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Branded Into Submission: Brand Attributes and Hierarchization Behavior in Same‐Sex and Mixed‐Sex Dyads
Author(s) -
Fennis Bob M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00377.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , personality , competence (human resources) , developmental psychology
In 2 experiments, the role of brand attributes in the process of nonconscious hierarchization in dyadic interactions was examined. Experiment 1 showed that in same‐sex dyads, brands that are associated with an agent and that are rated high on the brand personality dimension of competence (Aaker, 1997) induced patterns of nonverbal submissive behavior on the part of the interaction partner. This effect was more pronounced for individuals with a low intrinsic tendency for dominant behavior. Experiment 2 extended these findings to mixed‐sex dyads and brands that varied in overall status. Moreover, participant gender moderated the effects, such that the impact of brand status on hierarchization behavior and on agent likability was more pronounced for women than for men.