We've all done it. You're standing in the checkout line at Target, and you see a shiny new gadget on the shelf next to your items. It's so cool! And it's only $50! So you impulse buy it, forgoing things like milk or eggs that seemed more important just minutes ago.
But why do we impulsively buy things? What is happening inside our brains to make us put down our money without thinking about what we really need first? The answer might lie with one of psychology's most famous experiments: Walter Mischel's Marshmallow Test.
In this experiment, children were seated alone in a room and given marshmallows on a plate. They could eat them whenever they wanted, but if they wanted the marshmallow on the other side of the room that one that they couldn't see or touch they had to wait until the experimenter came back.
If they couldn't do it, they would get no second marshmallow. For many children tested, seeing a marshmallow on a plate became too much to resist and they gobbled down the one in front of them before the researcher returned.
The study was designed to test children's ability to delay gratification, but researchers also found that children who were able to wait longer for their reward tended to be more successful later in life than those who could not wait. It turns out that impulse buying is very similar because when we impulsively buy something today, we are really choosing between a marshmallow now or a handful later.
"This explains why you don't buy the bulk toilet paper!" says Dr. David McRaney, creator of the You Are Not So Smart blog and podcast. "You choose to impulsively buy it at the last minute because your brain's been saving up that future pain for a 'rainy day.'"
But what makes some people more successful at impulse control than others?
According to McRaney, self-control is much like a muscle: use it or lose it. People who have successfully trained themselves to be patient can easily wait for things they want, but those who have never needed to develop their self-discipline are less able to resist impulses as adults. "They are like someone who can bench press 300 pounds," explains McRaney, "who has never trained for a marathon and then tries to run 26 miles."
The science behind impulse shopping may explain why we tend to see ads that offer limited-time discounts in the checkout line at the store. These clever ploys take advantage of our tendency to think about tomorrow rather than today, and they're designed to make us impulsively buy something by grabbing our attention with a quick sale before we have a chance to consider whether or not it's really worth it.
Once you start looking for these marketing tricks, you'll be surprised how many of them you notice!
I know another trick that works well. Did you ever think that if you go to a supermarket for bread and milk or any other essential items they are all at the back of the store. Imagine if you grab them at the front of the store and leave. With this strategy you have to go through all the items that would attract you, but you don't really need them.
Have you heard this before: I just came for bread and milk and I spent $40. That is why.