.png){kind=logo}
ISSN : 1229-8778
The purpose of this study is to apply a concept of focus of comparison in social psychology to consumer psychology with considering existing two concepts of consumer psychology, social distance and consumers' need for uniqueness(CNFU). The results revealed that general tendency of social comparison that close social distance generates assimilation and far social distance generates contrast was reverified for both ‘self→other’ and ‘other→self’ focus of comparison in this study. Through the results of the study, it can be expected that using proper focus of comparison considering social distance would lead to higher product preference. That is, when consumers conceive that they are similar to comparison object(under a close social distance condition), ‘self→other’ focus of comparison would be better, and when consumers conceive that they are not similar to comparison object(under a far social distance condition), ‘other→self’ focus of comparison would be better. It is also expected that ‘self→other’ focus of comparison would be more proper for consumers who have high level of need for uniqueness and ‘other→self’ focus of comparison is more proper for consumers who have low level of need for uniqueness.
김완석, 유연재 (2003). 한국판 소비자 독특성 욕구척도(K-CNFU)척도개발과 타당화. 한국심리학회지: 소비자․광고, 4(1), 79-101.
추미애, 김성환 (2010). 소비자 독특성 욕구가 자기표현 욕구 및 구매의도에 미치는 영향: 혁신성의 조절효과. 경영연구 제31호, 73-93.
Belk, R. W. (1975). Situational variables and consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 2, 157-164.
Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the extended self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15 (September), 139-167.
Belk R. W., Wallendorf, M., & Sherry, J. F. (1989). The Sacred and the profane in consumer behavior; Theodicy on the Odyssey. Journal of Consumer Research, 16, 1-38.
Berger, J., & Heath, C. (2007). Where consumers diverge from others: Identity signaling and product domains. Journal of Consumer Research, 34, 121-134.
Brown, J. D., Novick, N. J., Lord, K. A., & Richards, J. M. (1992). When Gulliver travels: Social context, psychological closeness, and self-appraisals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 717-727.
Campbell, J. D. (1986). Similarity and uniqueness: The effects of attribute type, relevance, and individual differences in self-esteem and depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50(2), 281-294.
Escalas, J. E., & Bettman, J. R. (2003). You are what they eat: The influence of reference groups on consumer connections to brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13(3), 339-348.
Fisher. R. J., & Price L. L (1992). An investigation into the social context of early adoption behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(December), 477-486.
Fromkin, H. L. (1970). Effects of experimentally aroused feelings of indistinctiveness upon valuation of scarce and novel experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16(3), 521-529.
Gross, H. E. (1977). Micro and macro level implications a sociology of virtue; the case of draft protesters to the vietnam war. Sociological Quarterly, 18(summer), 319-339.
Häfner, M. (2004). How dissimilar others may still resemble the self: Assimilation and contrast after social comparison. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 14(1&2), 187-196.
Heckert, D. M. (1989). The relativity of positive deviance; The case of the french impressionist. Deviant Behavior, 10(Spring), 131-144.
Irmak, C., Vallen, B., & Sen, S. (2010). You like what I like, but I don't like what you like: Uniqueness motivations in product preferences. Journal of Consumer Research, 37, 443-455.
Kernis, M. H. (1984). Need for uniqueness, self-schemas, and thought as moderators of the false-consensus effect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 20(4), 350-362.
Kleine, R. E., Kleine, S. S., & Kernan, J. B. (1993), Mundane consumption and the self: A social identity perspective. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2(3), 209-35.
Levy, S. J. (1959), Symbols for sale. Harvard Business Review, 33(March-April), 117-24.
Liviatan, I., Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2006). Interpersonal similarity as a social distance dimension: A construal level approach to the mental representations and judgments of similar and dissimilar others’ actions. Unpublished manuscript, New York University.
McCracken, G. (1988). Culture and consumption: New approaches to the symbolic character of consumer goods and activities. Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
Mussweiler, T., & Strack, F. (2000). The “relative self”: Informational and judgmental consequences of comparative self-evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 23-38.
Mussweiler, T. (2001). Focus of comparison as a determinant of assimilation versus contrast in Social Comparison. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(1), 38-47.
Mussweiler, T. (2003). Comparison processes in social judgment: Mechanisms and consequences. Psychological Review, 110, 472-489.
Nail, R. (1986). Toward an integration of some models and the ones of social response. Psychological Bulletin, 100(September), 190-206.
Snyder, C. R., & Fromkin, H. L. (1977). Abnormality as a positive characteristic: The development and validation of a scale measuring need for uniqueness. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86(October), 518-27.
Srull, T. K., & Gaelick, L. (1983). General principles and individual differences in the self as a habitual reference point: An examination of self-other judgments of similarity. Social Cognition, 2, 108-121.
Stapel, D., & Koomen, W. (2000). Distinctness of others, mutability of selves: Their impact on self-evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 1068-1087.
Tepper, K., Bearden, W. O., & Hunter, G. L. (2001). Consumers' need for uniqueness: Scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 28, 50-66.
Trope, Y., Liberman, N., & Wakslak. (2007). Construal levels and psychological distance: Effects on representation, prediction, evaluation, and behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17(2), 83-95.
Tversky, A. (1977). Features of similarity. Psychological Review, 84, 327-352.
Wernerfelt, B. (1990). Advertising content when brand choice is a signal. Journal of Business, 63(1), 91-98.
Zhang, M., & Wang, J. (2009). Psychological distance asymmetry: The spatial dimension vs. other dimensions. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 28, 497-507.