“What drives people
to spend thousands on products and experiences that could cost far less?
Tiffanie Wen investigates.”
By: Tiffanie Wen
Published: BBC, 9 October
2017, http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20171006-the-psychology-behind-spending-big
Level of difficulty:
**
BEFORE YOU READ
·
Economics: Conspicuous Consumption https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I4xx5ZaWaM
·
Conspicuous
Consumption - Carissa Explains It All #GOMLpodcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9zbQwv0WNY
QUESTIONS
1.
What surprising revelation is made concerning
expensive products in the first paragraph?
2.
What conclusion can be drawn from the experiment
involving wine and the one involving painkillers?
3.
What was the purpose of the MRI scans in the
same experiments? To see if the subjects actually considered the expensive wine
or pill to be good / better / best / worse.
4.
What mistaken belief leads buyers to splash out
on more expensive alternatives?
5.
Read the example of the film. Why do people tend
to make the choice they do?
6.
We understand from the text that people go for
more expensive brands because…
7.
Watch the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1lnYyJ_d6w
Why did Daniel Radcliff, Mike Tyson, Nicolas Cage, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Angelina
Jolie, make the purchases they did? Because by doing so…
8.
What general reason is given for the desire to
splash experienced by people in all walks of life?
9.
Watch the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oczSB5J2b4
. Why do people buy these goods?
10.
Is the trend mentioned in the previous question
still valid today? Why?
11.
Read the conclusion. People mistakenly assume
that spending big will ensure happiness but they are wrong because…. The best alternative
is ….
WRITING TASK
Use all the information you have gleaned to write about the
reasons for spending big.
THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND
SPENDING BIG KEY AND TEACHERS’ NOTES
In this age of
consumerism where positional goods are the order of the day, analyzing the
underlying reasons for splashing out should be interesting. The students will
probably be able to predict a lot of what is in the text and perhaps supply
some additional reasons. It should lead to an interesting writing task.
1.
People rate them more highly and enjoy them more
2.
Price matters so much to our understanding of
value that we sometimes rate pricey things…
3.
Better
4.
If an item is twice as expensive it is twice as
good
5.
They are trying to get to that totally amazing
experience even at the risk of getting a truly bad one (We are motivated to
splurge because we’re seeking peak experiences won’t fit because ticket prices
are the same for all films)
6.
There is an extra boost when you go up in the
quality of experiences
7.
They obtain a sense of accomplishment and
progress, and enhance their self worth
8.
To build the experiential cv
9.
To signal they are successful.
10.
No it isn’t. Because the deluge of material
goods means that they are not as rare or scarce or luxurious as in the past.
11.
Splurging on items for ourselves is finite and
doesn’t add up to increases of happiness over time; giving to others
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