{"id":122804,"date":"2024-02-05T12:56:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T16:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=122804"},"modified":"2024-02-09T11:45:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T15:45:28","slug":"regret-purchases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/regret-purchases\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Regret Purchases? Explaining Buyer\u2019s Remorse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why do we regret<\/a> purchases after we make them? How can we make better buying decisions<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you regret purchases, it\u2019s because your desire for something blinded you from thinking through the decision rationally. Often we think rationally only to justify these purchases after the fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn why we get buyer\u2019s remorse and why rationalizing purchases doesn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Understanding Buyer\u2019s Remorse<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We often regret purchases<\/strong>. Sometimes these purchases are small and harmless, like a marked-down sweater in a color you\u2019ll never wear or a novel you\u2019re only buying because everyone else is reading it. These aren\u2019t great decisions, and they\u2019re a waste of money. But they\u2019re small enough that you can laugh about them later\u2014after you\u2019ve found a new home for the sweater or book. Sometimes, though, the purchases you regret are bigger. For example, you might buy a car that costs far more than you budgeted or book a vacation that costs more than you can afford. These decisions involve large enough amounts of money that they can become setbacks from your financial goals<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Psychologists say that we often rationalize our choices<\/a> so we can avoid buyer\u2019s remorse, the feeling of regretting a purchase. A group of Yale researchers, which included Against Empathy<\/em><\/a> author Paul Bloom, also observed this tendency in capuchin monkeys. They offered the monkeys red, green, and blue M&Ms. If a monkey chose a red M&M over a blue one, he would rationalize that choice by devaluing blue M&Ms and rejecting them in the future. We do the same thing so we can avoid wondering if we made the wrong choice<\/a>, including with our purchases\u2014especially those that cost a lot more than a pack of M&Ms.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether what you buy (and later regret) is big or small, you talk yourself into the purchase because it\u2019s something you want.<\/strong> The feeling of really<\/em> wanting something wins out over the knowledge that you don\u2019t need it or can\u2019t afford it. And it\u2019s only later, once you have a bit more perspective, that you regret it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: When we explain that we make regrettable decisions because we want something and ignore the downsides, we\u2019re describing motivated reasoning\u2014the same phenomenon that experts say led people to prioritize their desire for normalcy<\/a> during the Covid-19 pandemic. I Contain Multitudes<\/em><\/a> <\/em>author Ed Yong lists \u201cthe normality trap\u201d as one of the cognitive errors<\/a> that tripped up Americans\u2019 intuitive response to the pandemic. As the virus disrupted the status quo, people wanted so badly for life to return to normal that they behaved in ways that let the virus spread\u2014a decision some of them would later regret<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why do we regret purchases after we make them? How can we make better buying decisions? When you regret purchases, it\u2019s because your desire for something blinded you from thinking through the decision rationally. Often we think rationally only to justify these purchases after the fact. Learn why we get buyer\u2019s remorse and why rationalizing purchases doesn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":122899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,43],"tags":[1397],"class_list":["post-122804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-better-decisions-fewer-regrets","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nDo You Regret Purchases? 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