...designer dress without a gram of guilt. Going shopping was part of the routine for the protagonists of the program and Carrie became a fashion icon that illustrated the relationship between women and shopping. Is it true that we shop more than men, that shopping pleases us on a bad day or we have this uncontrollable urge? Researchers agree that its much more than opening the wallet and removing the card. In fact, women complete many of the visits to a store or mall without purchasing anything. That’s because for women these visits also symbolize entertainment, creativity, pleasure and independence. Which matters much more than just buying, says Patricia Huddleston, consumer specialist at the University of Michigan, in her book behavior Consumer Behavior: Women and Shopping. But is there such thing as too much shopping? Shopping addiction is characterized by an uncontrollable urge to buy unnecessary and superfluous products and when the wild and compulsive consumption exceeds the financial capacity of the person it is when the problems begins. In this post we will see what is Compulsive Shopping Disorder, its main problems and how we can overcome it. What is shopping addiction? As mentioned earlier, shopping addiction is an uncontrollable impulse to buy products that a person does not need. This disorder ends up creating a relationship of dependency and tolerance. In other words, the feeling of compulsive shopping will grow progressively worsening over time, and...
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...Running head: ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIORS Exploring online consumer Behaviors John A. Smith & Jane L. Doe Liberty University Abstract Internet usage has skyrocketed in the past few decades, along with this increase comes the increase in internet shopping by consumers. This research examines the behaviors, motivations, and attitudes of this new form of consumer entity. Online consumer behavior has been studied for over 20 years and will undoubtedly be the source of many future researches as internet consumerism expands. This paper will examine the following research questions: (1) How do factors previously researched affect the online purchasing behavior of consumers and (2) what are the significant consumer behaviors both positive and negative that affect internet consumerism? By identifying these factors and variables, new strategies can be formulated and both consumer and supplier can gain knowledge and understanding of behaviors which exist. The purpose of this research paper is to integrate the varied research information together and draw coherent linkages to how consumer thoughts, attitudes and motivational behavior affect online buying, thus building a broader framework of analysis in which to build upon. Introduction The Internet has...
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...com/article/SB10001424052970204903804577080261756886728.html?... Page 1 of 4 HEALTH JOURNAL December 6, 2011 Shop 'Til You Stop: How to Treat Compulsive Spending By MELINDA BECK Daily door-buster deals … friends and family discounts … free shipping if you spend over $150! For an estimated 6% of Americans with compulsive buying tendencies, this is a tough time of the year. "The whole culture conspires against us in the holiday season," says April Lane Benson, a Manhattan psychologist who has treated compulsive shoppers for 15 years. Besides tempting sales, pressure to top last year's gifts and the urge to shop for oneself, she says, "the holidays bring up a lot of unfulfilled longing for some people—and that's one reason why they shop, as a salve for disappointment." While the stereotypical compulsive shopper is traditionally a woman in her 30s, experts say the ease and speed of Internet shopping is luring more men and more young people. Over Black Friday weekend, men outspent women $484 to $317, on average, according to the National Retail Federation. Men also spent an average of $200 online—twice as much as the average woman. In a 2005 survey of 195 U.K. teenagers, who grew up with the Internet, 44% showed signs of compulsive shopping habits, according to research published in the British Journal of Psychology. "The Internet is dangerous for compulsive buyers in two ways," says psychiatrist Elias Aboujaoude, director of the Impulse Control Disorders Clinic at Stanford University School...
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...Why Compulsive Spending Hurts You And How To Stop Doing It Shopping is a popular pastime for people of all ages. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, people under 35 years of age spend more on apparel and services than any other age group. If you are under the age of 35 and have money to spend, odds are that you can relate to this. There are the obvious exceptions such as financially responsible youth, or shopaholic adults but for the most part young people are a lot more likely to spend money on things they do not need. Do you ever go to the mall to “window shop” only to walk out holding 3 bags after having had lunch at the food court? I know this feeling all too well and can say that the feeling of satisfaction is only short-lived in comparison to the feeling of regret when you realize that your wallet feels a lot lighter. If you can relate to this feeling, you may have a problem that is asking to be fixed. There are multiple steps to take in order this unfortunate habit. These steps include: * Identifying whether or not you have a problem * Determining the reasons you manage to accommodate this problem * Finding the easiest ways for you to stop compulsive purchases What is compulsive shopping? (Woman holding multiple shopping bags) Many people go to the supermarket in search for one item and come back with bags full of unnecessary groceries. Sometimes you walk into a store only to realize that you’ve been in need of a burgundy scarf but did not...
