Experiential purchasing tendency as a function of approach versus avoidance motivation

Psychologists recommend that individuals purchase experiences, as opposed to material goods, as a way to improve their subjective well being, yet little is known about why individuals tend to make experiential purchases. The current research connects the tendency to make experiential purchases to approach (as opposed to avoidance) motivation, a fundamental psychological distinction. Across a wide array of measures, experiential purchasers were found to have greater subjective well-being, to be more sensitive to potential rewards, to be more prone to approach related emotions, to be more social, and to endorse approach oriented values, while being less sensitive to negative emotions, all of which is indicative of a general approach motivation. This relationship was found to be robust across samples, controlling for demographic and life satisfaction variables, and to demonstrate known groups validity. By increasing approach motivation, psychologists may be able to promote experiential purchasing, but results testing one potential manipulation, power priming, demonstrated a potential pitfall in developing broadly targeted interventions, as across three studies, power priming had differential effects on individuals with different educational backgrounds. The discussion focuses on how future research can target approach motivation in order to promote experiential purchasing, providing a positively framed avenue toward creating a post-materialist world.