When you buy a blind box, what are you buying?
-Demystifying the psychological mechanism behind buying blind boxes
Almost everyone who buys a blind box has their own target: they carefully identify the sound in the box, and try to use certain "techniques" to choose the doll they are looking forward to.
At 8 o'clock in the evening on weekdays, the guests at the Pao Mart store in Sanlitun are still in constant flow.
Young people are choosing blind boxes.
Try to find the real psychological needs behind the addictive behavior.
For example, if a person buys a blind box, it may be because the people around him are buying and discussing the blind box, and he needs to participate in it to gain the recognition and acceptance of others, so as to find a sense of belonging; a person who often shares in social media Those in the blind box process may need to enjoy the joy of being noticed and the joy of sharing with others.
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The book "Playing Tide: Happiness is Justice" published in February this year tells the true story of the "tide play master" Wang Surprise bought blind box from "entry" to "crazy": one day 4 years ago, Wang Surprise After get off work, I passed by the Bubble Mart store near the company and saw the Molly Zodiac series posters hanging in front of the store.
"On the poster, a tiger-shaped doll is wearing a red bellyband, a tiger-head cap, big lake-green eyes, and her mouth pouting slightly." She was deeply attracted by this "plastic little man who doesn't know how to define it." , For the first time the idea of wanting to have occurred.
She walked into the store and told the clerk that she wanted this little tiger. The clerk introduced her how to play the blind box, so she "buy one at random", and then bought a few more in a row, just like that. The "poison" of the box.
In her own words, the whole process is "addiction."
What is the magic of "plastic little people who don't know how to define" that can make many young people rush to them?
What are the psychological principles behind the crazy buying of blind boxes?
What is the connection between the Skinner Box Experiment, which is often mentioned when it comes to behavioral addiction, and blind box purchases?
To this end, the reporter visited the Pao Mart store in Sanlitun, Beijing, and also interviewed Jiang Sisi, a doctor of psychiatry and mental hygiene at Peking University and the attending physician in the clinical psychology department of Peking University Sixth Hospital.
Unblocking the unknown stimulus: let young people rush in
At 8:30 pm on a Thursday, the customers in the blind box shop were still in a constant stream.
Customers seem to be mostly young people in their 20s. There are young couples, good girlfriends, good like-minded friends, and some young parents with elementary school children.
The reporter noticed that almost everyone who buys blind boxes has their own targets: they stand in front of a series of blind box counters, pick up the boxes, weigh the weight of the dolls inside, and then shake them by their ears to identify them carefully. The voice in the box, while discussing, tried to use certain "techniques" to choose the doll that I was looking forward to.
Almost no one returns empty-handed, everyone will eventually go to the cashier with the determination of "it's it" to pay, and immediately unpack the package.
According to the clerk, the best-selling blind box in the store is the Mickey Mouse series, which will be sold out every day during the Spring Festival, because Disney cartoons accompany most people’s childhood, and the cartoon images inside are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; followed by Harry. The popularity of the Porter series, related film and television works and books has made consumers feel cordial to the dolls of this series.
Wang Surprise has more than 1.05 million fans on Douyin, and her cumulative video playback has exceeded one billion times under the topic of "Blind Box Opening" on the Douyin platform, and has won more than 12 million likes.
Her video content is mainly about sharing the process of opening the blind box, and people are waiting for her update every day.
She knows that what everyone wants is the excitement of unblocking the unknown: "Fans are as curious as you are about what they will unfold."
One of Wang's most "crazy" experiences in buying blind boxes was when he went straight to Bubble Matt after receiving a payment of 8,000 yuan. He picked 80 blind boxes in one go and spent more than 4,000 yuan.
Wang Surprise calculated an account. The money she spent on the blind box was enough to buy a mid-priced car, but this was not uncommon among blind box players.
According to the "Beijing News" report, in 2019, nearly 200,000 people spent an average of more than 20,000 yuan per person to collect blind boxes, and some people spent nearly one million yuan a year for this.
Developed social media has also promoted the spread of the blind box series.
Although the price of a single purchase of blind boxes is not expensive, if you buy "addiction", you may also "bankrupt your family."
Some analysts believe that the properties of krypton metal, cuteness, moderate pricing, and full use of curiosity are the main reasons why blind boxes are loved by young people when they are born.
The relevant person in charge of Bubble Mart said that the majority of blind box consumers are only children, who pursue a strong sense of companionship, and are interested in the beauty of design, artistry, and small fortune.
Skinner Box Experiment: The Secret of "Addictive" Buying Blind Boxes
Jiang Sisi said that in order to understand the behavior of buying blind boxes frantically, it is necessary to understand the principle behind human active behavior-"operational conditioning".
Burgess Frederick Skinner is a well-known behaviorist psychologist in the United States. He designed a series of "Skinner Box" experiments to reveal the secrets behind human active behavior.
He put a mouse in a box with buttons. Whenever the mouse presses the button, it will drop a piece of food; after a period of time, the mouse learns to actively press the button to get food when hungry.
Skinner believes that food "positively enhances" the button-pressing behavior and promotes the establishment of the mouse button-pressing behavior to obtain food.
Continued experiments found that even if there is no food drop, the mouse will continue to press the key for a long time; after hundreds of failures, the key press finally disappears.
