Hunting and Gathering at the Mall

Sex differences in shopping behaviors go back to caveman days.

As you and your loved ones tackle the mall crowds this holiday season, keeping in mind how men and women are hard-wired to acquire items may help you keep you patience as well. Evolutionary psychologist Daniel J. Kruger, PhD of the University of Michigan says that sex differences in consumer behavior are a result of years of men hunting and women gathering, and that the behaviors that we exhibit today are simply modern adaptations of those behaviors to fit our modern environment.

Kruger is lead author of a paper entitled "Evolved foraging psychology underlies sex differences in shopping experiences and behaviors," which scheduled for publication in the December issue of the Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology.

While his previous research focuses on sex differences in risk-taking behavior, mating strategies and mortality, Kruger was inspired to research male and female consumer behaviors from an evolutionary perspective following a European road trip with his now-wife and their friends, a German woman and her American husband.

Arriving in Prague, Kruger says the first thing the women wanted to do was shop. “The guys said, ‘What do you mean?’” he recalls. “The girls hadn’t been to Prague, but the guys had been, and there was so much history and culture to see, yet they wanted to go shopping. They put their foot down, took our credit cards and left.” 

When the couples met up later that day, the women were excited about their purchases. “The women were happily showing us the spoils of their shopping adventures,” Kruger says. “They were so enthused after shopping in this exotic location. It was almost like they thought they found a secret place, they thought it was a real achievement.”

The differences between the male and female agendas piqued his curiosity and he wanted to find out the reasons why they existed, Kruger tells demo dirt.

“It got me thinking about men’s and women’s perceptions of shopping and how they think of shopping and it really differs based on our evolutionary behaviors: men hunted, women gathered,” he explains. “There was a little bit of crossover sometimes, but this was the case over all.”

The couples did take in the cultural and historical sites of Prague, Kruger notes, along with the shopping.

So what are some of the typical shopping habits of women and men that have been passed on to us by our ancient ancestors?  

Men tend to be more direct, practical and efficient, Kruger explains. “For guys any meat is good meat. You get what you can. If you can get it, you go for it.”

Women, the traditional gatherers, didn’t have to chase their food, so they could take their time and focus on the details and quality. “When you are foraging for vegetables, you want to get the food that is ripe and ready and good quality,” Kruger says. “Women use sensory channels more, such as touch, smell, and sight.”

That means that today’s females want to “experience everything” in a store, including touching and looking at everything, while men want to “go in, get it, and get out,” he adds.   

While marketers, retailers and advertisers may not necessarily use these study findings to enhance sales—“there are already a lot of evolutionary insights in marketing, they have a sense of what works for men and women,” Kruger says—.they may be able to refine approaches to the sexes, especially in how stores are set up and designed to appeal to men versus women.

The greatest benefit of this research may be it role in quashing or preventing age-old battles between the sexes, especially at high-stress shopping periods like the current holiday season.

“I think having this understanding might allow men and women to relate to each other better and get along better when shopping,” he says.