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Keeping up with the Joneses: Status projection as symbolic self‐completion
Author(s) -
Carr Hannah L.,
Vignoles Vivian L.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.812
Subject(s) - keeping up with the joneses , psychology , socioeconomic status , social psychology , social status , materialism , symbol (formal) , social identity theory , value (mathematics) , context (archaeology) , identity (music) , ideal (ethics) , developmental psychology , demography , social group , population , sociology , social science , aesthetics , economics , growth model , philosophy , paleontology , epistemology , machine learning , computer science , programming language , biology , microeconomics
We studied the incidence and correlates of status projection—use of material possessions to emphasize social status to others—among 100 adolescents in a historical context of rising affluence. Participants listed 10 possessions, rated each for its value as a status symbol, and chose five to discuss with another participant in a forthcoming interaction. Participants selected especially those of their possessions that they had rated higher in status value ( p < .001). This effect was stronger among those reporting upward or downward change in their families' socioeconomic status ( p < .05), greater actual‐ideal self‐discrepancies ( p < .05), and stronger commitment to materialistic values ( p < .01); moreover, the effect of changing status was stronger among higher materialists ( p < .05). These results indicate that people self‐complete through presenting their possessions selectively to others, and they help to clarify the precise role of identity commitment in symbolic self‐completion. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.