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You've probably noticed that in a lot of stores,
你可能已经注意到了，在很多商店，
they make you run through a gauntlet of candy bars, nail clippers, and phone chargers
你在付钱并逃离到外界之
before you can pay and make your escape into the outside world.
会路过一大堆糖果棒、指甲钳和手机充电器。
Maybe you wonder who buys all that stuff.
你可能会好奇谁会买这些东西。
Or maybe you're already unwrapping a candy bar you had not planned to buy.
或者你可能已经打开了原本不打算买的糖果条。
Those bins are just one of the tricks retailers use to get you to impulse buy,
这些箱子只是零售商让你冲动购物的伎俩之一，
where you purchase something without planning for it in advance.
冲动购物是指你买了事先没有计划买的东西。
That means you are spending more money than you were originally going to,
这意味着你花的钱比最初打算得要多，
so you can see why stores would try so hard to get you to do it.
这样你就能明白商店为什么如此努力地让你去购物了。
But whether their tricks work depends a lot on your personality,
但他们的伎俩是否奏效很大程度上取决于你的个性，
and how your brain reacts to perceived gains and losses.
以及你的大脑对感观得失的反应。
Impulse buyers tend to be impulsive in general, which isn't too surprising.
一般来说，即兴购物者往往是冲动的，这并不奇怪。
In a 2016 survey of nearly 1500 people,
在2016年对近1500人的调查中，
those that said they were likely to spend a hypothetical windfall impulsively
那些说自己可能会冲动地花一笔假想横财的人
also reported higher levels of other impulsive behavior, like binge drinking and unprotected sex.
也报告了其他的冲动行为，比如酗酒和不安全性行为。
And a lot of psychologists think these choices come down to the same thing: a battle between parts of your brain.
很多心理学家认为，这些选择归结于同一件事：大脑各部分之间的斗争。
One part, called the nucleus accumbens, activates in proportion to how excited you'll be to have that new thing you want.
大脑有一部分叫做伏核，它的激活程度与你对新事物的兴奋程度成正比。
It's the same region that activates for what are known as primary reward drives, things like food and sex.
该区域也会激活主要的奖励驱动，比如食物和性。
Another part of the brain, the insula, has a big reaction to something else: the price.
大脑的另一个部分，脑岛对其他事物——价格反应强烈。
The bigger the price, the more the insula activates.
价格越高，脑岛就越活跃。
Psychologists call this reaction the "pain of paying"
心理学家把这种反应称为“付钱的痛苦”，
because the insula also activates when we expect to be hurt physically,
因为当我们预期身体受到伤害，
and when we're exposed to negative things like horrible smells.
以及我们接触到负面的事物，比如可怕的气味时，脑岛也会被激活。
Meanwhile, a third region, the mesial prefrontal cortex, also plays a role,
与此同时，第三个区域中央前额叶皮层也起了作用，
it, too, reacts to the price, activating when you think you've gotten a good deal.
它也会对价格做出反应，当你认为自己得到了一笔好交易时，它就会活跃起来。
Researchers are able to do a pretty good job predicting whether someone will make a purchase by comparing activation in these three regions.
研究人员可以通过比较这三个区域的激活程度来很好地预测某人是否会进行购买。
But not everyone's brain reacts the same way to the same deal,
但每个人的大脑对同一件事的反应都不一样，
which has led some psychologists to think that we all fall on a spectrum of "pain of paying",
这使得一些心理学家认为我们都处于“付钱的痛苦”的范畴，
basically, how much spending money bothers us.
它主要是指花多少钱会让我们烦扰。
On one end are the spendthrifts, who just don't really feel that pain.
范畴的一端是花钱大手大脚的人，他们并没有真正感受到那种痛苦。
They think nothing of spending some extra money if they've got it.
他们觉得如果得到了它，多花点儿钱也没什么。
That's what it's there for, right?
这就是它的目的，对吧？
On the other end are the tightwads, who will wait until the last minute to pull out their wallets,
另一端是吝啬鬼，他们会等到最后一刻才掏出钱包，
even for things they definitely need, for them, the pain of paying is more like the agony of paying.
即使这东西是他们绝对需要的，对他们来说，付钱的痛苦更像付钱的临死挣扎。
And I know this personally. I sweat, I get hot, I get my armpits go.
我个人了解这一点。我会出汗，变得很热，会露出腋窝。
It's, like, the least comfortable I ever am.
它就像我最不舒服的时候。
Spendthrifts are naturally impulsive buyers, and not necessarily because they have more money to spend.
消费无度的人是天生的冲动买家，这并不一定是因为他们有更多的钱可以花。
A 2007 survey of over 9000 people found those at the spendthrift end of the spectrum had more credit card debt.
2007年一项针对9000多人的调查发现，那些消费无度的人有更多的信用卡债务。
But even though tightwads don't like spending money,
尽管吝啬鬼不喜欢花钱，
they're more vulnerable to certain types of tricks designed to get them spending money they don't intend to.
但他们更容易遭受某些类型花招的攻击，这些花招让他们支付本没打算花得钱。
That's because they really feel anything that reduces their intense pain of paying.
这是因为他们真能感觉到能减轻他们强烈支付痛苦的事物。
Since spendthrifts aren't pained anyway, ploys to reduce pain don't work as well on them.
因为挥霍无度的人怎么都不会痛苦，所以减少痛苦的策略对他们并没有相同效果。
For example, in one 2007 study, researchers asked 538 college students
例如，在2007年的一项研究中，研究人员询问了538名大学生
if they were willing to pay a five dollar fee to get overnight delivery on a new purchase.
