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Paul Sakuma / AP
Shopping behavior patterns are set early in life, a new study finds.
Linda Carroll writes: Remember back in elementary school where everything from lining up to being called for attendance was done in alphabetical order, based on your last name? It turns out that experience may have had long-lasting effects on the way you shop.
If your last name begins with a letter near the end of the alphabet you’re more likely to have a twitchy finger anxious to hit the buy button, whether for clothes or concert tickets, a new study shows. People with names closer to the beginning of the alphabet tend to have more patience and may even pass up good deals as they weigh their options, researchers reported in the Journal of Consumer Research.
When you have been forced to wait at the end of the line throughout your childhood, you tend to jump at the opportunity to be first when you grow up, said lead author Kurt A. Carlson, assistant professor of marketing at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
Carlson and his colleagues reported on several experiments looking into the impact of people’s last names. In one study, e-mails were sent out offering a chance at $500 in exchange for completing a survey. Responses zipped in from people with surnames near the end of the alphabet. Those from people with names from the beginning trickled in much later.
In another study, researchers sent out an offer for free basketball tickets, noting that supplies were limited. Sure enough, people with names starting late in the alphabet were the first to answer.
To see if the effect truly traced back to childhood, Carlson and his colleagues looked at women who had changed their names upon marriage.
The researchers found no correlation between a woman’s married name and her purchasing behavior. But when they looked instead at maiden names, the link between buying behavior and last name showed up again.
The study shows how our behaviors can be affected by things we never think about, experts said.
“What’s so interesting is that experiences that are so tiny that we don’t think they mean anything, do actually shape our behavior,” said Kit Yarrow, a consumer psychologist and chair of the psychology department at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. “It’s like the notion that small drops of water can create a groove in a rock. Repetition is clearly the key in establishing some of these behaviors.”
Carlson’s co-author, Jacqueline Conard, recognized the power of the last name even before the two researchers came up with their study. She began life as a Yates and assumed her husband’s surname when she got married. When she got divorced, she got rid of the man but kept the new last name. “Being at the beginning of the alphabet is MUCH better,” said Conard, an assistant professor of marketing at the Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont University in Nashville.
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Both my first and last name start with L, where does that leave me? It was always a pain to be in the middle, never first, no matter if they started at the front or the back, first or last name, I was always in the middle. And it didn't help that I was also the middle child in my family. At least I was rarely last.
2 L's! It's the superman syndrom. Lex Luthor, Lana Lang, Lionel Luthor, Lois Lane, the house of EL, (Jor-El, Zor- El, Kal-El, ect...) I think the creators had a thing for the letter L.
Kal-el (Clark) also had a mermaid girlfriend named Lori Lemarus...
they should have called him LuperLan
How much did this ridiculous study cost? I can blow that out of the water immediately! My last name begins with B...and we are living a Spartan life thanks to this wonderful economy. But even when times were good..I went without, sacrificed, to pay off my house, and all debt. Meanwhile my neighbor's last name begins with W. The exact opposite. All the toys, bells and whistles...up to his ears in debt.
Next study? Something like; Men with the largest bankrolls, somehow get the prettiest girls half their age. DUH.........
Huh, according to the article, you and your neighbor would be consistent with the "study". Or did you bother to read it? Hint - there wasn't much to read to start with.
Obviously you also did not learn to read very well. What you have said confirms the study not blow it out of the water. Your last name starts with B and is at the front so you tend to not spend while your neighbor is at the end and spend like crazy.
Our last name starts with S, and we are nothing like the article. We rarely jump at offers. We take our time to think about it first. That's how we are able to keep our home, despite this crappy Osucka economy.
Sorry The Beev - you are not statistically significant.
Wouldn't your experience actually support this theory? You're name was in the beginning of the alphabet so you had more patience and restraint while shopping. Meanwhile your neighbor, with a name at the end of the alphabet, was more impulsive and quick to make purchases.
Uhm, that's exactly what the study said would happen.
Beev....aaa duh....your response just confirms what the study indicates... maybe you should go back and re-read it.
Holy cow. Sorry, every horse is good for one more kick but my god, did you not read the story?
To the person ending in S, every good study has outliers. So, good for you for spending smartly. :)
Do you realize you just agreed with the study? Your name is at the start of the alphabet...so your spending is measured, careful, "spartan" as you claim. Your neighbor from the back of the alphabet was faster to spend, and spend without thinking. So how did you just "blow the ridiculous study out of the water" again?
Beev you obivously never learned to read. As your statement would prove the study right. On a further note i have a real reason for disagreeing with the study as my last name starts with B as well but i spend well above my means (not a good thing) and my gf of 8 yrs last name starts with S and she never spends.
Damn beev did you ever learn to read? As your comment proved the study right. However i have a reason for disagreeing with the study as my last name starts with B as well and i spend at the drop of a dime and spend beyond my means (not a good thing. However my gf of 8 yrs (basically married we have a 6 yr old daughter together) last name starts with the letter S and she never spends, but if she does it's usually at ross, or savers etc etc
how embarassing...
It's not your fault.
Nothing ever is.
Um, A new study needs to be done...Those who don't comprehend well with last names that begin with B...lol
I guess I don't really understand the findings because I was always at the end of the alphabet and LOVED being around last called. For some reason it seemed more nerdy to be one of the first ones. I also have no problems with it now and don't see why having an earlier letter would be any easier at all.
