The Morphing Self: Changing Identity As a Response to Self-Threats

This research examines how consumers use possessions to “morph” their self from one identity to a new, redefined identity when faced with a threat. Using Mortality Salience manipulations to achieve a threat to the self, results demonstrated that when the threat is salient, consumers distance themselves from possessions that were once a central part of their self-concept and incorporate possessions that were originally extraneous to the self into the self to create a new identity. Further, results demonstrate that self-esteem and materialism moderated the effects. Low self-esteem individuals and participants high in materialism were most likely to “morph” their self.

Citation:

Christian Schmid and Jennifer Argo (2007) ,"The Morphing Self: Changing Identity As a Response to Self-Threats", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 303-305.