Social visibility of consumption and conspicuous consumption: An empirical analysis of Chinese wedding ceremonies

This study explores the transformative impact of a digital platform integrating social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo with social e-commerce applications such as RED on individuals' consumption behaviours. It examines how this influence reshapes personal image, builds social identity, and engages in various behaviours, particularly focusing on the social visibility of consumption during Chinese wedding celebrations. Through an online survey of 570 respondents who have hosted or plan to host wedding celebrations, we investigate whether the use of social media increases the likelihood of the social visibility of individual consumption. Our findings reveal a significant relationship between social media use and the social visibility of respondents' consumption. Moreover, a continual rise in the social visibility of respondents' consumption is associated with increased conspicuous consumption behaviour and display. While self-expression enhances the social visibility of consumption and its impact on brand awareness, this study does not identify a moderating effect of self-expression on the relationship between the social visibility of consumption and conspicuous consumption behaviour and display. These results give insight into the evolving role of digital platforms in shaping consumption patterns, particularly in the context of significant life events like weddings in China.

Dress is a Fundamental Component of Person Perception

ACADEMIC ABSTRACT

Clothing, hairstyle, makeup, and accessories influence first impressions. However, target dress is notably absent from current theories and models of person perception. We discuss three reasons for this minimal attention to dress in person perception: high theoretical complexity, incompatibility with traditional methodology, and underappreciation by the groups who have historically guided research in person perception. We propose a working model of person perception that incorporates target dress alongside target face, target body, context, and perceiver characteristics. Then, we identify four types of inferences for which perceivers rely on target dress: social categories, cognitive states, status, and aesthetics. For each of these, we review relevant work in social cognition, integrate this work with existing dress research, and propose future directions. Finally, we identify and offer solutions to the theoretical and methodological challenges accompanying the psychological study of dress.

PUBLIC ABSTRACT

Why is it that people often agonize over what to wear for a job interview, a first date, or a party? The answer is simple: They understand that others' first impressions of them rely on their clothing, hairstyle, makeup, and accessories. Many people might be surprised, then, to learn that psychologists' theories about how people form first impressions of others have little to say about how people dress. This is true in part because the meaning of clothing is so complex and culturally dependent. We propose a working model of first impressions that identifies four types of information that people infer from dress: people's social identities, mental states, status, and aesthetic tastes. For each of these, we review existing research on clothing, integrate this research with related work from social psychology more broadly, and propose future directions for research.

Short-term mating orientation as a predictor of alcohol use and risky sexual behavior

OBJECTIVES

Sexual Strategies Theory suggests people fall on a continuum between having short-term mating orientation (STMO) and long-term mating orientation. One way STMO individuals signal mating goals is via risky drinking. The current study therefore aims to investigate drinks per week (DPW) as a mediator between STMO and risky sexual behavior (RSB), with gender as a moderator between STMO and DPW.

PARTICIPANTS

Undergraduate students (N = 300) from a Midwestern university during Fall 2019.

METHOD

Participants completed questionnaires assessing STMO, DPW, and RSB frequency.

RESULTS

A moderated-mediation model indicated DPW significantly mediated the relationship between STMO and RSB. Positive associations were found among all three variables. Gender was not a moderator between STMO and DPW.

CONCLUSIONS

Mating orientation was a correlate of alcohol use and RSB for women and men, contributing to the literature identifying STMO as an indicator of those in need of substance use and RSB intervention.

The Effect of Asymmetric Intersexual Selection Power Perception on the Choice Deferral Behavior of Men and Women

Consumers always delay their choices, which can cause companies to suffer tremendous losses. One reason for such delay is a lack of confidence. Confidence in consumer decision-making can stem from many sources, including social power. In this research, we find that selection power with regard to choosing a romantic mate increases consumers' decision confidence and, in turn, decreases choice deferral. We define the concept of intersexual selection power (ISP), and propose certain factors that can induce individuals' asymmetric ISP. We conducted four studies to explore four factors that could influence consumers' ISP perceptions (sex, mating cues, sex ratio, and mate value) and the effects of such power perception on choice deferral. The results showed that individuals with high ISP perception have more decision confidence and a lower choice deferral rate than individuals with low ISP perception regardless of the way in which choice deferral is measured.

