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Alexis Wilhoite
Professor Moore
English 1302-Hon
21 March 2017
Addicted to Shopping
It is no secret that people like to shop and can get addicted to shopping, but sometimes
people like to go overboard on the amount of money that they spend while shopping.
Overspending is a problem that a majority of people face every day all over the world but mainly
focusing on the United States and the younger generation that is overspending and wasting
money on useless things that they want but do not necessarily need. Most young adults and
college students are the worst at overspending. By looking at the psychology behind
overspending, the credit card debt that most young adults and college students get into, and
seeing the statistics of what is causing overspending, a solution to the problem at hand will arise
Most young adults and college students do not know how to create a budget and stick to
it, they get themselves in credit card debt, and they put themselves in a financial situation that
they do not know how to get themselves out of and usually require help to get out of the black
hole of the financial world. Taking a look at the term consumer psychology will allow for a
better understanding of why the majority is overspending. Consumer psychology is the study of
the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products,
But, some of the problems that the over spenders face partially comes from student loans
and other expenses required for college, but that is not the place that most college students and
They are doing this online, in stores, and any place that offers a good deal or sale.
Psychology plays a part in their overspending as well. Understanding what is going on in their
minds and causing them to make the decision to spend money can send them on a downward
spiral of debt, being broke, or even send them into a state of depression. There are five stages in
the decision making process. These stages make consumers act in the way that they do when
making a decision. What is shown below in Fig.1 is the five stages of the consumer decision
making process.
(Solomon)
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Need recognition is the first stage in the decision buying process and is defined as The
consumer experiences a significant difference between his or her current state of affairs and
some desired state. Once a need has been activated, there is a state of tension that drives the
This stage can be considered utilitarian or even be considered hedonic, and that easily
leads the consumer into the second stage which is the information search stage. In this stage, a
consumer has already activated their need, is actively searching for a way to eliminate or reduce
it, and at this point has a one track mind about the product or service that they want to fill their
needs or desires.
A poor decision on the consumers part or once they run into the realization of how
expensive a product is can eventually contribute to causing negative affects on the consumer and
send them spiraling straight into the third stage, which is known as the evaluation of alternatives.
This stage is presented as helping the consumer to narrowing down their options to find
the cheapest price for the product they are looking for. They want the best deal, the cheapest
price, and they wont settle until that desire for the lowest price item is fulfilled.
Once they find the deal they are looking for and at the price they desire, they step into
one of the most important stages in this five stage process, the purchase stage. The purchase
stage is an important stage because the consumer is buying the product and where the
overspending happens.
They are given the good deals, sales, and coupons before the purchase stage which
encourages the consumers to purchase more products and spend more money. Sometimes they do
not even realize that they spent that much money when they do spend it or sometimes they just
do not care and spend money even if they do not have it because they think they can. This, in
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turn, leads to the fifth and final stage the post purchase evaluation. In The post purchase
evaluation stage there is a term that researchers use called CS/D. Consumer
satisfaction/dissatisfaction (CS/D) refers to the attitude that a person has about a product after it
has been purchased. This attitude, in turn, is an important determinant of whether the item will be
Figure 1 above showed the consumer buying process, and according to author Cara
Baruzzi, between 2 and 8 percent of Americans suffer from "compulsive buying disorder,"
overspending at the mall, online stores and elsewhere, according to the National Endowment for
Financial Education. The disorder "basically is a preoccupation with shopping for unneeded
Compulsive buying disorder is a serious problem and it is part of the reason why college
students and young adults are overspending. One way to help curb this disorder is for them to
The majority of college students and young adults do not know how to make a budget
and without having a budget, they do not know how to save money and know if they even have
enough money to spend on the things that want, but may not always and necessarily need.
The young adults and college students are also misusing credit cards as a way of
compulsive buying.
By having a credit card or multiple credit cards, these young consumers think they can
just swipe their card, spend money, and tend not to worry very much about the consequences that
follow, such as credit card debt, financial blunders, and a continuous compulsive buying
behavior. College students are a very attractive credit card market because there is a continual
influx of potential credit card owners into this age group every year who may develop into
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lifelong users (Palan,Kay). The reason this age group is considered a target is because they are
new adults and have no concept of saving money and do not know anything regarding a budget.
Most of their money at this young age is going to spending money on credit cards,
applying and paying for student loans that they have acquired or are still acquiring during their
time in college.
A huge percentage of students in college have credit cards as well, and according to Kay
Palan 84 percent of undergraduates have at least one credit card and the average student has 4.6
cards. In the minds of college students, credit cards are associated with spending.
When college students were exposed to a credit card logo when evaluating a product,
they were more likely to quickly decide to purchase, to make the purchase, and to spend more
than students who were not exposed to a credit card logo (Palan, Kay). All these students know
how to do is to spend money because that is all they know and are exposed to.
Since this is all these young adults and college students know, statistics are pretty high
when these consumers are involved in spending money and since these young adults own so
many credit card, an article by Veneta Sotiropoulos shows that these statistics play a part in the
cause of why and how these young adults are out of control with spending money and misusing
credit cards.
In 2004, students owed, on average, $2,900 on credit cards whereas in 2009 this figure
soared by 78% to $4,100. Moreover, young consumers account for the second largest rate of
With these consumers being the second largest rate of bankruptcy, this means that there is
significant problem with that is in dire need of a solution. There is a various amount of things
that can be done to help curb the overspending that these young consumers are doing. With the
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solutions to this problem the statistic making college students and young adults the second
largest reason for bankruptcy can start decreasing and help the bankruptcy statistics change over
time.
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Works Cited
Baruzzi, Cara. "'Compulsive Buyers' Find It Hard to Say No." New Haven Register (CT),
Assessment of Demographic and Psychiatric Co-Morbidities." Plos ONE, vol. 11, no. 12,
Palan, Kay M., et al. "Compulsive Buying Behavior in College Students: The Mediating
Role of Credit Card Misuse." Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, vol. 19, no. 1,
2017.
edited by Charles Donald Spielberger, Elsevier Science & Technology, 1st edition, 2004. Credo
Reference,
http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/estappliedpsyc/consumer_psychology/0.
Sotiropoulos, Veneta and Alain D Astous. "Social Networks and Credit Card Overspending
among Young Adult Consumers." Journal of Consumer Affairs, vol. 46, no. 3, Fall2012,
2017.