A Psychologist’s Tips for Avoiding Overconsumption This Black Friday

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.3 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

Black Friday sales have gone from one-day in-person shopping bonanzas to a multiday deals extravaganza. It’s tempting to give in to the seasonal pressures to shop, but knowing the tricks companies use to make sales so appealing can help us avoid overconsumption. Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, a professor of consumer psychology at Anglia Ruskin University in England, explains how to spot marketing ploys and shop sustainably. Recommended reading: It’s Actually Healthier to Enjoy Holiday Foods without the Anxiety https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/enjoy-holiday-food-without-the-anxiety/ Eating Turkey Does Not Really Make You Sleepy https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eating-turkey-sleepy-thanksgiving/ E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You know what that is.
0:04.0	An ice cold beer.
0:07.0	What's different?
0:09.0	It's Budweiser, a perfect beer for party season.
0:14.0	Best enjoyed with your best buds.
0:20.0	Cheers to that. Budweiser, like no way. Best enjoyed with your best butts.
0:22.3	Cheers to that.
0:25.3	Budweiser, like no other.
0:26.8	Please drink responsibly.
0:28.8	For the facts, visit drinkaware.com.uker.uker.
0:35.8	It's almost Thanksgiving, and you know what that means.
0:38.9	It's already been Black Friday for like a week.
0:46.0	What used to be a post-Turkey American shopping tradition has ballooned into a global phenomenon of November sales.
0:51.5	If you're feeling the urge to do some serious damage to your bank account this week, you're definitely not alone.
0:53.4	And you shouldn't blame yourself.
0:58.0	These sales are designed and marketed to send you into a shopping spiral.
1:01.5	For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman.
1:07.8	My guest today is Catherine Jansen Boyd, professor of consumer psychology at Anglia Ruskin University.
1:15.0	She's here to tell us all about the psychology behind Black Friday shopping and what we can do to protect ourselves and our wallets.
1:19.6	Thank you so much for joining us to chat today. Thank you for having me.
1:21.0	So your expertise is in consumer psychology. Could you tell us a little bit about what kinds of questions you try to
1:30.2	answer in your research? So I've been really lucky in terms of my research career that I have been
	...

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