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Toilet Paper and the American Psyche

March 26, 2020  / Bill Reynolds, PhD  / Tags: Humor, Covid, Psychology, Behavioral Economics

Why toilet paper? Admit it, this question has been nagging you since this infernal virus began insinuating itself into the bloodstreams and psyches of your friends and neighbors sometime in early March. Canned goods鈥�check. Hand sanitizer鈥�check. Masks鈥�check. Water鈥�(OK, it鈥檚 not a hurricane, we have electricity, and the toilets still flush鈥攁ssuming people have gotten the message that you can鈥檛 put Lysol wipes into the sewer system, but we鈥檒l give people the benefit of the doubt on this one.)鈥�check. But toilet paper?

I鈥檓 hesitant to acknowledge the amount of time I鈥檝e spent thinking about this question, which I鈥檓 sure says something about my own psyche鈥�but this isn鈥檛 about me. We鈥檙e here for them (or you, if you鈥檙e ):  the hoarders who have cleared the shelves of every last roll of bathroom tissue in the Greater South. What is up with you? Of course, given how much time I鈥檝e spent thinking about this question (usually in the location where I do my best thinking), I鈥檝e constructed some preliminary theories to explain the TP-hoarding phenomenon. Unfortunately, they鈥檙e .

Fortunately for all of us, there are experts out there who have done the hard work of constructing theoretically-grounded, clearly articulated, and, in some cases, at least, humor-free explanations for our newly acquired obsession with TP. (.) When you need a break from more pressing concerns, I recommend a recent piece from and one from . The literary set has always been enamored of psychoanalysis, and you鈥檒l find a field day for Freudians in the New Yorker piece. Here鈥檚 a little flavor of what you can expect:

• 鈥淐ontrolling cleanliness around B.M.s is the earliest way the child asserts control,鈥� Andrea Greenman, the president of the Contemporary Freudian Society, said. 鈥淭he fact that now we are all presumably losing control creates a regressive push to a very early time. So, I guess that translates in the unconscious to 鈥業f I have a lifelong supply of toilet paper, I鈥檒l never be out of control, never be a helpless, dirty child again.鈥� 鈥� And,
• Is the panic-buying of toilet paper primarily egoistic? Not according to Susan Signe Morrison, the author of 鈥淓xcrement in the Late Middle Ages: Sacred Filth and Chaucer鈥檚 Fecopoetics.鈥� 鈥淛esus鈥� corporal acts of mercy include caring for sick people. Wiping someone鈥檚 bottom is not specifically mentioned, but when you think of tending to infants or old people who can鈥檛 control their fecal production . . . 鈥� Morrison said, trailing off with a delicacy befitting the subject matter. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 have toilet paper, will we revile our family members who aren鈥檛 clean in the way we expect them to be?鈥�

Cognitive-behavioral theory has dominated psychology for decades now, and even the economists are involved in the behavioral modification game through the discipline of behavioral economics. You can find their explanations in the Psychology Today piece. (Warning:  They鈥檙e nowhere near as fun as the Freudians. Even when you try to 鈥渟often鈥� the discipline by adding 鈥渂ehavioral,鈥� it鈥檚 still economics, and there鈥檚 a reason it鈥檚 called 鈥渢he dismal science.鈥�) Selections below:

• People worrying that they will be caught short, rush to the shops to buy as much loo roll as they can find 鈥� like savers rushing to the bank when they fear their bank will run out of money. The banking run explanation does not, however, explain why people are buying loo roll in such volumes.
• Herding can be a type of heuristic: a decision-making short-cut that saves us time and cognitive effort. When other people's choices might be a useful source of information, we use a herding heuristic and follow others because we believe that they know more than we do鈥�When we see a long queue, outside a restaurant, for example, we may join that queue because we conclude that everyone else queuing knows how good the restaurant's food is.

What鈥檚 your theory? We have a lot of learned people in our community (none of whom seem to be reading this blog, but we know you鈥檙e out there), and we鈥檇 love to share your thoughts on this phenomenon. Send us a note.

If you have additional ideas, advice, suggestions, music, or funny bits that you would like to share with your colleagues, send it all to wreynolds@fgcu.edu or lucascenter@fgcu.edu and we will post it to the blog.