Adventure seekers are plunking down more than $50,000 to climb Mount Everest, but a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research finds that people who pay for transformative experiences often lack the communitarian spirit that usually defines such activities.

Researchers Gülnur Tumbat, assistant professor of marketing, and Russell W. Belk, have analyzed various forms of extraordinary consumption experiences in their journal article “Marketplace Tensions in Extraordinary Experiences.” ScienceDaily, Dec. 22, 2010.