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...To me, compulsive overeating is a disease where a person has no control over their food intake. It's a constant eating, a wanting for a more and more. You can't get enough, sort of like a junkie looking for the next high. That is my relationship with food. And I have no control. People that suffer from Compulsive Overeating have what can be labeled not only as an eating disorder, but also as an addiction and even more so as an illness. There are many reasons why people become addicted to food, many using eating as a way to cope with problems or stress in their lives. Eating can also help them conceal their emotions, to fill the emptiness that they feel inside. Food is used as a narcotic to not deal with their feelings or emotions. The tendency for people with this eating disorder is overweight because of the abnormal eating habits. People that do not suffer from the epidemic can and won’t empathize with the victims because of the common stereotypes, stereotype such as greed, gluttony or lack of disciple. Simple suggestions to a sufferer such as “Just slow down or go on a diet” are equally insulting as telling a person suffering from Anorexia to “eat something”. Not only are the words hurtful, but this disorder will negatively bleed into the body and causes health risks. A sufferer with this Compulsive Overeating disorder is prone to high blood-pressure and cholesterol, can develop kidney disease or kidney failure, arthritis, deterioration of the bones, strokes, heart attacks,...
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... Food addiction is a real addiction, just like those related to drugs and alcohol. It most often shows up as a compulsive need to eat. This can occur even when you are not physically hungry. Food, like drugs or alcohol, can trigger the release of dopamine in the brain. This chemical is related to pressure. If you are addicted to food then you can get bad eating habits in the middle of the night, Feeling Ashamed and guilty of bingeing. Food Addiction is a like being addicted to drugs saw Technically it is the same. If you get food addiction you may be overweight but it is not your fault. If you eat Processed food from McDonald’s or any other stores with processed food your body can get more effected than usual. Some symptoms about food addiction can cause cancer. Furthermore, increasing evidence is showing that obesity is really the result of the true disease, including eating disorders and food addictions. Obesity was not always a problem. Over the past decades obesity has become more of a worry to the common man than it was one hundred years ago. Some people believe that the consumption of calories twenty years ago is no more than the caloric consumption today. Someone who is addicted or hooked psychologically believes that they cannot function without this substance in their bodies because once they eat processed food they cannot take their eyes of it. Compulsive eaters crave and continue to eat those allergenic foods to which they are addicted...
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...Mental Health in order to work with families in a person [spelling error] cent[e]red, strength based manner to ensure sustainable results. I incorporate Jansson’s steps of, diagnosing the context to identify contextual constraints and opportunities, softening the context to make it more amenable to a specific policy initiative and lastly activating change to get a decision maker or legislator to put an issue on the agenda of the other decision makers in the agency, community or legislative setting. (Jansson, 2003, pp. 148-165). Diagnosing Context What is Hoarding and Squalor In May 2013, for the first time ‘Hoarding Disorder’ was defined, and included in a new chapter of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 (DSM-5) on Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. Hoarding is regarded as abnormal (pathological) if there has been excessive collection of items such as clothing, newspapers, electrical appliances, food packaging (with many such items appearing to have little or no...
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...ability to function,” Tolin says (Metcalf 1). Many individuals may keep things that they do not need; however, if they cannot live in their home securely or their living situation poses a danger to others, then it becomes a matter of concern. Hoarding, therefore, can be categorized by the persistent inability to desert or separate with possessions despite their actual value. Hoarding, however, although gaining some popularity through television shows, is still not respected as a serious disorder. Thus, although individuals may be aware of the hoarding disorder, they do not understand it, as well as knowing the symptoms and the treatments that take place. Before hoarding appeared in 1980 as one of nine diagnostic criteria for obsessive-compulsive personality disorder in DSM-II (Frost 5), the earliest reference to hoarding was written in a poem by Dante Aligheri’s in the 14th century, followed by other references in literature written by other authors such as Charles Dickens'. However, within the mid 20th century, psychologist William James theorized that one’s sense of self is a fusion between “me” and “mine.” (Frost 3). Based on this, psychologist Erich Fromm suggested one's acquisitions are a way for some individuals to speak to the world around them, as well as to express what is central to one’s character. Fromm's theory, a “hoarding orientation” was one of four types of a dysfunctional character. This orientation corresponded with a fundamental orientation to existence – “having...
