How Video Games Use Supermarket Psychology - Extra Credits
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- čas přidán 26. 09. 2023
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Ever impulsively bought something at the supermarket? You're not alone, and it's no accident! Dive deep into the meticulously crafted world of supermarket design, a strategy honed over a century to entice, engage, and encourage consumers to buy more. It's a design that is being used by digital markets today and heavily seeded in free-to-play video games. Learn how companies are setting you up to buy more!
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Your vídeos always make My day guys! Keep up the good work 😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤
How much does it cost?
Imprint themselves refuse to show any prices, besides "free for 7 days".
Feels ironic and scummy (and a bit illegal), considering I arrive directly from a video about how to trick people to spend money without thinking.
Buen video, me recordaron a garfield episodio sobre los centros comerciales.
A similar principle is behind why a lot of social media or streaming site redesigns are so annoying, because they’re actively trying to make it harder for you to find exactly what you came for in the hopes that by spending time looking you’ll find something that catches your eye that you weren’t looking for to get more engagement.
I remember when the "continue watching" was always right at the top of streaming services. Now it usually takes just little bit of scrolling. Not enough to REALLY bother you, but just enough that you might see a couple other shows you want to watch and therefore keep the service a while longer.
This'd be why I mostly quit social media; I've been on a Facebook hiatus for a couple years now. I honestly think that making it so easy to get distracted is kinda ableist.
Can't tell you the number of times I've dropped by Facebook or Twitter for one specific task (e.g. looking up a friend's contact info), got distracted while the page was loading, spent a couple hours doing random things, then left the site -- only to recall that I hadn't done the thing I came to do. It's such a time sink, and infuriating, so I stopped using it altogether.
Facebook got so convoluted that a few of my friends have started to quit it because they can't find the stuff they want.
to an extent, but it's more down to *change aversion.* people just get used to things looking - and being organised in - certain ways, so the frustration is due to no longer feeling like you have mastery over how a site (or whatever it is) works. crucially, it's gonna happen regardless of whether or not the redesign introduces a whole slew of bugs or deliberately makes it harder to find exactly what they came for.
like, the last redesign of facebook was fine. the issue that pushed me and my friends away was that the news feed is now 90% posts from sponsored or "recommended" groups and pages that we never Liked, so you see nothing of what people you know actually post or do, _which defeats the purpose of using facebook._ that's a change to the news feed algorithm, _not_ the site design.
I have actually participated in a supermarket psychology study myself! I suspect the little thank-you gift I could pick out at the end as compensation for my time was the thing they were actually focused on for the study, in hindsight.
with Supermarket's one way to help mitigate Impulse buying is using a shopping list. its not fool proof but it helps. probably wont work so well on Video game stores though.
Absolutely, having a list to focus on helps.
When I shop I just tick of meals
The other pro tip people always suggest is to not shop while hungry. Pretty sure that has a huge influence on decision fatigue.
A shopping list helps, but the supermarket is designed to make you take the longest amount of to get the most needed items from your list and get you to pass buy as many impulse items as possible.
Most people have a list but while walking from the Cereal to the milk (never in the same place) they past by 20 other things and in the moment they feel they "need" those things but "forgot" to put it on the list.
A list is a step in the right direction. But what people really need, is a list, a map and a timer. No what you want, now the fastest route to get it, and limit the amount of time you spend in the supermarket.
Make a game of getting everything on your list in the shortest amount of time (lose points for any items added not originally on the list).
It’s called predatory marketing.
And you can blame it for why video games are now run by commercial moguls who crunch programmers to the bone, then fire the entire department, instead of say programmers anymore.
We zoomers call it “capitalism”
@@mr.x2567 Close but you see in Capitalism, customer satisfaction is still vital; EA, Ubisoft, Activsion, they don’t care about your satisfaction, only how much money they fleeced from you.
Nope! Capitalism, like all economic systems, is only defined by two things: what rights people have to things, and how those rights can change hands.
