Reflection on Personal Consumption

Running head: REFLECTION ON PERSONAL CONSUMPTION
REFLECTION ON PERSONAL CONSUMPTION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

REFLECTION ON PERSONAL CONSUMPTION1
Introduction
The following essay is a reflection of my personal consumption behavior over a course of
four weeks. The theme that I have chosen for the essay is shopping for clothes. I went shopping
for clothes at different times during a period of four weeks. The essay is an analysis of the
consumption behavior that I engaged in these weeks. I analyze my own behavior that I
documented in my personal journal. The analysis is further enhanced through the application of
Saad’s four Darwinian Meta to understand my behavior profoundly. The theory of Saad proposes
that the evolutionary biological phenomenon have shaped the minds of the consumers. The four
important Meta drives that can help to map consumer behavior are survival, reproduction, kin
selection and reciprocal altruism. This theory would be utilized for understanding my own
consumption when it comes to buying clothes through shopping. The four weeks have been
important for me in understanding why I buy and what actually affects my desire to buy.
Individual buying behavior can be affected by a number of factors. This factors are greatly
psychological in nature. Understanding my own buying behavior can help me to understand the
buying behaviors of others in the future. It would also help me to know myself better through the
deep analysis of my own behaviors. I reflect on the materials that I have collected in my journal
and apply the concepts to the analysis of my buying behavior. The essay is important in
developing my personal experiences as a means of describing the psychological aspects that
guide buying behaviors.
Reflection on material collected in personal journal
The journal I kept for the entire duration of the four weeks helped me to understand
consumer behavior in a better way. Shopping for clothes is very important for me as I believe
that the clothes I wear reflects my personality. Hence, buying clothes are an important aspect of
my shopping behavior. The journal was important as it helped me to track many of my buying
behaviors that I might not have noticed otherwise. In the first week I went for casual shopping
with my friends. Going on shopping with friends helped me to connect with then and buy clothes
after consultation with them. This was a very good initial experience in the initial phases of the
documentation process. We went to the local shopping mall primarily to buy clothes. This mall
was very close to my house and it sold clothing that I always admired. I bought two set of
trousers for myself. I felt very good as I believed that the new set of trousers suited my personal

REFLECTION ON PERSONAL CONSUMPTION2
needs very effectively. As I have mentioned in the journal, this episode was a great success. I got
to interact with my friends and bonded with them through the shopping and buying exercise.
This is one of the reasons why I engage in shopping behavior quite a number of times.
The next shopping for clothes that I went on was in the second week. This time I went
shopping more for some casual and home wear. This time I was with only another friend of
mine. I went to the local market that was close to my house as this market sold quality goods at a
very low price. It was an important exercise for me as casual wear is closer to me as most of the
time of the day is spent by me wearing casual wear. I bought two casual t-shirts and three three-
quarter casual pants. I felt reasonably good however, I had some budget constraints that stopped
me from buying more clothes despite the fact that I wanted to. Thus, I was feeling somewhat
unsatisfied with the purchase. This consumption episode was only mildly successful as I still
wanted to buy more. As I documented the shopping exercises I got to know that every time there
was a possibility for a different experience when one goes shopping. This actually helped me to
understand that the shopping or buying behaviors are very much regulated by experience and
psychological factors. The material that I collected for this particular shopping exercise was
important in determining the value of the self-experiment that I was undertaking.
The third material collected was in regards to the next and final shopping that I went for.
This time the occasion was bigger. This was in the second day of the fourth week. This was an
important exercise for me as this time I spent the entire day not only buying clothes for me but
for others as well. The occasion was pre-Christmas shopping. This time I went with two of my
close friends and one family member. This shopping activity took place in a much larger clothing
market that was somewhat far away from my home. This was a much larger market place with
many shops. Thus, the competition was much more. There were quality clothing goods, however,
there were also chances of getting low quality clothes as this was a much larger shopping area
compared to the previous two shopping activities that I went for. This time it was very difficult
for me to check the best quality products and the best product deals. Hence, we decided to split
and look for better options and communicate the same with the others. Communicating became
quite difficult for there was a huge crown and going from one end of the market to the other end
was very difficult. Hence, this became a problematic issue for all the people that were involved.
However, we were able to buy six pair of trousers, five shirts and seven t-shirts. I can say that it