Abstract
Purposes
To lend more credence to the association of a socially aversive personality and conspicuous consumption (i.e., consumers purchase products to display wealth and social status through extravagant expenditures), we attempted to dig into the unique contribution of each component of the Dark Tetrad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy and sadism) to the multiple motives of conspicuous consumption (materialistic hedonism, communication of belonging to/dissociation from a group, social status demonstration, interpersonal mediation and ostentation). Additionally, the gender difference in conspicuous consumption and the moderating role of gender between the Dark Tetrad and conspicuous consumption need to be tested.
Methods
Using convenience sampling, a total of 1021 Chinese college students (Mage = 19.23, SD = 1.14; 480 men) completed measures assessing the Dark Tetrad traits and conspicuous consumption.
Results
No gender difference was found in overall conspicuous consumption. Men reported more conspicuous consumption for the purpose of interpersonal mediation and ostentation but less for materialistic hedonism than women. Machiavellianism had the largest effect on overall conspicuous consumption and two motives (materialistic hedonism and communication of belonging to/dissociation from a group), while primary psychopathy had the largest effect on motives for social status demonstration, interpersonal mediation, and ostentation. Gender moderated all associations that Machiavellianism had with overall conspicuous consumption and its motives (except for ostentation), but did not moderate any association that narcissism had with conspicuous consumption.
Conclusion
Conspicuous consumption might be an adaptive strategy or behavioral signaling of the Dark Tetrad. Women high in any one of the Dark Tetrad traits (except narcissism) were more likely to consume ostentatiously and conspicuously. These findings contribute to the literature on the Dark Tetrad and conspicuous consumption.
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Data Availability
The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Zhu, X., Geng, Y., Pan, Y. et al. Conspicuous consumption in Chinese young adults: The role of dark tetrad and gender. Curr Psychol 42, 19840–19852 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03129-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03129-4