The Self

The self-concept refers to the beliefs a person holds about his or her attributes and how he or she evaluates these qualities. In other words, consumers’ self-concepts are reflections of their attitudes toward themselves. Whether these attitudes are positive or negative, they will help to guide many purchase decisions—products can be used to bolster self-esteem or to “reward” the self.

Self-esteem refers to the positivity of a person’s self-concept. Marketing communications can influence a consumer’s level of self-esteem. Self-esteem is influenced by a process where the consumer compares his or her actual standing on some attribute to some ideal. In a way, each of us really has a number of different “selves” encased in our personality. Marketers must identify these “selves” and direct their efforts toward them.

It has been said that “you are what you consume.” The lecture explores the meaning of that phrase and points out links between consumption and the self-concept. In a modern sense, the self has been extended through a variety of props and settings to define a consumer’s social role in society and within their own sphere.

A person’s sex-role identity is a major component of self-definition or self-concept. Conceptions about masculinity and femininity, largely shaped by society, guide the acquisition of “sex-typed” products and services. Advertising and other media play an important role in socializing consumers to be male and female. Although traditional women’s roles have often been perpetuated in advertising depictions, this situation is changing somewhat. Gender goals and expectations are different now than they were even fifteen years ago. Segmenting by gender and sex role is examined in a new light. Alternative lifestyles have been factored into the gender equation.

A person’s conception of his or her body also provides feedback to self-image. A culture communicates certain ideals of beauty, and consumers go to great lengths to attain these. Many consumer activities involve manipulating the body, whether through dieting, cosmetic surgery, or tattooing. Sometimes these activities are carried to an extreme, as people try too hard to live up to cultural ideals. One example is found in eating disorders, where people become obsessed with thinness.

Lecture Overview

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1. Perspectives On The Self a. Many products, from cars to cologne, are bought because the person is trying to highlight or hide some aspect of the self. 1) Studies show that 72 percent of men and 85 percent of women are unhappy with at least one aspect of their appearance. Does the Self Exist? b. The concept of the self is relatively new. It only developed in medieval times. Prior to that time (and in many cultures today), the collective self was emphasized. 1) Expression of self is more popular in the Western cultures. Eastern cultures tend to emphasize the importance of collective self (as measured by his or her group). 2) The self is seen by Western and Eastern cultures as being divided into three: a) Inner self b) Private self c) Outer, public self 3) A Confucian perspective stresses the importance of “face” (others’ perceptions of the self and maintaining one’s desired status in their eyes). a) One dimension of face is mien-tzu (reputation achieved through success and ostentation). 4) As opposed to the formality of Eastern cultures, Western cultures often emphasize casualness. Self-Concept c. The self-concept refers to the beliefs a person holds about his or her attributes and how he or she evaluates these qualities. 1) Components of the self-concept include: a) Content—such as facial attractiveness versus mental aptitude. b) Positivity or negativity—such as self-esteem. c) Intensity, stability over time, and accuracy—the degree to which one’s self-assessment corresponds to reality.

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2) Self-esteem refers to the positivity of a person’s self-concept. a) Those with low self-esteem do not think they will perform well and will try to avoid embarrassment, failure, or rejection. b) Those with high self-esteem expect to be successful, will take more risks and are more willing to be the center of attention. c) Self-esteem is often related to acceptance by others. 3) Marketing communications can influence a consumer’s level of self-esteem. a) 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) This form of comparison appears to be a basic human motive. 4) Self-esteem advertising attempts to change product attributes by stimulating positive feelings about the self.

5) Self-esteem is influenced by a process where the consumer compares his or her actual standing on some attribute to some ideal. a) The ideal self is a person’s conception of how he or she would like to be. This self is partly molded by heroes (or advertising depictions) in one’s culture. b) The actual self refers to our more realistic appraisal of the qualities we have and don’t have.

