They don't allow sex-sensitive ads to air

Indian culture is sensitive in matters of gender

Women are not allowed to get close and close to men except in
love relationships

People often conform to their culture's expectations about how

those of their gender should act, dress, or speak.

Expectations for
the appropriate behavior of men and women are not set in
stone around the world.

A society communicates its assumptions about the proper roles

Sex role of men and
women as it defines ideal behaviors for each gender.
these guidelines change over time, and they differ radically
across societies

Women professors usually come out on the losing end of these

reviews.

Positive words such as smart and genius are more

6-3.Gender identity much more likely to describe males than females across 25
Depending on gender, male or female professors are evaluated different disciplines
differently

Bossy

Strict
Other
terms that fit female stereotypes pop up in reviews of female
professors
Sex Role Socialization Demanding (as well as nurturing)

By as young as age 1 in some cases

Children pick up on the concept of gender identity at an earlier By the age of 3, most
age U.S. children categorize driving a truck as masculine and
cooking and cleaning as feminine.

Males are more self-oriented, whereas females are more other-

oriented

Females are more cautious responders

Five basic conclusions about gender
differences Females are more responsive to negative data

Males process data more selectively and females more

comprehensively; and

Females are more sensitive to differentiating conditions and

Gender-role identity factors.
a state of mind as well as body

A behavior that one culture considers to be masculine might get

a different response in another.

Gender Identity Versus Sexual Identity The explosion of these and other social networking services enables everyone to focus on himself or herself and share mundane or scintillating
details about life with anyone who's interested
Men in the United States limit touching each other, but some
Latin and European cultures do not
Masculinity

Teenagers of both sexes adopt the new fad of hugging as a Stress the importance of a Collective self (collectivist) where a person
standard form of greeting (sometimes accompanied by the high- derives his or her identity in large measure from a social group
five or the fist-bump) Why they are interested is another story !

Eastern cultures
The 1949 film Adam's Rib shows that a woman can have a Tends to subscribe to an independent understanding of the self, which emphasizes
successful career and still be happily married. the inherent separateness of each individual .
Western cultures

Western conventions as " casual Friday" which encourages employees to express their
Female Sex roles unique selves through dress ( at least short of muscle shirts and flip-flops)

Tend to focus on an interdependent self where we define our

identities largely by our relationships with others
The evolution of a new managerial class of women has forced Does The Self Exist ?
marketers to change their traditional assumptions about women For example, a Confucian perspective stresses the importance of "face"
as they target this growing market.
"Face" - others' perceptions of the self and maintaining one's desired
status in their eyes.
Non-Western cultures
One dimension of face is mien-tzu, the reputation one achieves
through the success and ostentation
Islamic countries require women to be completely covered in
public and prohibit them from working as salespeople in stores Developed explicit rules about the specific garments and even colors that
open to the public Some Asian cultures
certain social classes and occupations were allowed to display

These traditions live on today Japanese style manuals that set out detailed instructions for
dressing and how to address people of differing status
Sex-typed Products
Sex roles constantly evolve

For example, Lisa feels better about her professional identity than she does about her feminine identity.
Culture’s stereotype of the ideal male is a tough, aggressive,
muscular man who enjoys “manly” sports

There certainly are parts of it you evaluate more positively than others
Like women, men receive mixed messages about
how they are supposed to behave and feel Each element that contributes to our self-concept is an identity
Self-Concept
The attributes of self-concept along such dimensions as content , positivity , intensity and stability over time, and accuracy
Male Sex roles
Breadwinner model draws from the U.S. myth of success and The beliefs a person holds about his or her own attributes and how he or she evaluates the self on these qualities
celebrates respectability, civic virtues, pursuit of material
success, and organized achievement A person’s self-concept is a work in progress
View
Regardless of age, people acknowledged that their prior choices had changed quite a bit over time, but they still tended to predict that
Rebel model , on the other hand, emphasizes rebellion, they would not change as they got older.
independence, adventure, and potency One way to define identity " Any category label with which a consumer self-associates that is amenable to a clear picture of what a
The researchers suggest that men try to make sense out of three
Man-of-action hero o is a synthesis that draws from the best of person in that category looks like, thinks, feels and does"
different models of masculinity
the other two models.
Some of these identities are pretty stable
Rubbermaid introduced a line of grooming tools specifically for e.g., mother, African American
men, including tweezers and clippers

