The Self

CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR
Michael R. Solomon

5-1
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
 Self-Concept
• Self-concept: the beliefs a person holds about his/her own
attributes, and how he/she evaluates these qualities
Attribute dimensions: content, positivity, intensity, stability
over time, and accuracy

• The Self-concept represents the “totality of the individual's

thoughts and feelings having reference to himself as an
object.”

• Self-concept: the beliefs a person holds about his/her own

attributes, and how he/she evaluates these qualities

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 5-2

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-3
 Perspectives on Self
• We buy products to highlight/hide aspects of self
• Eastern culture focus on:
• The collective self (person’s identity comes from
group)
• The independent self (person’s identity defined
from relationships with others)
• Western cultures focus on:
• Individuality

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-4

 Self Esteem
• Refers to the positivity of a person’s self-concept
• Those with low self-esteem do not think they will perform well and will
try to avoid embarrassment or failure/rejection.
• Those with high self-esteem expect to be successful, will take more
risks, and are more willing to be the center of attention
• Marketing communications can influence a consumer’s level of self-
esteem.
• Social comparison is the process where a person tries to evaluate his or
her self by comparing it to the people depicted in artificial images
(such as ads in a magazine).

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-5

 6
Self-Image
• How consumers expect to see
themselves in the future Expected
Self-Image
• How consumers would like others to
see them Ideal Social
• How consumers feel others to see Social Self-Image
them
• How consumer would like to see Ideal Self-Image
themselves
• How consumers see themselves
Actual Self-Image
Different Self-Images
Fantasy Appeals

• Although most people

experience a discrepancy
between their real and ideal
selves, for some consumers
this gap is larger than for
others.
• These people are good
targets for fantasy appeals.
• In this German ad for
shampoo, the target
audience is encouraged to
fantasize about leading a
glamorous
 Fantasy Appeals

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-8

 Multiple Selves
• Marketers pitch products needed to facilitate active role identities
• Each of us has many selves and roles
• Marketers pitch products needed to facilitate active role identities

Sister
Woman Friend

Wife
Spokesperson

Pro athlete
Mother
American citizen
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 5-9
 Multiple Selves
We all have multiple roles in our life
We may have as many selves as we could
This causes us to prefer different product/services
The self can be thought of as having different
components or role identities.
Some of the identities are more central than others
(e.g., husband, boss, mother, student).

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-10

 The Extended Self
• Individual: personal
possessions (cars, clothing)
• Family: residence and
furnishings
• Community: neighborhood or
town where you live
• Group: social or other groups

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 5-11

 Self/Product Congruence
• Consumers demonstrate their values through
their purchase behavior
• Self-image congruence models: we choose
products when attributes matches the self

• People choose products based on ‘real self’

whenProduct Usage luxury =
choosing items and ‘ideal self’ for
Self-Image

functional items

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 5-12

 Sex Roles
• A society’s assumptions about the proper roles of
men and women are communicated in terms of the
ideal behaviors that are stressed for each gender.
• In many societies, male are controlled by agentic
goals that stress self-assertion and mastery.
• Female are taught to value communal goals, such
as affiliation and the fostering of harmonious
relations.

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-13

 Gender versus sexual identity
• Gender role identity is a state of mind as well as body.
• A person’s biological gender does not totally determine whether he/she
will exhibit sex-typed traits (characteristics that are stereotypically
associated with one sex or the other).
• A consumer’s subjective feelings about his or her sexuality are crucial
as well
• A behavior considered masculine in one culture might not be viewed as
such in other
• The norm that male should be strong, male friends avoid touching
each other is not universal
• Many products are sex typed; they take on masculine or feminine
attributes.

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-14

 Sex-Typed Products

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-15

Gender Roles
• Female Sex Roles and Male Sex Roles
• One study examined how American men pursue
masculine identities through their everyday
consumption. The researchers suggest that men
are trying to make sense out of three different
models of masculinity that they call breadwinner,
rebel, and man-of-action hero, as they figure out
just who they are supposed to be.
• Society’s expectations of masculinity and
femininity help to determine the products we buy
to meet these expectations.
5-16
 Androgyny and Gender-bending
• Androgyny: possession of both
masculine and feminine trait
• Androgynous people function
well in social situations
• Sex-typed people:
stereotypically masculine or
feminine
• Females more sensitive to pieces
of information
• Men consider overall themes

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-17

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-18
Female Sex Roles
Female sex roles have evolved in many cultures, but they
certainly still exist. This ad cleverly gets to the heart of the
female sex role.
Male Sex Roles

• Masculinism: study of
male image and the
complex cultural
meanings of masculinity

• Metro-sexual: straight,
urban male who
exhibits strong interests
and knowledge that run
counter to traditional
male sex role
 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Consumers

• The proportion of the population

that is GLBT is difficult to
determine and efforts to measure
this group have been controversial
• In other cases, many major
marketers are using openly gay and
lesbian celebrities in campaigns
aimed at the wider audience
 Ideals of Beauty
• The way we think about our bodies (and
the way our culture tells us we should
think) is a key component of self-esteem.

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 5-22

 Ideals of Beauty
• Exemplar of appearance
• “What is beautiful is good” stereotype
• Favorable physical features:
• Attractive faces
• Good health and youth
• Balance/symmetry
• Feminine curves/hourglass body shape
• “Strong” male features

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 5-23

 Body Image

• A persons physical
appearance is a large part
of his/her self-concept
• Body Image refers to
consumer’s subjective
evaluation of his/her
physical self
• A woman may think she
appears more fat (60Kg)
25
 Working on the Body
• Fattism
• Cosmetic surgery
• Body decoration and mutilation
• Body piercing

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 5-26

 Working on the Body

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-27

 Chapter Summary
• Self-concept as an influence on behavior
• The role of products in defining self-
concept
• The influence of sex-role identity on
purchases
• Self-esteem and our body image
• Cultural expectations of appearance

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 5-28