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Flaunting Porsches or Paris? Comparing the Social Signaling Value of Experiential and Material Conspicuous Consumption.

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Title: Flaunting Porsches or Paris? Comparing the Social Signaling Value of Experiential and Material Conspicuous Consumption.
Authors: Merrell, Wilson N.1,2 (AUTHOR) wmerrell@ps.au.dk, Ackerman, Joshua M.3 (AUTHOR)
Source: Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin. Jul2026, Vol. 52 Issue 7, p2065-2078. 14p.
Subject Terms: *Intrinsic motivation, *Interpersonal relations, *Social media, Conspicuous consumption, Consumer behavior, Consumer goods
Abstract: Humans have always found ways to flaunt how they spend money. In studying this conspicuous consumption behavior, researchers have focused almost exclusively on one particular target of consumption—material goods that are bought and physically owned. Here, we propose that a different, understudied target of conspicuous consumption—experiential purchases—offers unique social signaling value compared to material goods. Across experimenter-derived stimuli (Study 1a) and real-world instances of conspicuous consumption scraped from Instagram (Study 1b), we find that conspicuous experiences can convey status equivalently to, while simultaneously signaling warmth better than, conspicuous material purchases. This communal advantage is driven by higher levels of perceived intrinsic motivation afforded to conspicuous experiences (Study 2) and is only present when the experiences are consumed by others (Study 3). These findings broaden our understanding of status-based consumption processes and position conspicuous experiences as signaling tools with unique social features and value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: Flaunting Porsches or Paris? Comparing the Social Signaling Value of Experiential and Material Conspicuous Consumption.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Personality+%26+Social+Psychology+Bulletin%22">Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin</searchLink>. Jul2026, Vol. 52 Issue 7, p2065-2078. 14p.
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  Data: Humans have always found ways to flaunt how they spend money. In studying this conspicuous consumption behavior, researchers have focused almost exclusively on one particular target of consumption—material goods that are bought and physically owned. Here, we propose that a different, understudied target of conspicuous consumption—experiential purchases—offers unique social signaling value compared to material goods. Across experimenter-derived stimuli (Study 1a) and real-world instances of conspicuous consumption scraped from Instagram (Study 1b), we find that conspicuous experiences can convey status equivalently to, while simultaneously signaling warmth better than, conspicuous material purchases. This communal advantage is driven by higher levels of perceived intrinsic motivation afforded to conspicuous experiences (Study 2) and is only present when the experiences are consumed by others (Study 3). These findings broaden our understanding of status-based consumption processes and position conspicuous experiences as signaling tools with unique social features and value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Type: general
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      – SubjectFull: Social media
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              Text: Jul2026
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