting the partner with advice, no one loses the opportunity to move away and do something else.
Shopping - pleasure or addiction?
A scale for assessing addiction to shopping was developed by Norwegian psychologists. They found out exactly what traits of character push us to make purchases.
clinical psychologist Cecilie Schou Andreassen from the University of Bergen (Norway) leads a research project to study shopping addiction. “Modern technology makes shopping more convenient and affordable, which turns into a problem for people who are inclined to uncontrolled shopping. The influence of social networks and aggressive marketing exacerbates the situation. Dependence on shopping is more common in women, usually begins at the end of adolescence or at the beginning of adulthood, sometimes such unhealthy trends soften with age, ”says Cecilia Andreassen.
What kind of customer are you?
The researchers found that certain personality traits (according to the so-called five-factor personality model, in which extraversion, neuroticism, complaisance, honesty, and openness to the new stand out) are more common in people who are addicted to shopping. Other features, by contrast, impede the development of such a relationship.
“As our studies show, neurotic individuals, as well as extroverts, are at risk. Extroverts often try to make themselves known through shopping; they also try to increase their social status and attractiveness in this way. Neurotics are unsure personalities with a tendency to depressive and anxiety disorders, with the help of purchases they try to drown out their internal problems and weaken negative emotions. However, intrusive shopping alone can lead to emotional problems, ”says Cecilia Andreassen. The study showed that the symptoms of this form of dependence are largely reminiscent of the symptoms of more severe types of addiction - alcohol, and drugs.
On the contrary, such personality traits as honesty, complaisance, and openness to the new often prevent the development of addiction to purchases, since people who have these features clearly show either good self-control or try to avoid unpleasant situations that can lead to uncontrolled shopping, or have unusual hobbies and consider shopping too banal.
The Bergen Shopping Dependence Rating Scale identifies seven criteria for addiction. Each of them is evaluated on a five-point scale: 0 - completely disagree, 1 - disagree, 2 - disagree, but also do not deny, 3 - agree, 4 - completely agree. The criteria are as follows:
- You constantly think about shopping/online shopping.
- You go shopping to cheer yourself up.
- You spend a lot of time shopping at the expense of your core responsibilities (work, study).
- It seems to you that you need to buy more and more in order to feel the previous level of pleasure from this process.
- You have already promised yourself that you will stop buying so many things, but you could not keep your promise.
- If something interferes with shopping/shopping, your mood will go bad.
- You spend so much time and money on purchases that it affects your well-being.
See C. Andreassen et al. For more details. “The Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale: reliability and validity of a brief screening test”, Frontiers in Psychology, September 2015.
Author: Hamza Sarfraz
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