Study Shows Luxury Shopping Has Surprising Impact On Our Behavior
- 8 years ago
A recent study out of Paris has found that shoppers in luxury areas tend to show less concern and provide less help to others based on three field experiments.
Being in or around luxury stores appears to change the way people treat others, according to new research.
The study’s initial hypothesis is that people’s level of helpfulness would vary depending on whether or not high-end retailers were nearby.
To test this, the team conducted three field experiments.
One involved a female with a leg brace trying to pick up items she had dropped.
Of those leaving one of the stores in Paris’s ritzy Triangle d’Or shopping area, only 35 percent went to help her; when the same experiment was carried out on a non-retail street, more than 77 percent assisted, notes MarketWatch.
In the second experiment, a woman asked passersby if they could briefly stand with her wheelchair-bound friend while she left to retrieve her cell phone.
Whereas only 23 percent of luxury shoppers helped, the figure jumped to 82 percent in a residential area.
In the last experiment, a woman asked to borrow a cell phone; among high-end shoppers, 41 percent agreed; among people in a mixed retail area, 63 percent agreed, and among those in a place without stores, 74 percent agreed.
The researchers attributed these outcomes to luxury shoppers feeling "more materialistic and self-centered, which meant they were less likely to help other people."
Being in or around luxury stores appears to change the way people treat others, according to new research.
The study’s initial hypothesis is that people’s level of helpfulness would vary depending on whether or not high-end retailers were nearby.
To test this, the team conducted three field experiments.
One involved a female with a leg brace trying to pick up items she had dropped.
Of those leaving one of the stores in Paris’s ritzy Triangle d’Or shopping area, only 35 percent went to help her; when the same experiment was carried out on a non-retail street, more than 77 percent assisted, notes MarketWatch.
In the second experiment, a woman asked passersby if they could briefly stand with her wheelchair-bound friend while she left to retrieve her cell phone.
Whereas only 23 percent of luxury shoppers helped, the figure jumped to 82 percent in a residential area.
In the last experiment, a woman asked to borrow a cell phone; among high-end shoppers, 41 percent agreed; among people in a mixed retail area, 63 percent agreed, and among those in a place without stores, 74 percent agreed.
The researchers attributed these outcomes to luxury shoppers feeling "more materialistic and self-centered, which meant they were less likely to help other people."