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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