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Addictive Buying: Causes, Processes, and Symbolic Meanings. Thematic Analysis of a Buying Addict's Diary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Irene García Ureta
Irene García Ureta*
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Irene García Ureta. Sarriena s/n. 48940 Leioa. Vizcaya. Spain Telephone.: 94-601-24-14. Fax: 94-601-35-96. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The aims of this study were twofold. On the one hand, to reach an understanding of, and to illustrate the experience of addictive buying and, on the other, to throw some light on the controversial subject of addicts' personal responsibility for their behavior. With these aims, a thematic analysis of an extensive diary written by a compulsive buyer is presented. Four themes emerge from the analysis: the defining characteristics of addiction to buying that determine the boundary separating it from other forms of impulsive or careless buying; several causal factors; the role that money and material objects play in family relationships and friendships through the symbolic meanings they adopt; and the relationship of personal values with impulsiveness and self-control. In view of the results, the moral model of addiction to buying is discussed, and an explanatory model of the ambivalence that is characteristic of addiction to buying is proposed, based on a personal hierarchy of values.

Con el doble objetivo de, por un lado, comprender y reflejar la experiencia humana de la adicción a la compra, y por otro lado, contribuir a dilucidar la controvertida cuestión de la responsabilidad personal del adicto sobre su comportamiento, se presenta el análisis temático de un extenso diario escrito por una adicta a la compra. Del análisis emergen cuatro temas: las características definitorias de la adicción a la compra que determinan la frontera con otras formas de compra impulsiva o irreflexiva, diversos factores causales, el papel que el dinero y los objetos materiales juegan en las relaciones familiares y de amistad a través de los significados simbólicos que adoptan y la relación de los valores personales con la impulsividad y el autocontrol. Los resultados guían la discusión sobre el modelo moral de la adicción a la compra y fundamentan la propuesta de un modelo que explica la ambivalencia propia de la adicción a la compra sobre la base de la jerarquía personal de valores.

Keywords

addiction to buyingcompulsive buyingthematic analysissymbolic consumptionpersonal valuesadicción a la compracompra compulsivaanálisis temáticoconsumo simbólicovalores personales
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , November 2007 , pp. 408 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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