Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T01:18:41.501Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Compulsive buying: a field study of mood variability during acquisition episodes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2008

Stephen Kellett  and
Peter Totterdell
Stephen Kellett*
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, UK
Peter Totterdell
Affiliation:
Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK
*
*Author for correspondence: Dr S. Kellett, Clinical Psychology Unit, University of Sheffield, UK. (email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Empirical investigations of mood variability during actual and ‘real time’ shopping episodes are absent from the compulsive-buying (CB) literature. A field experiment was therefore conducted with a participant meeting desired clinical and research requirements for identifying CB and a control subject for comparison purposes. Each participant went on four shopping trips and rated various parameters of mood and self-perception prior to, during and after each shopping trip. Each phase (i.e. pre-shop, shop and post-shop) lasted for 1.5 h, with ratings of mood and self-evaluation taken every 10 min. Results indicate that, although shopping was a guilty pleasure for the CB participant, there were more similarities than differences apparent in terms of mood and self-evaluation between the CB and control participant. The CB participant experienced significant levels of self-dislike during the shopping episodes. In terms of the comparisons between the pre-, during and post-shopping phases, the first 40 minutes of actual shopping seemed to be particularly arousing/exciting for the CB participant. The study is discussed in terms of key methodological requirements for increased validity and reliability in studying CB phenomena and the range of indicated possible cognitive and behavioural interventions.

