Are Male and female shopping behaviours in our genes?
Are Male and female shopping styles in our genes? Can one look to evolution for the reason of how we shop? Daniel Kruger, research faculty at the University Of Michigan School Of Public Health, says it's perfectly natural that men often can't distinguish a mushroom toned sock from a beige sock or that sometimes women can't tell if the shoe department is due north or west from the escalator.
Long associated with the domestic field, shopping primarily has been regarded as a feminine activity. If I would take an evolutionary standpoint, it all goes back to the skills that women used for gathering plant foods and the skills that men used for hunting meat. I reckon that the ultimate contrast between the sexes materializes because of the different foraging techniques used for gathering and hunting. Such gender specific techniques can be seen in the contemporary consumer environment- in our daily shopping experiences and behaviors. May be this way it is not hard to understand why many women enjoy spending a whole day picking through racks of clothes with/without friends, while most men wish to get out of the mall as soon as possible.
In the modern age- women in my view, spend equal amount of time investigating new products/items and revisiting the previous areas of shopping yield. Perhaps in the past, women were used to trying to find new scopes of food in fresh patches of land, while also revisiting the previous patches that yielded successfully. Furthermore, women hesitate to venture to far off places to shop and prefer shopping close to home or use certain landmarks as guides to get back to their start point.
Women also spend more time choosing the texture, fabric, color of items – similar analogy can be deduced when in the past gathered food would have to have been scrutinized and checked for their taste, safety and nutritional value. Men, on the other hand, often have a specific item in mind and want to get in, get it and get out. As an architect, I would explain why men's stores in the mall are usually designed by the entrance while stores geared for women are deep inside the building. Generally speaking, men hunt for their "catch" and then get out fast. Women prefer loitering and browsing around.
Would I be wrong in assuming that, women also kept record of harvest times and depleting food resources and high yield periods? This foraging activity can be seen even today, where women are much more likely to be aware than men, of when a specific type of commodity would go on sale. Men do not prefer the involvement of children during their shopping activity, unlike women. Conceivably, in the past taking young children wasn't safe during hunting and could have hindered the whole process.
I have also noticed that there are three main types of male shopping typecast – Grab & Go; Whine & wait and Fear of feminine. Even though men's genes would dictate a certain universal behavior, such stereotypes are a resultant of individualistic influences. It is exciting to see that young men are now investing more time in shopping with their women. I have seen many men wait outside women's trial room for hours. Another thing which is interesting is to notice how males hold the female purses; there is something funny about men holding female bags. There have been contradictory cases of men sitting in their cars or outside shops for hours in complete bliss while their partners are shopping inside. Here's another fact - shopping over the Internet according to a survey, seems particularly appealing to only men.
I am not trying to prove that our modern shopping styles are entirely based on primitive foraging and genetics. It is however, important to appreciate that there are certain consistent themes behind such actions of ours and it helps one gender to understand the actions of the other, without a mystery factor in it. So, next time don't be puzzled or irritated when your lady takes a day to gaze through all the racks and not buy anything; and when your man bargains for the price of a particular item that he would buy anyway.
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