People of Lower Social Status Are More Sensitive to Hedonic Product Information-Electrophysiological Evidence From an ERP Study

Consumer psychology research has shown that individuals of different social statuses have distinctive purchase intentions for different products. Individuals of a high social status will simultaneously measure the symbolic status meaning and utilitarian value of a product, but they will not show strong preferences for any attributes. However, individuals of a low social status show strong purchasing tendency for hedonic products that are associated with symbolic status meaning and could satisfy their spiritual needs. This phenomenon may be due to self-threat, which caused by hedonic products. Based on the above, this study compares the cognitive processing differences of hedonic and utilitarian label products between high- and low-social-status groups by recording event related potentials (ERPs). The results showed that under the P2, P3, and LPP components, the low-social-status group elicited smaller deflections in hedonic label stimuli than in utilitarian label stimuli. The high-social-status group did not show a significant difference in these components. These results suggested that individuals with a low social status are more sensitive to hedonic product information, because high-status information contained in the hedonic label induces a sense of threat in them and generates certain negative emotions.