Believing in Karma: The Effect of Mortality Salience on Excessive Consumption.

Siyun Chen,Yaxuan Ran,Haiying Wei,Lu Meng

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01519

Abstract

This research proposes that mortality salience leads individuals to engage in differentiation of excessive consumption based on their appraisal of the karmic system. Study 1 demonstrated that mortality salience interacts with belief in karma to jointly determine excessive consumption, such that consumers faced with mortality salience tend to increase overconsumption likelihood when they have a weak (vs. strong) belief in karma. Study 2 revealed the underlying mechanism – temporal perspective – that drives our main effect. Replicating the findings of the two previous studies, study 3 further delineated benefit appeal as a theoretically derived boundary condition for the proposed interaction effect on excessiveness. Theoretical and, practical implications, as well as avenues for future research are discussed.

Highlights

Mortality cues are ubiquitous in human life
In support of hypothesis 1, compared with consumers exposed to dental pain, participants experiencing mortality salience will be more likely to engage in excessive consumption when they hold a weak belief in karma
This research has shown that mortality salience interacts with belief in karma to affect excessive consumption

Summary

Introduction

Social events – either natural disasters or man-made accidents – would potentially prime mortality concerns (Coleman et al, 2017). Other literature has documented that mortality salience can result in keeping wealth preserved or transferring possessions to future generations, a seemingly opposite behavioral pattern of indulgent consumption (Erikson, 1980; Price et al, 2000). These inconsistent findings suggest that mortality salience does not unconditionally augment overconsumption tendencies. We add to this research by introducing a potential moderator that may help to resolve this puzzle: a belief in karma

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion