Why You Can't Stop Overspending at Christmas

"What interests me is not the spending itself but the consistent failure of rational intention. These are people who make complex decisions, manage budgets, and exercise considerable self-control in their professional lives. But something about the holidays systematically overwhelms their better judgment. The usual explanations, weak willpower or manipulative advertising, miss what's actually happening in the psyche. The answer lies in an alliance that Plato identified 24 centuries ago, one that modern psychology has largely overlooked."

"In the Republic, Socrates describes three fundamental aspects of the human psyche: the rational (logistikon), the spirited (thymoeides), and the appetitive (epithymetikon). Most readers assume this works hierarchically: reason calculates what's best, spirit naturally supports reason, and together they control base appetite. But Plato knew better. In Book IV, around 440, Socrates explicitly notes that spirit doesn't automatically ally with reason. Spirit can join forces with either reason or appetite. And when spirit allies with appetite, rational calculation doesn't stand a chance."

Many people create budgets and intend to control holiday spending but still overspend in December. Rational decision-making often recognizes limits, remembers past practices, and foresees minimal long-term benefits from excess purchases. The spirited element of the psyche can realign priorities by reframing spending as a test of identity and social worth. When spirit allies with appetite, emotional motives like pride or image become decisive and override budgetary calculations. Plato's tripartite model—rational, spirited, and appetitive—explains how non-rational alliances produce predictable holiday spending failures. Understanding that identity and spirit can trump reason points toward interventions that address emotional drivers rather than only willpower.

Read at Psychology Today