MULTIVARIATE ASPECTS of TESTING THE
SAVANNAH HYPOTHESIS of SHOPPING
CHARLES DENNIS,
TAMIRA KING and ADRIAN WOODS
AGENDA
• Evolutionary psychology
• Savannah hypothesis
• Male and female shopping styles
• Challenging the Savannah Hypothesis
– Cultural context
– Gender equality
• Hypotheses testing
‘Life is just a rather complicated form
of chemistry’
(Gribbin, 2002: xvii)
E.g. ‘Adrenalin rush’ reflex is associated with:
• Emotion (fear)
• Physiology (heart rate)
• Action (fight or flight)
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
We like (positive emotion) the things that make us
more likely to survive or reproduce, e.g.:
• Food
• Drink
• Sex
• Safety and security
• Socialising
• Power
• Shopping
SAVANNAH
Major ice age over 4 m years ago:
• Forest retreated
• Many tree-dwelling apes died
• Some found ways of living in the open savannah
• The more resourceful ones were more likely to
survive and reproduce
(Winston, 2002)
THE KENYAN RIFT VALLEY
‘The cradle of human beginnings’
Source: Winston 2002
THE SAVANNAH HYPOTHESIS
• ‘Selection has favoured preferences, motivations
and cognitions to explore and settle in
environments abundant with the resources
needed to sustain life’
(Buss, 1999: p. 83)
• Evidence: preferences for natural (rather than
human-made) environments
(Orians, 1980; 1986)
• E.g. preferences for natural daylight, water
features and greenery in shopping centres
ATTRACTING A MATE
• Females carry the baby
• Males can father many
• Females are more selective in choice of mate
• Females choose a mate who is a good provider:
– Fast
– Quick thinking
– Powerful
– Good hunter
– Will father strong children
• Evidence: cross-cultural similarities in mating
behaviour
(Buss, 1989)
SAVANNAH LIFE
• Females are based around the camp
• Males try to protect the group
FEMALE and MALE PSYCHOLOGY
• Females tend to be Empathisers:
– Social skills
– Communicators
• Males tend to be Systemisers
– Spatial skills
– Mechanical aptitude
(Barron-Cohen, 2004)
SAVANNAH and SHOPPING
In hunter-gather societies:
• Females do the gathering Comparison shopping
• Males do the hunting –
Money
FEMALE SHOPPING STYLE
• Ritual of seeking and comparing
• Imagining and envisioning merchandise in use
• Tally up the pros and cons
• Take pride in their ability
(Underhill, 1999: 116)
India Knight’s new
book on the art of
shopping. After a
lifetime of research,
she tracks down the
most glamorous
food, drink, beauty
and bargains
Source: Sunday Times Style,
19 October 2003
MALE SHOPPING STYLE
• Men go straight for what they want in a
purposeful way
• But US men do take a pride in shopping for (e.g.)
cars and computers
(and women are purposeful for those products)
PIERCE
BROSNAN
‘MY TOP SHOPPING TIP?
MAKE IT QUICK’
Sunday Times Style
16 March 2003
In association with
HARVEY NICHOLS
CHALLENGE
• The evolutionary approach can be challenged if
cultures can be shown to converge
CHALLENGE
• The evolutionary approach can be challenged if
cultures can be shown to converge
• ‘To the extent that traditional sexual division
between wage labor and domestic labor
disappears and women and men become
similarly distributed into paid occupations, men
and women should converge in their
psychological attributes’
(Eagly and Wood, 2002)
PREVIOUS QUALITATIVE STUDY
Cross-cultural mini-scenarios from Masters
‘marketing’ students at 3 UK universities
• 14 different groups / national cultures
– 17 European judges, 25 Asian, 2 African
• Shopping styles very similar across cultures
• Retail in high-context cultures tend to be more
bazaar or market than in low-context cultures
(Dennis, 2004)
JAPAN vs. USA
• Far away:
– Geographically and in
– Cultural background
JAPAN:
• ‘Females fussy about product, price, quality,
brand. Seek bargains, shop for satisfaction. Take
time.
