PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH PAPER

Psychology Research Paper



Psychology Research Paper

Introduction

Shopping is an essential and important part of our life. Some people just love to shop while others just want to buy what they really need with the minimum amount of fuss and time. Shopping is learning about products; it is a leisure activity and it is comparison and evaluation of different products.

Though it wouldn't be obvious from a glance at the customers in IKEA today, the history of shopping is largely a history of women, who have overwhelmingly been the principal shoppers both in reality and in the multifarious representations of shopping (Bowlby, 2007, 24). This history began to gather momentum in the middle of the nineteenth century, when department stores entered the world. Their splendid new buildings and permanent exhibitions of lovely new things brought middle-class women into town to engage in what was historically a new activity: a day's shopping.

Problem Statement

Men and women tend to show drastically different behaviors when it comes to shopping as both have altogether unique choices and perceptions about buying a particular item while shopping.

Hypothesis

The polarization of the leisure and work functions of shopping also has influenced the perceived eclecticism of the male and female shoppers, where the department stores are represented as a complex site of (white) female work and pleasure, the festive market is devoted to a more heterogeneous form of heterosexual leisure.

A Psychological Analysis

In the current-day context, the concept of shopping continues to exist in the most commercially rationalized shopping centre homogenized by the dominance of chain-stores headquartered elsewhere (Bowlby, 2007, 25). The chance meeting of an acquaintance, the tactile but not too physical interaction with a crowd, the sense of presence and social centrality-of something happening beyond the close world of oneself, motivates many who are marginal, alone or simply idle to visit shopping centres as passive observers (Bowlby, 2007, 26).

Women like and expect an engaging experience when they go out for shopping. They want to compare items before making the final decision. Items that are placed close to each other allow women to compare and visualize them better. When a man goes out for shopping, he usually has his mind made up about a product, its brand, the price range, etc. So when he gets to the shop, instead of comparing different brands, he just grabs what he wants and his shopping trip is over (Bowlby, 2007, 27).

Women like to ...