Is Impulse Buying a Survival Instinct?購(gòu)物沖動(dòng)原是生存本能？

by Bryan Borzykowski

喬皙 譯

Is Impulse Buying a Survival Instinct?購(gòu)物沖動(dòng)原是生存本能？

by Bryan Borzykowski

喬皙 譯

買買買……

在這個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)快速發(fā)展的社會(huì)中，人們的消費(fèi)欲望不斷膨脹，相信大家對(duì)去年 “雙11購(gòu)物狂歡節(jié)”的瘋狂勁兒還記憶猶新！原本以為遇上打折促銷是撿了大便宜，不買就虧了，但我們都輸給了精明的商家，買了很多東西卻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己根本用不著。那么，有什么辦法讓自己把錢花在真正有用的東西上？剁手族必看。

B efore the 26-year-old Indianapolis-based communications professional buys anything she asks herself a series of questions, such as, “do I need the item?” and “will it be useful in the long run?”

Once quite the1)spendthrift, Kumok blew through her budget, buying items on sale that she didn’t need and spending too much money dining out.While she didn’t max out credit cards or bury herself in debt, Kumok was spending above her means.

She now has a list of products that she absolutely will not buy, including books, notebooks and office supplies—three things she doesn’t need, but used to love to spend money on, to the2)detrimentof her bank account.

A big part of the problem: impulsivity.When Kumok moved to London for a year, for instance, she bought every guidebook she could find, including specialised titles likeA Book Lover’s Guide to Londonand obscure guides to specifc areas of the city.She couldn’t help herself.

Kumok didn’t read a single one of the guidebooks and had to pay $150 in extra baggage fees to bring them home.

Impulse spending is a big problem for many people.A 2012 Bank of Montreal survey, for instance, found that Canadians spend, on average, CAD $3,720 ($2,987) each year on impulse buys.A 2014 Creditcard.com survey found that 75% of Americans had made an impulse buy, with 10% of people spending more than $1,000 on a single item.A Nielsen study, conducted last year, found that impulsivity led 52% of people in Thailand, 48% of people in India and 44% of people in China to buy something they didn’t need.

Why are people so3)proneto making4)split-secondmoney decisions, many of which are detrimental to their bank accounts? And how can you resist the urge?

1 ) spendthrift ['spendθr?ft] n.浪費(fèi)金錢的人，揮金如土的人

2 ) detriment ['detr?m?nt] n.損害，傷害

3 ) prone [pr??n] adj.易于……的，傾向于……的

4 ) split-second 瞬間發(fā)生的，霎那間發(fā)生的

這位26歲的印第安納波利斯傳播專家買任何東西前都會(huì)自問一連串問題，如“我需要這件商品嗎？”還有“是否可以用很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間？”

庫莫克曾經(jīng)是個(gè)揮霍無度的人，常常超出預(yù)算，買她不需要的打折商品，在外出就餐方面花費(fèi)太多。雖然沒有刷爆信用卡，不至于負(fù)債累累，但庫莫克花錢比賺錢快。

現(xiàn)在她有一張清單，上面記錄著她絕對(duì)不會(huì)買的東西，包括書、筆記本、辦公用品——這三種東西是她不需要而又曾很喜歡花錢買、有損銀行賬戶的。

其中一大問題是：沖動(dòng)。庫莫克就是一個(gè)例子，她曾到倫敦生活一年，一到那里她就買了所有她能找到的旅游指南，其中有針對(duì)性明確的，如《書蟲倫敦指南》，也有對(duì)倫敦某個(gè)地方作粗略介紹的。她控制不了自己。

那些指南庫莫克一本都沒看過，但卻要另外花150美元的行李費(fèi)把它們帶回家。

沖動(dòng)消費(fèi)是很多人的一大問題。例如， 2012年蒙特利爾銀行的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，加拿大人每年平均花3,720加元（2,987美元）在沖動(dòng)購(gòu)物上。2014年Creditcard網(wǎng)站的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，有75%的美國(guó)人曾沖動(dòng)購(gòu)物，其中10%的人曾在一件商品上花費(fèi)超過一千美元。去年尼爾森的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，沖動(dòng)使得52%的泰國(guó)人、48%的印度人和44%的中國(guó)人買了他們不需要的東西。

為什么人們?nèi)绱巳菀自诮疱X決策上魯莽行事，而大多數(shù)決定對(duì)他們的銀行賬戶不利？你怎樣才能抵擋這種沖動(dòng)？

The scarcity impulse

Ryan Howell, an associate professor of psychology at San Francisco State University in California in the U.S., said the impulse to buy, in part, is a survival instinct.Back in our hunter and gatherer days, when people saw something they wanted, they’d grab it, even if they didn’t need it, because it was likely they wouldn’t come across that item again.

