***
What have you choose
if you were that monkey…
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Source |
I was recently reading a book on Retail (yes I have a varied
interest and interest in everything!). It is the How to Succeed at Retail: Effective Brand Strategies, Case Studies, and
Practical Techniques by Keith Lincoln and Lars Thomassen. The edition is
quite old (printed in 2007) but I really like way it is written. The following
part which talks about how consumers can go crazy while shopping (seller’s
delight) and what causes that. Also includes a monkey experiment.
If you are in hurry then read only the bold texts. It will
still get the essence of it :D
***
People who shop like crazy may apparently be slightly mad (Sunday
Times, 2006a).
A new scientific study from the United States shows that decisions about what
to buy and what not to buy are made by a few neurons located in the
orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) – an area of the brain just behind the eyes. People who shop like crazy may not be
entirely normal and may indeed be slightly mad (Don’t tell me that I never warned you). Compulsive shoppers may have a dysfunction in a crucial decision-making
area of their brain. And we thought they were just simple shopaholics.
The study was subsequently published in Nature: 'We have long known that
different neurons in various parts of the brain respond to separate attributes,
such as quantity, colour and taste' (Camillo Padoa- Schioppa, the
neurobiologist who led the study).
But quite how those different attributes are reconciled has
been a mystery until now. You might, for example, like one shirt because it is
blue, but another because of its material and another for its pattern. How do
you choose between them or to buy any of them at all? To find out,
Padoa-Schioppa and his colleagues studied
the brain activity of macaque monkeys who were offered the choice between grapefruit
juice and orange juice in differing quantities. The monkeys generally preferred
grapefruit juice, but opted for orange juice under certain circumstances – if,
for example, a sufficiently greater quantity was available. When three times
more orange than grapefruit juice was offered, the monkeys switched their
choice. Not stupid, these monkeys.
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As usual Pics from internet edited in Paint Again! I need to have a image s/w installed in my work PC… And no this is not a macaque monkeys. I used this one as I liked the way it is thinking :D A B C |
They found that while different areas of the brain are involved in taste, the decision to change the choice was made by only a few neurons in the OFC. Any small lesions or damage to that area could cause shoppers to behave irrationally. Padoa-Schioppa said: 'When you go to compulsive shopping, I think it is safe to assume that there is a dysfunction in the OFC which is leading to it.' Now we can truly understand the female compulsion to buy shoes. And the male compulsion to buy gadgets. ( Just FYI – I like getting gadgets as gift more than Shoes….much more than Shoes)
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Source |
Such dysfunctions may be involved in other addictions as
well. In various brain scans, when people gamble, we see the OFC light up.
Similarly, drug addiction is a type of impulsive behaviour. 'I used to be buying something nearly every
day, it's just this thing where I have to buy something. It's a force stronger
than me. I can't control it' (Juliana De Angelis (Sunday Times, 2006a),
a sales rep from West London). (Sounds so
much like me in Jan 2012…okay whom am I kidding?...sounds like a ‘always’ Me
but not every day…for me it’s every weekends but there are the weekday buys
from online shops as well )
One 20-year-old has been known to spend £15,000 ($28,000) in
one weekend (yes..this is the weekend
shopping that I was talking about….thanks Keith and Lars for
mentioning the weekend part) on shopping sprees in New York – Coleen
McLoughlin, fiancée of the English footballer Wayne Rooney, who has become a
national emblem of shopaholism…..now that
what I do not intend to be
***
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National Emblem of Shopaholism - Coleen McLoughlin - Source |
no I am not calling you a monkey…..
also I am giving u a
choice between
3 Maybelline (including any shades u want…even the US only ones)
&
1 MAC lipcolor (any special LE one)
*monster laugh*
Do share :D
siigghhhh.. i guess now its proved that I am MAD! the "pati" would have that "i told u so" smirk on is face now :P hehehhehe but honestly Sayani? I dont mind a bit being mad ;) am sure you dont too ;)
ReplyDeletewho will 'Mind' being 'Mad' for such a beautiful reason ;)
DeleteI don't have this problem! YAY! I do get obssessed with products or shoes or gadgets but I don't buy them till the time is right. LOL! Still waiting to get a Samsung Galaxy S2 T^T
ReplyDeletesame pinch...but me...right time = when I have the Mooooneee Honey :D
DeleteI guess I'm mad too.. I always used to suspect it, but now I have proof! Yay! :D..
ReplyDeleteYay!! Hi5...but I still respect you a lot that u go not go like 50 blushes and 70 lipsticks ;)
Deletei am not slight mad but FULLY mad!! LOL
ReplyDeletei am sure many who read this post felt exactly that way :D
DeleteI was never mad but I have become mad, what you say :p some neoronal changes have taken place since I entered the Makeup blog world :p he he he!
ReplyDeleteChange is Good :D
DeleteMore than mad I'm obsessed !!!
ReplyDeletehe he
Deletehmmmmmm!! huh!!??? Whaaat???!!
ReplyDeleteWow.....I am mad too........:)
ReplyDelete