Delicate dining with a date and burger binging with buddies: impression management across social settings and consumers' preferences for masculine or feminine foods

Consumers often use their food choices as an impression management strategy to signal desirable aspects about themselves to others, especially in public places like restaurants and cafeterias, where the presence of others can promote certain consumption choices and preference patterns. In mating contexts, people prefer gender-typical traits and characteristics in a potential partner. Food options can also be classified according to their gender typicality, with certain alternatives perceived as feminine (e.g., salad, seafood) and with other options perceived as more masculine (e.g., steak, burger). Drawing on impression management theories from the drinking and dining domain and literature on sex differences in human mate preferences, we present a high-powered experiment investigating whether consumers' preferences for masculine or feminine foods depend on the social setting in which the food consumption takes place: dining with an attractive date (mating) or meeting and eating with friends (non-mating). Participants (N = 162, 46.9% females, 53.1% males; age M = 41.8  years, SD = 14.5) were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions (mating vs. non-mating) and were asked to indicate their food preferences for 15 dishes that differed markedly in perceived femininity/masculinity. Consistent with our theorizing, females (males) generally had a stronger preference for foods perceived as more feminine (masculine), thereby supporting the gender-typicality thesis at the aggregate level. Furthermore, females in the mating condition-but not females in the non-mating condition-reported significantly stronger preferences for more feminine food alternatives. However, in direct contrast to our theorizing, males preferred more masculine meals in the non-mating condition (i.e., when dining with friends), whereas this gender-typical tendency did not emerge in the mating condition (i.e., when dining with an attractive date). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings and present a set of fruitful avenues for future research.

A review and p-curve analysis of research on the menstrual cycle correlates of consumer preferences and economic decisions

A number of studies have been claimed to show that ovarian hormones, whose levels fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle, affect consumer preferences and financial decisions. The present article aims to critically analyze the literature examining associations between the phases of the menstrual cycle (peri-ovulatory vs. non-ovulatory) with particular consumer preferences (especially regarding clothing choices) and economic decisions (especially in regards to economic games and risk-taking). A search for studies was conducted in Web of Science and Scopus between 2004 and 2022, by combining keywords of the menstrual cycle, consumer preferences, and economic decisions. Once articles were selected, we identified the main findings, the characteristics of the population, and the methods for determining the phases of the cycle. We performed a p-curve analysis on previously reported statistically significant effects. These analyses find evidence for associations between peri-ovulatory status and specific consumer preferences, most strongly for appearance-enhancing products. They yield no compelling evidence for associations between peri-ovulatory status and financial decisions and risk-taking. We offer provisional conclusions and call for additional studies that possess sufficient statistical power to detect true meaningful effects, especially in the domain of financial decisions.

The influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors on e-WOM behaviour: The role of psychological impact during the time of COVID-19 crisis

This investigation unearths the trait antecedents of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational drivers and their consequences on attitude towards e-WOM of social mobile app users. Additionally, this study attempts to explore the moderating role of psychological impact on attitude towards e-WOM when COVID-19 is ravaging the world. Following the descriptive research method, the survey was carried out among convenience sample respondents of 627 social mobile app users. The outcome brought out that extraversion had a favourable influence on opinion leadership, customer engagement, and self-expression for sharing consumption related information during the pandemic. Likewise, materialism also had a strong effect on self-expression. Nonetheless, extraversion and materialism failed to affect self-presentation motives. And, self-presentation was observed influencing attitude towards e-WOM negatively. The outcome of the study demonstrates that individuals with high psychological impact have a strong motivation to involve in customer engagement to participate in e-WOM communication. Motivational drivers such as self-expression, opinion leadership, and customer engagement had a significant effect on attitude towards e-WOM for the whole sample analysis. This investigation contributes to existing literature of e-WOM behaviour and widens the scope of self-presentation theory, social exchange theory, theory of planned behaviour etc. Finally, this research also assists marketers and practitioners to take better decision-making on developing a social media advertising and campaign using the framework.

Economic Decisions, Attractiveness, and Intrasexual Competition during Menstrual Cycle in the Ultimatum Game

Introduction

it seems that, in the phase of greatest fertility, women's intrasexual competition (toward attractive women who live nearby) increases due to access to resources, status, and biologically desirable partners.

Objective

to compare the economic decisions (ED) during the ovulatory (OP) and luteal (LP) phases of the menstrual cycle (MC) with exposure to two stimuli: a photograph of a more attractive woman and a photograph of a less attractive woman, through the ultimatum game (UG).

Methodology

the research followed a cross-sectional design between subjects to see group differences by contrasting hypotheses. The sampling was probabilistic, with a sample of 100 heterosexual women, students at a public university with an age range of 18 to 24 years, with regular MC, who did not use hormonal contraceptive methods and did not have any endocrine condition. The inverse counting method with confirmation was applied to identify CM phases; and the UG to evaluate the DE.