“If you see something that seems to be running in short supply, you’re going to get it,” Howell said.

These days, such scarcity isn’t an issue—we can buy nearly anything we want if we have the means—but we often still approach life like our ancestors did, especially when it comes to a sale.When we see a 50% off clearance price tag, that scarcity impulse kicks into gear, Howell said.The feeling is, if we don’t buy that item now, it’s going to be gone forever—or at least at that good price.

There’s another reason why people buy things on a whim: it makes them feel good.Scott Rick, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan in the U.S.has found that the concept of retail therapy is a real thing.For some people, if they’re feeling sad, shopping will make them happier because it restores some control in their lives.It’s making the choice to buy or not to buy that helps people feel more in control.

Some research has also looked into how touch impacts our money decisions.In 2003, in the U.S., Illinois’ state attorney general’s office issued a statement around the Christmas holidays warning consumers to be careful about holding an object as it might encourage them to buy it.It might have been one of the odder public service announcements, but research indicates that touching an object increases feelings of ownership—and we don’t like to lose things that we own, Rick said.

稀缺沖動(dòng)

瑞安·豪厄爾是美國(guó)加利福尼亞州舊金山州立大學(xué)的心理學(xué)副教授，他說購(gòu)物沖動(dòng)是一種生存本能。在狩獵和采集年代，人們看到想要的東西就會(huì)去拿，即使他們不需要，因?yàn)樗麄兒芸赡懿粫?huì)再見到這件東西。

“如果你看到某種東西缺貨，你就會(huì)去買，”豪厄爾說。

現(xiàn)在，這種稀缺已不成問題，只要有能力，我們幾乎可以買到所有想要的東西，但我們?nèi)猿３Ｒ宰嫦鹊姆绞缴睿绕涫桥龅酱蛘鄣臅r(shí)候。我們看到五折的清貨標(biāo)簽時(shí)，稀缺沖動(dòng)就起作用了，豪厄爾說道。這種感覺就是，如果我們現(xiàn)在不買這件商品，以后就沒有了——至少?zèng)]有現(xiàn)在的優(yōu)惠價(jià)了。

人們沖動(dòng)購(gòu)物還有另一個(gè)原因：他們會(huì)因此感覺良好。斯科特·里克是美國(guó)密歇根大學(xué)的市場(chǎng)學(xué)助理教授，他發(fā)現(xiàn)購(gòu)物療法這個(gè)理論是可行的。對(duì)一些人來說，如果他們情緒低落，購(gòu)物會(huì)讓他們開心點(diǎn)，因?yàn)檫@讓他們重拾對(duì)生活的掌控。做出買或是不買這樣的選擇讓人們感到生活在控制之內(nèi)。

一些研究還探究了觸感對(duì)金錢決策的影響。在2003年，美國(guó)伊利諾斯州的司法部長(zhǎng)辦公室在臨近圣誕節(jié)時(shí)發(fā)表了一份聲明，提醒消費(fèi)者注意手里拿著的東西，因?yàn)樗赡軙?huì)讓你買下它。這可能是一份奇特的公共服務(wù)告示，但研究表明觸摸一件物品會(huì)增加擁有的感覺——而我們不喜歡失去所擁有物件的感覺，里克說。

This partly explains why we simply must have that car we just took for a test drive or why losing a house to another bidder can be so devastating.Often, the moment we sit behind the wheel or walk through a place, we want it.

But, we don’t immediately hand over our credit card in exchange for car keys because there’s a lot more work that goes into purchasing a vehicle or a house than a video game or a pair of trousers.In the case of the former, there’s a built-in time lag between when we want something and when we buy, Howell said.“It takes a lot of time and effort to think about a house and to pull the trigger,” he said.

However, we still make bad decisions during bidding wars.It’s surprisingly easy to drop an additional $5,000 on a house, even if it’s over the price limit you had set.The worry? It’s scarcity fear again.If we don’t get this house, another one might not come along.

“There are a lot of physiological5)variablesthat go into a bidding war,” Howell said, including the fact that it is exhilarating and emotional to bid and win.

Ultimately, our bad split-second money decisions come down to one thing: we don’t take the time to think.If that bidding war was done over days or weeks, rather than minutes or hours, it’s unlikely you’d keep hiking up the price of that house, Howell said.

