🧠The Psychology of Ownership, Food, Threat and Indulgence
Welcome to our September newsletter.
We look at the science behind our desire to own things. At the psychology of why Gen Z reject influencers, and the implications for brands when they do.
At the strange connection between threat and indulgence.
And why “good” food should perhaps NOT look good if you’re trying to sell it.
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It’s mine. But why?
This comprehensive study explores the many different aspects of why we desire to own things.
Researchers from the Universities of Wisconsin and Iowa start with four key motivations.
Effectance motivation: People feel ownership when they invest time and effort into something.
Signaling self-identity: People feel ownership when something is congruent with their self-identity.
Home: People feel ownership over their homes and the things that make them feel at home.
Need for stimulation: People feel ownership over things that provide them with stimulation and excitement.
These motivations can be seen in many different aspects of our lives. For example, we feel ownership over our homes because we have invested time and effort into them, and they are a reflection of our self-identity. We also feel ownership over our pets because we care for them and they provide us with companionship.
The concept of psychological ownership influences our behavior in a number of ways. For example, people are more likely to take care of things that they feel ownership over. They are also more likely to be willing to defend things that they feel ownership over.
Not to mention our fear of losing what we own, or think we own.
Photo by RDNE Stock project
Why should good food NOT look good?
Many brands believe that making food look more appealing can help attract customers and make them think more highly of the food. And the science generally backs this up.
But a study from the City University of Macau looked at how these “expressive aesthetics” affect consumers' decision making about organic versus conventional food in restaurants.
Counterintuitively, the study found that expressive aesthetics is effective when marketing conventional food, but it makes people less likely to want to buy organic food.
The researchers found that people are more likely to want to buy conventional food that looks more appealing, but they are less likely to want to buy organic food that looks more appealing. This is because people associate expressive aesthetics with pleasure and temptation, and they are more likely to want to indulge in these things when eating conventional food.
But perhaps these psychological mechanisms might work differently for “good” products.
Food for thought anyway.
Photo by ALINA MATVEYCHEVA
Why Gen Z avoid influencers
This study looked at the psychological reasons that Gen Z consumers reject online influencers.
The researchers examined how perceived brand control affects both brand avoidance and influencer avoidance. They investigated the underlying psychological mechanisms at play and the connection between between perceived “brand control” and avoidance behavior
They found that Gen Z is more likely to avoid brands and influencers that they feel are being controlled by brands. This is because Gen Z believes that this is morally irresponsible.
The study found that the more Gen Z feels that a brand is controlling an influencer, the more likely they are to avoid both the brand and the influencer. This is especially true for macro influencers (influencers with a large following) vs. micro influencers (influencers with a smaller following).
The study also found that negative moral emotions, such as anger and disgust, mediate the relationship between perceived brand control and avoidance behavior. In other words, when they feel that a brand is controlling an influencer, they experience negative moral emotions, which makes them more likely to avoid the brand and the influencer.
And a word of warning - it’s the brands who carry the can.
The researchers explain: “the results show that Gen Z tend to direct their deep anger towards the brands as well as the influencers when they perceive brands' behavior as morally transgressive; their anger is deeper towards the brands than the influencers”
Photo by Kampus Production
Why threat drives indulgent behaviour
This study showed a fascinating link between a psychological state and resulting behaviour.
When people feel psychologically threatened (e.g., when they feel like they don't belong to a group or that they're not good enough), they have two main coping strategies:
Self-focus: They focus on their own positive qualities.
Others-focus: They focus on the negative qualities of other groups.
Both strategies can be effective at repairing the threatened identity, but the others-focus strategy can lead to people buying more things that they don't really need or want (indulgent consumption), especially for people who strongly identify with the threatened group.
The reason is that the others-focus strategy makes people think about the negative qualities of other groups, which makes them feel better about themselves. However, this can also lead to people feeling entitled to treat themselves, too.
In certain instances, making people think about other groups, which can make people more likely to buy indulgent products. However, it is also possible to make people less likely to buy indulgent products by making it difficult to think about other groups
For example, an ad for a luxury car that shows people from other groups who are less successful. This may people feel better about themselves and more likely to buy the car. However, showing the ad in a place where people are not likely to think about other groups, such as a quiet library, could also make people less likely to buy the car.
Photo by Pixabay
As ever, if there's anything we can help with, do get in touch.
James, Patrick and Dan
We practically apply the science of the human mind for hard, commercial results
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