Yu Wenjun, Sun Zhongqiang, He Zhihui, Ye Chuyuan, Ma Qingguo
Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.
Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.
Front Psychol. 2020 May 8;11:838. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00838. eCollection 2020.
To cope with self-threat being induced by personal setbacks in daily life, compensatory consumption, especially on symbolic product, has been found to do valuable help to resolve discrepancies between ideal and actual self-concept. Conforming to symbolic self-completion theory, the current study adopted event-related potentials to explore the objective information processing stages in self-concept-impaired status (the defeat group) on a neural level. The behavioral results replicated previous findings that the defeat group gained stronger purchase intention for symbolic products than utilitarian products. The electrophysiological data demonstrated that perceptual difficulties for products in preliminary stage (N1) were steady among conditions, and after that, information processing separation emerged. In contrast to the individuals with a draw experience, those with a defeat experience raised highly focused attention (P2) and eager expectation (N2) for products, especially for symbolic ones. Meanwhile, symbolic (vs. utilitarian) products also evoked a higher emotional arousal level and slowed the diminishment of involved attentional resource (late positive potential) at late cognitive processing stage. Taken together, the sequential integration of multiple neural indicators contributes to elucidating the processing stages of compensatory consumption behavior.
为应对日常生活中个人挫折引发的自我威胁，研究发现补偿性消费，尤其是对具有象征意义产品的消费，有助于解决理想自我概念与实际自我概念之间的差异。根据象征自我完善理论，本研究采用事件相关电位，从神经层面探索自我概念受损状态（失败组）下客观信息加工阶段。行为结果重复了先前的研究发现，即失败组对具有象征意义产品的购买意愿比对实用产品更强。电生理数据表明，产品在初始阶段（N1）的感知困难在各条件下保持稳定，之后出现信息加工分离。与有平局经历的个体相比，有失败经历的个体对产品，尤其是具有象征意义的产品，表现出高度集中的注意力（P2）和急切的期待（N2）。同时，具有象征意义（与实用意义相对）的产品在认知加工后期也引发了更高的情绪唤醒水平，并减缓了所涉及注意力资源的减少（晚期正电位）。综上所述，多个神经指标的顺序整合有助于阐明补偿性消费行为的加工阶段。
