Culture and Mental Representations of Power

We examine the link between culture and consumer phenomena by focusing on the relationship between cultural orientation and mental representations of power goals. Results from seven studies support the notion that individuals high in vertical individualism (VI) have strong mental representations of personalized-power goals of signaling status to others, whereas individuals high in horizontal collectivism (HC) have strong representations of socialized-power goals of helping others. The distinct associations with power have an impact on the power-related goals that individuals activate in varied consumer contexts. We discuss some of the implications of the activation of these goals for information processing.



Citation:

Carlos Torelli and Sharon Shavitt (2007) ,"Culture and Mental Representations of Power", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research.

Authors

Carlos Torelli, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA
Sharon Shavitt, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA



Volume

E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8 | 2007



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