Capitalism gives individuals the right to permanently own things (generally until their death if they so chose.) And those rights can be altered or divided up by the owner then given to someone else through use of a market. Morality isn't part of the equation in any systemic way, which is to call it amoral, not immoral.
You're participating in capitalism when you go to a supermarket, indie devs are participating in capitalism when they put their game on steam, Unity is participating in capitalism when they alter the rights you have when buying from them, and George Washington was participating in capitalism when he bought slaves. Absolute individual ownership rights+markets=capitalism
@@iregularhexagon9897 Do not misunderstand, I am not assigning morality to the system; Merely stating if someone pays you for something, you agree to the trade, get their money and do not give them what they paid for, you have defied said system - capitalism has not taken place.
“The costumer is always right” is a basic business standard to ensure business can continue. A hit to credibility of the seller is a crippling of their business.
Having worked in a grocery store I picked up on this while stocking, and hated the manipulation immediately.
Yep. It is unfortunately true though, that even hating the manipulation, never mind being aware of it, does not make us immune to it.
Any time i feel manipulated i get frustrated with it, I've got demand avoidance. Even things like a button saying "buy now" annoys me because I feel like they're trying to work that in to get you to be more impulsive. Sometimes I'll just leave a shop or online store because of it. I know they make way more money off other people for it that it won't be a "vote with your cash" thing but I still hate it.
Seriously. I can see exactly what they're doing and it comes across as incredibly rude if not actively hostile.
Same. I've gotten really hostile to "sales" and "special deals" too, especially if they seem to conveniently be running the very first time I go to a site. "Wow, how lucky..." Sometimes I do kind of need the thing, so I can't just leave, but it lets me know that the site/company is untrustworthy and I should be maximally skeptical and uncooperative with whatever they seem to want me to do.
I find that shopping at the same grocery store (one I used to work at, no less) has made these techniques markedly less effective. I just get the same things every time, know what aisle they are on and get in-and-out in 12 minutes or so for a 2 month shop. If anything, I think there just isn't anything interesting to eat in the store based entirely on me having tried it all before. Perhaps the answer to (this aspect) of grocery store marketing is to get familiar with one place instead of being directed around a strange store every other time?
@@fleetingimmersionthe problem with this is that many shops will rearrange everything now and then to throw you off and "reset" your tolerance.
@@killerlork Fair enough, but my local has only once, when they moved the shelves around by 1-2 aisles. Luckily I still worked there then, so I quickly learned where everything was again. I've been going to this store since it opened maybe 20 years ago, so it'd have to be a massive change for me to lose my place.
I think the biggest difference between the layout you described and supermarkets in my country is that you'd be doing something pretty weird if you're in one for over 20 minutes.
Are you referring to overall size?
@@henryward5457 and how much shopping people do at once. I go the supermarket by bicycle (takes less than 5 minutes), so if I'd be loading up for 20 minutes there'd be no way I was getting home.
@@bartz0rt928it's not too uncommon in the US (especially suburbia) for the nearest non-gas station store to be 15-20 min away, by car. So going often for small trips can easily become a massive time sink, not even considering fuel costs.
netherlands? @@bartz0rt928
@@bartz0rt928this is another reason so many big businesses are against the idea of 15 minute cities
I learned this years ago, and ended up changing my habits:
Buy more often, but buy less, never take a cart and just carry things you buy in your hands, or a single bag.
Can't carry anymore? Buy it next time (or not at all).
For large shopping runs, order online, where none of these tricks work on you (though there are others, it's not as bad).
As a household of 5, this is impossible
@@PatheticBarrel Then order online, and and get fruit and vegetables from a grocer (since picking those remotely just doesn't do it for most people, and I get it)
When I had a small IGA grocery store in my town before it burnt down last year, my dad & I would do one big shop monthly for stuff we could place in the freezer and slowly work through (mainly microwave meals and frozen veggies), whilst I'd take a 5-10 minute walk down twice a week for stuff like sandwich materials and shelf-stable fruit like oranges and mandarins.
