Psychologists have studied the phenomenon of impulse buying behavior. People who focus on enjoyment act differently than people who play it safe.

How can you prevent such impulse buying? A team from the Chair of Psychology II at Julius-Maximilians-Universitat (JMU) Wurzburg in Bavaria, Germany, looked at this question. The answer is not that simple, says psychologist Dr Anand Krishna. It depends on what type of person you are: a pleasure-seeker or a person who focuses on security.

Anand Krishna and his JMU colleagues Sophia Ried and Marie Meixner have published their results in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

Sometimes you buy out of curiosity, sometimes you want to indulge yourself

Sometimes you buy spontaneously, out of pure curiosity. For example, there’s a treat you’ve never tried before. Or you want to treat yourself to something. It could be a chocolate bar, a pretty decorative piece for the living room or a great pair of jeans.

Sometimes you’re really happy about the spontaneous purchase. Sometimes, you have a guilty conscience: Money is already tight! However, many people manage to suppress the impulse to reach for a chocolate bar. And they do so when they are in a situation in which they are particularly sensitive to risks.

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