Is It Basically Because People

By Author: chen long
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expert in self-regulation, problems with spending, and the psychology of money. Among other things, her work reveals how people feel when they re reminded of money they ve spent (not so good), and how you can practice better self-control (think Al Franken s Stuart Smalley character s daily affirmations).
Cheapskate: Can you explain how technology—and the ever-expanding number of ways to buy things 24/7—increases the likelihood of impulse buying? Is it basically because people are more and more likely to have a moment of weakness?
Kathleen Vohs: Self-control is a function of urges and restraints. The stronger the urge, the harder (i.e., more strength) one needs to restrain oneself from indulging it. Having more stimuli around to tempt the person, the stronger the urges will likely become.
CS: How do people feel after they ve spent money?
KV: My work would say that reminding people of the money that they have spent (which is different than in the moment spending) heightens feelings of pain.
CS: Your work talks about http://www.obdii.co.uk/benz-bmw-diagnostic-tool/creator-c110-bmw-code-reader-english-germany ...
... the need for self-regulatory resources. What s that mean in everyday language? Would most people call it willpower? Or is that too simple?
KV: SRRs are a supply of energy that people use to put toward controlled responses or behaviors. It is akin to (but more sophisticated than) the notion of willpower.
CS: What are the big ways one s self-regulatory resources are depleted?
KV: It has to do with earlier exertion of self-control. The major ways that people engage in self-control is to stifle their emotions, try to rid unwanted thoughts, overcome impulses, or persist on difficult or unenjoyable tasks.
CS: So how does one restore self-regulatory resources?
KV: We found that reminding people of the values they hold dear helps then overcome http://www.obdii.co.uk/obd-code-scanner/ps701-diagnostic-tool a depleted state and do well at self-control.
CS: Thanks Professor Vohs.
The last point comes from her paper, Self-Affirmation and Self-Control: Affirming Core Values Counteracts Ego Depletion, recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social