This is in a small rural town where we didn't have any online shopping except from the IGA store in the next town over (a 90km/55mi round trip), and since the local store burnt down and dad passed (I can't drive currently) I've been doing weekly orders from the IGA in that next town for stuff to get me through the week (with a big order of soft drink/soda/pop once every 2-3 weeks, as the town tap water isn't all that great for drinking).
Most of all, write a list
Denmark made it illegal for some supermarkets to place the candy aisle by the cash registers because of this.
Based Denmark
I imagine it was less to save consumers money and more to fight unhealthy food choices since their government is footing the bill for medical expenses.
@@aerozord
Sort of, probably has more to do with keeping kids from being encouraged to eat junk. That's easily the worst of it. If you're a parent your kids are probably bored and hungry, and you'd be tempted to give in just to quiet them down.
thats awesome! i want a law like that here as well =)
These are excellent laws. Same could be said about laws requiring hiding tobacco products that they are only available to those who know what to ask for. Ideally alcohol should also be placed in stores in a way that it is not necessary to walk by or through that section.
My shopping trips for groceries take under 20 minutes... I go in with a list, only go to the aisles carrying those things, and head out. Sometimes, though, I wander just to see what's new/available, but don't pick-up anything else. Keeps it simple and keeps the psychological manipulation to a minimum. Also, ignore all the purchase option in free-to-play games, and generally avoid all the pay-to-play manipulation by dropping the game after the shine wares off and the limitations of the "free" aspect is apparent. Don't bother even installing apps that are "free" but with "in app purchases" as they are mostly rip-offs.
I’ve rarely gone into a store and come out with something I didn’t plan on. I’ve always been confused about the fact other people feel compelled to buy stuff they didn’t plan on.
Im really happy this drawimg style is still on this channel
The extra sci fi one? Yeah, that one's cool
Thank the Dave the artist for that
My local grocery store does none of these things. The first things in the entrance are produce, then bread, meat and dairy. Heck, it even feeds the line through an aisle filled with personal care items(Soap and lotion), instead of snack foods.
i mean...thats technically one thing on the list checked - veggies and bread at the entrance to put you in a "yummie want" mood
though i would argue thats probably an inoffensive thing on its own and more just putting your best foot forward... another reasonable reason for doing it can be - its perishable... if there is one section you want every customer to pass through and hopefully buy something its the stuff that goes off fast, so you have to throw out as little as possible
At home I like to play a game with my kids after going to the supermarket called "was it on the list" always gets a few chuckles
My secondary school had Business Studies as a mandatory subject, and we learnt all about this stuff, plus loss leaders.
I'm kinda glad I've kinda trained myself out of the cycle tho. If I go into a new to me supermarket I kinda form a mental map of where everything is (so when they reorganise I get irrationally angry), and then on subsequent visits I just have a list and beeline my way to each thing I need and get out asap - cuz otherwise I get big overwhelmed. At this point the sweets at the tills and the promotion shelves are about as invisible to me as online adverts - another intrusive thing that I just turn my brain off and ignore when I encounter
(Also I know I'm not immune to these psychological tricks, but just knowing that they exist and what they're designed to do is half the battle)
Whenever something like that "decision fatigue" happens to me, I just storm out. Open-world games are extremely guilty of that.
Another reason to keep your shopping list. Keeps you focused.
exactly, sometimes i was made fun of by some of my peers for having one. "why do you need a shopping list for only 5 items?, cant you just use your brain, and do so?"
"because its more than just a reminder, you silly twat"
Fantaaastic The Clash reference, one of my fav songs of all time.
in my country(denmark) we have a store called "normal" it does this to the most obvious degree because it makes a kind of line like this 2:04 but it shuts of the other routes with more places to store products so the only free space is where the red arrows is and thereby you have to take that route to get to the exit which then makes you need to look at all the products to reach the end
IKEA is also a notorious example of this customer pipeline/maze strategy.
I’m neurodivergent, and I HATE going to the supermarket. This whole process wears me down way more than it does for many other people. The exhaustion lasts for hours or days. Online grocery orders and meal delivery are the only things that keep me functional.