Old Spice has long been known as the brand Dad keeps in his
Some other gender benders medicine cabinet, but young women who like the scent and the e.g., Libertarian, college student, Prius driver
relatively low price are tuning into the deodorant as well Whereas other identities are more temporary and likely to change

Febreze is an odor-neutralizing line of products that Procter &

Gamble (P&G) markets to women for housecleaning

Androgyny can open new markets if marketers can expand the The positivity of a person's self-concept
reach of their target audience

People with low self-esteem

They will not perform very well, and they will try to avoid embarrassment, failure, or
rejection
Androgyny refers to the possession of both masculine and
feminine traits
separate group members from nonmembers

Self-Esteem
A more recent study found that individuals who are made to feel powerful spend more money on themselves because
( I'm work it ! ) , whereas
Sex-typed people are more sensitive to the sex role depictions of those who experience a feeling of powerlessness spend more on others than on themselves.
characters in advertising

place the individual in the social organization Androgyny I enjoy looking through fashion magazines Consumers low in self-esteem - portion-controlled snack items because they left they lacked self-control

In our family, I take care of the checkbook and pay the bills. This is a basic human tendency
place the person in a gender category Exposure to ads such as the ones Lisa checked out can trigger a process ofsocial comparison
Researchers developed a scale to identify “nontraditional males” In which the person tries to evaluate her appearance by comparing it to the people depicted in these artificial images
(NTMs) who exhibit stereotypically female tendencies. The scale I am concerned about getting enough calcium in my diet.
Body decoration or mutilation included statements such as these
Many marketers tap into our need for benchmarks when they supply idealized images of happy, attractive people who just
enhance sex-role identification happen to use their products.
How do marketers influence self-esteem ?
I am good at fixing mechanical things.
Young women alter their perceptions of their own body shapes and sizes after they watch as little as 30 minutes of
TV programming ; So do men
indicate desired social conduct
People who were served food by a server who was either fat or thin
I would do better than average in a fistfight.
different portion sizes
In Clearasil campaign, two teenage boys enter a kitchen where a 40-ish mother is mixing something in a bowl. When her son leaves the
indicate high status or rank The proportion of the population that is gay or lesbian is difficult room, his friend hits on Mom. The ad's tagline : "Clearasil may cause confidence"
to determine Example
The Ideal Self Female college students who were exposed to beautiful women in advertisements afterward expressed lowered satisfaction with their own appearance, as
A person's conception of how he or she would like to be compared to other participants who did not view ads with attractive models .
provide a sense of security The GLBT market is about as large as the Asian American Real and Ideal Selves The actual self
population Our more realistic appraisal of the qualities we do and don't have

Body anxiety Gay, Lesbian, bisexual, and Transgender (GLbT) consumers In which, we work hard to "manage" what others think of us
These consumers spend in the range of The Impression Management
6-5 Every culture dictates certain types of body $250 billion to $350 billion a year Applies to all sorts of behaviors, from professional contexts and dating to makers to religious
experience a gap between their real and ideal physical selves, observance
decoration or mutilation
change aspects of their appearance
They are 12 times more likely to hold professional jobs than the A self-induced shift in a consciousness, which is sometimes a way compensate for a lack of external stimulation or
A Fantasy or daydream to escape from problems in the real world
Cosmetic Surgery opposite sex
Fantasy : Bringing the Gap Between the Selves An ad may transport us to an unfamiliar, exciting situation; things we purchase may permit us to " try on" interesting or provocative roles
a fairly risk-free way to express an adventurous side of the self
They are 2 times more likely to own a motel than the opposite Several Web sites offer, consumers can experiment with different looks before they actually take the plunge in the real world
sex
The Virtual Makeovers Vogue’s “Makeup Simulation” application (now available in Japan) allows women to see how brands such as Clinique
would look on their (simulated) faces.
Tattoo
THE SELF Johnson & Johnson’s ROC Skincare offers its “Skin Correxion Tool” to simulate the effects of anti-aging products.
They are eight times more likely to own a laptop than the
opposite sex