Studies have found that for animals and humans, the result of behavior will affect the increase or decrease of the behavior. If the result is rewarding, the behavior will increase, which is called "positive reinforcement"; if the result is punitive, the behavior will decrease. Called "negative reinforcement", this is the effect of "operational conditioning".
Skinner also compared the similarities and differences between the two ways of establishing behavior through reward or punishment, and found that punishment can establish a behavior pattern more quickly, but the behavior established in this way fades faster. Once the punishment disappears, the behavior will disappear quickly.
In contrast, the behavior of positive reinforcement establishment is more stable.
Skinner concluded that positive reinforcement can shape behavior more effectively than punishment.
On this basis, Skinner further adjusted the experiment to make the relationship between the food drop and the button behavior become random, and the food dropped probabilistically after the button was pressed.
The study found that even if the food does not fall, the mice will continue to press the button, and this behavior subsided very slowly.
What does this research have to do with buying blind boxes?
Jiang Sisi pointed out that for blind box buyers, opening the blind box to get the doll they want is a kind of "reward", which will strengthen the purchase of the blind box.
Uncertain purchase results, like food that falls with a certain probability, make the purchaser unable to judge the relationship between the behavior and the result, and the behavior may always continue.
Jiang Sisi believes that if addictive behavior is understood from the perspective of neurobiology, whether it is addiction to tobacco, alcohol, drugs and other substances, or behavioral addiction such as “sex addiction”, there are similar biological mechanisms that involve and Limbic dopamine reward system related to human motivation.
The above substances or behaviors ultimately increase the secretion of dopamine in the "reward system", which makes people feel happy and relieves bad emotions, which brings the possibility of "addiction".
The faster and easier it is to cause the release of dopamine in the reward system, and the greater the possibility of addiction.
Normally, the midbrain dopamine reward system is regulated by the prefrontal lobe of the brain, and the prefrontal lobe of the adolescent brain is less mature than adults, so it may be more susceptible to influence.
With these four characteristics, one must be highly vigilant against "behavioral addiction"
Jiang Sisi pointed out that what we call "addiction" in our daily life is not equivalent to the "addiction" in psychiatric clinical diagnosis, nor can it be said that buying blind boxes is addictive behavior.
However, if the purchase behavior has the following four characteristics, you must be highly alert to the possibility of "behavioral addiction", or "non-material addiction":
One is "obviously excessive", such as spending too much time, energy, and money on the purchase of blind boxes relative to living conditions; the second is "withdrawal response", for example, it is very uncomfortable not to buy blind boxes , Sleepless nights, even irritability, irritability, nervousness, and depression; the third is "increased tolerance", for example, the frequency of buying blind boxes gradually increases, from buying one in a week to satisfying, and developing to buying one every day to be practical In the end, I feel comfortable when I buy more than one every day; the fourth is "negative consequences", such as buying blind boxes to make ends meet, and asking for money to buy blind boxes by lying to my parents. There are blind boxes everywhere in the room, resulting in my own living space. Being severely squeezed, every day I only think about buying blind boxes, opening blind boxes and not participating in other entertainment activities, as well as more serious bad behaviors.
Jiang Sisi pointed out that there is another kind of mentality that must be highly vigilant when buying blind boxes, that is, buying blind boxes for profit, hoping to make a lot of money by getting rare hidden styles.
It should be understood that “for the purpose of winning money, participating in games or similar game-like activities whose outcome is determined by chance is called gambling.” The harm is self-evident.
Jiang Sisi said that when you walk in a bookstore, you can often find books in the commercial book area that teach you how to design products that are "addictive"; in the financial market, companies that produce "addiction" products also seem to be more Being optimistic, there is a stance of "Either let the user become addicted, or you will lose".
Especially those artificially designed products, not only blind boxes, but also products such as online games, social software, and shopping software.
"These products may stimulate our midbrain dopamine reward system more strongly than natural undesigned activities, so that we can get more dopamine release and more pleasure effortlessly (no pie in the sky, Beware that pie is a trap), and the potential for addiction may also be stronger."
Jiang Sisi believes that everyone does not need to "talk about blind box discoloration."
If it is not excessive, the blind box drawing is actually very similar to the card drawing activity of instant noodle manufacturers 20 years ago-the same blind drawing, the same collection of complete sets, and the same discussion and even sharing with classmates and friends.
As an interesting activity, collecting blind boxes only needs to be moderate.
But if you get to the point of "crazy" purchases, or even addiction, you must be more vigilant.
She suggested that young friends, if they find that they are over-buying when buying blind boxes, and their tolerance increases, the more they buy, the more negative consequences are produced, they should be alert in time, "stop the loss" in time, and stop this behavior.
If you find that you can't stop it even if you know it is harmful, you can ask people around you for help, or even go to a professional psychiatric medical institution.
Finally, try to find the real psychological needs behind the addictive behavior.
For example, if a person buys a blind box, it may be because the people around him are buying and discussing the blind box, and he needs to participate in it to gain the recognition and acceptance of others, so as to find a sense of belonging; a person who often shares in social media Those in the blind box process may need to enjoy the joy of being noticed and the joy of sharing with others.
"Finding the real needs and meeting them in a healthier and more constructive way is the fundamental way to solve the problem." Jiang Sisi said.
Photo by China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter Xia Jinwen Source: China Youth Daily