Similarly, it feels like such a breath of fresh air when I play games with easily avoidable microtransactions or none at all. I am here to get my dopamine, not to have decision fatigue that’s so bad that I struggle to eat dinner after playing.
Many large stores that bought way into delivery shopping back during the pandemic have actually started to dial them back, or start charging to motivate people to NOT use them. Particularly with grocery stores the impulse shopping doesn't work when you're basically filling out your shopping list on their app and having someone else do the actual shopping for you. Average transaction amount actually went way down for most grocery stores when more people started ordering online instead of going in.
My funny side story the first, and only one of two times now, that we used the grocery delivery service we wanted some bananas but didn't know if the quantity meant bananas or pounds of bananas. Being prices by weight we assumed the order quantity was by weight too. We ordered 2 assuming that to mean 2 lbs of bananas (roughly 8) but instead got just two bananas.
I had to keep humming the tune 0:01 for a good 10 minutes until I figured out what a deep cut this was…you don’t LOOK lost in a supermarket though
I know, right? I was very pleased to pick up on that little Easter egg.
the supermarket that I go to actually has the bakery, all the meat, produce and dairy on the same side if the store and household items like shampoo, toilet paper, plastic plates etc on the opposite end of the store
This is also laid out by space constraints: A bakery must be at the side of the store, for the bakery side and the shelves that products are on. Same with products requiring cold storage, i.e. dairy and meat. It is more efficient to have these at the sides or back wall of the store. Produce also has space constraints, in that they need to be restocked the most often (along with the bakery).
Many things are for marketing purposes but it is necessary to recognize space efficiency as a factor as well
A shopping list helps, but the supermarket is designed to make you take the longest amount of to get the most needed items from your list and get you to pass buy as many impulse items as possible.
Most people have a list but while walking from the Cereal to the milk (never in the same place) they past by 20 other things and in the moment they feel they "need" those things but "forgot" to put it on the list.
A list is a step in the right direction. But what people really need, is a list, a map and a timer. No what you want, now the fastest route to get it, and limit the amount of time you spend in the supermarket.
Make a game of getting everything on your list in the shortest amount of time (lose points for any items added not originally on the list).
Love that he is humming Lost in the Supermarket by The Clash when the video starts!
As a retail worker, I wonder if that "the rational part of your brain has been beaten down" part of shopping is why so many customers have so much trouble with self-checkouts.
Especially when we have tons of very obvious signs and indicators that one is Closed/Cash Only/Card Only, and customers seem to ignore all of it and then go "I didn't know it was Card Only!"
Nice use of the Clash's Lost in a Supermarket, in the opening scene.
The humming of The Clash in the beginning ::chef kiss::
I've done remodels and modulars/planograms at plenty of places. I can honestly say that they don't want to make it difficult for you to find stuff. If it's too difficult, you won't bother to go into the store because it's too much of a hassle. It's quite the opposite, they make it EASY so you enjoy your time there so you stay longer and look around more to "see what you need". So the idea that departments or items are far away from each other just isn't how it's done now. They actually want to make it easier. As far as flow and where NameBrand vs Generic is, well there are layers to it. Usually they put the generic right next to the name brand so that you don't have to even try to compare them. The tags are right next to each other. You can look at a glance that the Generic is cheaper without any effort which gives you that dopamine hit which means you enjoy coming back. People love feeling like they got a 'win' or 'outsmarted' the system. They also do things by sizes. Small things on top, large things on the bottom. That's not only to make this easy but also to lower wear and tear on the fixtures so you don't have to replace them as often, keeping costs down. That's why you see the bags of cat/dog food usually on steel instead of the usual gondola. It's all about keeping cost down and making it easy for customers. Much easy to grab that bag from steal than gondolas. They will also have employees closer to the steal racks so you get that sweet customer service. The fact that you got someone to help you 'in your time of need' helps with that dopamine hit. By the time you get to the register, your brain is already saying that you should treat yourself for a job well done, hence the candy. It also helps that families come in with their toddlers and tell them that if they're good, they'll get a treat and BAM! there's a treat right there at the register aka when they are done. That's how they organize things now. So some things are correct in the video but most is wrong. The endcaps are a signpost of deals sometimes. Sometimes it's there for easy access to holiday stuff. Thanksgiving, you will see endcaps full of Thanksgiving ingredients to make it easier and give you that dopamine hit of how smart and forward thinking you are. Halloween, lots of candy so you can run in and run out just in case you run out on the day. That's why they put the gift bags for Valentine's day right in the middle of their main 'action alley'. It's so that it's super easy and you enjoy your time so you come back repeatedly. Just because it's on an endcap, doesn't mean that it's a deal. It can just be "Hey, it's Christmas and we sell a lot of sugar cookie mixes so we're going to order 50 cases so we can fill the endcap and the home so that it's super easy for people to find and show we have plenty so they know to come here instead of literally anywhere else". Literally things that I've been told. Basically, a store now is designed to stop you from thinking entirely and just 'go through the motions' because it's that easy and enjoyable. I hope this helps.
