Why do you want that new iPad so badly?

There’s evidently a good reason for it:

For a certain breed of consumers, the arrival of Apple’s third-generation iPad is an occasion of monomaniacal focus and intense anticipation. Visions of how the shiny new gadget will revolutionize their lives fill their heads. They’re willing to sacrifice hours waiting in line and hard-earned cash that they can ill afford to spare, all to get their hands on Apple’s hot new toy. Just like they did, most likely, for assorted iPads and iPhones in the past. Why is it that some consumers are constantly driven to possess the newest and hottest gadgets?

The lure of the new applies to consumers with a particular personality style. Psychology researchers have shown that each of us has our own level of craving for new things. They call this “novelty-seeking,” or the sexier alternative, “neophilia.” The curiosity motive, long known to cause both humans and non-humans to seek mental stimulation, exists to different degrees in all of us. Originally identified by psychiatrist Robert Cloninger, novelty-seeking is an automatic emotional orientation, one of four basic personality temperaments.

People with high degrees of novelty-seeking are drawn to new situations, experiences, and, of course, possessions. They tend to make impulsive decisions, be disorganized, and are highly oriented toward seeking and getting rewards. Research also shows that novelty-seeking is associated to addictive disorders, including substance abuse.

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