Personality drives purchasing of luxury goods

People who are 'extraverted' and on low incomes buy more luxury goods than their introverted peers to compensate for the experience of low financial status, finds new UCL research. The study, published today in Psychological Science , used real life spending data from UK bank accounts to investigate the spending habits of richer and poorer people with different personality types. People living on a low income often feel low status in society and spend a higher percentage of their money on goods and services that are perceived to have a high status. "We've shown that personality looks to be an important factor in how people respond to living with limited resources. We hope this new association will help us better understand which people may be likely to engage in behaviour that perpetuates the conditions of financial hardship," explained Dr Joe Gladstone, study co-author from UCL School of Management. Previous research has found that people who are sociable and outgoing care more about their social status than others. The new research shows that when extraverted people have a lower income, they spend proportionately more on status goods than introverts on the same income.