Results

the phases of the MC had no effect on the ED; the women behaved similarly in their decisions, regardless of the phase of the cycle they were in or the type of stimulus to which they were exposed.

Conclusion

OP and LP do not affect the ED of women when they are exposed to an attractive stimulus. The discussion is made considering the evolutionary theory of the ovulatory shift hypothesis.

Fundamental social motives measured across forty-two cultures in two waves

How does psychology vary across human societies? The fundamental social motives framework adopts an evolutionary approach to capture the broad range of human social goals within a taxonomy of ancestrally recurring threats and opportunities. These motives—self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, status, mate acquisition, mate retention, and kin care—are high in fitness relevance and everyday salience, yet understudied cross-culturally. Here, we gathered data on these motives in 42 countries (N = 15,915) in two cross-sectional waves, including 19 countries (N = 10,907) for which data were gathered in both waves. Wave 1 was collected from mid-2016 through late 2019 (32 countries, N = 8,998; 3,302 male, 5,585 female; M_age = 24.43, SD = 7.91). Wave 2 was collected from April through November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic (29 countries, N = 6,917; 2,249 male, 4,218 female; M_age = 28.59, SD = 11.31). These data can be used to assess differences and similarities in people’s fundamental social motives both across and within cultures, at different time points, and in relation to other commonly studied cultural indicators and outcomes.

Measurement(s)	Motivation • Emotional Well-being • Socioeconomic Indicator • Culture • Cultural Diversity
Technology Type(s)	survey method • digital curation
Sample Characteristic - Organism	Homo sapiens
Sample Characteristic - Location	Australia • Austria • Bolivia • Brazil • Bulgaria • Canada • Chile • China • Colombia • Czech Republic • Germany • Hong Kong • India • Israel • Italy • Japan • Kenya • Lebanon • Mexico • The Netherlands • New Zealand • Nigeria • Pakistan • Peru • The Philippines • Portuguese Republic • Romania • Russia • Saudi Arabia • Senegal • Serbia • Singapore • Slovak Republic • South Korea • Spain • Sweden • Thailand • Turkey • Uganda • Ukraine • United Kingdom • United States of America

The Influence of Erotic Stimulation on Brand Preference of Male and Female Consumers: From the Perspective of Human Reproductive Motives

Based on the theory of human reproductive motives, this study discusses how erotic stimulation can help activate male and female consumers' reproductive motives (i.e., mate-attraction and mate-retention motives), influencing product purchase intention and brand personality perception. Specifically, the results of four experiments reveal that when a man receives erotic stimulation from women, his mate-attraction motive is activated. Consequently, he perceives that the brand personality of his possessions is more rugged, and his preference for products with a rugged brand personality is stronger. Unlike male consumers, when a heterosexual woman in an intimate romantic relationship receives erotic stimulation from other women, her mate-retention motive is activated. As a result, she perceives that the brand personality of her partner's possessions is sincerer and prefers to purchase products with a sincere brand personality for her partner. This effect will not occur when a product is owned by her male colleague than her partner.

The Dark Side of Social Media: Content Effects on the Relationship Between Materialism and Consumption Behaviors

This study contributes to the emerging literature on the negative effects over consumption that social media users may develop as a consequence of being engaged on social media platforms. The authors tested materialism's direct and indirect impacts on compulsive, conspicuous, and impulsive buying, adding two novel mediators: attitudes toward social media content (SCM) and social media intensity (SMI). The study uses a convenience sample of 400 Thai social media users analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results confirmed the well-established positive relationships between materialism and each of the three-negative consumption behaviors also in the social media domain. A novel finding showed the important role played by SMI which was found to be a strong predictor of each of the three negative consumption behaviors and it was also found to significantly mediate the relationship between materialism and the three-negative consumption behaviors. An additional contribution of the study was found on the role of attitudes which, contrary to what is commonly believed, were often not significant in predicting any negative behavior.

An Evolutionary Perspective on Appearance Enhancement Behavior

Researchers have highlighted numerous sociocultural factors that have been shown to underpin human appearance enhancement practices, including the influence of peers, family, the media, and sexual objectification. Fewer scholars have approached appearance enhancement from an evolutionary perspective or considered how sociocultural factors interact with evolved psychology to produce appearance enhancement behavior. Following others, we argue that evidence from the field of evolutionary psychology can complement existing sociocultural models by yielding unique insight into the historical and cross-cultural ubiquity of competition over aspects of physical appearance to embody what is desired by potential mates. An evolutionary lens can help to make sense of reliable sex and individual differences that impact appearance enhancement, as well as the context-dependent nature of putative adaptations that function to increase physical attractiveness. In the current review, appearance enhancement is described as a self-promotion strategy used to enhance reproductive success by rendering oneself more attractive than rivals to mates, thereby increasing one's mate value. The varied ways in which humans enhance their appearance are described, as well as the divergent tactics used by women and men to augment their appearance, which correspond to the preferences of opposite-sex mates in a heterosexual context. Evolutionarily relevant individual differences and contextual factors that vary predictably with appearance enhancement behavior are also discussed. The complementarity of sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives is emphasized and recommended avenues for future interdisciplinary research are provided for scholars interested in studying appearance enhancement behavior.

Populated Places and Conspicuous Consumption: High Population Density Cues Predict Consumers' Luxury-Linked Brand Attitudes

Population density has been identified as an ecological factor with considerable behavioral implications. The present research aimed to examine whether the mere perception of more (vs. less) populated places can change consumers' luxury-linked brand attitudes. To this end, we experimentally manipulated consumers' perceptions of population density using pictorial exposure to high (vs. low) population density cues. The results revealed a significant interaction between manipulated population density and perceived brand luxury on brand attitudes. Specifically, exposure to high rather than low population density cues resulted in more positive (negative) attitudes toward brands deemed to be more (less) luxurious. These findings support our prediction that high population density cues can shift people's perceptions in consumption contexts linked to luxury. Our work contributes to the growing stream of literature on population density and suggests that this (geo-) demographic factor can exert important downstream effects on consumer behavior.

The Peacock Fallacy: Art as a Veblenian Signal

The fact that world-over people seem inexplicably motivated to allocate time and effort to apparently useless cultural practices, like the arts, has led several evolutionary scholars to suggest that these might be costly Zahavian signals correlated with genetic fitness, such as the infamous peacock's tail. In this paper, I review the fundamental arguments of the hypothesis that art evolved and serves as a costly Zahavian signal. First, I look into the hypothesis that humans exert mate choice for indirect benefits and argue that the data supports mate choice for direct benefits instead. Second, I argue that art practice may well be a costly signal, however not necessarily related to good genes. Third, I suggest that Thorstein Veblen's original concept of conspicuous signals as social tools to obtain and convey prestige provides a better account than the Zahavian model for the evolution and function of art in society. As a Veblenian signal, art could still have many of the effects suggested for visual art as a Zahavian signal, except not for the indirect benefits of optimal offspring, but for the direct benefits of acquiring and conveying social status.

How Does House Demolition Affect Family Conspicuous Consumption?

Family conspicuous consumption behavior is affected by many factors. Existing pieces of literature seldom focus on the impact of house demolition on family conspicuous consumption and its underlying mechanism. Based on the mental accounting theory and conservation of resources theory, this study uses the micro-data of the 2011 China Household Finance Survey to empirically examine the relationship between house demolition and family conspicuous consumption. Robustness results suggest that house demolition positively affects household conspicuous consumption, which is not only reflected in the overall consumption level but also in the level of average consumption. Further analysis finds that household wealth and materialism value have a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship of the main effect. In addition, in order to clarify the relationship between conspicuous consumption and luxury consumption, this study finds that conspicuous consumption and luxury consumption are not completely equivalent through in-depth theoretical analysis and exploratory investigation. There are similarities in both consumption motivation and pattern, but with differences on consumer subject and object. The contribution of this research is to enrich the theory of decision-making in consumer behavior, which also has certain significance in deepening the understanding of the relationship between conspicuous consumption and luxury consumption.

Conspicuous corruption: Evidence at a country level

People can exhibit their status by the consumption of particular goods or experiential purchases; this is known as "conspicuous consumption"; the practice is widespread and explains the market characteristics of a whole class of goods, Veblen goods, demand for which increase in tandem with their price. The value of such positional goods lies in their distribution among the population-the rarer they are, the more desirable they become. At the same time, higher income, often associated with higher status, has been studied in its relation to unethical behavior. Here we present research that shows how a particular Veblen good, illicit behavior, and wealth, combine to produce the display of illegality as a status symbol. We gathered evidence at a large, country-level, scale of a particular form of consumption of an illictly acquired good for status purposes. We show that in Greece, a developed middle-income country, where authorities cannot issue custom vanity license plates, people acquire distinguishing plate numbers that act as vanity plate surrogates. We found that such license plates are more common in cars with bigger engines and in luxury brands, and are therefore associated with higher value vehicles. This cannot be explained under the lawful procedures for allocating license plates and must therefore be the result of illegal activities, such as graft. This suggests a pattern of "conspicuous corruption", where individuals break the law and use their gains as status symbols, knowing that the symbols hint at rule-breaking, as long as the unlawful practice cannot be incontestably established.

