Consumer Psychology

by Brian M Young

  Is there a literature on the psychological consequences of unemployment or negative work changes? McKee-Ryan , Song, Wanberg, and Kinicki (2006) conducted a meta-analysis of the literature. This procedure is more than a systematic literature review and involves integrating the results into a composite estimate that might help to answer the research question. As the sample size is based on and incorporates all the suitable 43 evidence then there will be the opportunity for more statistically significant results to emerge 44 for groups and subgroups. In addition these authors reviewed the literature and provide some valuable insights into the experience of unemployment and some of the pitfalls encountered in attempting to research this area. For example, it is well-known that cross-sectional studies on unemployment and well-being or mental health are bedevilled with methodological problems. How can we tell whether unemployment causes mental health problems or that having mental health problems increases the chances you will be unemployed if we’re measuring both in a sample at the same time? Longitudinal research where measures are taken over time should sort this one out. However the author does strike a note of caution when interpreting the data. The reason is that participants who stay the course will be just those who are more fearful and anxious anyway and the experience of being a participant in such as a longitudinal study enables them to have a voice by telling of their pain to a wider audience (op. cit., p. 55). Consequently research in this area needs what is known as ‘triangulation ’ where various different methodologies are used and if the results are all similar then each method cross-validates the other ones and we are more confident with our findings. The results of their analyses are predictable in general terms in that unemployed people had lower physical and psychological well-being than their employed counterparts. However the interesting part is found when they look at the different variables that operate in the context of work and as these are of general interest to consumer psychologists we shall look at them now.

  How central is work to your life? If it’s part of your value system and you think it provides meaning and fulfilment then predictably loss of work-role centrality by becoming unemployed will hit you particularly hard.

  What resources can you draw on when unemployment hits? There are several psychological resources available to you. You can rely on your reserves of self-esteem for example, and also recognise that you are in control of your affairs but if you evaluate yourself negatively and see unemployment as something demeaning that you brought on yourself then it’s more likely the role of being unemployed will hit you hard. Positive and supportive social networks are also valuable, including friends and family. And also attitudes toward money as reflected in perceived financial hardship. If the lack of a regular income is seen by you as essential to your survival, maybe because you and your family are locked into a set of financial obligations then unemployment will feel worse than that experienced by the free and easy attitude of your other friend who also lost his job. Coping strategies in unemployment include of course job application and for many people in unemployment hot spots this can be a soul destroying activity, especially if the escape route of moving home to find employment is itself impossible or perceived as ‘out of the question’. One category of possible defence against unemployment is termed ‘human capital ’ (see Chapter 10 in section on “Cultural Capital and a French Intellectual”) and this covers socioeconomic status and other demographics, skills, talents, education level and so on. ‘Capital’ here is a useful extension of the original term dealing with wealth or assets but here referring to the added value bestowed on the benefactor by virtue of learning or status or privilege. However the authors found that the role of human capital in moderating the effects of unemployment on the person is not as powerful as for example work role centrality where work is seen as an integral part of your life. Although the number of studies was limited, we can tentatively accept this result and I would read it as implying that there’s no place to hide from the effects of unemployment 45 as you are not immune from its effects on your well-being and it can strike you no matter what big thoughts you might think or how many of those books you guessed you’d be able to read now you have time on your hands.

  I could on and look at for example, the psychological sequelae of death or life-changing injuries after accidents or even people who win the lottery as events that can change one’s life. I hope that I have made my point which is that there is a bridge from childhood through adulthood to old age and theories of how we change as well as time perspective shifts and events that affect your life.

  But there are two areas we need to look at now in detail and one is children and youth. The other is towards the end of life but that can be postponed until later although not in real life unfortunately.

  Notes

  1.Discussion about Erikson in the psychological literature has not been extensive but I found Crain’s treatment helpful (Crain, 2011, Chapter 12).

  2.To be found at https://​www.​mumsnet.​com/​.

  3. Anality refers to retentiveness in respect of toilet training (holding in rather than expelling faeces) and in Freud’s theory it can contribute to one’s character i.e. rigid, obsessive, detailed.

  4.Children who can take limited charge of themselves or see themselves as an actor independent from other people are sometimes described as agentic or agentive. I would use agentic in the context of being able to make choices.

  5.Known as the Electra complex. One version says the girl sees herself in competition with her mother for possession of her father.

  6.Freud assumed that there were three parts of the mind or psyche—the id or instincts, the superego or conscience, and the ego or self aka conscious person.

  7.I am ignoring home schooling.

  8.Smartphones are not only ubiquitous but also multifunctional. I often take the train in the morning to get to work and share a carriage with adolescents going to school. Before getting off students will check their phones—not only for texts but to use the camera as a mirror by filming themselves and monitoring to check their face makeup and what they look like to others.

  9.Who would? There is an implicit assumption in much of this writing that an identity that is maintained across all sorts of domains or ecologies is better for your well-being than a coat of many colours. Predictability and consistency may make that person easier to get along with but why should they be happier or even morally superior?

  10.This type of parent only sees their child as a doctor/lawyer/professor.

  11.The skin is a liminal zone both part of the body (the largest organ of the body) and part of adornment where it is tanned under sunshine or ultraviolet light, painted, tattooed, adorned with pins and metal. Hair—well that’s a whole other chapter!

  12.I was tempted to go further with the metaphor by adding the storm of adolescence (often called a time of sturm und drang) and allusions to shipwrecks, but beware metaphor overload.

  13.For all readers out there who know something about marriage guidance then don’t shoot the messenger! I am only describing what Erikson said.

  14.Of course it never was. But writing in the 1950s and later, Erikson was reflecting the prevailing mores of the time.

