What your loo roll panic buying in early Covid lockdown says about your personality
PEOPLE who felt threatened by the spread of the Covid-19 are likely to have stockpiled essentials such as toilet roll in the early lockdown phase, new research has shown. Consumers with anxious and conscientious personalities were found to be more likely to cave into panic buying than their more placid counterparts. Before the coronavirus lockdown […]
PEOPLE who felt threatened by the spread of the Covid-19 are likely to have stockpiled essentials such as toilet roll in the early lockdown phase, new research has shown.
Consumers with anxious and conscientious personalities were found to be more likely to cave into panic buying than their more placid counterparts.
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Before the coronavirus lockdown was implemented in the UK, news of the virus and its spread across Europe started to hit home.
Many people began to see the impact of the virus on other countries and began to watch as various government’s locked their citizens down.
As this happened people across the country flocked to supermarkets, stocking up on essentials like toilet roll, pasta and other tinned goods.
Shelves were left empty and many people were unable to shop for the items they needed.
Now research from academics from Germany and Switzerland has revealed that your panic buying habits could all be down to your personality.
The researchers surveyed 1,029 adults from 35 different countries.
All participants were recruited through social media.
Between March 23 and March 29 participants completed the Hexaco Inventory.
This ranks six personality domains which include honest humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness (versus anger), open to experience and conscientiousness.
The Hexaco Inventory and the six different personality types
The Hexaco Inventory looks at six different scales and researchers used these to determine who was most likely to panic buy toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic.
Emotionality: People with high scores on this scale experience fear of physical danger and experience anxiety in response to life’s stresses. People with high scores on this scale also need more support from others. People with low scores of this scale feel very little worry in stressful situations and don’t feel they need to share their concerns with others.
Extraversion: People with very high scores on this scale feel positive about themselves, feel confident when leading or addressing groups of people, enjoy social gatherings and interactions, and experience positive feelings of enthusiasm and energy. People with very low scores on this scale consider themselves unpopular and feel awkward being at the centre of attention.
Agreeableness (versus Anger): The Hexaco Inventory says: “People with very high scores on thisscale forgive the wrongs that they suffered, are lenient in judging others and are willing to compromise”. People with low scores on this scale hold grudges and are rather critical of others.
Conscientiousness: Those who score high on this scale like to organise their time and surroundings. This is while those who score low on this scale tend to be unconcerned with schedules.
Openness to experience: People with this personality trait and who score high on this scale are often absorbed in the beauty of art and others. Those who score low on this scale feel little attraction to unconventional ideas.
Participants also shared information on their toilet paper consumption, demographics, their perceived threat level of Covid-19 as well as their behaviour in lockdown.
The most common personality trait of those who stock piled had been the emotionality factor.
This would include people who generally worry a lot and have mild forms of anxiety.
The Hexaco Inventory describes this personality trait as: “Persons with very high scores on the emotionality scale experience fear of physical dangers, experience anxiety in response to life’s stresses, feel a need for emotional support from others, and feel empathy and sentimental attachments with others.
“Conversely, persons with very low scores on this scale are not deterred by the prospect of physical harm, feel little worry even in stressful situations, have little need to share their concerns with others, and feel emotionally detached from others.”
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This is while the conscientiousness personality trait was also a personality type that was more likely to have stockpiled toilet paper.
The Hexaco Inventory states that people with a conscientiousness personality type tend to be careful when making decisions.
Researchers also found that younger American stockpiled more than their European counterparts.
The authors Lisa Garbe, Richard Rau and Theo Toppe said some factors of stockpiling may have been accounted for.
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