The impact of belongingness and graphic-based emoticon usage motives on emoticon purchase intentions for MIM: an analysis of Korean KakaoTalk users

Purpose

Although graphic-based emoticons in mobile instant messenger (MIM) services became an important revenue source for their service provider, empirical research investigating factors influencing graphic-based emoticon purchase from the consumer's perspective is insufficient. The authors explore how user's achieved belongingness (acceptance or rejection) affects graphic based emoticon usage motivations and its purchase intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

A structural model is used to examine the relationship among individual's overall achieved belongingness, motivation factors of graphic-based emoticon usage in MIM such as perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, perceived enjoyment for others, social norm and emoticon purchase intentions. The authors collected and analyzed survey data of 279 Korean KakaoTalk users.

Findings

The analysis shows that perceived acceptance/inclusion positively impacts perceived usefulness, enjoyment and enjoyment of others in graphic-based emoticon usage. Meanwhile, perceived rejection/exclusion positively impacts perceived enjoyment and enjoyment of others but negatively influences perceived social norms. Moreover, social norms and perceived enjoyment directly affect graphic-based emoticon purchase intentions. The authors also find that perceived enjoyment of others and perceived social norms in a serial causal order mediate the relationship between perceived acceptance/inclusion (and rejection/exclusion) and emoticon purchase intentions.

Research limitations/implications

Additional research including users from other demographic groups, such as other age groups, is required to generalize our findings and to increase external validity.

Originality/value

Unique implications related to the role of user's achieved belongingness and perceived enjoyment of others in graphic-based emoticon usage in purchase intentions are found.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/ 10.1108/OIR-02-2020-0036

Phenotypic Mimicry Distinguishes Cues of Mating Competition From Paternal Investment in Men's Conspicuous Consumption

Evolutionary psychologists propose that men's conspicuous consumption facilitates mate attraction because it predicts resource investment in offspring. This article elaborates on the ultimate functions of men's luxury displays based on Life History Theory. Three studies provide evidence for phenotypic mimicry, in which consumer product features mimicking male secondary sex characteristics indicate investment in mating competition, at the expense of paternal investment. Men owning shirts with larger luxury brand logos were rated higher on mating effort, lower on parental investment, higher on interest in brief sexual affairs, lower on interest in long-term committed romantic relationships, higher in attractiveness to women for brief sexual affairs, lower in attractiveness to women for long-term committed relationships, and higher in developmental environment unpredictability compared with men owning shirts displaying a smaller logo. Participants recognized the strategic use of luxury display properties across social contexts but did not consistently associate product properties with owners' physiological characteristics.

Social class, social self-esteem, and conspicuous consumption

Previous research has suggested the negative relationship between self-esteem and conspicuous consumption since conspicuous consumption is aimed to gain social recognition and signal status. However, it has not been much explored how this relationship holds depending on social classes. We propose subjective social class will moderate the relationship between social self-esteem and conspicuous consumption. We also hypothesize the mediating roles of social dominance orientation and life satisfaction in the proposed moderation effect. By conducting the survey with the American sample, we tested these predictions. In Study 1, we showed that the negative relationship between social self-esteem and conspicuous consumption appeared only among high subjective social class individuals. In Study 2, we replicated Study 1 and further demonstrated that social dominance orientation and life satisfaction respectively mediated the interactive effect of subjective social class and social self-esteem on conspicuous consumption. The results suggest that among individuals who perceive themselves to be in a high social class, a low level of social self-esteem is conducive to conspicuous consumption. The theoretical implications and limitations of the present investigation are discussed.

The moderating role of childhood socioeconomic status on the impact of nudging on the perceived threat of coronavirus and stockpiling intention

Communications that include nudges and framing strategies are ubiquitous in our daily lives. In this paper, we investigate how different nudging strategies during a public health campaign, particularly supplementary information and statistics, influence perceptions of threat and stockpiling intentions, while also considering the role of childhood socioeconomic status. Specifically, building upon prior work in behavioral economics, we hypothesize that the presence of additional statistics elicits lower perceived threat and intention to stockpile. In addition, we predict find that the childhood socioeconomic status of individuals influences these effects. Three studies offer evidence for those predictions and demonstrate the importance of message framing in uncertain circumstances. Overall, this work contributes to the literature on nudging and life history theory by investigating how communication strategies can be used to increase or decrease perceived threat in order to achieve desired outcomes (e.g., limiting stockpiling or respecting social distancing).