是否愿意支付5美元的费用让新购买的商品隔夜送达。
But for half the people, they called it the "small five dollar fee" to reduce the pain of paying.
但他们在一半人面前把该费用称为“小五美元的费用”，以此减少他们支付的痛苦。
That one word didn't matter to the spendthrifts at all, about the same amount paid the fee either way.
这一词对挥霍无度的人来说根本不重要，无论哪种方式，支付的费用都差不多。
But just describing the fee as "small" made the tightwads feel much better about paying the price,
但仅仅将费用描述为“小”就能让吝啬鬼对付钱的感觉好很多
about three times as many thought that it was worth it to get the delivery overnighted.
大约三倍的人认为隔夜送达是值得的。
What? Excuse me, I have to go make some changes to DFTBA.com.
什么？打扰一下，我也要对DFTBA.com作出一些改变。
Other research has found a similar effect with using credit cards,
其他研究发现使用信用卡也有类似的效果，
which are thought to reduce the pain of paying by keeping the actual, physical money out of sight and out of mind.
人们认为，通过让实际有形的金钱远离人们的视线，排除在大脑之外，可以减少付钱的痛苦。
In a shopping study on 125 students,
在一项针对125名学生的购物研究中，
paying by credit card instead of cash didn't affect the spendthrifts' buying behaviors at all,
信用卡而非现金的支付方式根本不会影响挥霍者的购买行为，
but tightwads were more willing to spend money on unhealthy stuff they didn't need.
但是吝啬鬼更愿意把钱花在不需要的不健康东西上。
Those candy bar displays don't really reduce the pain of paying in any way,
这些糖果条展品无论如何也不能真正减少付钱的痛苦，
so they're probably not the type of trick that will get the tightwads spending more.
所以它们可能不是让吝啬鬼花更多钱的花招。
But sticking a bunch of tempting chocolate in front of the spendthrifts passing through? That might get some cash.
但要在挥霍者的面前摆一堆诱人的巧克力呢？这可能会得到一些现金。
Your spending habits may also be influenced by another personality trait,
你的消费习惯也可能受到另一种人格特征的影响，
whether you're what psychologists call a "maximizer" or a "satisficer".
不管你是心理学家所说的“最大化者”还是“满足者”。
For maximizers, decision making is never easy.
对最大化者来说，做决定并不容易。
If a maximizer needs a new computer, for example, they might open up a spreadsheet,
比如，如果他们需要一台新电脑，他们可能会打开一个电子表格，
and find all the computers on the market, and start listing things like price, processor speed, hard drive capacity.
找到市场上所有的电脑，并开始列出价格、处理器速度、硬盘储存空间等事项。
They're gonna watch a bunch of YouTube videos on a bunch of different YouTube channels.
他们会在很多不同的YouTube频道上看很多YouTube视频。
They'll weigh everything that might be important before making their final choice.
他们会在做出最后选择之前权衡所有可能重要的事项。
A satisficer is the kind of person who says, "y'know, I just need something that I can watch YouTube videos on"
满足者指的是这样的人：“你知道的，我需要一个能在上面看YouTube视频的东西。”
and they get the first thing that fits that description.
他们会得到符合这一描述的第一件物品。
In other words, they go with the first thing that satisfies their requirements.
换句话说，他们遵循的是满足自己需求的第一事项。
It shouldn't come as a shock that satisficers tend to spend money more impulsively,
满足者更倾向于冲动花钱，这并不令人惊讶，
because they make purchases more quickly than maximizers.
因为他们买东西比最大化者快。
But the funny thing is, there's lots of research that suggests that maximizers aren't as happy with what they buy,
但有趣的是，很多研究表明最大化者并不喜欢他们买的东西，
and they regret their purchases more.
他们更为自己的购买物品后悔。
It's like, once they put so much thought into that mental spreadsheet of all their options,
这就像，他们一旦在大脑电子表格的所有选择中花了很多心思，
they have trouble leaving it behind.
他们就很难将它抛之脑后。
So making your spending decisions quickly might mean you spend more than you intended, but it isn't all bad.
所以快速做出消费决定可能意味着你花得钱比打算得要多，但也不全是坏事。
In the end, whether you're a spendthrift or a tightwad, or a maximizer or a satisficer,
最后，无论你是一个挥霍无度的人还是一个吝啬鬼，无论你是一个最大化者还是一个满足者，
there are some things that you can do if you want to check your impulsive spending.
如果你想检查自己的冲动消费，可以做这些事情。
If the pain of paying matters to you, you can try ditching the credit cards and paying in cash.
如果支付的痛苦对你很重要，你可以试着抛弃信用卡，用现金支付。
Lots of studies show that using cash slows down spending
许多研究表明，使用现金会降低支出，
because it forces you to literally watch the money as it's in your hand and then not anymore.
因为它迫使你看着手中的钱流出。
Or, if you see something you think you want, consider waiting before you actually buy it.
如果你看到了自己想要的东西，在真正购买之前考虑一下。
Understanding that having your hands on something
理解把手放在某物上
sets off that feel-good reward excitement in your brain might help you resist the urge.
会让大脑释放感觉良好的奖励兴奋可能会帮助你抵抗欲望。
Then you can see if you're still thinking about it later on.
然后看你随后是否仍在考虑它。
This has been SciShow Psychology.
这就是心理科学秀。
If you want to learn more about how companies try to hack your brain to maximize sales,
如果你想了解更多关于公司如何侵入你的大脑以实现销售最大化的，
you can check out our video on how ads are designed to persuade you.
可以查看我们的“如何设计广告来说服你”那期视频。
