The sharp increase in consumption over the holiday season has important economic
implications, yet the psychology underlying this phenomenon has received limited attention.
Here, we evaluate the role of individual differences in holiday spending patterns. Using 2 million
transactions across 2,133 individuals, we investigate the relationship between the Big 5
personality traits on spending at Christmas. Zero-order correlations suggest holiday spending is
associated with conscientiousness, neuroticism and extraversion; the relationship with
neuroticism persists after accounting for possible confounders, including income and
demographics. These results improve our understanding of how different personality traits
predict how people respond to the environmental demands of the holiday season and have
broader implications for how personality relates to consumer behavior
