Social Exclusion And Implicit Self-Esteem Effect On Conspicuous Consumption

Social exclusion is very common in daily life,and consumption is one of the important strategies that people use to cope with social exclusion.When the individuals experience social exclusion,they tend to use consumption to gain attention and showcase their value and status.This type of consumption,which aims to rebuild self-esteem and social status by displaying one’s material resources to others,is known as conspicuous consumption.Based on previous research on social exclusion and conspicuous consumption,this study analyzed the implicit self-esteem of individuals and used the Cyberball tennis paradigm to induce subjects’ sense of exclusion.Brand logo size and brand preference(brand familiarity)were used to reflect individuals’ tendency towards conspicuous consumption.The study consisted of three parts:Pre-experiment: To test whether the Cyberball tennis paradigm can induce individuals’ sense of exclusion and invite subjects to rate pictures in the conspicuous consumption measurement paradigm for Experiment 1 and Experiment 2.The results showed that there was a significant difference in the threat demand scores between the exclusion group and the control group,and the pictures in the conspicuous consumption measurement paradigm could be used for experimental research.Experiment 1: The individual’s tendency towards conspicuous consumption will be reflected by their preference for brand logo size.A single-factor between-subjects design was used to verify the impact of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption,and to investigate whether individuals’ emotions and basic needs would change when facing social exclusion.The results of the study indicated significant differences in the emotions,basic needs,and scores of conspicuous consumption between the exclusion group and control group.Experiment 2: The individual’s tendency towards conspicuous consumption will be reflected by their brand preference(brand familiarity).A 2(social exclusion:present/absent)x 2(implicit self-esteem: high/low)between-subjects design was used to investigate whether implicit self-esteem would influence conspicuous consumption and which level of social exclusion of implicit self-esteem would affect conspicuous consumption.The results of the study indicated that the simple effect of social exclusion was significant for individuals with high implicit self-esteem,while it was not significant for individuals with low implicit self-esteem level.Through experimental research,the following conclusions were drawn:(1)Social exclusion has an impact on conspicuous consumption,and compared to the control group,the exclusion group is more inclined towards conspicuous consumption.(2)Social exclusion affects individuals’ basic needs and emotions.Individuals who have experienced social exclusion will experience a significant decrease in their sense of belonging,control,meaning,and self-esteem.Positive emotions will decrease and negative emotions will increase,but the effect of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption is not influenced by emotions.(3)Implicit self-esteem has an impact on conspicuous consumption.For individuals with high implicit self-esteem,the exclusion group is more inclined towards conspicuous consumption than the control group,but for individuals with low implicit self-esteem,whether they experience exclusion or not will not affect their preference for conspicuous consumption.(4)Brand familiarity affects individual’s preference for conspicuous consumption.Individuals are more inclined to choose products with high brand familiarity during the process of conspicuous consumption,and they will not choose products with low brand familiarity.