6) Although most people experience a discrepancy between their real and ideal selves, for some consumers this gap is larger than for others. a) These people are good targets for fantasy appeals. b) A fantasy or daydream is a self-induced shift in consciousness, which is sometimes a way of compensating for a lack of external stimulation or of escaping from problems in the real world. c) Marketing strategies focused on fantasies allow us to extend our vision of ourselves by placing us in unfamiliar, exciting situations or by permitting us to “try on” interesting or provocative roles.

Multiple Selves d. In a way, each of us is really a number of different people. We have as many selves as we do social roles. This causes us to prefer different products and services. 1) The self can be thought of as having different components or role identities. 2) Some of the identities are more central than others (e.g., husband, boss, mother, student).

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3) Others might be dominant in certain situations (e.g., dancer, coach, teacher). e. The sociological tradition of symbolic interactionism stresses that relationships with other people play a large part in forming the self. 1) Like other social objects, the meanings of consumers themselves are defined by social consensus. 2) We tend to pattern our behaviour on the perceived expectations of others in a form of self-fulfilling prophecy (by acting the way others expect us to act, we often wind up confirming these perceptions). 3) The looking-glass self is the process of imagining the reactions of others toward us (also known as “taking the role of the other”).

Self-Consciousness f. There are times when people seem to be painfully aware of themselves. 1) Some people are more self-conscious than others. 2) Self-monitoring is one way to measure self-consciousness. Vanity might be one aspect measured by such a scale.

2. Consumption and Self-Concept a. Consumers learn that different roles are accompanied by constellations of products and activities that help to define their roles.

Products That Shape the Self: You Are What You Consume b. People use an individual’s consumption behaviours to help them make judgment about that person’s social identity. c. A person exhibits attachment to an object to the extent that it is used by that person to maintain his or her self-concept. Objects act as security blankets by reinforcing our identities, especially in unfamiliar situations.

d. Symbolic self-completion theory predicts that people who have an incomplete self- definition tend to complete this identity by acquiring and displaying symbols associated with it (e.g., men and their “macho” products). e. The contribution of possessions to self-identity is perhaps most apparent when these treasured objects are lost or stolen. The victim feels “violated.”

Self/Product Congruence f. Consumers demonstrate consistency between their values.

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1) Self-image congruence models predict that products will be chosen when their attributes match some aspect of the self. These models assume a process of cognitive matching between product attributes and the consumer self-image. 2) The ideal self seems to be more relevant for highly expressive social products such as expensive perfume. The actual self is more relevant for everyday, functional products. 3) Research tends to support the idea of congruence between product usage and self-image. This theory does not work, however, with all products (such as toasters).

The Extended Self g. Those external objects that we consider a part of us comprise the extended self.

h. Four levels of extended self have been described: 1) Individual level—you are what you wear. 2) Family level—includes your house and furniture. 3) Community level—includes your neighbourhood and home town. 4) Group level—includes your religion, flag, sports team, etc.

3. Sex Roles a. Sexual identity is a very important component of a consumer’s self-concept. We tend to conform with culture’s expectations; these expectations, however change.

Gender Differences in Socialization b. A society’s assumptions about the proper roles of men and women is communicated in terms of the ideal behaviors that are stressed for each gender. c. In many societies, males are controlled by agentic goals, which stress self- assertion and mastery. d. Females are taught to value communal goals, such as affiliation and the fostering of harmonious relations. e. The field of marketing has historically been largely defined by men, so it still tends to be dominated by male values. 1) Competition is stressed rather than cooperation. 2) Power and control over others are pervasive themes.

Gender Versus Sexual Identity f. Gender role identity is a state of mind as well as body.

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1) A person’s biological gender does not totally determine whether he or she will exhibit sex-typed traits (characteristics that are stereotypically associated with one sex or the other). Subjective feelings about sexuality are also important. 2) Masculinity and femininity are not only biological characteristics. 3) Characteristics of gender role change from one culture to another. g. Many products are sex typed; they take on masculine or feminine attributes. This typing is often perpetuated by marketers. 1) Masculinity and femininity are not opposite ends of the same dimension. (Androgyny refers to the possession of both masculine and feminine traits.) 2) Differences in sex-role orientation can influence responses to marketing stimuli, at least under some circumstances. 3) “Sex-typed” people in general are more concerned with ensuring that their behaviour is consistent with their culture’s definition of gender appropriateness.

