“I need this” : It is a sentence people use every day. Someone sees a new phone, an expensive pair of shoes or another item on sale and suddenly a desire can begin to feel like a necessity. But other people seem able to pause and ask a simple question: Do I actually need this, or do I just want it?
That pause may appear ordinary, yet psychology suggests it can involve several important mental processes. People who are good at distinguishing between needs and wants may be using self-regulation, future-oriented thinking, cognitive appraisal and values-based decision-making to stop an immediate desire from automatically becoming an action.
