Shopaholics should not multi-task!

If you are planning to go shopping, keep your mobile phones at bay, as a new study suggests that engaged in a mobile phone conversation, while trying to shop may hamper your shopping experience. The findings showed that multi-tasking, such as using your phone while in shopping, can cause you stress.

The more an individual gets stressed, the less focused and successful he or she will be during shopping. This may also lead to hasty decisions, the researchers said. In the study, the researchers set up shopping scenarios for the distraction of multitasking and for the mindset of the participants.

In one scenario, the participants were asked to purchase low-calorie snacks for a get-together and were asked to imagine that they were shopping, with a tight budget. The authors made certain to determine whether the participants in each situation were in a deliberative, or "why," mindset versus an implementing, or "how," mindset

"The study revealed that while the more determined 'how' shoppers were minimally affected by multitasking, the performance of the 'why' mindset shoppers suffered, with their purchases tending to exceed the caloric limit imposed," said A Selin Atalay, professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management -- a private non-profit business school in Germany.