12 mind traps that lead us to spend more money

We live in the consumer society. We are continually buying things: we jump into the offers, we renew our wardrobe every so often, we become obsessed with the new model of a mobile phone, we look for packs and limited editions of our products favorites, we buy new systems and entertainment elements... and often we do not realize what we spend and how we spend on things that we do not really we needed. And sometimes later we regret it. Why do we do it? What drives us to overspending?

In this article we are going to review a series of mind traps that lead us to spend more money, many times favored by the marketing departments of companies.

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Different mind traps that make us overspend

There are many mental traps that exist to make us overspend. These traps, which we often provoke ourselves, are taken advantage of by different advertising strategies of big brands and commercial surfaces. Others, however, do not need to be used: we carry them out ourselves without anyone trying to attract our attention. Here are a few of the different mind traps that most people fall into.

1. Feeling of reciprocity

The interaction between buyer and seller, especially when he makes a supposed concession and / or emotionality is used as an element of persuasion, makes it possible to generate the feeling of needing to correspond to said interaction with a greater spending. It is a very used element in the commercial sector when there is a face-to-face interaction. The idea is to assume that what the other person is doing is trying to advise us as a friend. In this way, the mercantile background of the interaction takes a back seat.

2. Desire to be consistent

Another element frequently taken advantage of by the commercial sector is the desire on the part of most people to be consistent with their previous opinions and actions. This kind of mental trap is what makes us be loyal to a brand even though there are other alternatives of equal or higher quality and cheaper. It is also used to sell something at a general level so that the person accepts and then tell the small print (something to which many people end up giving in only because they have already been positively predisposed and so as not to generate a distortion with their opinion previous).

3. The Pervasive Optimism Bias

Being optimistic is positive in many ways and helps us face the world with enthusiasm. However, it can lead us to underestimate the risks. This will generate that in extreme cases the need or economic capacity is not adequately assessed and lead us to spend more money more impulsively and less thoughtfully.

• You may be interested: "Cognitive biases: discovering an interesting psychological effect"

4. Celebrations and events

It is common for big parties and special moments like Christmas to tend to spend more. It is a time when we consider that we can afford to make extra expenses and sometimes these expenses exceed the limits of what we had planned. This also extends to days created and prepared by brands and commercial surfaces to stimulate mass consumption, like sales or Black Friday.

5. Shopping as a way to get away

Many people turn to shopping as a way to distract themselves and forget about their problems, without actually needing or pretending to buy something. Also can serve as a way to increase self-esteem in people who have low self-esteem, tried to improve their self-perception through shopping (either by being well cared for by the shop assistants or by buying something that makes them perceive themselves better, such as clothes). Although it is something that can occupy free time, the truth is that it can lead to large outlays and in some cases it can even become compulsive and pathological.

6. Limited availability

That something is apparently temporary and restricted draws attention and facilitates the expense, since if not, you would be missing an opportunity that may not happen again. It is a common commercial strategy to generate a sense of urgency and to encourage immediate and unthinking purchases. It is a resource used in products of any kind, from food to clothing to any type of instrument or tool.

• You may be interested: "5 tricks to sell that big brands use"

7. Offers and bargains

Second unit at half price! This and other offers are some of the most common elements and ways to facilitate the purchase of various products, often also as a way to compete with other brands. The fact of being able to take a free unit, receive something extra with your purchase or make a second unit cheaper makes us consider buying and spending money on something that, perhaps, we did not need or were searching.

8. The halo effect

The halo effect is an effect that supposes that in the presence of a positive characteristic in a person, we tend to consider that his other qualities will also be positive. For example, if someone is attractive they will tend to be considered a more good person that if it is not. This effect is generally used to talk about how we value other people, but it is also applicable to products and is used when presenting the product or in campaigns advertising.

9. Use of credit card

Different studies have shown that, as a general rule, we tend to spend much more using a credit card than if we have to pay in cash. The fact of paying in cash forces us to see the amount we take out and compare it with the one we have on top. However, when using the card, the same does not happen: we simply swipe it and key in the PIN. This makes it easier for us to spend more, because payment is made in a less obvious way to our conscience.

10. Mental accounting

Having good accounting taking into account what we earn and what we spend is essential to keep our money organized and keep our expenses under control. But at the same time, it means that we do not have possible extras, and that we do not know exactly what to do with them. And it is that the origin of the money and the expectation that we have of it will make us value it in a different way.

Let's imagine that we find € 20 in the street, or that someone gives us money that we did not have: by not having it planned, we will not have the same level of desire for conservation as that which would generate money we have earned working. Thus, it It can cause us to tend to spend it on whims in an uncontrolled way and thoughtless.

11. Fashion and trends

Being fashionable is another of the little mental traps that push us to spend more money than we should. The need to feel appreciated and admired, being up to date and not being left behind or maintaining a sense of belonging to our social group may be some of the reasons behind it.

If our idol and role model wears a certain brand of clothing or cologne, or if it is fashionable to wear a suit of petroleum blue color, it is much easier for us to spend money on these elements even if we do not really need the product. We don't want to be left behind, and that may push some people to buy something to be on trend.

12. Favorable currency

An aspect that also leads us to spend much more money than we generally would, is only when we travel to other countries that do not have the same currency as us, especially when the local currency has less value than our own.

Generally, we do not have in mind the exact exchange rate, but we do have the idea that the value of our currency will increase. This means thinking that we have more purchasing power, which in turn makes it easier for us to agree to spend more money by not being very clear about the exact value of money and assuming that what we buy will be relatively cheap. Thus, we buy more than we generally would. On the contrary, a country in which our currency has less value than the local one will make us tend to control more how much we spend.

Bibliographic references

• Cialdini, R. (1983, 1984). Influence. The Psychology of Persuasion. Revised Edition. HarperCollins.
• McGuire, W.J. (1969). An information-processing model of advertising effectiveness. In H.L. Davis & A.J. Silk (Eds.), Behavioral and Management Sciences in Marketing. New York: Ronald.
• Thaler, R.H. & Sunstein, C.R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Yale University Press.
• Wertenbroch, K.; Soma, D. & Chattopadhyay, A. (2007). On the perceiver value of money: the reference dependency of currency numerals effects. Journal of Consumer Research, 34.