Just like every aspect of the human condition, there are no absolutes (okay, that was an absolute, LOL). The study just stated people at the end of the alphabet are more likely to purchase quickly. It very conveniently leaves out specifically how much more likely we 'lasters' are to buy quickly.
I was always the shortest and we often lined up from shortest to tallest in lines at school - so I was always near or at the front. My last name began with an H (maiden name) and now an L, both more in the middle - where does this put me in the study? By how we were lined up or by my last name?
Maybe they can waste more money re-running this dumb study next year and concentrate of women who had a maiden name starting with A and changed it after marriage to a name starting with Z.
LMAO (but crying at the same time because I paid for this idiocy with my taxes.)
Neil,
Just some FYI for you cave dwellers.
Not all studies are sanctioned and paid for by the US government. Some are funded by private donations and...gasp...some are done and paid for by seekers of upper level college degrees.
I wonder if perhaps the clue in this stufy to the more rapid response might be the "free" condition of the offers? Perhaps people whose last names begin with letters at the end of the alphabet have learned to act fast because in the give-a-ways of life, the As, Bs, and Cs, have a distinct advantage.
This ranks right up there with the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
My bad folks. Should wake the hell up over a cup of Joe before adding my two cents. I concur...the study nailed it. Good grief....sorry bout that.
maybe Ward was a little too hard on The Beever last night - ;-)
The headline on msnbc read: "Last name END in z?", which is incorrect. Should read "Last name start with z?". Big difference--where are the proof readers?
Yeah, I clicked on the link because it made the study sound absolutely absurd. Once I knew it was the starting letter, it made more sense.
Stupid, worthless, baseless studies!
i am sure the time used to make this study could have gone to other things.. what are they going to come up with next? 'oh you're name starts with a K.. means you are less likely to succeed'.. yeaaa ok...
Since my name ends with a Z, I wonder if I can now sue my old school for discrimination that has now left me with a permanent disability...LOL.
Who paid for this? I hope it wasn't me.
According to the information given, the actual study measured people's responses to FREE things. But then the results are used to draw conclusions about PURCHASING practices. These are two totally different animals. What a waste of time.
JohnZ... I was thinking the same thing. My last name is toward the end of the alphabet, so now I'm going to have to check my bank statement to see if I impulsively paid for his study! *80
When colleges and universities are forced to raise tuition and cut costs to make ends meet, this study is being funded??
Because of this study, I am probably going to receive more spam and junkmail from consumer product companies . . .
. . . And I though it was cool to have the same name as a rapper.
My name last name starts with an U, I am a darn good shopper, and very intelligent. What I am pretty sure of, whoever came up with this study and funded it, is not very bright, and it doesn't matter where they are in alphabet! What a waste of time, energy and money!!!
There is at least one real world example of this phenomenon: Don Adams, better known as Maxwell Smart from "Get Smart", changed his last name from the original Yarmy because, he said, he was tired of always going last at auditions.
I heard he got 86'ed for that...
This is as stupid as the "pets in your bed can kill you" study.
Did you actually spend the time to read that?!?
I read the first few lines of the pets in your bed article and had to call BS. According to my vet it is EXTREMELY rare for anyone to catch anything from their dog, cat, bird, or reptile pet and vice a versa.
So many are criticizing the study, but perhaps we need to look at the practice of running things alphabetically. Children in school no more can select their last name than they can their race or gender. We don't permit the practice of letting one race go first all the time, so why do we let schools work things from A to Z. Reverse order sometimes helps, as does starting in the middle (and going either way, of course) -- anything to break the pattern.
If this study is even potentially accurate, it's something we need to consider.
And I would have figured that getting used to waiting would make one more patient. I mean, if Aaron A. Aaronson is always used to being first, what kind of freak-out session is he going to have when he's made to wait for something?
The only thing that having a last name start with a Z taught me in school was to have better bladder control because I always had to wait in line to use the bathroom after lunch.
Having a last name at the end of the alphabet has taught my eldest child that she can procrastinate longer than just about anybody else in her class.
Its sad that people read these things and their first thought is "Thats just stupid, I cant believe I paid for this...blah blah". Take a moment and actually read the beginning. This was an experiment done by an assistant professor of marketing at Georgetown Universiy. First, Id say thats some decent credentials. Second, GeorgeTown University is a PRIVATE Institution. They can spend money however they went since its not a state school.
This is BS and how much did this cost to come up with? Anyone who believes all this nonsense is a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
Here is a good co-related study for future research:
Do people with a-h letters select their mates quicker than the other two groups? Perhaps the researcher could examine the "age at first marriage" for the three groups (a-h, i-p, and q-z). Where do I sign up for free funding to pursue my idea??
The only last name and letter we should worry about is the "O" Obama, and sending him to the back of the line.
Regardless of how they ran the study and what conclusion They came up with. This does produce some interesting results that each of us could use to postulate why we behave in certain ways. Besides, how much money could it cost to send out a bunch of email and talley up the results. I guarantee it didn't cost a Ton of money like some of you suggest.
Example, My last name starts with a C but I behave more like those at the end of the alphabet, not because of my place in line but because I felt left out as a child, in everything. Now as an adult, I have a fear of being left out, so I jump at every opportunity.
See, that is how you draw your own conclusion.
free vs purchased, expensive study vs sending out and counting email? THESE ARE NOT THE POINT!