Photo: Lee Pellegrini

RESEARCH

The Psychological Cost of Luxury

How buying high-end goods can make you feel worse about yourself.

High-end shopping may boost your mood or come with a heightened sense of stature. But for many consumers, luxury purchases can also spur a reaction that researchers have dubbed 鈥渋mpostor syndrome.鈥濃淟uxury can be a double-edged sword,鈥 according to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research coauthored by Nailya Ordabayeva, an associate professor of marketing at the Carroll School of Management. 鈥淲hile luxury consumption holds the promise of elevated status, it can backfire and make consumers feel inauthentic.鈥

Ordabayeva, along with Harvard Business School doctoral student Dafna Goor, Boston University professor Anat Keinan, and Hult International Business School professor Sandrine Crener, drew their conclusions from nine studies, encompassing surveys and observations of patrons of the Metropolitan Opera, shoppers at Louis Vuitton in Manhattan, vacationers on Martha鈥檚 Vineyard, and other high-end consumers.

In contrast to previous studies, the researchers found that many consumers perceive luxury goods as 鈥渁 privilege which is undue and undeserved.鈥 As a result, consumers feel inauthentic while wearing or using these products, and actually act less confidently than they would with non-luxury items. (This effect is mitigated among consumers who have an inherently high sense of entitlement, or who are marking occasions that make them feel special, such as a birthday.)

So how can a savvy marketer allay consumers鈥 uneasiness with big-ticket purchases? 鈥淏oosting consumers鈥 feelings of 鈥榙eservingness鈥 through sales tactics and marketing messages can help,鈥 Ordabayeva said. Ultimately, she added, in an age that prioritizes authenticity, creating experiences and narratives that boost people鈥檚 personal connection with products and possessions can yield lasting benefits for consumers and retailers alike.聽鈼


Social Security Disparities Fall on Low-Income Recipients

Since Social Security legislation was last amended thirty-six years ago, many Americans are living longer and interest rates have decreased. As a result, the fixed formulas designed to allow people to claim benefits at different ages are now producing disparities for certain Social Security recipients, according to a new report by 精东影业 Center for Retirement Research Director Alicia H. Munnell and Assistant Director of Savings Research Anqi Chen. 鈥淲hat we found was that the delayed claiming credit鈥攃laiming after age sixty-five鈥攊s about right, even if you wait until age seventy,鈥 Chen said. 鈥淗owever, the lifetime benefit you get at age sixty-two is less than at age sixty-five. So people who claim early are being charged too much for claiming early.鈥 The researchers said the shortcomings fall disproportionately on low-income individuals because wealthier people can afford to claim later and their life expectancy exceeds that of those who earn much less. 鈥Ed Hayward聽


Putting a Spotlight on Arab American Health聽

First-generation immigrants to the United States from Latin America and Asia have been shown to have better health outcomes and behaviors than second-generation and third-generation immigrants鈥攁 phenomenon known as the 鈥渋mmigrant health paradox.鈥 But little evidence of this phenomenon was found among immigrants from Arabic-speaking countries in a recent study led by Connell School of Nursing Assistant Professor Nadia Abuelezam and published in the American Journal of Public Health. In fact, the researchers found that first-generation Arab immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa had poor health profiles when compared to second- or third-generation Arab immigrants. 鈥淥ur analysis shows that Arab Americans are a unique subgroup of the general immigrant population in the US,鈥 said Abuelezam, an epidemiologist, 鈥渁nd that further study will be needed to better understand the health needs and the dynamics that shape this growing minority population.鈥 鈥擪athleen Sullivan聽