  15.Gift-giving is seen as operating in similar ways to barter and economic exchange and can be found in a section called ‘Gift giving’ in Chapter 10.

  16.The Office for National Statistics (2015) stated that “In 2014, 51.5% of people aged 16 and over in England and Wales were married or civil partnered while 33.9% were single, never married” (1. Main Points).

  17.Actually Vaillant and Milofsky (1980) revised Erikson ’s model by adding a stage called career consolidation. It was placed between the stages of intimacy and generativity .

  18.I am tempted to add ‘especially after little sleep for three nights’.

  19.Known as The Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS) see McAdams and de St. Aubin (1992).

  20.If you can’t remember what priming is, see the section with that name in Chapter
4.

  21.The ones with a forward slash reflect male/female descriptions.

  22.A word I am afraid that has been completely derogated since it was appropriated by television interviewers who ask ‘how are you feeling?’ in the most trivial circumstances.

  23.See Jourard (1959) and for a more systematic review, Cozby (1973).

  24.For readers not familiar with the UK housing market and what is and is not ‘socially desirable’ then Best and Shimili (2012) is helpful.

  25.“Students [in the UK] now graduate with average debts of £50000” (Belfield, et al., 2017).

  26.Managing the impressions you make on others is not just a matter of what you wear, what you drive, where you live, your hair style or piercings, tattoos (or not), and your shopping habits—the list is endless—but it’s also ways you speak, perform in public places like restaurants, and non-verbal communication as well.

  27.Although many couples are both heterosexual and fertile, my comments equally apply to gay couples who adopt and those straight couples, married or in civil partnerships who decide to do the same.

  28.Gift-giving can be reciprocal at weddings for example where a wedding list is circulated and gift-givers select what to give. What is given back is often intangible such as friendship but can include an invitation to the wedding reception which can be an expensive ‘feast’ occasion.

  29.I wondered why the phrase ‘baby and toddler’ came to mind so readily when I was thinking what would be a snappy description of this new entrant to the world of consumption. So I googled and now I understand. A range of services, customised for my local area for play groups, church groups, as well as shows, exhibitions and products for little ones are waiting. Perhaps we should call it ‘baby ‘n’ toddler world’.

  30.All prices quoted from Harrods on-line July 2017.

  31.There is another aspect of self-extension which exacerbates the problem by making certain members of the family insulated from the outside world and that would be headphones ranging from the ubiquitous two white cords from ears to total ear coverage with Bluetooth connections provided by Sennheiser. This trend extends the self inside rather than out by enhancing sensory experience using augmented or virtual reality technology.

  32.During the recent BREXIT campaign in the UK culminating in a decision to leave the EU one of the more telling appeals on the Remain side in a campaign strong on rhetoric was what would your children feel and do about leaving? What would they say to you when they want to freely go across Europe to work or study? Or grandchildren for that matter as latching on to generativity would appeal to many older sectors of the electorate.

  33.This can vary immensely if we consider participants’ own definitions and you might find some people adding 10 years at either end (Lachman, 2004, pp. 310–311).

  34.Another way of viewing time orientation in consumption is to refer back to my comments on consumption as process in the section called ‘A vision of consumption’ in Chapter 1 and think how it is affected and influenced by the emphasis you place on the past memories of consumption and anticipation of how these will contribute to your life project(s) all within your present role in the consumption cycle.

  35.Factor analysis can be explained either geometrically or algebraically and students in my experience understand the geometrical vision better. Imagine the data as points in a multidimensional space. Then each factor is a dimension in that space so the data can be accounted better by using these new axes.

  36.In my opinion one of the strengths of Erikson ’s analysis is just that—he emphasises when describing his latter stages the importance of generativity, and maintaining ego integrity in the face of despair. The agenda at that time of life is definitely a socioemotional one.

  37.Is this where the stereotype of the ‘stubborn old person’ comes from? Or is it just me?

  38.This paper was not cited by Laureiro-Martinez et al. (2017), despite its relevance so I have discussed it. I assume it was unavailable at the time they wrote their own paper.

  39.I am unaware of research that suggests the opposite i.e. that an unlimited time horizon that accompanies youth tends to optimise any negative emotions. Personal recollection however would suggest that painful emotions such as rejection and failure can be ameliorated by ‘…there’s always a next time’.

  40.I use the conventional distinction of gender meaning socially, culturally or personally defined attribution and sex meaning biological diagnosis. See American Psychological Association (2010).

  41.Longitudinal studies examine a cohort of people over time taking similar measurements along the way. They are the best way to establish causal relationships. Cross-sectional research on the other hand measures everyone at the same time and can only really establish correlations and any inference about causality has to be made with caution.

  42.Yes this one has been changed from ‘wife’ to ‘spouse’.

  43.This can be a stumbling block as the index of whether unemployment has an effect on wellbeing will need to be framed as unemployment being a ‘treatment’ on a group and whether the distributions of treatment group measures and control group measures (control is ‘not unemployed’) are different in the sense of the treatment having an effect compared with the control. These ‘difference’ indices can be used as a standard independent measures that can be used to compute the effect size for all the studies. Data which cannot be treated this way is then not processed in the effect size calculation.

  44.A good metaphor for understanding this is to take a photograph with your phone. Then enlarge it until you can see the pixels. Now carefully go back to the original photo. By slowly getting the picture back you can see how a pattern can be seen with a large number of cases. The old metaphor involved bits of a jigsaw puzzle which is an acquired taste these days I guess.

  45.Although the authors did say level of education was the most important of the human capital factors. I’m sure you’re all reassured by reading that.

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