•

The information presented and the design of health campaigns significantly influence perceived threats and irrational behaviors such as stockpiling intentions.

•

Childhood socioeconomic status of individuals has an impact on the effectiveness of these advertising strategies.

•

Health campaign design about COVID-19 and childhood SES influence perceived threat and stockpiling intentions.

The Effects of the Mating Market, Sex, Age, and Income on Sociopolitical Orientation : Insights from Evolutionary Theory and Sexual Economics Theory

Sociopolitical attitudes are often the root cause of conflicts between individuals, groups, and even nations, but little is known about the origin of individual differences in sociopolitical orientation. We test a combination of economic and evolutionary ideas about the degree to which the mating market, sex, age, and income affect sociopolitical orientation. We collected data online through Amazon's Mechanical Turk from 1108 US participants who were between 18 and 60, fluent in English, and single. While ostensibly testing a new online dating website, participants created an online dating profile and described people they would like to date. We manipulated the participants' popularity in the mating market and the size of the market (i.e., the number of ideal partners in the market) and then measured participants' sociopolitical attitudes. The sociopolitical attitudes were reduced to five dimensions via Principal Components Analysis (Sociosexuality, Benevolent Sexism, Wealth Redistribution, Nonconforming Behaviors, and Traditional Family Values). Both manipulations affected attitudes toward wealth redistribution but were largely not significant predictors of the other dimensions. Men reported more unrestricted sociosexual attitudes, and more support for benevolent sexism and traditional family values, than women did, and women supported wealth redistribution more than men did. There was no sex difference in accepting nonconforming behaviors. Younger people and people with lower incomes were more liberal than older people and people with higher incomes, respectively, regardless of sex. Overall, effects were largely not interactive, suggesting that individual differences in sociopolitical orientation may reflect strategic self-interest and be more straightforward than previously predicted.

The Critical Factors Affecting the Consumer Reselling of Limited Edition Products: A Case in the Korean Fashion Sector

Since e-commerce has revitalized recently in the form of live commerce and Instagram shopping, both purchase and sales have become promoted among consumers while reselling has been facilitated in second-hand item markets and among consumers. Particularly, the new trend of consuming products, rather than merely owning products, has become a mainstream factor in the market. Accordingly, consumers show extraordinary consumption, focusing on the act of purchasing limited edition products of high scarcity and placing more importance on one-off experience rather than ordinary new products or premium products. This study suggests critical factors that facilitate the reselling of limited edition products among consumers for the purpose of examining the consumer reselling of limited edition products, which has been a rapidly growing trend in the fashion market. Based on relevant studies, this research presents four basic factor areas: personal needs, value, experience, and environment. It also defines 20 sub-factors and analyzes the weight of each factor by means of the AHP method. In conclusion, it turned out that factors of personal needs were of the most significant influence. Particularly, it was verified that the need for joining was the most critical factor facilitating consumers’ reselling of limited edition products.

Sustainable Consumption Behavior at Home and in the Workplace: Avenues for Innovative Solutions

Companies which offer innovative solutions to aid the achievement of sustainable consumption behavior of individuals in home environment gain a competitive advantage. The study aims to uncover the relationship between the engagement in sustainable consumption and sustainable consumption behavior of individuals at home and in the workplace environments enabling companies to provide innovative solutions to advance sustainability management. This research holds that sustainable consumption behavior is a process and the focus of this study is use behavior. An online survey was employed to collect data from 407 respondents in the United Kingdom. Consumers working in both private and public sectors were surveyed. Data analysis suggests that one dimension of engagement in sustainable consumption, namely, Enthusiasm and Attention, mostly influences sustainable consumption behavior at home and in the workplace. Further, females feature higher sustainable consumption behavior at home and in the workplace most of the time in comparison to males. Also, there are age differences apropos sustainable consumption behavior at home and in the workplace. Social Learning Theory and Collaborative Consumption Theory are used to raise hypotheses and explain findings. The findings lead to practical implications for companies regarding engagement and sustainable consumption behavior in both environments in terms of incentives, green product and service innovation that may be offered to individuals to enhance sustainability.

Confidence is sexy and it can be trained: Examining male social confidence in initial, opposite-sex interactions

OBJECTIVE

We investigated whether men's social confidence in an initial, opposite-sex chatting context can be improved through a video tutorial and the extent to which being perceived as socially confident results in being seen as more romantically desirable and worthy of future contact.

METHOD

Women chatted with men who had received or not received a tutorial on how to handle speed-dating chats (Study 1: N = 129; Study 2: N = 60) or with male targets selected for having high versus moderate confidence in handling initial, opposite-sex encounters (Study 3: N = 46).

