Return to Spending Personality Assessment. There's a bumper sticker for this personality. The Avoidance Shopper uses shopping as an escape from the pressures of life. When faced with a conflict, we can either stand and fight, or we can run away. Of course, sometimes it is best to retreat until we can collect ourselves.
Problems occur when some people use shopping as their coping mechanism for stress.
While in an emotional state of mind, they tend to make impulsive spending mistakes in an attempt to feel better. There are three subcategories of this spending personality - Power, Revenge and Affection Buying. Power Buyers buy items to demonstrate their control over another person. The Revenge Buyer, on the other hand, has no control over this other person, so they spend money as a way of getting back at this other person. For example, a workaholic husband is too busy to go to charity ball with his wife, so his wife retaliates by buying a very expensive dress.