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Marketing actions that influence estimates of others also shape identity
Author(s) -
Burson Katherine A.,
Gershoff Andrew D.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.008
Subject(s) - consumption (sociology) , identity (music) , social identity theory , marketing , perception , social psychology , psychology , economics , business , sociology , social group , social science , physics , neuroscience , acoustics
Consumers' social identities stem from comparisons between themselves and others. These identities help determine consumption decisions. Unfortunately, perceptions of comparative traits and characteristics are frequently biased, which can lead to similarly biased consumption decisions. Five studies show that two incidental but commonplace marketing decisions can influence consumers' estimates of their relative standing and thus their social identities by influencing estimates of how other consumers are distributed.