Examining the psychology behind Black Friday and Boxing Day
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Ubyssey (The University of British Columbia)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2014/11/30
Sauder professor JoAndrea Hoegg studies the presence of mob mentality in shoppers.
A Sauder professor says that mob mentality is behind much of the pushing and shoving we see see during shopping days such as Black Friday and Boxing Day.
JoAndrea Hoegg, UBC associate professor and Canada Research Chair in consumer behaviour, studies the science behind consumer shopping behaviours.
Hoegg’s current research centres around prominent shopping days such as Black Friday, which has recently started gaining in popularity in Canada, and Boxing Day.
According to Hoegg, many shoppers get so caught up in finding the best deals that they do not think of what they are doing as mob psychology.
“When you have a large group of people together engaging in some behavior, you have something called deindividuation, which means they have a feeling of anonymity,” said Hoegg. “They feel less responsible for their own actions.”
Deindividuation creates a sense of energy in the crowd en masse. Individuals become more carefree about the consequences of their actions and can start engaging in aggressive behaviours.
“[The shoppers] start engaging in behaviours that they would not otherwise do,” said Hoegg. “Of course, that can lead, in a shopping environment, to what you sometimes see on the news.”
At the same time, Hoegg said that popular media sources tend to show the more extreme cases of such behaviour. Still, the presence of large crowds also contributes to creating an environment where people feel like they have to push aside others for the best deal.
“If it was just a regular shopping day and not this large crowd, a normal human would not do this in such a large crowd,” said Hoegg. “That’s mob psychology.”
According to Hoegg, stores will often use such techniques to give off the appearance of the scarcity of their products. That way, people will be more likely to think that they need to rush off and buy a particular item before everyone else.
“Stores make it seem like the products that people may want to buy is scarce,” said Hoegg. “There is a chance the product will run out. There is a sense of urgency.”
Hoegg said that while such shopping days can be fun for most people, they also create an environment where people’s competitiveness can come out in ways that are harmful.
“People want to be the one to get the product, get the deal and beat everyone else out,” said Hoegg. That, combined with so many people, can lead to this sort of more aggressive behaviour.”
Correction: A previous version of this article said JoAndrea Hoegg studies mob psychology. In fact, she studies consumer shopping behaviours. The Ubyssey regrets the error.
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