Lecture 2: The AllConsuming Self

Dr. Amanda Earley

Lecture Outline
1. Defining the Self Concept
2. Freud and Psychoanalysis: Linking Self and Consumption
3. Consumption and the Extended Self
4. Marketing to the Self Concept

I. DEFINING THE SELF-CONCEPT

Defining the Self-Concept

The term refers to the ideas an individual has about him
or herself. It is valued and evaluativein other words, we
monitor our self concept, and may feel the need to
improve or change it. Others have an incredibly positive
self-conceptdeservedly, or not!

Key Elements of the Self

Concept
Key concepts:
Self Esteem
Real & Ideal Selves
Fantasy
Self-Monitoring
The Dramaturgical perspective
And multiple Selves
Fractured Self

Key Elements of the Self

Concept: Self Esteem
Self Esteem the positivity of a persons
self-concept. In psychological research,
this is often defined in terms of a scale,
and negative self esteem may be
pathologised. Cultural researchers would
be more interested in how society
produces negative and positive self esteem
(e.g. by creating anxieties about womens
identities, self-presentation, looks, weight,
etc.)
Self esteem is often established by social
comparison, the processes whereby we
learn about ourselves and evaluate
ourselves compared to others (e.g. people
we find to be more or less attractive,
intelligent, etc.).

Key Elements of the Self

Concept: Real & Ideal Selves
Real self refers to how we perceive ourselves, in the
present. There is no external measure for the real self;
as such, it is always highly subjective. Nevertheless, it is
more realistic than the
Ideal self refers to the individual we would like to be, at
some future time.

Real
Self

Ideal
Self

Key Elements of the Self

Concept: Fantasy
Fantasy bridging the gap between selves

Key Elements of the SelfConcept: Self-Monitoring

Those who spend a lot of time
evaluating themselves can be
described as high on selfmonitoring. Those with public
self-consciousness are very
concerned with how others
see them. They may spend a
lot of time focusing on their
looking-glass selvesour idea
of ourselves that we form
when we try to think of how
others see us (often by looking
through a mirror)

Key Elements of the SelfConcept

The dramaturgical
perspective in sociology
argues that we wear
different selves, putting on
masks that enable us to be
different people on different
stages. For example, we may
act one way at work, in front
of our bosses, and another, in
backstage locations such as
smokers hideaways.

Key elements of Self-Concept

This can differ entirely from
how we act at home, or in
leisure settings. In effect, we
wear different costumes and
use different props in order to
perform in different contexts.

Key Elements of Self

Also a sociological
perspective, symbolic
interactionism says we adopt
the identities, props, and
behaviours we exhibit based
on the symbolic meaning they
communicate to others. In
other words, the masks role
identities we put on are
largely socially defined. This
creates a self-fulfilling
prophecy: the way in which
we structure our behaviour to
fit with expectations.

An example may be
the yummy
mummy ideal,
which many feel
they must fulfill.

Key Elements: Interdependent

and Collective Selves
Our senses of self may be largely
structured by social groups. For
example, a large part of our
selves may be defined by being
parents, or alternatively by being
someones child and/or sibling.
Cross-cultural researchers like
Hofstede argue that some
cultures are more collectivst,
indicating that they are less
individualist, and consequently
the self is more defined by
membership in a collective (e.g.
family, ethnic group).

Key Elements of the Self

Concept: Fractured Self
Fractured Self or torn self

II. FREUD AND PSYCHOANALYSIS:

LINKING SELF AND CONSUMPTION

Introducing Freud
By providing an explanation of the dynamics
underlying self-hood, psychoanalytic theory can help
explain the role played by goods and services in the
makeup of our selves. Put simply, Freuds theory offers
an explanation which focuses on the investment of
psychic energy (motive force) into consumer goods.
Psychoanalysis is the name of:
a procedure for the investigation of mental processes
which are almost inaccessible in any other way,
a method (based upon that investigation) for the
treatment of neurotic disorders and
a collection of psychological information obtained along
those lines, which is gradually being accumulated into a
new scientific discipline.(Freud 1923)

Freuds Theory of the Id, Ego &

Superego

Freud developed the idea that

much of ones adult personality
stems from a fundamental
conflict between a persons
desire to gratify his or her
physical needs and the necessity
to function as a responsible
member of society.

