Nicole Verrochi Coleman

Feeling Like My Self: Emotion Profiles and Social Identity

Individuals possess social identities that contain unique, identity-relevant attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs providing “what-to-do” information when enacting that identity. We suggest that social identities are also associated with specific discrete emotion profiles providing “what-to-feel” information during identity enactment. We show that consumers prefer emotional stimuli consistent with their salient social identity, make product choices and emotion regulating consumption decisions to enhance (reduce) their experience of identity-consistent (inconsistent) emotions, and that experiencing identity-consistent emotions aids in the performance of identity-relevant tasks.

Connections to Brands That Help Others versus Help the Self: The Impact of Incidental Awe and Pride on Consumer Relationships with Social-Benefit and Luxury Brands

We propose that incidental emotions have the power to impact consumer self-brand connections. Specifically, we argue that divergent views of self, triggered by incidental awe versus pride, differentially impact consumer self-brand connections (SBC) to social-benefit versus luxury brands. Feelings of awe create a diminished self and an awareness of entities bigger than oneself. Pride, in contrast, enhances one’s sense of self. In two studies, we find that incidental feelings of awe heighten (lessen) SBC toward social-benefit (luxury) brands, while incidental feelings of pride heighten SBC toward luxury brands. We show that these effects of awe on social-benefit brands are mediated by perceived self-diminishment, while the effects of pride on luxury brands are mediated by self-superiority. Finally, we find that luxury brands that position themselves as offering social benefits can mitigate awe’s dampening effect on SBC while maintaining their enhanced appeal to consumers experiencing pride.