Walmart is nothing like what you just described.
I know a turtle that is older than super markets? My mind is blown.
I had a boss once make me read the book on store design and the science behind how it's arranged. While the job itself didn't work out, the core concepts fascinate me. Aaaaand I also notice bad landing zones in every store I walk into now.
There was a supermarket near me as a kid that stocked the sane soda in 2 similar sizes (i think it was 16 oz and 16.9 oz, but im not sure, it's been a long time) and despite the fact that they were *almost* the same, the ones in the refridgerated end cap next to the checkout were almost 50% more expensive than the similar ones buried in the middle of an aisle.
Good point, actually. Never take the drinks out of the refrigerators unless you're desperate for an immediate cool refreshment. Always go to the unrefrigerated drink isle.
My dad’s a construction electrician. They literally plan the placement of aisles to the inch so they can make sure all the products have perfect lighting.
Honestly I never considered supermarket design very much while shopping OR while playing the dozens of F2P games I've played over the years. Really helpful video about the intentional design of these games/markets!
lost in the supermarket in the beginning was top tier. one of my fave songs
It works! Always on the look out for games! Love your videos guys🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤
Going to the grocery store tomorrow, watching this to prime myself against being fooled.
That is why I go shopping with a list. I tell my family that “if isn’t on the list, it doesn’t exist”. Random buying crap is for the birds. I do hate it when the store decides to “change it up”. My lists are written in the order the layout and is ticks me off when they rearrange it
As someone who works in retail, they often move product around (without informing the employees) to keep people guessing.
One study found that the more choice they gave customers for a product, such as bags of crisps/chips, the fewer they bought because it was too exhausting to consider so many options. That's why stores only have a few varieties as it makes impulse buying more likely.
Makes me feel glad that I rarely have to go to a supermarket and have only briefly played games with stores in them.
I feel like extra credits is slowly becoming different from the other "EXTRAS" in a good way
Every time I go to the supermarket I find myself following pretty much the same route through the store, picking up the same items in the same order, which I suppose is by design. I do enjoy sometimes just wandering the isles to see what's interesting, especially if it's a place I go to rarely. And I almost invariably leave with more items than I planned to pick up, but most of the time it's those non-urgent but nice-to-have sort of things that I spot along the way.
Let us also not forget the "Limited time" Specials. Designed to make you feel you are losing money if you don't buy now. Both grocery stores and games do timed sales, limited stock, and first in the door deals. Especially in games where it is "If you close this screen this awesome one time deal goes away!"
I find that putting stuff at eye-level makes it _harder_ to find. It's just not where I look by default. My pattern when looking for something I don't normally buy seems to be to start at chest hight and go down, then up to the top, and _end_ at eye-level.
I remember watching a video in school about this exact subject (strictly supermarkets, well before microtransactions were a thing) and it said
"Two thirds of people report having impulse bought items. The other third are lying."
