1. What does she mean by multiple identities?
According to Brewer (2001) a person can have more than one identity. These are not always anchored in real life, but can be specific to virtual online environments. The number of identities an individual has depends on how many different types of social situations they frequently find themselves in. However, some of these roles are more integral to our identities than others, whilst others may only dominate in certain circumstances.
Consequently, we consume in the hope of reinforcing or establishing the roles we find ourselves in or wish to be in. It's been suggested that these are largely unconscious behaviours, meaning consumers may not be aware that their self identity guides their consumption behaviours.
2. How are identities formed?
It has been researched that, generally, self-recognition starts to develop around the age of two years old. Human identities are continuously moulded and influenced by parents, siblings, societies, etc that they belong to, including advertising and other cultural influences. However, once people reach the stage of adulthood, they tend to more incorporate feelings, motivations, political beliefs, etc, as well as the possessions they own in order to describe themselves. The incorporation of so many different characteristics to express who we are shows that our identities are multi-dimensional.
3. What is social categorisation?
Humans categorise the world around them in relation to themselves. When doing so, people tend to accentuate their perception of others. This can be split into two parts; person perception, which is he perception of others. This is often affected by people's material possessions. Object perception, on the other hand, focuses on the classification of objects, which can be influenced by marketing and advertising.
Because we tend to focus on the groups people belong to and the type of possessions they own, we view them as a representation of what the group and possessions stand for rather than as individuals in their own right. Hence, individuals are perceived as 'prototypes', meaning that we can assign them stereotypical characteristics and treat them accordingly. People already have a clear stereotypical concept of what kind of person would be using a particular product, meaning we can make use of those concepts to accurately categorise others.
4. What is social comparison (upwards/downwards)?
Social comparison is about how people learn about themselves by comparing similarities and differences to others. The continuous comparison to others is driven by a need to maintain and sometimes increase positive self-esteem. Individual self-esteem is linked to feelings of belonging which is supported by being a member of groups. From a consumer perspective, purchasing the right kind of products and services can make them feel as if they belong to certain groups. This is often driven by different types of marketing techniques.
Generally people seek out those who appear to do less well in one form or other, as in that they can make downward social comparisons, meaning when we compare ourselves to those whom do less well, we appear to do better ourselves. Upward social comparison, on the other hand, is when we cannot choose who to compare ourselves with and so end up comparing ourselves o those who are viewed as more competent or desirable. This often happens when consumers are comparing themselves to 'ideal' media images.
5. What is social identity theory?
Social identity theory can be described as 'that part of the individuals self-concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a social group(s) together with the value and emotional significance of that membership'. Individuals tend to use brand, products and services to differentiate themselves from others using them to demonstrate their commonality with the groups to which they belong. The symbolic meaning often stems from advertising and other marketing techniques. Marketers offer individuals easy solutions as to how they can achieve full group membership or at least how they can signal that they wish to belong to a specific group.
6. Examples of brand identifications.
- In a study where Macintosh and PC users were compared, the Macintosh brand was found to be much more likely to be a part of a consumers self-concept. The user tends to think of themselves as a part of a small close-knit community, since it may be that it fosters a 'strong social bond and deep-rooted loyalty'.
- American Eagle Outfitters used the slogan 'live your life'. The slogan was meant to inform consumers that those wearing American Eagle denim outfits were highly individual people who wished to do something unique with their lives. Hence, if people wish to be viewed as belonging to the group of people in society who are living their life to the limit, they would need to wear American Eagle jeans.
- Many young girls who play with Barbie dolls have been found to identify with them and think of them as role models. This gives children a skewed picture of what the female ideal should be like, as Barbie is not in any way representative of what real-life women are like.
7. Negative effects on body image.
At times, possessions are used simply as an extension of the self, however these can also be used by individuals to compensate for what is perceived to be flaws in their self-concept. Many studies have found that both men and women do not believe that their current body form is attractive. Such negative body perceptions are most likely the consequence of the media promoting 'ideal identities' that have often been digitally altered.
In the light of unrealistic ideals of physical attractiveness, it is also common for teenagers to conclude that their physical appearance falls short of what society deems to be attractive. Consequently, they embark upon the task of changing their physical appearance, however with impossible targets, that can then lead to poor physical and mental health.
8. What is self-descrepancy theory?
The self-descrepancy theory proposes that people have three types of self-schema (organised sets of expectations and associations about an object). These are:
- Actual self - the way people are at the point in time.
- Ideal self - the self that we aspire to be.
- Ought self - the way we think we should be.
The ideal self helps us to strive to be in a way we think is perfect, whilst our ought self prevents us from doing things that are not in line with what we should be like. It is important that there are no discrepancies between the actual and ideal self, or the actual and ought self, however if there are this can potentially motivate a person to try and reduce it. Those with high discrepancies are more likely to suffer from low self-esteem and has been suggested are also likely to engage in 'identity seeking buying behaviour'. Such findings explain why repeated exposure to 'ideal' unattainable images for most will have a negative impact upon their self.
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