Body piercing The Torn Self

Gay relationships are increasingly mainstream in most parts of Where respondents struggle with retaining an authentic culture while still enjoying Western freedom ( and dealing
the United States. with assumptions of others who believe they might be terrorists)
We have as many selves as we do different social roles
Depending on the situation, we act differently, use different products and services, and even vary in terms of how much we like the aspect of
ourselves we put on display
Finally, the cultural spotlight has turned on transgender people Multiple Selves
A person may require a different set of products to play each of their roles

A person’s physical appearance is a large

Views people as actors who play different roles
part of his or her self-concept
We each play many roles, and each has its own script, props, and costumes
The dramaturgical perspective on consumer behavior
Body image refers to a consumer’s subjective Some identities (e.g., husband, boss, student) are more central to the self than others, but other identities (e.g., dancer,
evaluation of his or her physical self gearhead, or advocate for the homeless) may dominate in specific situations.
The self has different components, or role identities, and only some of these are active at any
given time

Some marketers exploit consumers’ consumer behavior because it implies that our possessions play a key role as we evaluate ourselves
tendencies to distort their body images 6.1 The self-concept strongly influences consumer behavior. and decide “who we are.”
to place advertising messages in contexts in which people are likely to be well aware of that role identity
Chapter 6: The Self: Mind, Gender and Body The sociological tradition of symbolic interactionism stresses that relationships with other people play a large
part to form the self. We assign meaning to any situation or object when we interpret the symbols in this environment
Social media impacts how we feel about our bodies

Our appraisal of who we are varies depending on whose perspective we consider and how accurately we predict their evaluations of us.

Satisfaction with the physical image depends on how closely the When you choose a garment, the mirror superimposes it on your reflection so that you can see how it would look on your body without having to go to the trouble of trying it on.
image corresponds to the ideal culture values
The Looking-Glass Self simulates the “primping” process many shoppers undergo when they prance in front of a mirror and try to imagine how a garment will look on them
Our desire to define ourselves operates as a sort of psychological sonar: We take readings of our own identity when we “bounce” signals off others and try to project their
The desires to match up to ideal of beauty drive a lot of impression of us.
"Taking the role of the other', or the looking glass self
purchase decisions
When we act the way we assume others expect us to act, we often confirm these perceptions.
A form of self-fulfilling prophecy

Tastes for physical features are “wired in” genetically Meerkating

Which describes the act of someone shooting a live video stream, has become a verb as thousands of people
the props and settings consumers use to define their social roles create their own running self-documentaries

Favor features often associate with good health and youth Consumers who score high on a scale of public self-consciousness express more interest in clothing and use more cosmetics than others who score lower
because these signal reproductive ability and strength.
Self-Consciousness Highly self-conscious subjects expressed greater willingness to buy personal products
lick new possessions
High self-monitors are more attuned to how they present themselves in their social environments, and their estimates of how others will perceive their product choices influence
People across ethnic and racial groups use
incorporate objects into the self take the names of conquered enemies what they choose to buy.
to signal sexual desirability
in some cases eat them perhaps that’s what we’re experiencing in what historians looking back might call “The Era of the Selfie.
or bury the dead with their possessions Self-consciousness on steroids
Advertising and other forms of mass media determine which
forms of beauty we consider desirable
The body The decline of shared points of reference over the last 50 years as we witnessed a decline in family, community, and traditions.
The way we “package” our The Empty Self
bodies varies enormously 6-4. The way we (and our culture) think about to replace
Lower own self-esteem An ideal of beauty functions as a sort of cultural yardstick our bodies is a key component of self-esteem. The use of foreign materials
supplement human body Indeed recent research that included brain wave measures such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) showed that when a person has a close
Is beauty universal? relationship with a brand this activates the insula, a brain area responsible for urging, addiction, loss aversion, and interpersonal love.
Consumers dissatisfied it is not necessarily new
Diminishing the effectiveness of an ad because of with their appearance We choose products when their attributes match some aspect of the self.
negative feelings a highly attractive model arouses integrate man-made products into George Washington’s infamous wooden teeth Self-image congruence models
our physical bodies