While this is fascinating from a monetization point, could this same logic be used in games for game design perspective? Great video though, and art was especially good today :)
It is interesting to compare British supermarkets to American supermarkets
-there is usually only one entrance/exit to the side of the store instead of two both sides
-unusually the floral section is near the entrance/exit of the store, whilst the bakery is the furthest corner away from the entrance/exit
-there is usually gossip magazines by the checkout, but sweets/candy are usually located close to the checkout
ye, the Video made me wanna go to an american supermarked and made a list to compare things and where they're ... weird
and then get lost because they're oversized and you can't walk home from them
I might be misremembering, but didn't Tesco start a thing a few years back where they openly stopped putting sweets and chocolates right at the checkouts? In a very "look at us, we're helping you to make better choices" way.
@@MiseFreisin I do think I remember something like that but they can still put sweets near the checkout, less likely for customers who just want to get through the checkout to spot but still easy for children to spot as they wait for their parents to get through the checkout
Thank you for the video.
This is why you make a specific list of what you need and just go in, but what you need, and leave.
The store I work at is set up in a different fashion but has the same ideas.
The doors are in the middle that lead to the check outstands on the right and the produce bakery and meat departments on the left. And through the center of the store is all the aisles.
I am impressed by how sleazy these stores can get.
I have a “to buy list” and a “to buy later list”. It works for me.
Did I hear you humming “Lost in the Supermarket” by The Clash?
Well played.
Well played, indeed.
Oddly, I have often searched high and low at a supermarket for an item... only to eventually realize it was on an end cap the whole time. I never look at them normally.
I had a deeply entertaining grocery shopping trip around June or July. The most intense smell of watermelon greeted me as I entered the fruits and veg section, only for me to find absolutely no watermelon. 10/10 smell design grocery store, make it real obvious that you use artificial smells. X'D
Come to think of it, many of the supermarkets and big-box stores I've been to lately have had fewer hand baskets available at their entrances, if they haven't phased them out completely. If I'm looking to buy more than I can carry in my hands, I have to get a shopping cart. I suspect that this is another psychological trick to get me to buy more stuff, since a mostly-empty cart can make it seem like I'm buying less than I actually am, making me think less about grabbing an extra item or two.
the best way to get around that is probably to just bring your own shopping bag - also lets you control how big that bag is, based on how much you actually need to carry
Funny how your sponsor has you click through a gazillion tabs (and a sign up) before it even tells you the price.
The idea is to 1) have a list 2) shop in a U (along the sides only) and 3) only hit the aisle that has an item you need. You're usually good if you just stick to the outsides (bread, produce, meat, and dairy).
Decision fatigue doesn't work the same for everyone. When I get it, I just give up and don't buy either. Particularly when it comes to durable goods, I might end up buying it online instead.
TBH I can't even relate to this supermarket experience at all. Maybe it's because I have personality traits that promote frugality, but I guess this model works on enough people to be worth it.
So that's why in our 1 door supermarkets chocolate, biscuits (cookies), fizzy pop (soda) and booze are all at the end.... so after brain switches off, you get to stuff the heart "wants"
Don’t forget special point of sale displays the bank on you not wanting to track down a product in the aisle and put those high profit items in special “seasonal” displays.
I take it personally to design my own strategies to de-claw these techniques where I can, sometimes just not participating with some brands at all since avoidance is the easiest
@extracredits can you please do a followup showing us tactics to avoid or cope these things in a healthy way?
3:52 - this whole part on decision fatigue is WILD to me. Any time I go into a supermarket, decisions are easy, for every item no matter how long I've been in there.
"Is this an item I actually intend to buy? Is it on sale? Is it the cheapest item of its type that meets the previous requirements?" If all answers are yes, buy the item. Otherwise, don't buy it.
Edit: A little more info now that I think about it. By 'I actually intend to buy,' I mean items that I have used or intend to use in the near future and need to restock.
