Issue 3 Explore JAS 2017
Big Picture
We live in a convenient world of affluence . Having money , together with loads of convenient options to spend it to please ourselves , makes exercising self-control unnecessary . It is extremely difficult to develop self-control in a culture of more , better , fast and fun . Here are 3 concepts , in a big picture that reinforce the significance of self-control today and opportunities to consciously practise it .
Why is it difficult for children or adults to resist dense food - cakes , chips , pastries - and to find pleasure eating healthy - fruits and vegetables ? Human beings like other animals have been living in nature , hunting and gathering in conditions of scarcity . We have biologically evolved to eat dense foods , and to eat as much as we can find . Imagine ‘ as much as we can find ’ in a supermarket . Our biology , thus is ill-equipped to deal with modern world of plenty . Unless we use our psychology to self control , we risk falling into what Dr . Douglas Lisle calls the Pleasure Trap .
According to experiments conducted by Paul Mullins , the demands of so much decision-making quickly become too much for us and most people stop struggling to be rationally selective ( in 40 minutes ), and instead began shopping emotionally — which is the point at which we accumulate the 50 percent of stuff in our cart that we never intended buying . Advertising , Supermarket and Departmental Stores floor plan and shelf layout to lighting , music is designed to lure us in , keep us there , and seduce us into spending money . The longer we stay in the store , the more stuff we see . The sheer volume of available choice is enough to send shoppers into a state of information overload and indulge in what psychologists call Impulse Buying .
Spending our hard-earned money is literally a painful task , as it activates the same areas in our brain that are associated with physical pain . Why do we spend so much then ? Why is there rising statistics of credit card debt among educated urban professionals ? Since they are pieces of plastic that we swipe and have returned to us , people consume more when using them . The more tangible the act of paying for something is , the less we do it . Cash is the most tangible form of payment there is . When we hand over the notes and coins , we can feel them and see them taken away from us . Psychologists call this Pain of paying that stops us from spending more .
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