The Search for Uniqueness and Valuation of Scarcity

“9 In the context of crowd-funding (N = 166), the researchers showed that the availability of rewards—a “scarcity nudge”—can lead them to choose a particular re-Guiding”

“Prior research has identified the existence of two competing social needs among consumers: a need for uniqueness and a countervailing need for conformity (Brewer 1991; Fromkin and Snyder 1980).”

“This research has identified the existence of two competing social needs among consumers: a need for uniqueness and a countervailing need for similarity (Brewer 1991, Fromkin and Snyder 1980).”

“To test for convergent validity, we also included Hurt, Joseph, and Cook’s (1977) four-item general innovativeness scale and Raju’s (1980) ten innovativeness items.”

“If group belongingness or other social restrictions are said to be determining the limited availability, the arousal of an uniqueness motive (Fromkin and Snyder 1980; Snyder and Fromkin 1980) or other social motives (e.g., gaining prestige by downward comparison, Wills 1981; status effects, Veblen…”

“Past research has shown that behavioral change within a person is associated with perceptions of uniqueness (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980; Snyder & Fromkin, 1977, 1980; Tian, Bearden, & Hunter, 2001).”

“Consumers often de fi ne themselves on the basis of personal characteristics (e.g., abilities, attitudes) that make them feel unique (Brewer 1991; Fromkin and Snyder 1980).”

“According to uniqueness theory, Fromkin and Snyder (1980) proposed the need for uniqueness as a personality trait and stated that people seek to avoid societal sanctions associated with extreme similarity and dissimilarity to others; thus they strive to maintain a moderate level of…”

“Given that being valued for uniqueness is a fundamental human need (Brewer, 1991), the perceived inability to detect unique characteristics might also affect people’s sense of individuality (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980) and thus their perception of fairness within the recruitment process.”

“The need for belonging and uniqueness is thought to be universal (Fromkin and Snyder 1980), but in different cultural contexts, ways of meeting these needs may vary.”

“Regarding social influence and NFU, we based our reasoning on the theoretical foundations of uniqueness theory (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980) and previous research on interindividual differences in NFU and consumer behavior.”

“…to objects or people with aesthetically appealing features and appearances (Dion et al., 1972), and several scholars have indicated that individuals tend to have more positive assessments of products that have an attractive appearance and features (Goodman et al., 2013; Tractinsky et al., 2000).”

“They sense that the value of their location in this pecking order depreciates when it is shared with a structurally equivalent other (16).”

“Fromkin (1976) suggests that innovators are expressing the desire to see themselves as different from their peers in a socially acceptable way (McAlister & Pessemier, 1982).”

““Limited edition” are the items that capitalise on the desires of consumers like this (Gierl et al., 2008). Previously, only particular types of product, such as luxury vehicles, have had limited-edition collectors’ items. These pieces are now extending to everyday household products thanks to the increasing demands f…”

“According to research built on the uniqueness theory (Fromkin 1970; Fromkin and Snyder 1980), people tend to value scarce objects because possessing them creates the feeling of personal uniqueness (Fromkin 1970).”

“Indeed, possessing a scarce resource is a necessary foundation for pride to emerge, as it enables consumers to set themselves apart from others and helps offset feelings of inferiority (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980).”

“Tastes, communicated through consumption, can act as markers of social groups and signal a user’s other preferences (Solomon, 1983) or signs of their uniqueness (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980).”

“…ones out’ (Epley et al., 2009; Ross et al., 2012); viewing God as especially similar to other people and conceptualizing themselves as the ‘odd one out’ (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980); or viewing themselves as especially similar to other people and conceiving ofGod as the ‘odd one out’ (consistent with…”

“Being different was an individual basic need and the distinctiveness was beneficial to their psychological well-being to a certain extent [15].”

“In MICT terms, SIT and OI suggest that one’s configuration of identity categories provides distinctiveness (Brewer, 1991; Fromkin & Snyder, 1980) and its enduring nature provides continuity.”

“Others suggest that innovators are expressing the desire to see themselves as different from their peers in a socially acceptable way (Fromkin, 1976; McAlister & Pessemier, 1982).”

“The adoption of particular beliefs is thought to fulfill such a need for uniqueness (Fromkin and Snyder, 1980).”

“These papers and other works, including Clee and Wick-lund (1980), Fromkin and Snyder (1980), and Lynn (1991) identify different mechanisms through which shelf-based scarcity affects demand: for example, customers prefer scarce products due to their need for uniqueness, scarcity induces reactance,…”

“Thus, to understand the relationship between materialistic behaviors concerning the luxury fine dining, social comparison, and intention for luxury purchasing, the foundations of uniqueness theory (Fromkin and Snyder, 1980) are suitable.”

