Lack of Leisure: Is Busyness the New Status Symbol?

  

Long gone are the days when a life of material excess and endless leisure time signified prestige. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research , Americans increasingly perceive busy and overworked people as having high status.

(Press Release)

 

Popular media mirror Western culture's fixation with being thin. A ccording to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research , even subtle reminders of idealized bodies can encourage overweight consumers to overspend.

(Press Release)

Why do people pay for experiences deliberately marketed as painful? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research , consumers will pay big money for extraordinary-even painful-experiences to offset the physical malaise resulting from today's sedentary lifestyles.

(Press Release)

 

The common assumption about retail therapy is that it's all about indulging in things like pricey designer duds or the latest gadgets. But according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research , consumers are actually more likely to make practical purchases than splurge on luxury items when they feel less in control.

(Press Release)

Are powerful, well-to-do people more charitable? It depends. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research , wealthier people are more likely to donate to charity if they endorse social inequality while less wealthy people are more likely to make donations if they endorse greater equality.

(Press Release)