Frugality: A Perspective of Psychology

Abstract

Frugality is a belief about the lifestyle, which makes individuals control spontaneous desires and behaviors voluntarily, acquire goods and services in a restrained manner, and use economic goods and services resourcefully, to achieve some long-term goal. Frugality is rich in connotation; it can be analyzed from the means-ends perspective, and further subdivided as maintenance means and goals, developmental means and goals. Social-adapting theory, driving theory and traits theory give their own explanations for the formation and developing of frugality, focusing in external resource constraint, internal needs and individual characteristics respectively. Frugality is determined by the combined effects of demographic variables, personality traits, motivations and environmental factors, and influences people's cognition, feeling, will and behavior broadly. Future research could explore theories about conditions and possible ways to cultivate frugality in both individual and social levels, and make empirical studies on the psychological, behavioral and cognitive neural mechanisms corresponding to different types of frugality.