Online)-Buying Behavior and Personality Traits: Evolutionary Psychology and Neuroscience Based.

This paper tries to link findings from evolutionary psychology and neuroscience with the aim to adapt traditional buying models and, as a result, shed new light on the different buying behavior. Out of these theories one can derive that (online) buying behavior is in a general sense twofold. Need-oriented-buying behavior: We purchase goods because we have a need. Yet, this purchase contributes little to our happiness since it is a sheer necessity. Want-oriented buying behavior: Many goods, however, are bought because we “want” and “like” them based on our experience or due to the fact that they are new. Such products generally generate a so-called “incentive salience”. By adding the additional dimension of an involvement component, a two-dimensional model with four archetypical types can be established: (a) Extensive buying, (b) effort-minimizing buying, (c) self-indulgent buying, and (d) conspicuous buying.