Freuds Theory of Psychic

Energy
Freuds theory is hydraulic in that energy plays a vitally
important part of his explanation and provides a key role in
understanding behaviour.
Psychic Energy - motive force
Ego Defense:
Repression impulse is shut out
Displacement impulse is redirected
Sublimation (sexual) impulse redirected

Putting it Together
According to Freud, the id is the source of all true needs,
providing energy and motive force for the demand for need
satisfaction.
The superego reins in the desire for direct sexual satisfaction
and replaces such actions with others for the sublimation of
sexual desire is through the purchase of consumer goods and
services.
Freuds nephew, Edward Bernays, put this theory into
marketing practice. For more information on this, see the
documentary The Century of the Self (especially episode 1)

III. CONSUMPTION AND THE

EXTENDED SELF

Bringing the Self into

Consumer Research
Extended self
perspective largely
began with the
work of Russ Belk

Possessions and the extended

self
Built on the work of early psychologist William
James as well as Freud
James defined the self in terms of all things an
individual can call his or hers
If you can describe something as my____, then it
is a part of you, and you may be consuming it!

Summary: Possessions and the

extended self
Our sense of self extends to:
-What we wear
-Things weve touched (e.g.
food)

-Our achievements
-Our minds
-Our homes and territories

-Our families and pets

-Our bodies and organs

Possessions and the extended

self
Also involved:
-psychoanalysis (Dichter, Winnicott)
-existential philosophy (Sartre)
-heterodox economics (Marx, Veblen)
-sociology (Goffman, Simmel)
-anthropology (Clifford, McCracken)

Processes of the Extended Self

Characteristics of the Extended Self
Investing Self in Objects
Loss of Possessions
Possessions and the Sense of Past

Incorporating Possessions into the Extended Self

Control/Mastery
Creation
Knowledge

Maintaining Multiple
Levels of the Extended Self
Individual level you are what you wear.
Family level includes your house and
furniture.
Community level includes your
neighbourhood and hometown.

Group level your religion, flag, sports team,

and so on.

IV. MARKETING AND THE SELFCONCEPT

Marketing to the Self-Concept

Consumer Identity and Identifying as
Consumers
From Identity for Sale to a Saleable
Identity
Marketing Manipulation and the Play
on Fear

Extending the Self Concept

Largely drew on the following perspectives:
The Contribution of Gordon Allport
My idea of myself is rather my own idea of my
neighbors view of me (Allport 1924: 325)

Looking Glass Self

Marketers encourage people to think about how
others see usthey ask us to imagine the reactions
of others, towards ourselves

Symbolic Interactionism
Everything we do has implications for the self,
implications that we obsessively monitor; wearing
this, eating that, looking like this are all read as
reflections of the self. Constellations of consumption
are used to express particular role identities.

Marketing to the Self-Concept

Self-Product Congruence: consumers demonstrate consistency
between their values and the objects consumed.
Symbolic Self-Completion Theory: predicts that people who
have an incomplete self-definition tend to complete this
identity by acquiring and displaying symbols associated with it.

Extension: Consumer Identity

Projects
Focuses on the ways in which consumers use market
resources to form coherent and/or fragmented senses
of themselves
Consumers as identity makers

Conclusions
Various theories of the self have become very important to
the study of consumer behaviour
Who we are, or who we think we are, largely shapes
consumption
Relevance to both individuals and marketers
Consumer researchers enhanced conversations about the self
by developing theory of the extended self

Questions???

Readings for THIS lecture

Preparatory Reading
Solomon, M., Bamossy, G., Askegaard, S. and Hogg, M. (2013)
Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective - chapter 5.
Follow-up Reading
1. Belk, R. (1988) Possessions and the Extended Self, Journal of
Consumer Research, 15(2): 139-168.
2. Cohen, J. (1989) Comments: An Over-Extended Self? Journal of
Consumer Research, 16(1): 125-128.
3. Sirgy, M. (1982) Self Concept in Consumer Behaviour: A Critical
Review, Journal of Consumer Research, 9(3): 287300.
4. Strachey, J., (1962) Sigmund Freud: A Sketch of his Life and
Ideas in Freud, S. Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis.