Dec 6, 2009

Men shop quickly, women love to searchBy Kim Hone-McMahanOhio.com

Think of the mall during the holidays. The music of the season fills the troglodyte with joy as he blazes a trail to Radio Shack. There, he offers a cashier a buckskin in exchange for an iPod. In another store, his mate is checking price tags. It may take her three or four visits before she’s ready to make a trade for her raccoon tail.

According to researchers at Brunel University in West London, England, when it comes to shopping, we still revert to traditional evolutionary roles developed in the African savannah following the Ice Age. The males are the hunters, their female counterparts the gatherers.

Those who developed the study maintain that women like searching and finding the best values. Men, on the other hand, are in it for the thrill of the kill. The research was collected from 14 countries, but while shopping styles may vary between cultures, the study said, differences between males and females are reasonably consistent in reflecting the hunter-gatherer scenario.

”Men’s emotional response to shopping comes at the ‘kill’ — the moment of purchase, when their heart rate actually quickens,” said Brunel’s Charles Dennis, who along with Tamira King released the findings in 2005.

What’s that? Chuckling? Think about it. If you (or your man) are anything like my husband, Chris, you know about shopping habits that absolutely resemble a caveman’s. Chris waits until the herd is ripe for harvest (generally Christmas Eve), knows his weapon of choice (a credit card), and goes out to beat the other aboriginals to the slaughter.

I spend weeks shopping. He gets it done in three hours — on the day before the meal is to be devoured. Ack!

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