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...have severe anxiety when attempting to discard items such as Hoarders, Extreme Clutter, or Hoarding: Buried Alive. In a recent study The Relationship Between Self-Control Deficits and Hoarding: A Multimethod Investigation Across Three Samples (2012) which looked at self-control and hoarding and wanted to see if there was a significant relationship. The researchers looked at self-control from a resource model that was created from a theoretical framework (Timpano & Schmidt, 2013). Literature states that “Self control can be exhausted through physical, cognitive, and emotional mechanisms“ (Timpano & Schmidt , 2013, p. 13). Upon looking at self control, researchers also wanted to see if there is any relevance of self-control to compulsive hoarding. Prior to Timpano & Schmidt (2013) studied, there has been no study or literature that has explicitly investigated the relationship between self-control and hoarding. However, previous studies have seen that “individuals with hoarding often had the intent to tackle their saving and acquiring behaviors, yet lacked the necessary behavioral follow-through (Timpano & Schmidt, 2013). In other words, the findings demonstrated that there was a possibility that there was no self-control when trying to follow through. The study conducted three different studies ,which had three different purposes . The first purpose of...
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...Donghua University Undergraduate Research Project: Motivations for impulsive buying behavior and the effective marketing strategies selling grocery products Case: CITY SHOP By: Ilja Khanan Nationality: Germany Major Business Administration Student ID: 113110246 Supervisor: Nikola Zivlak Date: June 2014 Abstract For over sixty years, marketers and consumer researchers have studied Impulsive-buying behavior. Today, 30 to 60% of all purchases are impulsive in the USA (Crawford & Melewar 2003) for different product categories and it is considered to have a $4.2 billion annual volume. That’s why it is becoming more important for marketers to understand how people can be influenced when shopping in order to increase revenues and profits. Millions of dollars are spent on in-store marketing efforts. Over the years, different models have been created for marketers to better understand the key drivers that lead to impulsive buying. This dissertation is written for the retailer or marketer who will adjust their marketing strategies to capture the opportunities of the consumer impulse purchases. This dissertation focuses on City shop and the strategies they use to encourage impulsive buying behavior. The thesis will cover the following topics in regard to impulsive buying: - Factors and influences that lead to impulsive buying behavior? - The different promotional approaches used by marketers? - What personal traits influence consumers...
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...Benefits of Online Shopping Over Shopping From Traditional Stores Online Shopping is fast: While you have to go through a number of steps to purchase items from traditional stores, all these steps are eliminated when you buy a product online. For instance, you do not need to get out of your bed, change clothes, get in your car, drive amidst the traffic, look for a parking stop, search for the product you want in huge aisles and then stand in the queue to pay for it. Shopping for Products Online is Simple: Not only is online shopping fast, it is also extremely simple. You just have to choose a product and place an order for it without having to get up from your couch. The order is delivered at Your Doorstep: You have to visit a traditional store to buy an item from there, however if you shop for products online, your order will be delivered to you at your house or any other location within days or weeks. Affordable Prices: Products are available at more economical rates online compared to traditional stores; hence, it is wise to shop for expensive products including consumer electronics from e-stores. You are Easily Able to Find Good Items for Special Occasions: When events like the Fathers Day, Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day come closer, the markets get jam-packed and you are unable to find a decent gift at a reasonable price. However, you can easily find excellent Father’s Day Gifts to give to your dad on the Father’s Day, and presents for other occasions online at great...
