Shoplifter Profile: Rude, Messy Men Most Likely to Steal, Study Finds

Submitted by anthony on Tue, 2010-06-01 15:36

Article here. Excerpt:

'Late for appointments? Rude to your wife? Maybe the security guards should ask you to check your bags on the way into a store.

Some personalities are more prone to shoplifting than others, finds a study published in the June issue of the British academic journal Personality and Individual Differences. Its authors conclude that men who are "unpleasant and antisocial" or "disorganized and unreliable" are more likely to shoplift than anyone else.

"There's this sterotype of elderly women stealing tins of salmon, but that's not what we found," says Vincent Egan, a psychology professor at the University of Leicester who co-authored the study. "My results suggest dishonest consumer behavior is narrowly associated with how unpleasant and disorganized you are."'

All the subjects identified in the study as shoplifters were men. Outgoing youths were also more prone to steal, maybe because they don't fully understand the consequences of their actions and may get "carried away by the moment," says Egan.'

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Comments

... then sure, your shoplifters would all be men. So the only thing you have here is rude and disorganized, which I would expect from someone of either sex who doesn't respect others' property rights.

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Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2010-06-02 02:52

I can't find the ratio of male to female but something is definitely wrong if the only "active" shoplifters were men. In fact it screams a bias that the psychologist somehow overlooked.

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Submitted by fondueguy on Wed, 2010-06-02 03:29

Back in my younger days I worked for the worlds largest retailer for a few years and EVERY SINGLE INVENTORY without fail during my time there found the largest 'shrinkage' (retail term for merchandise that has left the store without being purchased) was in the Health and Beauty department.

So if men are the one's committing most of the shoplifting, why is most of the merchandise that goes missing from stores like Walmart from a department that caters to women?

Something is terribly wrong with that study.

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Submitted by Paragon on Wed, 2010-06-02 22:34