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Summary meeting 6 Consumer Understanding and Behaviour HFV1003
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Meeting 6: self-controlSOURCE: KIM
An increasing number of consumers, in recent times, have reported feeling busier than ever. The
current research investigates how a busy mindset impacts decision making. The study proposes that
a busy mindset is likely to facilitate self-control behaviours by bolstering one’s sense of self-
importance. The consumption environment is abundant in cues that impact the perception of
busyness, and this is probably positive rather than negative for the well-being.
Conceptual background
- Time pressure and self-control behaviours
o Time pressure = the state of being under the pressure to finish a task within a limited
time period, typically insufficient to complete the task, which induces feelings of
anxiety and stress.
o Prior research viewed time pressure as a state of lacking processing resources to
finish a task, resulting in an increased reliance on the affective system, which makes
people to focus on immediate hedonic impulses reduction in self-control.
- Busy mindset versus time pressure
Three characteristics of a busy mindset (and how it differs from time pressure):
o Busyness is a subjective perception of having a lot to do or being occupied with tasks,
which arises from individuals’ subjective assessment of their activity patterns. These
perceptions can vary across individuals and situations, independent of concerns for
time pressure.
o People consider busyness as a privilege and sign of a good life, which means it does
not lead to a negative affective state (while time pressure does).
o For a busy mindset to be induced, activities an individual is occupied with should be
primarily related to work, not leisure. People perceive themselves as busy when they
simply feel they are occupied with work or have a lot of work to do, whereas time
pressure is triggered by the feeling that they have insufficient time to complete the
tasks at hand.
- Busy mindset, self-importance and self-control behaviours
Perceptions of busyness are more likely to be characteristic of the privileged and the skilled
than the underprivileged and the unskilled:
o Individuals with high levels of human capital have a higher incentive to keep
themselves busy than those with low levels of human capital
o People who are regarded as important in our society get a higher return for the
investment of their time, and their work tends to be more meaningful and central to
their identity
o Important people are generally sought after, and in demand, thus making them
busier
So, people perceive busy people as people of high status, thus activating a busy mindset can
enhance an individual’s sense of self-importance.
o Self-importance = one’s own evaluation of the self in the domain of how important
one is. In this regard, self-importance is one specific dimension of global self-view, a
multidimensional and hierarchical construct that is shaped by specific self-
evaluations on various dimensions.
, o The ability to practice self-control can send a self-signal regarding the kind of person
one is , individuals with enhanced self-importance are likely to make choices that
maintain their enhanced self-view by not yielding to an immediate temptation.
- Does a busy mindset influence everyone’s self-importance equally?
Self-view is impacted the most by the dimension of the self that one regards as central to
themselves (so, being generous only boost self-view if it is central to who you are). So,
perceiving oneself as busy should increase self-importance for those who regard being busy
as central to what makes life valuable, meaningful, and important, but less for those who
regard being busy as unimportant. Work ethic is the extent people view work as worthy and
important and the ability to derive satisfaction from it, it is hypothesized to be a moderator.
If a busy mindset enhances self-importance, this should be true for those whose self-
importance is more dependent on keeping themselves busy (i.e., individuals with a high
work ethic), but not for those whose self-importance is less dependent on keeping
themselves busy (i.e., individuals with a low work ethic).
Main hypothesis = a busy mindset is likely to increase self-control by enhancing one’s sense of self-
importance.
Studies
Study 1: food decision at a college dining hall
Objective: examine whether a busy mindset increases self-control in a field setting.
Method: single factorial (busy vs. summer vs. no-sign) between subjects design. Days were randomly
assigned to a condition (four days to a no-sign condition and three days each to the other two
conditions).
- Mind-set manipulation: using visual signs (posters and standing menus) in the dining hall
o No sign condition (baseline)
o Busy signs: “Good to go, for busy ABC students!” on a poster behind the daily menu.
o Summer signs: “Good to go, for summer ABC students!” on a poster behind the daily
menu.
- Measurement self-control: number of items sold from the daily sales report. We averaged
the number of calories consumed per day and the amount of fat calories consumed per day.
Results: when busyness was made salient via visual signs, people chose to consume less unhealthy
food and fewer fat calories.
Study 2A: Carl’s Jr. versus Subway
Objective: examine whether a busy mindset increases self-control in an experimental setting by
manipulating busy mindset using a commonly used marketing tool, print advertising.
Method: 2 (tagline: busy vs. control) x 2 (brand: indulgent vs. nonindulgent) between-subjects design.
Participants were randomly assigned to the four conditions.
- Mind-set manipulation: varying the tagline of a print advertisement for a fast food restaurant
o Neutral tagline: “It’s good to go, for college students”
o Busyness salient tagline: “It’s good to go, for busy college students”
- Measurement self-control: creating advertisement for two different fast food brands
o Indulgent brand: Carl’s Jr, the advertisement featured “X-tra bacon double-double”.
o Non-indulgent brand: Subway, the advertisement featured “turkey breast sandwich”.
Participants indicated their likelihood of getting the food on the advertisements on a seven-
point scale.
, Results: the use of a busy tagline in a print ad, compared with the use of a control tagline, led to a
decreased likelihood of getting the advertised food when it was perceived as indulgent. Importantly,
this effect was not observed for the nonindulgent brand.
Limitation: food on the ads differ between the indulgent and no indulgent brand, food
type should be hold constant across conditions.
Study 2B
Objective: examine whether a busy mindset increases self-control and demonstrating that the
findings can be maneuvered by varying product framing.
Method: 2 (mindset: busy vs. control) x 2 (frame: indulgent vs. healthy) between-subjects design.
Participants were randomly assigned across four conditions.
- Mindset manipulation: writing task
o Control condition: participants were asked to think about and then write down three
things/activities they do on their typical day on campus
o Busy condition: participants were asked to think about and write down three
things/activities that keep them busy
- Measurement self-control: framing a cookie
o Indulgent frame: delicious sugar cookies
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