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Chapter 6: THE SELF
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
When students finish this chapter, they should understand why:
1. The self-concept strongly influences consumer behavior.
2. Products often define a person’s self-concept.
3. Gender identity is an important component of a consumer’s self-concept.
4. The way we think about our bodies (and the way our culture tells us we should think) is a
key component of self-esteem.
5. Every culture dictates certain types of body decoration or mutilation.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The self-concept strongly influences consumer behavior.
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; we can use
products to bolster self-esteem or to “reward” the self.
Products often define a person’s self-concept.
We choose many products because we think that they are similar to our personalities. The
symbolic interactionist perspective of the self implies that each of us actually has many selves,
and we require a different set of products as props to play each role. We view many things other
than the body as part of who we are. People use valued objects, cars, homes, and even
attachments to sports teams or national monuments to define the self, when they incorporate
these into the extended self.
Gender idenity is an important component of a consumer’s self-concept.
A person’s sex-role identity is a major component of self-definition. Conceptions about
masculinity and femininity, largely shaped by society, guide the acquisition of “sex-typed”
products and services.
The media play a key role in teaching us how to behave as “proper” males and females.
Advertising and other media play an important role because they socialize consumers to be male
and female. Although traditional women’s roles have often been perpetuated in advertising
depictions, this situation is changing somewhat. The media do not always portray men accurately
either.
The way we think about our bodies (and the way our culture tells us we should think) is a key
component of self-esteem.
A person’s conception of his or her body also provides feedback to self-image. A culture
communicates specific ideals of beauty, and consumers go to great lengths to attain these. Many
consumer activities involve manipulating the body, whether through dieting, cosmetic surgery,
piercing, or tattooing.
Every culture dictates certain types of body decoration or mutilation.
Body decoration or mutilation may serve such functions as separating group members from
nonmembers, marking the individual’s status or rank within a social organization or within a
gender category or even providing a sense of security or good luck.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. What is the Self?
Many products, from cars to cologne, are bought because the person is trying to highlight or hide
some aspect of the self. Feelings about the self shape consumption practices as consumers try to
meet society’s expectations about how a male or female should look or act.
A. Does the Self Exist?
1. The idea that each human life is unique rather than part of a group was developed in
late medieval times.
2. Expression of self is more popular in the Western cultures. Eastern cultures tend to
emphasize the importance of collective self (interdependence, identity derived from a
social group/relationships with others), while Western cultures emphasize the
separateness of each individual.
3. The self is seen by Western and Eastern cultures as being divided into the inner,
private self and outer, public self.
4. A Confucian perspective stresses the importance of “face” (others’ perceptions of the
self and maintaining one’s desired status in their eyes). One dimension of face is
mien-tzu (reputation achieved through success and ostentation).
Discussion Opportunity—Give an example of “face” in an Eastern culture. Relate this example
to products, services, or promotion.
B. Self-Concept
1. The self-concept summarizes the beliefs a person holds about his or her attributes and
how he or she evaluates these qualities.
2. Self-concept is a very complex structure. Components of the self-concept include:
Content—such as facial attractiveness versus mental aptitude.
Positivity—such as self-esteem.
Intensity, stability over time, and
Accuracy—the degree to which one’s self-assessment corresponds to reality.
Discussion Opportunity—Have each student evaluate themselves as to their self-concept by
listing all beliefs they hold about themselves (including attributes such as personality
characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, talents, roles, affiliations, etc.). Then have them select the
ten most important attributes and rank order them. Have them take a good look at the ten items.
Ask the students to close their eyes and picture themselves according to the ten attributes. After a
few seconds, instruct them to erase the most important attribute from their self-concept and
continue (eyes closed) to picture them without it. After a few seconds, repeat this with the second
most important attribute, then the third most, then the fourth most. At the point that you feel the
objective has been accomplished, have everyone open his or her eyes. Encourage students to
share their feelings about this exercise at each phase. Was it difficult to “erase” attributes from
the self-concept? Why? What happened when the first attribute was erased?
3. 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, or rejection.
4. Marketers 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). This form of comparison
appears to be a basic human tendency.
*****Use Consumer Behavior Challenge Here *****
Discuss #6-11
Discussion Opportunity—Find some examples of ads that promote self-esteem and show them in
class.
5. Consumers may use badges (e.g. bumper stickers, Foursquare badges, pins on
Gowalla) to bolster self-esteem/show evidence of their achievements. (They may use
geospatial platforms through smartphones to identify physical locations.)
6. The ideal self is a person’s conception of how he or she would like to be.
7. The actual self refers to our more realistic appraisal of the qualities we have and
don’t have.
