Black Friday shoppers are always a sight to see. With their raging emotions to grab the best deals from their competitors they spring into animalistic action. Consumers suddenly drop all of their morals and sometimes literally fight to the death for that Best Buy TV that’s 500 dollars cheaper than before. But why to we do this? What sparks in our minds that make us think like acting like barbarians is okay. I believe that the important variable to consider is the environment. A scientific study on the craziness of a black Friday shopper concluded that there is a switch in our brain that is turned off when participating in these activities. “Consumers process information in two ways: high-level abstract and low-level concrete forms of thinking. With high-level abstract information processing, consumers consider things like the overall effect of the product, such as the brand value. At low-level concrete processing, however, consumers look at details such as how cheap the price is”. This study was a beneficial learning for me because it aided in a psychological concept of black Friday. Our brain plays a major role in how we interpret situations and this study provided support in the hypothesis that depending on where we are and what were doing we take on a specific role. 

            Another website provided the fact from an observational survey that “44% of respondents said they’d mostly be purchasing goods for themselves on Black Friday”. This fact didn’t support my original thinking because I proposed that a confounding factor in our animalistic ways on black Friday is because we are hunting down gifts for our loved ones so we have a greater motivation to snag them more.

            The main purpose of these studies though is to help people learn ways into not acting like savages when partaking in Black Friday experiences. Frankly, this behavior has a domino effect; once one person cracks another does, and then so on and so on. So how do we embrace our inner classiness during these shopping rampages? One option is to know the store’s promotions and their tactics to not end up in such situations. If you are aware of a stores hot deals but are also aware of equal deals that may not be as promoted you may save yourself from a fistfight in Wal-Mart! Another option is to avoid the chaos all together. Now with Cyber Monday deals arising people can stay in the comfort of their own homes while still obtaining door-busting savings. So be smart and process information on a higher level rather than lower and beware of your surroundings.