Posted on 03/12/2020 8:17:27 AM PDT by Red Badger
Panic buying has been rife amid the global spread of the new coronavirus, with consumers around the world stockpiling goods like hand sanitizer, canned foods and toilet paper.
The trend has seen stores ration products, with U.K. retailers limiting sales of hand hygiene products while Australian shoppers have seen restrictions on the amount of toilet paper they can buy.
Psychologists spoke to CNBC to weigh in on why our brains push us to panic buy — even when authorities are assuring the public there’s no need to.
According to Paul Marsden, a consumer psychologist at the University of the Arts London, the short answer can be found in the psychology of “retail therapy” — where we buy to manage our emotional state.
“It’s about ‘taking back control’ in a world where you feel out of control,” he said. “More generally, panic buying can be understood as playing to our three fundamental psychology needs.”
Those needs were autonomy, or a need for control, relatedness, which Marsden defined as “we shopping” rather than “me shopping,” and competence, which is achieved when making a purchase gives people a sense that they are “smart shoppers.” ‘Fear contagion’
Meanwhile, Sander van der Linden, an assistant professor of social psychology at Cambridge University, said there were both generalized and coronavirus-specific factors at play.
“In the U.S., people are receiving conflicting messages from the CDC and the Trump administration,” he said. “When one organization is saying it’s urgent and another says it’s under control, it makes people worry.”
President Donald Trump downplayed the impact of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak on Twitter this week, with a disconnect reportedly widening between the administration and U.S. health authorities. The virus is now present in at least 35 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
More generally, a “fear contagion” phenomenon was taking hold, van der Linden added.
“When people are stressed their reason is hampered, so they look at what other people are doing. If others are stockpiling it leads you to engage in the same behavior,” he said. “People see photos of empty shelves and regardless of whether it’s rational it sends a signal to them that it’s the thing to do.”
“Sometimes there can be a lot of value in social knowledge — from an evolutionary perspective when we don’t know how to react to something, we look to others for guidance,” he added. “If you’re in the jungle and someone jumps away from a snake you automatically do the same thing. But sometimes that gets highjacked and you’re told to do something that’s not the right thing to do.”
While sales of hand soaps and sanitizers have soared in markets around the world since the outbreak began, consumers have also been stocking up on a somewhat surprising item – toilet paper. According to Dimitrios Tsivrikos, lecturer in consumer and business psychology at University College London, toilet paper has become an “icon” of mass panic.
“In times of uncertainty, people enter a panic zone that makes them irrational and completely neurotic,” he said in a phone call. “In other disaster conditions like a flood, we can prepare because we know how many supplies we need, but we have a virus now we know nothing about.”
“When you enter a supermarket, you’re looking for value and high volumes,” he added, noting that people are drawn to the large packaging that toilet paper comes in when they are looking to regain a sense of control.
Tsivrikos, like van der Linden, told CNBC the lack of a clear voice from authority figures was fueling the panic.
“The public is getting conflicting advice from the government and retailers,” he said. “So people mass buy. I blame the system for not having a unanimous voice on what we should be doing.”
However, Peter Noel Murray, a New York-based member of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Consumer Psychology, disagreed that authority figures had the power to calm the panic-buying trend.
“If authorities were to consistently say that this virus is not a problem it wouldn’t change anything,” he told CNBC via telephone. “Campaigns that are authoritative are not successful if they don’t tap into people’s behavior.”
According to Murray, cognitive and emotional responses were the two key factors involved in influencing our decisions during situations like the coronavirus outbreak.
“In this case the cognitive factor is cognitive bias, (which means) we tend to overemphasize things that are recent and very vivid,” he explained. “When there’s a plane crash people don’t fly, when there’s a shark attack people think all sharks are killers. That process makes us think that whatever the current thing is, it’s similar to some terrible thing — it catastrophizes our view of whatever this thing is.”
In this case, Murray said, people might be associating the coronavirus with a past deadly outbreak, like the 1918 Spanish flu that killed around 50 million people worldwide.
“On the emotional side, the answer is self-affirmation. In our minds we know one day we are going to be dead, and the mind deals with it through (seeking) control,” Murray said.
“There’s an over-representation of fear and people’s minds need to respond to those kinds of feelings,” he added. “The need for self-affirmation is triggered, and that drives us to do unreasonable things like buying a year’s worth of toilet paper. It overwhelms the knowledge that we don’t need to be doing that.”
Just came back fromDollar General. The shelves are plumb full of all brands they carry. Asked the manager if he has been alerted from corporate of a supply problem with it. He laughed and said he could stock his shelves FOREVER from the distribution center with TP.
Told me that TP has become a nice boon created by the panic crowd.
Congrats to all the stupid panic city slickers who fall for this type of stuff.
We could never afford to ‘prep’ a 6w supply of necessities all at once. I feel for them.
Awesome . . . just finished it. Every time you see it now, you will know where it’s from
THe Spam pallet had a lot more gone than the chicken breast pallet.
I didnt see that..will look for it next time I go.
I did get the roast beef but not expecting anything great from it. Just something to eat
Sheep
Pink Floyd
Roger Waters
Hopelessly passing your time in the grassland away
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air
You better watch out
There may be dogs about
I’ve looked over Jordan, and I have seen
Things are not what they seem
What do you get for pretending the danger’s not real
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel
What a surprise
The look of terminal shock in your eyes
Now things are really what they seem
No, this is no bad dream
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green He leadeth me the silent waters by
With bright knives he releaseth my soul
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places
He converteth me to lamb cutlets
For lo, He hath great power, and great hunger
When cometh the day we lowly ones
Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
Master the art of karate
Lo, we shall rise up
And then we’ll make the bugger’s eyes water
Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream
Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead
You better stay home
And do as you’re told
Get out of the road if you want to grow old
Love the “Animals” album, it’s their best IMHO.
Like you I went to Dollar General. Although they had been heavily shopped, like you I could find what I came in for.
...Well, as long as there in BACON...............…
Where are you going to apply the Bacon
INSIDE the belly!.....................
I blame public schools. People were not taught the difference between washing your hands and wiping your ass. Experts say “Wash Your Hands” and the masses hear “Wipe Your Ass”
The real answer: If we get to a point where “non-essential” companies close down for a specified period, people don’t want to be caught without certain necessaries like buttwipe. You can’t go to the store for more if the stores are all closed.
...............................................
In India and other parts of the world TP is not normally used. It is considered a cultural commodity, and an unnecessary luxury!
SMH I don’t know what the hell it’s suppose to do...I just thought it was funny.....
People also don’t realize they’re passing the virus around as they’re crammed into hours-long lines at Costco waiting to buy the toilet paper.
Stupid.
Wow. My caption: “Wipe yer a$$ with fibergla$$”.
EVERYBODY needs to bookmark this GREAT COVID-19 info site suggested by American Thinker!
Me too. I just listened to it this past weekend.
I am always reminded of a scene on WKRP in Cincinnati.
Dj Johnny Fever is in the booth. The “Big Guy” walks in and Dogs from Pink Floyd is playing. The Big Guy looks at him and asks “are those dogs barking?”
Brother, can you spare a roll?
Arthur ‘Big Guy’ Carlson: As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.
:)
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