Experiential Social Effects and Self-Control

Often products are chosen by an individual, but consumed together with other people. This article explores the influence of social consumption on individuals’ ability to exercise self-control. We introduce the concept of “experiential social effects” and demonstrate that people choose pleasure more often when the options are consumed socially than privately. We demonstrate that social indulgence results from the following two separate effects: (1) Individuals perceive others to be more pleasure oriented, but less self-controlled, than they actually are, and adjust their choices in the direction of these false perceptions, and (2) sharing the pleasure with others increases its utility.



Citation:

Sema Barlas and Onur Bodur (2007) ,"Experiential Social Effects and Self-Control", 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

Sema Barlas, McGill University, Canada
Onur Bodur, Concordia University, Canada



Volume

E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8 | 2007



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