Ronald J. Faber

Compulsive Buying: A Phenomenological Exploration

Compulsive buying is framed within the larger category of compulsive consumption, and both quantitative and qualitative data are used to provide a phenomenological description. Results indicate people who buy compulsively are more likely to demonstrate compulsivity as a personality trait, have lower self-esteem, and are more prone to fantasy than more normal consumers. Their primary motivation appears to be the psychological benefits derived from the buying process itself rather than from the possession of purchased objects. Consequences of compulsive buying include extreme levels of debt, anxiety and frustration, the subjective sense of loss of control, and domestic dissension.

A Clinical Screener for Compulsive Buying

Advancements in understanding problematic behaviors require the ability to identify affected or at-risk individuals. This article reports the development of a scale to identify compulsive buyers. Seven items representing specific behaviors, motivations, and feelings associated with buying significantly contributed to correctly classifying approximately 88 percent of the subjects. Evidence indicates this screening scale is undimmed and possesses good reliability. Validity is demonstrated by comparing members of a general consumer sample who are identified as compulsive buyers by the screener with self-identified compulsive buyers and noncompulsoriness consumers on several established correlates and outcomes of compulsive buying. Evidence of external validity using a separate sample is also presented. Copyright 1992 by the University of Chicago.

Two Forms of Compulsive Consumption: Comorbidity of Compulsive Buying and Binge Eating

Several authors have articulated the need for broader theories or models to account for multiple forms of compulsive or addictive consumption. Development of these broader theories requires more information regarding the overlap and interrelationship of specific consumption disorders. Two studies are presented here to examine the comorbidity of compulsive buying and eating disorders involving binge eating. Study 1 found that women diagnosed as having binge eating disorder had significantly greater compulsive buying tendencies than nonbinge eaters of similar weight. Study 2 showed that complwive buyers were more likely to have engaged in binge eating, had more symptoms characteristic of both binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa, and were more likely to be clinically diagnosed as having an eating disorder than a matched control group. Coauthors are Gary A. Christenson, Martina de Zwaan, and James Mitchell. Copyright 1995 by the University of Chicago.

Compulsive consumption and credit abuse

This paper presents evidence of a type of consumption which can be called “compulsive.” It further demonstrates that this type of consumption is related to certain aspects of materialism, but not possessiveness. This suggests that the actual consumption experience may possess aspects akin to those observed in other abusive behaviors, but may be essentially unrelated to desires for material objects for their intrinsic qualities.ZusammenfassungThema des Beitrages ist solches Konsumentenverhalten, das als “zwanghaft” bezeichnet werden kann. Berichtet wird über eine Untersuchung, in der 129 zwanghaft handelnde Konsumenten mit einer gleichgroßen Kontrollgruppe nicht auffälliger Konsumenten verglichen wurden. Dabei zeigte sich, daß zwanghaftes Konsumverhalten zwar mit bestimmten Aspekten materialistischer Einstellungen, nicht jedoch mit Besitzorientierung in Beziehung steht.Das legt die Vermutung nahe, daß aktuelle Konsumerfahrungen ähnliche Eigenschaften haben können wie andere abweichende Verhaltensweisen auch. Sie können deshalb nicht mit dem Wunsch nach materiellen Gütern um ihrer selbst willen erklärt werden.

In the mood to buy: Differences in the mood states experienced by compulsive buyers and other consumers

One area of consumption disorders receiving a great deal of attention lately is compulsive buying. Researchers have begun moving from descriptive studies of this phenomenon to attempts to explain some of its causal mechanisms. One possible explanation is that such behavior may serve as a way of self-medicating depression and negative affect for compulsive buyers. This study examines reported mood states prior to and during shopping for 24 compulsive buyers and a matched comparison group. The findings indicated that relative to the comparison group, the compulsive buyers reported feeling most of the mood states more frequently prior to going shopping, especially the more negative moods. Compulsive buyers also more frequently experienced extreme moods (both positive and negative), while shopping than did the comparison group. When within-subject differences were examined for preshopping and shopping moods, compulsive buyers were more likely to move from negative to positive moods, whereas the opposite was true for the comparison group. The findings suggest that compulsive buyers may be using buying behavior to manage undesirable mood states.

Framing and the Public Agenda: Media Effects on the Importance of the Federal Budget Deficit

Abstract What explains the shift in public opinion over time on the issue of the 1996 U.S. federal budget? Public opinion polls demonstrate dramatic shifts in the percentage of people considering the budget issue to be the most important problem facing the country from November 1994 through April 1996. In this article, we model Roper Center opinion polls against a prediction of opinion from media content to investigate how media coverage affects the importance assigned to the budget issue. We identify four dominant frames present in media coverage of the budget issue and argue that a model combining the theories of agenda setting and framing provides a better explanation for the shifts in aggregate opinion than either theory on its own. By combining framing with the traditional agenda-setting approach, we take into account the nuances of cover age within the issue, in addition to the sheer amount of cover age, for a more complete explanation of media effects on public opinion on the issue of the federal b...

Direct and retrospective assessment of factors contributing to compulsive buying

Compulsive buying is a disorder that has begun to receive attention from researchers in recent years. The results of a handful of studies suggest that compulsive buying occurs in response to negative emotions and results in a decrease in the intensity of the negative emotions. In this investigation, we used interview and self-monitoring methods to evaluate the antecedents and consequences of compulsive buying in a sample of women who met criteria for compulsive buying on the compulsive buying scale (J. Consumer Res. 19 (1992) 459). As a group, the participants reported negative emotions as the most common antecedents to compulsive buying, and euphoria or relief from the negative emotions as the most common consequence of compulsive buying. These findings were consistent across the interview and self-monitoring assessment methods. The implications for assessment and treatment are discussed.

Restricting Gambling Advertising and the Third-Person Effect

Along with the rapid growth experienced by the gaming industry in the United States has come increasing calls to restrict or ban gambling advertising. To date, little is known about what motivates people to support such restrictions on advertising. However, one recent theory, the third-person effect, offers a possible explanation. The third-person effect states that when confronted with negative messages, people will overestimate the messages’ effect on others relative to themselves. Additionally, it suggests that it is this misperception that motivates them to take action against such messages. This study investigates whether a third-person effect occurs for gambling advertising and if this effect is related to procensorship attitudes for lotteries and casinos. The results suggest there is a sizable gap between perceptions of the effect of gambling advertising on one’s self versus others, and that the perceived effect on others is related to a willingness to restrict such advertising. 2000 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Negative Political Advertising and Voting Intent: The Role of Involvement and Alternative Information Sources

Abstract Previous research on negative political advertising has found both intended and backlash effects, indicating that the impact of these ads is likely to be contingent on other factors. The current study examines some potentially important contingent variables — level of involvement and attention to both newspapers and television for political information. Regression analyses indicate that both enduring and situational involvement and attention to television news increase the impact of negative political ads on voting decisions. Although it initially appears that attention to newspaper is unrelated to the impact of negative ads, analysis of covariance shows that newspaper reading actually reduces the impact of negative ads after controlling for other variables.

Advertising and the Consumer Information Environment Online

The Internet has apparently become an important source of information for consumers and partly because of this trend, the Internet now presents a huge opportunity for advertisers who seek effective communication with their target markets. The purpose of this article is to provide an understanding of the qualities and potentials of the Internet as an advertising medium. First, an overview of the various forms of Internet advertising is provided, as well as a review of existing literature regarding the effectiveness of each form. The article next compares the Internet with traditional mass media from the perspective of the consumer information environment and shows how unique characteristics of the Internet may alter consumer experience and decision making. The article concludes with a discussion of the needs and challenges facing the field.