5 ) variable ['ve?r??b（?)l] n.可變的事物，易變的事物

6 ) counteract [ka?nt?'r?kt] v.抵抗，抵制

7 ) dissipate ['d?s?pe?t] v.消散，驅(qū)散

8 ) rule out 不考慮，排除

因此，我們?cè)囻{后就要買那輛車，房子落入另一個(gè)投標(biāo)人手中會(huì)讓我們?nèi)绱穗y過，這就是其中一個(gè)原因。通常情況下，開過那輛車，走進(jìn)過那套房子，我們就會(huì)想擁有它。

不過，我們不會(huì)馬上遞上信用卡，換取車鑰匙，因?yàn)橘I一輛車或房子比買游戲機(jī)或褲子要復(fù)雜得多。在前一種情況中，在想要和購(gòu)買之間有一段拖延時(shí)間，豪厄爾說?！拔覀円ê芏鄷r(shí)間來認(rèn)真考慮一套房子，才會(huì)決定買下它。”他說道。

然而，我們?nèi)詴?huì)在投標(biāo)大戰(zhàn)中做出錯(cuò)誤的決定。我們很容易就會(huì)多花五千美金來買一所房子，雖然這超過了自己定下的價(jià)格上限。我們?cè)趽?dān)心什么呢？還是稀缺恐懼作祟。要是不買這房子，可能以后就買不到了。

“投標(biāo)大戰(zhàn)中涉及許多生理變量，”豪厄爾說，其中包括，投標(biāo)和勝出讓人興奮和激動(dòng)這個(gè)事實(shí)。

歸根結(jié)底，魯莽錯(cuò)砸金錢可歸結(jié)為：我們沒有花時(shí)間去思考。如果投標(biāo)大戰(zhàn)持續(xù)幾天或幾周，而不是只有幾分鐘或幾個(gè)小時(shí)，你就不太可能會(huì)不斷推高那房子的價(jià)格，豪厄爾說。

Resist the urge

Can you6)counteractyour natural tendencies? With a bit of discipline, it’s possible.Howell suggests waiting 24 hours before making any would-be impulse purchases, big or small.Of course, that means you need to recognise when you’re being tempted.If you still want the item the next day, then buy it if you can afford it.But most likely you’ll have forgotten about it or the intense must-have feelings will have7)dissipated.

Another trick: start monitoring your spending and pay with cash.If you are able to see just how much you’re parting with, you are more likely to end up only buying the things you really want.

Purposely over-examining purchases and8)ruling outcertain categories of items altogether has worked for Kumok.By running through her list of questions, she delays her purchasing decision and thinks hard about whether she needs an item.She buys almost no books these days and instead checks books out of the library, buying only tomes she really wants to own forever.

Of course, the urge to spend hasn’t disappeared.Just a few weeks ago Kumok walked into a store and saw a box of chocolates with a yellow tag on it.She thought the tag meant it was a sale and the familiar “buy now” feeling came over her.When Kumok got closer, she saw that it wasn’t a sale tag after all.Would she have bought the chocolates if they had been on sale? Probably, she said.

“Those little tags really do crazy things to people’s minds,”Kumok said.

抵抗沖動(dòng)

你能抵抗自己的內(nèi)在沖動(dòng)嗎？運(yùn)用一點(diǎn)自制力是有可能做到的。豪厄爾建議在任何可能的沖動(dòng)購(gòu)物前先等24小時(shí)，不管金額大還是小。當(dāng)然，這意味著你要在被誘惑時(shí)有所知覺。要是你第二天還是想要這件商品并買得起，那就買吧。但很可能你已經(jīng)把它忘了，或者“必須擁有”的感覺已經(jīng)消失了。

另一個(gè)方法：開始關(guān)注花費(fèi)，并用現(xiàn)金支付。如果你看到你花出去多少錢，你可能只會(huì)買真正想要的東西。

有目的地多加審視購(gòu)物行為，排除某些商品種類，這兩個(gè)方法在庫莫克身上可行。她給自己提出了一串問題，延遲購(gòu)買，認(rèn)真考慮是否需要。她現(xiàn)在幾乎不買書，取而代之的是到圖書館查找，只買那些想要永久收藏的經(jīng)典巨著。

當(dāng)然，花錢的沖動(dòng)不會(huì)消失。就在幾周前，庫莫克走進(jìn)一家商店，看見一盒貼著黃色標(biāo)簽的巧克力，她以為這個(gè)標(biāo)簽是打折的意思，那種“買買買”的熟悉感覺再次涌現(xiàn)，但走近一看并非如此。如果這些巧克力確實(shí)打折了，她會(huì)買嗎？很可能會(huì)，她說。

“那些小標(biāo)簽真的會(huì)讓人頭腦發(fā)熱，”庫莫克說。