8. Consumers often engage in the process of impression management where they work
hard to manage what others think of them by strategically choosing clothing and other
cues that will put them in a good light.
a. Islamic men in Egypt increasingly have a zebibah (Arabic for raisin; dark circle
of callused skin between hairline and eyebrows from pressing forehead to the
ground during daily prayers), since some add prayers to make the bump more
pronounced/broadcast piousness.
b. People also practice impression management when they exaggerate positive
qualities on Facebook or dating sites.
Discussion Opportunity—Have students make columns on a sheet of notepaper. Have them write
down attributes in each column describing their ideal self and their actual self. Have some
students share the differences and similarities that they found.
*****Use Consumer Behavior Challenge Here *****
Discuss #4
C. Fantasy: Bridging the Gap Between the Selves
1. 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.
2. A fantasy or daydream is a self-induced shift in consciousness that is sometimes a
way of compensating for a lack of external stimulation or of escaping from problems
in the real world.
Discussion Opportunities—Ask: How do advertisers appeal to our fantasies? Can you give some
examples?
Discussion Opportunity—Describe a fantasy you have had. What role did advertisers or
marketers play in expanding this fantasy (if they did)? Explain.
3. Each of us is really made up of multiple selves. We have as many selves as we do
social roles. This causes us to prefer different products and services in different
situations.
4. The self has different components or role identities.
a. Some of the identities are more central than some identities (e.g., husband, boss,
mother, student).
b. Others might be dominant in certain situations (e.g., dancer, gearhead, advocate
for the homeless).
c. A study of Iranian people living in the U.K. revealed something the authors
termed the torn self, where respondents struggle to retain an authentic culture
while enjoying Western freedom.
d. Marketers want to ensure the appropriate role identity is active before s/he pitches
products consumers need to play a role.
D. Virtual Identity
1. The tremendous growth of real-time, interactive virtual worlds allows people to
assume virtual identities in cyberspace.
a. People use virtual identities to interact in computer-mediated environments
(CMEs) like Sims, Second Life, Webkinz, Habbo Hotel, etc.
b. People choose their avatars (visual identities) ranging from realistic versions of
themselves to tricked-out versions with exaggerated physical features or winged
dragons or superheroes.
2. The sociological tradition of symbolic interactionism stresses that relationships with
other people play a large part in forming the self.
a. This perspective suggests we exist in a symbolic environment.
b. Each of us interprets our identity and this assessment evolves each time we
encounter a new situation/new people.
c. We tend to pattern our behavior on the perceived expectations of others in a form
of self-fulfilling prophecy (by acting the way others expect us to act).
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”).
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: How many multiple selves do you have? When was an instance
when your “looking-glass self” was operating? Explain.
4. Self-consciousness, an awareness of self and concern for one’s public image that can
result in feelings of awkwardness, varies by individual and by situation.
a. Consumers who score high on a scale of public self-consciousness express more
interest in clothing and cosmetics than those who score lower.
b. High self-monitors are more attuned to how they present themselves in social
environments.
*****Use Consumer Behavior Challenge Here *****
Discuss #15
Discussion Opportunity—What was one of your most embarrassing moments? If the
circumstances were different, would you have been less self-conscious?
Discussion Opportunity—Give an illustration where you were engaged in self-monitoring.
E. Consumption and Self-Concept
1. When consumers alter some aspect of their selves to advertise for a branded product
(i.e., being paid by a company to tattoo their logo) this is called Identity marketing.
2. A consumer’s possessions place her into a social role, which helps to answer the
question, “Who am I now?”
3. People use an individual’s consumption behaviors to help them make judgments
about that person’s social identity.
4. We are attached to an object when we rely on it to maintain our self-concept. Objects
act as security blankets by reinforcing our identities, especially in unfamiliar
situations.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students if there has ever been a time when an object was a
security blanket for them. Explain how this occurred.
5. 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 may use “macho” products like cars and cigarettes as
a social crutch to bolster their developing masculinity).
6. The contribution of possessions to self-identity is apparent when we lose treasured
objects.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: Have you ever lost (or had destroyed) an object that, because it
was lost or destroyed, affected your self-concept? Explain.
7. Self/product congruence suggests that consumers demonstrate consistency between
their values and the things they buy.
a. Self-image congruence models predict that products will be chosen when
their attributes match some aspect of the self.
b. These models assume a process of cognitive matching between product
attributes and the consumer self-image.
c. Although research results are mixed, the ideal self appears to be more relevant
than the actual self appears as a comparison standard for highly expressive
social products.
Discussion Opportunity—Give an example of self-image congruence when you have
purchased something. Explain.
8. The extended self includes considering external objects as part of us (e.g.
props and settings consumers use to define their social roles).
*****Use Exhibit 6.3 Carlton Beer Here *****
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to brainstorm a small list of objects that they
consider being part of their extended self. What do these objects have to do with their
self-expression? How would an advertiser appeal to their extended self?
9. 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 neighborhood and hometown.
4) Group level—includes your religion, flag, sports team, etc.
