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Welcome to speaking of psychology, a biweekly podcast from the American Psychological Association.

I'm your host, Caitlin Luna.

Buying has never been more convenient in America today. If you're in a major metro area,

you can have just about anything you want delivered right to your door within minutes or hours.

Clothes, groceries, fast food medicine, you don't even need to leave the house. Yet at the same time,

some Americans are moving toward a different path, decluttering their homes and lives, and adhering to lifestyles like minimalism and financial independence retire early, also known as

fire. Why do some people buy so much while others shun that lifestyle for simplicity or to save?

How do brands reach into our psyches to get us to pull out our wallets and credit cards?

What are some of the motivations behind companies that try to appeal to our sense of social responsibility to get us to spend?

Our guest for this episode is psychologist Dr. Kit Yarrow, an expert on consumer behavior

and professor emerita at Golden Gate University in San Francisco.

She studies why and how people shop and buy and how companies can best meet consumer needs.

She's the author of Decoding the New Consumer Mind about the motivations and behaviors of

shoppers today and Jen Buy about the consumption habits of millennials. Dr. Yarrow is regularly

interviewed on national media, including Good Morning America and PR and USA Today. Welcome, Dr.

...