And for 'on sale,' I mean *actual* sales. No, cutting 2 cents off of a 4 dollar item is not a real sale, stupid grocery stores. Generally, I only consider sales good enough if they're 15% at an absolute, bare minimum, for items that rarely ever go on sale. 20-33% (or more) is more what I usually aim for.
In middle-sized finnish stores fruit and veggies and candy are right next to each other at the entrance while the cash registers are right next to both and the veggies are prevalent. In small finnish stores the candy aisle could be barely noticeable. In big ones it seems kinda random, but non-consumables like books, clothes and toys are on one edge and dairy on the other edge of most big finnish supermarkets
There are fitting shop sizes for different town sizes, but if it's not big, it's less consumeristic here in Finland for some reason
but the thing is that veggies are often at the only entrance in smaller supermarkets and want-not-need products are more pronouncedly present in big supermarkets in big cities.
the middle sized shops seem to have different priorities than the big ones and the smallest variety appears to arrange their shelves at almost random except instant meals are near the entrance.
I buy stuff based on consideration most of the time, often making the decision after months or even years, because I'm a kid with no income and my upbringing
wanting something doesn't mean instantly rushing to obtain it. Stop to think
keep the brain active at all times when in a shop if you want to keep your money
I wait for sales on steam and nintendo eshop and don't pay in games except with consideration
Sometimes I go to irl shops just to look at the wares like in a museum and leave
Sometimes it's hard to find snack food that isn't sugar and preservatives in a box or requires heating or boiling simply because there aren't that many products outside those categories if you take a close look
by the way fortnite handles microtransactions in a way that lets you get'em cosmetics without paying if you just decide to be stingy.
be stingy and consider before buying no matter the environment
especially if you have low income or no income or want to vote for an agenda with your cash by avoiding certain product types.
I saw how mobile/gacha games played this sort of trick thanks to videos like this from other channels and as a result I have been very fastidious about not spending more money than I need or want to.
I ended up playing Gundam Breaker Mobile before it got shut down and by my estimates, I got so far with a combination of smart freebie grinding and diligently planning my builds, that they *gave* me more than fifty bucks in premium currency by the time they closed it down.
Another Bojack Horsemen reference, keep them coming!
Interesting!
I normally buy the stuff I need to buy only. I am writing the shopping list in a special way. I am drawing a symbol in front of every item to put them into sections. Like a minus (-) for dairy products and cross (x) for vegetables. I go allong the path to every part of tbe store to product I need. From 1 part to the other I am only thinking about the next section.
PS: I am also not buying the cookies I like. Because I know that I can't stop eating them at home if I buy them.
What it also sounds like is that you have a roughly 20-minute window to grocery shop if you have a plan you want to stick with/to, e.g. a budget or meal idea. Get in, get the things you need, and get out.
Kinda, while having a plan and shopping quickly will help prevent impulse buys any psychological study like the ones mentioned don't give you fundamental truths of humanity, they give statistical tendencies and averages. So the average person runs into decision fatigue when shopping after 20 or so minutes, you or any one else may be different based on both their tolerance for decision and how they actually shop. For example deciding if you need anything from an isle is a than skipping it for half the isle will be way less decisions than looking at every category of item they have which will be less than looking at every item they have. On top of that while I have not looked at decision fatigue in particular I am almost positive that its a trait you can train to avoid just like exercise will reduced physical fatigue.
"decision fatigue" sounds exactly like "mental load", and "burnout". i can understand different fields having different slang for the same thing. but one field having multiple terms for something seems a little like obfuscation
My girlfriend and I experience what we call "grocery store hypnosis" or "shopping hypnosis". After we've been in a store for roughly 20 minutes or more, we start to get groggy and forgetful. To my memory this doesn't make us more impulsive with purchases, it just makes us wander more as we forget where things are; and also want to leave.
Neither of us are neurotypical, so I wonder if the store layout wearing down our logical processing forces us to think with other parts of our brains that are already over-taxed? It feels like a micro-burnout.
For some topical context, both of us hate the feel of Gacha games and most "Freemium" games.
"YES WANT. WANT PLEASE THANKS."