RESULTS

Tutorial-trained men felt more confident going into the chats and they, as well as male targets selected for their confidence, were perceived by female chat partners to be higher in social confidence, status, and dominance. However, only perceptions of social confidence were further associated with being perceived as more romantically desirable (as a short-term mate) and worthy of future contact.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate that social confidence is trainable and that other-perceived social confidence can impact the outcomes of social interactions.

Narrative theory III: Evolutionary narratives addressing mating motives change discounting and tobacco valuation

Relationships between discounting and addictive behaviors have both state- and trait-based components. Evolutionarily driven motives may trigger risk-taking behaviors, and narratives might be used to alter the temporal window of reward valuation. The current investigation-in 2 separate studies-sought to understand the basic effects of narratives on smoking behavior by examining the effect of mating narratives on the discounting rates of cigarette smokers. Using data collected online, Study 1 (N = 132) assessed the within-individual effect of a mating narrative describing a long-term romantic relationship on rates of discounting after being randomly assigned to 1 of 2 narratives (romance or control) and Study 2 (N = 273) assessed the between-individual effect of 2 mating narratives (1 describing a long-term romantic relationship and 1 describing a short-term sexual encounter) on rates of discounting, craving, and cigarette valuation after being randomly assigned to 1 of 3 motivational narratives (romance, sex, or control). Reading the romance narrative decreased rates of discounting (i.e., increased preference for larger delayed rewards), compared to a control narrative (Studies 1 and 2). In contrast, reading the sexual narrative increased discounting (i.e., decreased preference for larger delayed rewards). Moreover, the romance narrative significantly decreased craving of cigarettes while the sexual narrative increased cigarette valuation (Study 2). These findings suggest that mating narratives may be useful in manipulating the temporal window of reward valuation, relevant for altering demand and craving, and may show potential as a component of future behavioral addiction interventions. Given the small effect sizes, replicating the study in future research will be beneficial. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Skin in the Game: Personal Accountability and Journal Peer Review

Two preregistered studies explored the likelihood paper reviewers would request clarification from authors regarding potential questionable research practices (QRPs). Study 1 participants were instructed to imagine reviewing a journal manuscript as either a coauthor or peer reviewer and rate the extent to which they would request clarification from the author when encountering potential QRPs. Participants reported greater likelihood of requesting clarification when assigned to the coauthor relative to the peer reviewer role. Study 2 participants were assigned to either an anonymous or open-review condition and rated the extent to which they would seek clarification from an author regarding potential QRPs. Men (but not women) in the open review condition reported greater likelihood of seeking clarification about potential QRPs than men in the blind review condition. Results provide tentative evidence that motivational factors influence the peer review process, and suggestions are made for improving peer review practices.

Masculinity threats influence evaluation of hypermasculine advertisements

The precarious manhood paradigm posits that many men view their gender as a social status that must be earned and maintained, and can be lost. The present study applied the precarious manhood paradigm to a hypermasculine advertisement. A sample of 208 men was collected online. Using a false feedback paradigm, men's masculinity was either threatened, or not threatened. The men then viewed one of two commercials. One commercial was a neutral, control advertisement, and one was a hypermasculine advertisement. We also measured participants' endorsement of masculine norms. Results of a moderated moderation analysis indicated that men in the threat condition were more likely to view the hypermasculine advertisement as being masculinity-enhancing, if they also endorsed the masculine norms of Winning, Heterosexual Self-Presentation, and Power over Women. Results for future research applying precarious manhood to advertising, and implications for clinical work with men, are discussed.

The genetic and cultural evolution of unsustainability

Anthropogenic changes are accelerating and threaten the future of life on earth. While the proximate mechanisms of these anthropogenic changes are well studied (e.g., climate change, biodiversity loss, population growth), the evolutionary causality of these anthropogenic changes have been largely ignored. Anthroecological theory (AET) proposes that the ultimate cause of anthropogenic environmental change is multi-level selection for niche construction and ecosystem engineering. Here, we integrate this theory with Lotka's Maximum Power Principle and propose a model linking energy extraction from the environment with genetic, technological and cultural evolution to increase human ecosystem carrying capacity. Carrying capacity is partially determined by energetic factors such as the net energy a population can acquire from its environment and the efficiency of conversion from energy input to offspring output. These factors are under Darwinian genetic selection in all species, but in humans, they are also determined by technology and culture. If there is genetic or non-genetic heritable variation in the ability of an individual or social group to increase its carrying capacity, then we hypothesize that selection or cultural evolution will act to increase carrying capacity. Furthermore, if this evolution of carrying capacity occurs faster than the biotic components of the ecological system can respond via their own evolution, then we hypothesize that unsustainable ecological changes will result.

