COMPENSATORY CONSUMPTION- DOES IT HOLD ITS PROMISE?

Research indicates that consumption provides one of the means through which individuals, when faced with threats to aspects of their self (self-threats), can attempt to restore their feelings of self-worth. Such compensatory... [ view full abstract ]

Research indicates that consumption provides one of the means through which individuals, when faced with threats to aspects of their self (self-threats), can attempt to restore their feelings of self-worth. Such compensatory consumption has been shown to operate both within-domain (i.e., when a consumer restores his or her self by choosing products that are linked to an aspect of the self under threat) and across-domain (i.e., when products chosen are linked to other key self-domains but not to the specific domain that is threatened).

But does such compensatory consumption actually satiate the self on the threatened self-domains (i.e., does it repair the self on these domains)? Existing research shows that individuals may indulge in compensatory consumption following self-threats, but it is unclear whether such consumption actually repairs the self, as the theory explaining such consumption predicts. On the contrary, research on materialism suggests that dependence on consumption leads to diminished levels of happiness and depression.

This essay will investigate the fundamental self-repair promise of compensatory consumption (compare within-domain & across-domain) as well as test a possible moderator of the satiation efficacy of within-domain compensatory consumption. 5 experiments will test whether compensatory consumption repairs the threatened aspects of the self.