Date of Award

6-2015

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

George Bizer

Language

English

Keywords

brand, attachments, feedback, SCC, attachment

Abstract

Just as individuals can develop emotional attachments to other people, places and possessions, they can develop attachments to brands. In the current research, we investigated whether the trait, self-concept clarity (SCC), the extent to which the contents of one’s self concept are stable, consistent and recognizable to the individual, moderates the effect of social feedback on brand attachments. Participants were asked to indicate the brand they feel most attached to and then to indicate the extent of their brand attachment. They were then randomly assigned to receive positive or negative feedback about this brand and then re-report attachment to this brand. We predicted that individuals low in SCC would be more susceptible to social feedback and more likely to change their brand attachment feelings based on others’ opinions compared to individuals high in SCC. Surprisingly, however, SCC did not moderate the effect of social feedback on brand attachments. Using stronger manipulations and changing the sample population could improve this study so that the hypothesized effect is found and results have real-world implications.

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