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Consumer behavior is discussed as a biobehavioral phenomenon and considered in light of evolutionary theory. Current consumer choices are viewed as shaped in the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA), and the expression of these evolved behavioral repertoires in modern consumer settings such as malls, grocery stores, and on-line shopping are analyzed in terms of evolutionary psychology. A variety of empirical studies confirm that consumption conforms to predictions made from sexual strategies, reciprocal altruism, foraging, and matching theories. Further explorations of consumer behavior and marketing practices from an evolutionary psychology perspective are a promising area for future research. - 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Why do we buy? Although much of what we consume may be trivial, the answer to this question is not. Consumption is the principal economic activity in postindustrial society, and in many cases may be the primary pursuit in which many individuals spend their time (and money). Undeniably, understanding consumption is important, but how may this best be done? Economic, sociological and psychological perspectives all bring important insights to bear on consumption; but like many products in the modern marketplace, they do not always seem to satisfy.
Critics of consumption and of current consumer research point to many problems, including economic excess (e.g., Frank, 1999) and theoretical hegemony (e.g., Foxall, 1994) as principal concerns. Although these matters are important, it is suggested that they may not be causes, but rather may be effects of a more basic issue, that of largely ignoring the fundamental biological and evolutionary characteristics of the organism under study. Humans are biological creatures, primates that evolved over many millennia whose adaptations were shaped and selected by environments long past. It is this concept of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA) that undergirds much of the analysis in evolutionary psychology. In an evolutionary psychology perspective (Buss, 1995), we are Pleistocene-era hunter-gatherers now living in environments that have changed much more drastically and quickly than the slow process of natural selection; strangers in a strange land. Some of us may be surrounded by uncountable amounts of people, wealth, and luxury, but we are all operating as if we were solving problems in the context of small clans and scarce resources.
Now, just as in the EEA, challenges related to...