Abstract
Can exposure to body shapes affect spending preferences? Because Western society associates thinness with economic value, we argue that a shape resembling thin human body types activates concepts related to positive financial outcomes, such as responsibility and hard work. The results of five experiments show that exposure to thin, human-like shapes influences consumer self-efficacy judgments and spending outcomes, depending on the perceiver's weight. In line with social comparison, we demonstrate that seeing a thin (vs. wide) human-like shape leads consumers with a high body mass index to make more indulgent decisions. Financial self-efficacy is highlighted as the underlying mechanism, and high resemblance to the human form is identified as a critical moderator. The findings of this research acknowledge visual similarity's role in stereotype knowledge activation and weight stereotypes' broad scope of influence.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 80-98 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Journal of Consumer Research |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author 2016.
Keywords
- Selfefficacy
- Shapes
- Social comparison
- Spending
- Stereotypes
- Thin body
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business and International Management
- Anthropology
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Economics and Econometrics
- Marketing