• Males emphasise function’
GENDER EQUALITY
The evolutionary approach can be challenged if:
• Psychological traits of females and males are
– Different in cultures where gender equality is lower
– Similar in cultures where gender equality is higher
• Gender equality of countries has been measured
(WEF, 2005)
HIGH vs LOW CONTEXT CULTURES
• People in ‘HIGH-CONTEXT’ cultures:
– Use personality and social setting in communicating
– Decision-making takes longer because it uses
information that is less tangible
• People in ‘LOW-CONTEXT’ cultures:
– Take explicit meanings at face value
– Decisions rely on fewer sources of information and thus
tend to be quicker
Measured by Usunier’s (2000) scale
HIGH vs LOW CONTEXT CULTURES
If shopping styles did vary across cultures, we
would expect:
• High-context cultures to be associated with more
social, time consuming, feminine shopping styles
• Low-context with more transaction orientated,
faster, masculine ones
I.e. the opposite of Eagly and Wood’s argument
THE SAVANNAH HYPOTHESIS OF
SHOPPING
H1 Male and female shopping styles are evolutionarily determined
H1a The differences between shopping styles Reflect the gatherer
and hunter roles
H1b Shopping style will not be positively associated with gender
equality
H1c Any cultural differences in shopping styles will be in the
direction:
Higher context cultures
More feminine shopping style
EMPATHISERS and SYSTEMISERS
H2 Empathisers and Systemisers shopping styles are
different
H2a Empathisers shop with a Feminine style
H2b Systemisers shop with a masculine style
(Based on Baron-Cohen, 2004)
METHOD
• Structured questionnaire, 5-point Likert scales:
• Multi-cultural sample
• Mainly Marketing students
• Shopping style
• Empathising
• Systemising
SHOPPING STYLE
• I take a pride in my ability as a shopper
• I visit more shops than I need to
• The social aspect of shopping is important
• I try to complete my shopping in the shortest
possible time (scale reversed)
EMPATHISING
• I really enjoy caring for others
• It upsets me if I am late for a meeting with a friend
• It upsets me to see people cry
SYSTEMISING
• I can fix electrical wiring myself
• I like watching documentaries
• I find maps easy to read
SAMPLE
• STAGE 1: 185, mainly UK undergraduates
• STAGE 2: 385, mainly non-UK Masters
SHOPPING STYLE SCALE
Scale reliability alpha:
• STAGE 1: 0.86
• STAGE 2:
0.77
SHOPPING STYLE SCALE
Alpha >0.75 for:
Students
Non-students
Females
Males
Younger <25
Older 25+
Low-context
High-context
High gender equality
Low gender equality
SHOPPING STYLE RESULTS
Mean scale values
Batch 1
Batch 2
Both
Batches
All
40
respondents
40
40
Females
45
43
44
Males
35
37
36
EMPATHISING and SHOPPING STYLE
Mean values on shopping style scale:
• High empathisers:
33
• Low empathisers
29
SYSTEMISING and SHOPPING STYLE
Mean values on shopping style scale:
• High systemisers:
29
• Low systemisers:
33
CULTURE and SHOPPING STYLE
Mean values on shopping style scale:
Low-context
High-context
Females
44
43
Males
34
37
GENDER EQUALITY and SHOPPING STYLE
Mean values on shopping style scale:
High gender
equality
Low gender
equality
Females
44
43
Males
35
38
HIERARCHY of SEGMENTS on shopping style
SHOPPING
STYLE
FEMALES
Tomboys
Not tomboys
MALES
New Men
Not New Men
H1 SAVANNAH HYPOTHESIS
H1a Gatherer vs hunter roles
Supported
H1b Not positively associated with
gender equality
Supported
(negatively associated)
H1c Higher context cultures
More feminine shopping style
Supported
(higher for males)
H1 Male and female shopping styles
are evolutionarily determined
Supported
H2 EMPATHISERS and SYSTEMISERS
H2a Empathisers shop
with a Feminine style
Supported
H2b Systemisers shop
with a masculine style
Supported
H2 Empathisers and
systemisers shopping
styles are different
Supported
CONCLUSIONS
• The scale for Shopping Style is reliable and useful
• Shopping styles are reasonably consistently different
across a range of national cultures
• The styles reflect the hunter gatherer roles
• There are slight differences in shopping styles between
high- and low-context cultures (for males)
CONCLUSIONS cont
• Differences between high and low gender equality
countries are in the opposite direction to that for
rejection of the Savannah Hypothesis
• The Savannah Hypothesis of shopping cannot be
rejected
FURTHER RESEARCH
• Female shopping styles do not vary across cultures –
i.e. likely to be evolutionarily determined
So why do male styles seem to have some cultural
content?
MULTIVARIATE ASPECTS of TESTING THE
SAVANNAH HYPOTHESIS of SHOPPING
CHARLES DENNIS,
TAMIRA KING and ADRIAN WOODS