When we choose a product that we think is aesthetically pleasing this choice makes us feel better about
erode the barrier between self and not self ourselves.

Language provides phrases to sum up cultural ideals More than 4 million Americans have an artificial knee
but recent advances in technology As we mature into a role, we actually rely less on the products people associate with it
the integration of man-made silicon implants with the patient’s Symbolic self-completion theory
organic material.
people who have an incomplete self-definition tend to complete this identity when they acquire and display symbols they associate with that role
Cultural changes modify the ideals of beauty
A consumer's use of products influences other's perceptions, the same products can help to determine his or
that are dominant at one point in time
The Extended Self her own self-concept and social identity
More than 200,000 people now have cochlear implants that People use an individual's consumption behaviors to identify that person's social identity
Throughout history, women have worked hard to attain beauty deliver sound from a
Ideals of female beauty microphone directly to the auditory nerve Example : Study participants make surprisingly accurate guesses about the occupant's
evolve over time personality
Our culture communicates standards of
many people feel a strong bond to
beauty virtually everywhere we turn Are We What We Buy ?
Ideal of beauty their footwear people see themselves as they imagine others see them
The changes of ideal body type cause to The similarity between a person’s self-image and the images of products purchased does tend to increase over the time
The singer Mariah Carey recently posted a photo of her huge
redefine sexual dimorphic markers the product is owned
shoe closet on Instagram and labeled it
"Always my fovorite room in the house....#shoes #shoes
Man and woman have different taste of ideal body shapes #moreshoes. between product attributes and the consumer's self-image
In fact, some of us willingly (and perhaps eagerly) label
ourselves as fanatics about a cherished product After a “breakup” with a brand, people tend to develop strong negative feelings and will go to great lengths to discredit it, including bad-mouthing and
their shoes as magical emblems of self even vandalism
A process of cognitive matching
stories as Dorothy’s red shoes in The Wizard of Oz, Karen’s Congruity between consumers and their most preferred brands of beer, soap, toothpaste, and cigarettes relative to their least preferred
People sacrifice their health to attain desirable body image magical red shoes in Hans Christian Anderson’s The Red Shoes, brands, as well as between consumers’ self-images and their favorite stores
and Cinderella’s glass slippers rugged/delicate
Most major body image distortions occur among females excitable/calm
The Western ideal many material objects—ranging from personal
Researchers link a distorted body image to eating disorders of female beauty possessions and pets to national monuments or landmarks help Some specific attributes useful to describe matches between consumers and products
rational/emotional
to form a consumer’s indetity
formal/informal
everyone can name a valued possession that has a lot of the self
A brand personality for an expressive, image-oriented product, such as perfume, and quite another to impute human characteristics to
“wrapped up” in it
a toaster
Standards are changing because the typical woman’s
body is no longer as “petite” as it used to be
consumers include many of their personal possessions in self- Objects act as a security blanket when they reinforce our identities, especially in unfamiliar situations.
Fattism is deeply ingrained in our culture
definition We are attached to an object to the extent we rely on it to maintain our self-concept
Clothing manufacturers offer vanity sizing, where they Individual level
deliberately assign smaller sizes to garments Example as they aged, their feelings about these objects evolved from concrete relationships (e.g., “I own it”) to more sophisticated, abstract relationships (e.g.,
What is today’s ideal The saying “You
are what you wear” reflects the belief that one’s things are a part “It is like me”).
of female beauty?
The body shape of each ethnic population is diverse of one’s identity