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...Are You a Shopaholic? 3 Steps To Fixing Your Addiction 1 Posted June 26, 2012 by Danica Saarah Nelson in Advice “The first step to recovering is admitting you have a problem,” is a cliché we hear all the time. But do you see overspending on constant shopping trips as a crucial life issue that’s nearly as harmful as drugs or alcohol? It can be! Spending your disposable income on unnecessary items (especially when they’re charged to your credit card) is a surefire way to an unsuccessful and unhappy future. Below are the first three steps you can take to curing your illness. Step 1 – Remove Yourself From ALL Mailing Lists It’s hard, but it’s the easiest way to avoid succumbing to the temptations of spending money on something you wouldn’t have otherwise if you weren’t victim to that specific e-mail. If you REALLY want to get exclusive information on a sale or get your hands on a coupon code, a simple Google Search will do the trick. Removing yourself from every mailing list you’ve subscribed to is your first step towards curing your spending habits! Step 2 – Ditch the Plastic. Adopt the Paper! This one is pretty simple. All you have to do is take your Credit and Debit Cards out of your wallet. People essentially spend less when they’re using cash because they can see for themselves how quickly it can decrease as opposed to when you’re using plastic, you just swipe and go. Ever change your mind about purchasing something because you don’t want to break your $20? Then...
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...Baltimore, MD 21287, USA b a r t i c l e in fo Article history: Received 14 February 2008 Received in revised form 7 April 2008 Accepted 8 April 2008 Keywords: Hoarding Prevalence Risk factors Personality disorders Comorbidity abstract Little is known about the prevalence and correlates of hoarding behavior in the community. We estimated the prevalence and evaluated correlates of hoarding in 742 participants in the Hopkins Epidemiology of Personality Disorder Study. The prevalence of hoarding was nearly 4% (5.3%, weighted) and was greater in older than younger age groups, greater in men than women, and inversely related to household income. Hoarding was associated with alcohol dependence; paranoid, schizotypal, avoidant, and obsessive–compulsive personality disorder traits; insecurity from home break-ins and excessive physical discipline before 16 years of age; and parental psychopathology. These findings suggest that hoarding may be relatively prevalent and that alcohol dependence, personality disorder traits, and specific childhood adversities are associated with hoarding...
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...can occur in a variety of psychiatric disorders and in the normal population, but are most commonly found in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Hoarding creates a lot of problems; both for the hoarder and those around them. One is just navigating through a congested obstacle course of stuff in a house becomes difficult. To get something requires searching through stacks of stuff. To put something away requires a nuisance of movement of all the stuff in the cramped area, as well as thinking and decisions on how to do it. Another problem is that there are no areas to do any real work such as counters, tables or workbenches. All this consumes a huge amount of time and energy of the people who live in such conditions. According to demographics, psychiatrists estimate between 2% and 5% of the adult population in the United States and Canada are compulsive hoarders. In North America alone, there are about 4000 cases of animal hoarding involving up to 250,000 reported animals. (Frey, 760) Researchers only began to study hoarding in the 1980s so it is possible that the actual rate of hoarding is higher than reported. This disorder is more common among older adults though it can typically begin in late childhood or adolescence and will become worse as the person grows older. There is no evidence that ethnicity or race is a factor in compulsive hoarding. Men are more likely than women to become hoarders but women typically begin hoarding at an earlier age. Hoarding disorder...
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...Lukasz Giza Essay discussing causes of disorders for three selected case studies The case of Bess Obsessive compulsive disorder commonly referred to as OCD is an anxiety disorder; people who suffer from OCD act compulsively and have obsessive thoughts. The fear of contamination is most common type of OCD; it leads to compulsive cleaning rituals as fear of germs, or dirt is a frightening thought for OCD sufferers. OCD could be explained biologically and psychologically. Genes could be a factor that could expose one to OCD. It is thought of that OCD could be passed on genetically. Family studies are good source supporting this theory; the siblings, parents or children of OCD sufferer have 50% genes similar to the OCD sufferer. The risk of getting OCD is between 2-3%, if the percentage is bigger than 2-3% within the family members it is the suggested as an evidence for genetic influences. Close family members have 10-15% risk of developing OCD which stands as a strong evidence. Another study has concentrated on the twins both identical and fraternal. The twins that were studied where selected based on if one had definitely OCD and they looked if the other twin had it too. The results showed that the second twin had 53-87% risk of developing OCD. With the fraternal twins the risk was smaller at 23-43%. To fully understand OCD psychological factors that could trigger OCD need to be taken into consideration too. Regression to an anal stage is an example of psychodynamic explanation...
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