“The commodity theory by [8], the need for uniqueness theory by Snyder and Fromkin [72], the self-determination theory by Deci and Ryan [57] and the social comparison theory by Festinger [11] assessed these variables, which are widely studied in the marketing literature.”

“Although beliefs about the stability of people’s attitudes in general might predict one’s own stability, it is also reasonable to suspect that they would not because people tend to think that they are unique in various ways (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980; e.g., “Most people are changeable, but not me!”).”

“Past research suggests that high interpersonal power associated with occupying a high position in a social hierarchy creates greater psychological distance from others (e.g., Fromkin & Snyder, 1980; Hogg, 2001; Hogg & Reid, 2001; Lee & Tiedens, 2001; Magee & Smith, 2013).”

“Tian et al. [137] proposed three dimensions of consumption behavior to illustrate how consumers demonstrate their NFU: creative choice counterconformity, avoidance of similarity, or unpopular choice counterconformity.”

“According to uniqueness theory [40, 101], individuals have the social desire to be distinct from others by maintaining a sense of uniqueness to enhance their self-identification.”

“This result is intuitively consistent with behavioral research that shows that high-end consumers prefer to differentiate from low-end consumers while low-end consumers prefer to assimilate with high-end consumers (Brewer 1991, Fromkin and Snyder 1980).”

“This research has identified the existence two competing social needs among consumers: a need for uniqueness and a countervailing need for similarity (Brewer 1991, Fromkin and Snyder 1980).”

“Humans may place value on rare commodities due to an innate need for self-distinction (i.e., uniqueness theory (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980).”

“…and various forms of competitive shooting, firearms have enormous potential for user cathexis (Otnes & Lowrey, 2004), self-definition (Belk, 1988, 2001; Erikson, 1967; Schouten, 1991), along with permitting their owners a sense of uniqueness and individuation (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980; Jung, 1962).”

“…人们的自我评价普遍存在 着优于平均值效应 (better-than-average effect), 即 认为自身在智力、收入、外表吸引力等方面的表现 比大多数人都更好、更优越 (Alicke & Govorun, 2005; Brown, 1986)。与更优秀的他人比较则会打破 这一自我评价偏差 , 引发一系列心理和行为后果 , 比如亲社会行为(Schlosser & Levy, 2016)、物质主 义(Zheng, Baskin, & Peng, 2018a)、炫耀性消费行为 (Zheng, Baskin, & Peng, 2018b)等。然而, 关于社会…”

“In addition, in line with the theory of uniqueness (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980), employees thrive and engage in proactive behaviors when they can contribute to work using their unique characteristics.”

“This possibility is consistent with work showing that Westerners view themselves as unique (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980; Markus & Kitayama, 1991).”

“The key premise of this theory is that the value increases to the extent that the commodity is perceived as unavailable because scarce products are considered novel, unique, or distinctive (Brock, 1968; Fromkin & Snyder, 1980).”

“According to the uniqueness theory individuals tend to change their attitude when they feel higher similarity with others and engage in behaviors that exhibit their difference [9].”

“Theories in social psychology suggest that individuals have fundamental needs for both belonging to a group and being distinct from others and strive to attain a balance between the two needs (Brewer, 1991, 1993; Fromkin & Snyder, 1980; Lynn & Snyder, 2002).”

“Personal identity, in turn, affects one’s motivation to affirm oneself as a unique individual, through actions and decisions that distinguish oneself from a social group [37].”

“Karni and Levin (1994) extend Becker’s model by explicitly modeling individual consumer decisions.”

“Consumers’ requirement for uniqueness is grounded in uniqueness hypothesis (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980), which shows itself in the persons’ quest for material merchandise to separate themselves from others (Tian, Bearden, & Hunter, 2001).”

“Consistent with uniqueness theory (Fromkin and Snyder 1980), exclusive surprise offerings satisfy consumers' intrinsic desire for distinctiveness while elevating prestige.”

“…affects their uniqueness perception (Tiggemann and Golder, 2006; Gillen and Dunaev, 2017), only a few scholars have explored how such perceptions change when individuals wear masks (Fromkin and Snyder, 1980; Kemmelmeier and Jami, 2021) and how wearing masks influences uniqueness-seeking behavior.”

“Specifically, customer’s “sense of self”, “self-identification” (Escalas, 2013), and Consumers’ Need for Uniqueness (CNfU) have been the focus of various studies (Snyder & Fromkin, 1980; Lynn, 1991).”

“Existing research suggests that individuality is a characteristic and that some people perceive themselves as distinct from others (Fromkin & Snyder, 1980).”

“The need for uniqueness is the need for individuals to see themselves as different from other individuals as determinants of their behaviour (Fromkin & Sneyder, 1980:57).”