Psychological Impulses That Encourage Us to Spend Money
It’s always interesting to know how it influences our buying behavior. Of course, advertisers manipulate our habits, but our brains obey them because deep down we have a desire to consume. There are several natural motivations that make us want to spend more.
In Business Insider, writer Antonia Farzan quotes a book on the topic: Cool: How The Hidden Quest for Smart Toughness Affects Our Economy and Shapes Our World . The book says that there are three main motivations that drive us to consume.
Survival: According to the authors, our survival instinct makes us want to take what is in front of us. They point to a study published in the American Economic Review that showed that people are willing to pay more for something when it is physically present in front of them. And the difference is quite significant. In one study, they showed some people pictures of potato chips and asked how much they would pay for them. They showed the other group a bag of potato chips right in front of them, asking the same question. The researchers reported that “subjects’ willingness to pay for snacks increased 61 percent when presented with real items rather than text or images.”
Maybe something to keep in mind the next time your grocer gives out samples.
Habits: Our natural addiction to habits makes it so difficult to give up what we’re used to spending money on. We value routine, not results. So, even if it comes at the expense of our savings, it is difficult to break the spending habit. Consider the notorious example of a latte.
Goals: At the same time, the authors explain that we, too, have a psychological instinct to create goals. But sometimes we can think too much and get lost in details. They write:
“In the supermarket, your Goal pleasure car is the machine that made the list at home and then deliberately searches for those items within your budget. But if you’ve ever walked to the grocery store with someone deciding in ten minutes which salad dressing to buy while muttering about the pros and cons of different types and brands, you’ve seen the Goal pleasure machine in action. … “
Of course, there is nothing wrong with these instincts. But it helps to understand the role they play in our consumption. When we know, we can make more informed decisions about spending. To find out more, follow the link below.
Neuroscientists Identify 3 Irresistible Impulses That Affect Everything We Buy | Business Insider