Keywords

Compulsive buyingmood variability
Type
Original Research
Information
the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , April 2008 , pp. 16 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alliger, GM, Williams, KJ (1993). Using signal-contingent experience sampling methodology to study work in the field: a discussion and illustration examining task perceptions and mood. Personnel Psychology 46, 525–549.Google Scholar
Belk, R (1991). The ineluctable mysteries of possessions. Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality 6, 17–55.Google Scholar
Benson, AL, Gengler, M (2004). Treating compulsive buying. In: Handbook of Addictive Disorders (ed.Coombs, R. H.), pp. 451–491. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Boundy, D (2000). When money is the drug. In: I Shop, Therefore I am: Compulsive Buying and the Search for Self (ed.Benson, A. L.), pp. 3–26. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.Google Scholar
Black, DW (1996). Compulsive buying; a review. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 57, 50–54.Google Scholar
Burgard, M, Mitchell, JE (2000). Group cognitive behavioural therapy for buying disorder. In: I Shop, Therefore I am: Compulsive Buying and the Search for Self (ed.Benson, A. L.), pp. 367–397. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.Google Scholar
Catalano, E, Sonenberg, N (1993). Consuming Passions: Help for Compulsive Shoppers. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Press.Google Scholar
Christenson, GA, Faber, RJ, de Zwann, M, Raymond, N, Specker, S, Eckern, MD, Mackenzie, TB, Crosby, RD, Crow, SJ, Eckert, ED, Mussell, MP, Michell, J (1994). Compulsive buying: descriptive characteristics and psychiatric comorbidity. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 55, 5–11.Google ScholarPubMed
Cowley, E (2006). Remembering the impressions of others as are own: how post-experience decisions can distort autobiographical memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology 20, 227–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Droge, C, Mackoy, RD (1995). The consumption culture versus environmentalism: bridging value systems with environmental marketing. Proceedings of the 1995 Marketing and Public Policy Conference, Atlanta, GA, pp. 227–232.Google Scholar
Elliott, R (1994). Addictive consumption: function and fragmentation in post-modernity. Journal of Consumer Policy 17, 159–179.Google Scholar
Elliott, R, Eccles, S, Gournay, K (1996). Revenge, existential choice and addictive consumption. Psychology and Marketing 13, 753–768.Google Scholar
Faber, R, Christenson, GA (1996). In the mood to buy: differences in the mood states experienced by compulsive buyers and other consumers. Psychology & Marketing 13, 803–817.Google Scholar
Faber, R, O'Guinn, TC, Krych, R (1987). Compulsive consumption. In: Advances in Consumer Research (ed.Wallendorf, M. and Anderson, P.), pp. 132–135. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research.Google Scholar
Faber, RJ, O'Guinn, TC (1989). Classifying compulsive consumers: advances in the development of a diagnostic tool. Advances in Consumer Research 16, 738–744.Google Scholar
Faber, RJ, O'Guinn, TC (1992). A clinical screener for compulsive buying. Journal of Consumer Research 19, 738–744.Google Scholar
Faber, RJ, Vohs, KD (2004). To buy or not to buy? Self-control and self-regulatory failure in purchase behavior. In: Handbook of Self-regulation: Research, Theory, and Application (ed.Baumeister, R. F.), pp. 509–524. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Falk, JL (1981). The environmental generation of excessive behaviour. In: Behavior in Excess: An Examination of Volitional Disorders (ed.Mule, S. J.), pp. 313–337. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Frost, RO, Kim, H, Morris, C, Bloss, C, Murray-Close, M, Steketee, G (1998). Hoarding, compulsive buying and reasons for saving. Behaviour Research and Therapy 36, 657–664.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frost, RO, Steketee, G, Williams, L (2002). Compulsive buying, compulsive hoarding and obsessive compulsive disorder. Behavior Therapy 33, 201–204.Google Scholar
Gardner, MP (1985). Mood states and consumer behaviour: a critical review. Journal of Consumer Research 12, 281–300.Google Scholar
Gardner, MP, Rook, D (1988). Effects of impulse purchases on consumers' affective states. In: Advances in Consumer Research, vol. XV (ed.Houston, M.), pp. 127–130. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research.Google Scholar
Gilboa, S, Rafaeli, A (2003). Store environment, emotions and approach behaviour: applying environmental aesthetics to store retailing. International Review of Retail, Distribution & Consumer Research 13, 195–211.Google Scholar
Griffiths, M (1993). Tolerance in gambling: an objective measure using the psychophysiological analysis of male fruit machine gamblers. Addictive Behaviours 18, 365–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanley, A, Wilhelm, MS (1992). Compulsive buying: an exploration into self-esteem and money attitudes. Journal of Economic Psychology 13, 5–18.Google Scholar
Hollander, E, Allen, A (2006). Is compulsive buying a real disorder and it is really compulsive? American Journal of Psychiatry 163, 1670–1672.Google Scholar
Kellett, S, Bolton, JV in press. Compulsive buying; a cognitive behavioural model. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy.Google Scholar
Koran, LM, Faber, RJ, Aboujaoude, E, Large, MD, Serpe, RT (2006). Estimated prevalence of compulsive buying behaviour in the United States. American Journal of Psychiatry 163, 1806–1812.Google Scholar
Loftus, EF (2005). Distortions of memory and the role of time. In: Thinking Time; A Multidisciplinary Perspective on Time (ed.Clermont, P. and Nelly, A.), pp. 39–44. Ashland, OH: Hogrefe & Huber.Google Scholar
Marks, I (1990). Behavioural (non-chemical) addictions. British Journal of Addiction 85, 1389–1394.Google Scholar
Monahan, P, Black, DW, Gabel, J (1996). Reliability and validity of a scale to measure change in persons with compulsive buying. Psychiatry Research 64, 59–67.Google Scholar
McElroy, SL, Keck, PE, Pope, HG, Smith, JM, Strakowski, SM (1994). Compulsive buying: a report of 20 cases. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 55, 242–248.Google Scholar
McElroy, SL, Keck, Jr. PE, Philips, KA (1995). Kleptomania, compulsive buying and binge-eating disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 56, 14–26.Google Scholar
Miltenberger, RG, Redline, J, Crosby, R, Stickney, M, Mitchell, J, Wonderlich, S, Faber, R, Smyth, J (2003). Direct and reterospective assessment of factors contributing to compulsive buying. Journal of Behaviour Therapy & Experimental Psychiatry 34, 1–9.Google Scholar
O'Guinn, TC, Faber, RJ (1989). Compulsive buying: a phenomenological exploration. Journal of Consumer Research 16, 147–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pooler, J (2003). Why We Shop: Emotional Rewards and Retail Strategies. London: Praeger.Google Scholar
Remington, NA, Fabrigar, LR, Visser, PS (2000). Reexamining the circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79, 286–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, JA (1998). Compulsive buying among college students: an investigation of its antecedents, consequences and implications for public policy. Journal of Consumer Affairs 32, 295–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rook, D (1987). The buying impulse. Journal of Consumer Research 14, 189–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherhorn, G, Reisch, LA, Raab, G (1990). Addictive buying in West Germany: an empirical study. Journal of Consumer Policy 13, 355–387.Google Scholar
Stone, A, Turkkan, J, Bachrach, C, Jobe, J, Kurtzman, H, Cain, V (2000). The Science of Self-Report. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Watson, D, Tellegen, A (1985). Toward a consensual structure of mood. Psychological Bulletin 98, 219–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, JE, Norwood, JL (2004). How accurate is recall of key symptoms of depression? A comparison of recall and longitudinal reports. Psychological Medicine 34, 1001–1011.Google Scholar
West, SG, Hepworth, JT (1991). Statistical issues in the study of temporal data: daily experiences. Journal of Personality 59, 609–662.Google Scholar
Yurchisin, J, Johnson, KKP (2004). Compulsive buying behaviour and its relationship to perceived social status associated with buying, materialism, self-esteem and apparel-product involvement. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal 32, 291–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.