- smartest man on earth
Being acutely aware of this, I don't let it effect me while shopping. I know where the products I need are located, and I only go down those aisles, crab the one item I'm specifically looking for, and then move on. In and out in 30 minutes tops.
I see. So what you're saying is: I should go out and get some spicy marshmallows.
Walking to a supermarket, and going through those products I cannot afford...
What a skill I have learned by being poor.
Grocery stores aren't made for me. When my rational brain taps out my emotional brain just wants to go home :c
If I don't make a list beforehand I'm almost guaranteed to forget stuff. And then I either have to make due with what I bought or order something.
Also, I end up with more candy than I told myself I would 😅
Hmmm... I'll only pick up the low calorie Elven Waybread...Oh look at that! An Ultra-Super Vorpal blade for only $99.95! Gotta have it!
I don't mind this, I like exploring stores.
...funny thing is I'm pretty sure that I have actually toned out that decision paralysis at my local Super market. Either that or Winco just doesn't care that much.
A fellow enjoyer of excellent Clash songs, I see 👍
It's weird. Maybe because I grew up with supermarkets but not in app purchases I'm way more adverse to the latter. I will straight up uninstall games if they pop up adds for currency. My brain instinctively knows that an add to buy anything in game means that I'm not playing a game. I'm playing in a shop. And I immediately know it's not worth putting any time or effort into it because surely there's a catch eventually.
"You didn't want this, you didn't consent to this"
Hang on, was you humming along to The Clash there? 👍
A lot of customers--a statistically significant amount--leave their carts around the lot, even if they count themselves as responbsible adults IRL. And a subset of those that don't---and I sadly counted myself as this until I thought about it--call them LAZY. But they're NOT--they're depleted by the grocery game. Their emotional centers tell them to get moving, and they do.
I watched on nebula but wanted to give you interactions on here too.
My brain must be wired differently, I go into supermarkets looking for new and interesting stuff to try or waste money on and after spending hours wandering around I end up leaving almost empty handed with only the items on my shopping list. Similarly when I'm presented with the free stuff that is supposed to entice players to browse the shop in free to play games that's usually what makes me lose interest in the game, and given I only start playing free to play games expecting to spend money it all seems backwards to me driving me away from purchases rather than toward them.
Unfortunately that Supermarket psychology doesn't work on me. When I enter a store, I know exactly what I'm looking for, and I never buy more than that. The goal might be flexible, like "a week worth of desserts" where I just go straight to the bakery corner and buy what draws my attention the most, but I never end up buying "an extra week worth of food". The only exception is when there's something specific I've been looking for and haven't been able to find for a while.
Also, my brain shutting down and giving up on making choices means adding "nothing" rather than "everything". I just head straight to the cashiers, make my payment and get the heck out of there, probably without having purchased my full goal. I can't recall the last time I bought a candy or whatever from the corner around the cashiers.
I've always hated how stores randomly rearrange items to confuse people into buying more. I hate it even more that it works. Recently my local store moved peanut butter and jelly type things out of the bread isle and to basically as far away from it as possible.
Not sure how I feel about a Muzak version of The Clash.
I now want some flaming mallows
Huh...this...actually explains a lot...
The mobile ads in between rounds have the opposite effect on me. I don't want to spend, so no matter how good the deal is, after a few rounds and seeing another ad my brain just impulse nos it and I don't even look at it.
Why are all the old videos gone? Oldest one I'm still seeing is from the beginning of the year.
THE CLASH REFERENCE THAT I UNDERSTAND NOW CAUSE I FOUND LONDON CALLING AT A THRIFT STORE FOR A $1 🤩🤩🤩
Yeah, never was aware of the layout of a market because I don't like to stay inside of them, I already have a list of what to get and leave afterward.
That might also be why I have only used real money once in a mobile game, it was a thing I "needed" but I had to use cash to avoid the BS gacha in the game, then never used money again.
0:19 Why is the title on the back of the book?
Thats why im happy being nuro divergent i dont fall for little tricks that work on normal people 😂