Consumers can agitate to make market friendlier to shoppers older kids between middle childhood and early adolescence inserted more photos of branded merchandise.
who don’t conform to a pencil-thin ideal of beauty This part of the extended self includes a consumer’s residence
Family level
and the furnishings in it Consumers may have lost literally everything but the clothes on their backs following a fire, hurricane, flood, or earthquake, highlights the dramatic impact of product loss.
four levels of the extended self
the house as a symbolic body for the family One of the first acts of institutions that want to repress individuality and encourage group identity, such as prisons or the military, is to confiscate personal possession
Beards were a no-no
The “beard movement” came into fashion for over a century A society’s ideals of Victims of burglaries and natural disasters commonly report feelings of alienation, depression, or of being “violated.”
consumers to describe themselves in terms
beauty for men change as of the neighborhood or town from which they come The contribution of possessions to self-identity is perhaps most apparent when we lose these treasured objects
Beards became linked to capitalists well
Some people are reluctant to undergo the process of re-creating their identities by acquiring new possessions.

Workers’ rebellions evoked bearded men

close ties to a community, this sense of belonging is particularly Interviews with disaster victims reveal that some hesitate to invest the self in new possessions and so become more detached about what they buy.
committing violent acts against their bosses
Community level important
Male ideals involve length of hair, the presence and type of facial
hair, musculature, clothing styles and accessories We regard our attachments to certain social groups as a part of
the self
Sport the strong and muscular Ideals of male beauty
physique of the male stereotype
Advertisers appear to have A consumer also may feel that landmarks, monuments, or sports
the males’ ideal in mind Group level teams are a part of the extended self

Man and woman have different taste of ideal body shapes

what extent do the products we buy influence how we define

6-2 Products often define a person’s self- ourselves?
concept.

study relationships between thoughts and behaviors increasingly

talk about the theor of embodied cognition

states of
the body modify states of the mind

the idea that our body language actually changes how we see
ourselves

The embodied cognition approach is consistent with consumer

behavior research
Embodied Cognition

In one study they asked respondents to wear a lab coat, which

people associate
with attentiveness and precise work

results for students in

job interview settings
“dress for success”

male candidates who wore professional attire acted more

assertively
and confidently during the interviews

we have access to “post-production” tools to engineer

our identities

allow virtually anyone to dramati​cally modify his or her digital self

These free or inexpensive applications

create additional identities in the form of avatars in virtual worlds

The Digital Self U.S. Americans alone spend about $1.6 billion per year to buy
you are what you wear virtual goods just for their
avatars

you are what you post

the Apple Watch

Get ready for the invasion of wearable computing

Google Glass

inserted into our bodies

Wearable computing

our digital interactions will become attached to our bodies implant computer chips into
our wrists

Sensing for sleep disorders by tracking breath, heart rate, and

motion

Detecting possible onset of Alzheimer’s by monitoring a person’s

gait via a GPS embed​ded in his or her shoes

Tracking ingestion of medication via sensors that are activated

by stomach fluid

Measuring blood sugar via a contact lens with a chip that can
track activity in a patient’s tears

Assessing the impact of blows to a football player’s head via

sensors inserted in his
helmet

New virtual makeover technologies

easier for each of us to involve the

digital self as we choose products to adorn our physical selves

These platforms allow the

Virtual Makeovers shopper to superimpose images on their faces or bodies

turns the front-facing iPhone and iPad camera into a makeup

mirror so that the customer can virtually try on hundreds of
cosmetics products

The shopper can change facial expressions and lighting

conditions
L’Oréal offers a Makeup Genius app

the virtual makeup stays on her face

allows consumers to upload a picture of themselves and try on

frames virtually
The online glasses merchant Warby Parker

Perfect 365 and Face Tune