Knowledge that Transforms

This article extends postmodern theories of consumption-oriented microcultures by analyzing the natural health value system and the microcultural meanings through which it is constructed. We first compare our theoretical approach to the conventional, Rokeachian view of the consumer value system. Drawing from a range of cultural and postmodern theories, we argue that the Rokeachian view is not sufficiently attuned to the meaning-based aspects of consumer value systems. Furthermore, it largely ignores the intracultural diversity among consumer value systems that arises from the fragmentation of postmodern consumer culture into diverse consumption microcultures. Our analysis focuses on the narratives that natural health consumers use to articulate the values manifest in their wellness-oriented consumption outlooks and practices. These narratives reveal the meaning-based linkages between these articulated values and the consumption goals being pursued through natural health practices. We further contextualize the natural health value system by highlighting four higher-order postmodern orientations that are inflected in this microculture. We discuss the implications of our analysis for conceptualizations of the fragmented postmodern marketplace, means-end analyses of consumer values, and generative theories of consumer goal formation.

Product experience seduces consumers into believing that they learn more than is actually so. There are several reasons for this. First, experience is more engaging than most attempts at education, both more vivid and intentional, and consequently more memorable. Second, experience is viewed as nonpartisan, devoid of the didacticism of formal education and the self-serving interests of advertisers. Third, much of experience is ambiguous, but not recognized as such. Experiencesupports a pseudodiagnosticity that draws the consumer in as a willing partner in the se-duction. Finally, the endogeneity of tastes allows consumers to accommodate to chosen alternatives and results in infrequent regrets about being seduced. Experience without learning is better than learning without experience. (Anonymous) That all our knowledge begins with experience, there is indeed no doubt... but although our knowledge originates with experience, it does not all arise out of experience. (Immanuel

Previous work on subcultural consumption presents structure, ethos, and subcultural boundaries as key theoretical aspects. These concepts are critically reconsidered through examining and interpreting ethnographic fieldwork and the consumer accounts of 44 gay men interviewed during a study of a gay urban community. Original insights are developed in relation to consuming in a subcultural context. The findings include consideration of the following key aspects of subcultural consumption: (1) contested meanings of gay subcultural consumption, (2) consuming and constructing subcultural boundaries, and (3) negotiating individual distinction with consumption practices. Overall, findings indicate that the oppositional character of subcultural consumption is captured well by the proposed theoretical framework that takes into account contested meaning clusters; fluid subcultural boundaries; flexible subcultural, interpretive frameworks for consuming; and negotiation of individual tastes through subcultural consumption.

The negativity effect, or the greater weighing of negative as compared with equally extreme positive information in the formation of overall evaluations, is widely believed by media planners and appears to be a well-proven phenomenon in consumer psychology. Although this effect has been extensively documented under conditions of moderate to high processing involvement in the literature, its robustness in consumer environments may be overstated. Specifically, there are important differences between the experimental settings in which this effect has typically been obtained and marketplace conditions. For instance, subjects in past studies have typically evaluated unknown or hypothetical targets with the goal of forming an accurate impression. In the marketplace, consumers may be familiar with brands and likely to process brand-related information with a variety of other processing goals, such as impression and defense motivation. Using two experiments, this re-inquiry delineates conditions under which the negativity effect is likely to emerge and those under which it may be less likely to occur.

Prior research has examined consumers' use of self-control to avoid hedonic (myopic) temptations, such as overspending and smoking. In this research we investigate the opposite form of self-control, whereby consumers force themselves to indulge and avoid default forms of spending on utilitarian necessities and/or savings. In particular, consumers who have difficulty choosing items that are perceived as indulgences or luxuries (e.g., a cruise) over necessities (e.g., saving for college education) and cash in everyday decisions may use precommitments to indulgence, especially when the psychological cost of such commitments is less concrete. These propositions were tested in a series of studies involving real and hypothetical choices as well as process measures. The results indicate that a substantial segment of consumers choose hedonic luxury rewards over cash of equal or greater value; consumers typically explain such choices based on the need to precommit to indulgence, to make sure that the award does not end up in the pool of money used for necessities. In addition, consistent with our analysis, the likelihood of precommitting to indulgence is enhanced when (a) the consequences of the decision will be realized farther in the future, (b) the odds of winning the reward are lower, and (c) consumers anticipate how they will use each possible award. We also show that awards representing indulgence are more effective than cash as incentives for participation in a (real) lottery. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Consumer research has largely missed out on two key developments in social cognition research: the growing evidence that much of social judgment and behavior occur without conscious awareness or intent and the substantial moderating influence of social- and self-related goal pursuits on basic cognitive and reasoning processes. This evidence is described and its implications are drawn for nonconscious--including subliminal--influences on consumer behavior. The consumer research domain appears ideal for the necessary next wave of this research: the assessment of how much of a role nonconscious influences play in real life in decisions and behavior that are of real consequence to the individual.

This article develops and tests a conceptual framework for the practice of product placement. The empirical testing introduces a controlled experimental approach called the theater methodology. Results show that the modality of presentation (visual and auditory) of the placements and the degree of connection between a brand and the plot of the show interact to influence memory and attitude change. Memory improves when modality and plot connection are incongruent but persuasion is enhanced by congruency. While congruous placements appear natural, incongruent placements adversely affect brand attitudes because they seem out of place and are discounted.

This ethnography explores the emancipatory dynamics of the Burning Man project, a one-week-long antimarket event. Practices used at Burning Man to distance consumers from the market include discourses supporting communality and disparaging market logics, alternative exchange practices, and positioning consumption as self-expressive art. Findings reveal several communal practices that distance consumption from broader rhetorics of efficiency and rationality. Although Burning Man's participants materially support the market, they successfully construct a temporary hypercommunity from which to practice divergent social logics. Escape from the market, if possible at all, must be conceived of as similarly temporary and local.

Over the past decade, materialism has emerged as an important research topic. Materialism is generally viewed as the value placed on the acquisition of material objects. Previous research finds that high levels of material values are negatively associated with subjective well-being. However, relatively little is known about the relationship between materialism and well-being within the broader context of an individual's value system. In this article, we examine the relationship between material values and other important life values. In addition, we draw on values theory to examine a novel conceptualization of why materialism is antithetical to well-being. Specifically, our theory proposes that the individual orientation of material values conflicts with collective-oriented values, such as family values and religious values. This state of values conflict creates psychological tension, and this tension is associated with a reduced sense of well-being. Using both a survey sample of 373 adults from across the United States and an experimental study of 120 college students, we find considerable support for this conflicting values perspective.

Three experiments demonstrate that people incorporate more variety into their consumption decisions when their behavior is subject to public scrutiny. Studies 1 and 2 indicate that consumers expect others to evaluate their decision more favorably if they choose variety and that this sometimes leads individuals to incorporate more variety into their public than private decisions. Results of study 2 confirm predictions that a relevant individual difference variable (self-monitoring) moderates the effects of expected evaluation on variety seeking. The final study demonstrates that pressure to choose variety in public is eliminated when a social cue signals the appropriateness of consuming one's favorites.