Cut & Paste into your own notes

Think of a product / brand you feel close to (can be the same as one you talked about for self-symbolic consumption)
Draw out a cognitive map of how you see this product. Make sure you are in there too!
Did you have any kind of emotional journey with this product? And/or with another one you can think of?

Self-Expansion Theory

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The two principles

    1. We merge close others / brands / products into our self-concept, absorbing their abilities, resources, and perspectives as our own
    2. We are motivated to expand ourselves this way, by absorbing others / brands / products.

When we merge things into our self, it’s often by integrating them into the schemas for one working self-concept or another.

  • Because we are motivated to add to ourself in this way, we feel excited while we are making progress towards meeting this goal (i.e., in the early stages of a relationship with a person or product), but this excitement stops when it is integrated in as fully as it is going to get (there logically has to be some maximum possible level).
  • It is painful when we lose products and people that we are close to, because our self is shrinking.