Defending the Queen’s Pride: Effect of the menstrual cycle phase on conspicuous consumption

Women experience both physical and psychological changes during different phases of the menstrual cycle (MC), which can affect their decision making. The present study aims to investigate the impact of the MC on women’s preferences for conspicuous consumption. In three studies, women in the low-fertility phase were found to be more inclined toward conspicuous consumption, with the MC effect on conspicuous consumption being mediated by the extent of pride. We assumed that women in the low-fertility phase would feel less proud due to an evolutionary drive and that they would consume conspicuous products as a means of compensation. Meanwhile, women who were only children did not manifest such behavior. We infer that women from one-child families may have a greater sense of security and confidence, which buffers the mediating effect. This research contributes to both evolutionary psychology and marketing research and provides new insights for future studies.

Family Matters: Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation

What motives do people prioritize in their social lives? Historically, social psychologists, especially those adopting an evolutionary perspective, have devoted a great deal of research attention to sexual attraction and romantic-partner choice (mate seeking). Research on long-term familial bonds (mate retention and kin care) has been less thoroughly connected to relevant comparative and evolutionary work on other species, and in the case of kin care, these bonds have been less well researched. Examining varied sources of data from 27 societies around the world, we found that people generally view familial motives as primary in importance and mate-seeking motives as relatively low in importance. Compared with other groups, college students, single people, and men place relatively higher emphasis on mate seeking, but even those samples rated kin-care motives as more important. Furthermore, motives linked to long-term familial bonds are positively associated with psychological well-being, but mate-seeking motives are associated with anxiety and depression. We address theoretical and empirical reasons why there has been extensive research on mate seeking and why people prioritize goals related to long-term familial bonds over mating goals. Reallocating relatively greater research effort toward long-term familial relationships would likely yield many interesting new findings relevant to everyday people’s highest social priorities.

Social rank: implications for consumers as actors and observers

This review provides an introduction to the relationship between consumers' social rank and their behavior as actors and observers. As actors, people's experience of occupying a position of lower or higher social rank-whether actual or imagined-influences consumer behavior outcomes such as gift giving and luxury consumption. As observers, people exhibit both positive and negative responses to others' signals of social rank. Finally, research opportunities related to power versus status hierarchies, how observers categorize luxury consumption, and observers' ability to correctly assess an actor's social rank are discussed. In total, this review provides a primer on past, present, and future research on the role of social rank in consumer behavior.

Evolution of costly signaling and partial cooperation

Two seemingly unrelated, but fundamental challenges in evolutionary theory, are the evolution of costly signals and costly cooperative traits, both expected to reduce an individual’s fitness and diminish by natural selection. Here, by considering a well mixed population of individuals who produce signals and decide on their strategies in a game they play, based on the signals, we show that costly signals and costly cooperative strategies can co-evolve as a result of internal dynamics of the system. Costly signals evolve, despite their apparent cost, due to a favorable cooperative response they elicit. This favorable strategic response can be quantified in a fitness term which governs the distribution of costly signals better than their apparent cost. In the same way, cooperative strategies evolve as they can reach a high fitness due to the internal dynamics of the systems.

(Pretty) Lady First: Effects of Mate-Related Motives on the Item-Selection Orders of Faces With Varying Attractiveness

Evolutionary theories suggest that fundamental mating-related motives might exert specific effects on human cognition and behaviors. Based on the evolutionary perspective, our prior research illustrated that the activation of mating-related motives leads to a study-time allocation bias toward highly attractive female faces. While study-time allocation is one of the aspects of the self-regulated learning process, it is unclear whether mating motives affect study decision behaviors (as measured by item-selection orders) during the learning process. Therefore, the present study followed the logic of previous research and aimed to examine the effects of mating-related motives on item-selection orders for face-name associations among faces with varying attractiveness. In two experiments, after an imagery procedure, participants in mating-related priming conditions (Experiment 1: mate search, Experiment 2: mate guarding) or control conditions performed an item-selection task. Participants were shown 16 female faces with varying attractiveness on a computer screen and were instructed to decide the order for studying the faces and corresponding names. Experiment 1 showed that activating mate-search motives led male participants to prioritize the choice of highly attractive rather than less attractive faces for studying. In Experiment 2, compared to the participants in the control condition, female participants in the mate-guarding priming condition were more likely to prioritize the choice of highly attractive rather than less attractive faces for studying. The present findings clarify that mating-related motives affect the item-selection prioritization of faces with varying attractiveness.