The Interdisciplinary Science of Consumption

Our drive to consume -- our desire for food, clothing, smart phones, and megahomes --evolved from our ancestors' drive to survive. But the psychological and neural processes thatoriginally evolved to guide mammals toward resources that are necessary but scarce may mislead us inmodern conditions of material abundance. Such phenomena as obesity, financial bubbles, hoarding, andshopping sprees suggest a mismatch between our instinct to consume and our current environment. Thisvolume brings together research from psychology, neuroscience, economics, marketing, animalbehavior, and evolution to explore the causes and consequences of consumption.

Contributors consider such topics as how animal food-storing informs humanconsumption; the downside of evolved "fast and frugal" rules for eating; how futurediscounting and the draw toward immediate rewards influence food consumption, addiction, and ourability to save; overconsumption as social display; and the policy implications of consumptionscience.

Taken together, the chapters make the case for an emerginginterdisciplinary science of consumption that reflects commonalities across species, domains, andfields of inquiry. By carefully comparing mechanisms that underlie seemingly disparate outcomes, wecan achieve a unified understanding of consumption that could benefit both science andsociety.

Stephanie D. Preston is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Morten L. Kringelbach is Professor of Neuroscience at Aarhus University and Oxford University. Brian Knutson is Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Stanford University.