Women’s Sex Roles h. Gender roles for women are changing rapidly. There is a move away from showing women as homemakers. 1) The majority of women hold jobs because they have to rather than as an expression of self-fulfillment. 2) Ads many times reinforce negative stereotypes. a) Women are sometimes portrayed as stupid, submissive, temperamental, or as sex objects for men.

Male Sex Roles i. The traditional view was that the male was a tough, aggressive, muscular man who enjoyed “manly” sports and activities. Society’s definition of the male role, however, is evolving. 1) There is a field of study, masculinism, devoted to the study of the male image and the cultural meanings of masculinity. 2) Many males are now shown as having a “sensitive” side. 3) “Male bonding” is a popular theme (especially in beer commercials). 4) Male lifestyles are expressing freedom in clothing choices, raising children, and in overcoming their big, dumb image (in advertising.)

4. Body Image a. A person’s physical appearance is a large part of his or her self-concept.

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1) Body image refers to a consumer’s subjective evaluation of his or her physical self. 2) Consumer’s often see themselves differently than they naturally are. b. A person’s feelings about his or her body can be described in terms of body cathexis. Cathexis refers to the emotional significance of some object or idea to a person, and some parts of the body are more central to self-concept than are others. 1) Consumers who are more satisfied with their bodies use more “preening” products (such as conditioners or hair dryers).

Ideals of Beauty c. A person’s satisfaction with the physical image he or she presents to others is affected by how closely that image corresponds to the image valued by his or her culture. 1) An ideal of beauty is a particular model, or exemplar, of appearance. 2) Examples of ideals are physical features, clothing styles, cosmetics, hairstyles, skin tone, and body type. 3) Recent research indicates that preferences for some physical features over others are “wired in” genetically, and that these reactions tend to be the same among people around the world. 4) Men are more likely to use a woman’s body shape as a sexual cue. 5) Marketers seem to have a lot to do with “packaging” faces (such as a fashion look). 6) History shows that women have worked hard to attain beauty. What is beautiful in one era, however, may not be considered to be so in another era. d. Beauty is about more than aesthetics. The socialization process of any given culture establishes certain cues that people use to make inferences about people. As Western media proliferates around the globe, the Western ideal of beauty is being adopted by cultures everywhere. e. The ideal body type of Western women has changed over time, and these changes have resulted in a realignment of sexual dimorphic markers—those aspects of the body that distinguish between the sexes.

Working on the Body e. Because many consumers are motivated to match up to some ideal of appearance, they often go to great lengths to change aspects of their physical selves.

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1) As reflected in the expression “you can never be too thin or too rich,” Finnish society has an obsession with weight.

2) Exaggeration of appearance importance can result in disorders of great magnitude. Women are especially taught that quality of body reflects their self-worth. a) Eating disorders are common in women (such as anorexia or bulimia). b) Eating disorders in men tend to emphasize putting on more muscle and often loosing weight. 3) Many have elected to have cosmetic surgery to change a poor body image. a) Many women have the surgery done to reduce weight or increase sexual desirability. b) Breast size seems to be one of the main focuses. This is also emphasized either directly or indirectly by marketers. f. Body decoration and mutilation is in the news on a rather regular basis. Decorating one’s self is not a new concept. It may, in fact, serve several purposes: 1) To separate group members from non-members. 2) To place the individual in the social organization. 3) To place the person in a gender category. 4) To enhance sex-role identification. 5) To indicate desired social conduct. 6) To indicate high status or rank. 7) To provide a sense of security.

g. Tattoos—both temporary and permanent—are a popular form of body adornment. 1) A tattoo may be viewed as a fairly risk-free way of expressing an adventurous side of the self. h. Body piercing (decorating the body with various kinds of metallic inserts) has evolved from a practice associated with some fringe groups to become a popular fashion statement.

End.

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