IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ijrema/v37y2020i3p572-586.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Age differences in children's happiness from material goods and experiences: The role of memory and theory of mind

Author

Listed:
  • Chaplin, Lan Nguyen
  • Lowrey, Tina M.
  • Ruvio, Ayalla A.
  • Shrum, L.J.
  • Vohs, Kathleen D.

Abstract

Adults view past experiences as making them happier than material goods, yet products and brands are highly coveted by children, even at young ages. Using a child developmental framework, we reconcile these two perspectives. Across four studies with children and adolescents of ages 3–17 years, we show that children (ages 3–12) derive more happiness from goods than from experiences, but the effect changes over time. As children age, the happiness they derive from experiences increases, to the point that older adolescents derive more happiness from experiences than from material goods, consistent with adult findings. We show that these effects are mediated by increases in two cognitive skills: memory and theory of mind, which we posit are necessary for a sufficient comprehension of experiences and their implications, which in turn facilitates their enjoyment.

Suggested Citation

  • Chaplin, Lan Nguyen & Lowrey, Tina M. & Ruvio, Ayalla A. & Shrum, L.J. & Vohs, Kathleen D., 2020. "Age differences in children's happiness from material goods and experiences: The role of memory and theory of mind," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 572-586.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:37:y:2020:i:3:p:572-586
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2020.01.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167811620300045
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2020.01.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lan Nguyen Chaplin & Deborah Roedder John, 2007. "Growing up in a Material World: Age Differences in Materialism in Children and Adolescents," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(4), pages 480-493, June.
    2. Arnould, Eric J & Price, Linda L, 1993. "River Magic: Extraordinary Experience and the Extended Service Encounter," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(1), pages 24-45, June.
    3. Joseph K. Goodman & Selin A. Malkoc & Brittney L. Stephenson, 2016. "Celebrate or Commemorate? A Material Purchase Advantage When Honoring Special Life Events," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(4), pages 497-508.
    4. Wilson Bastos & Merrie Brucks, 2017. "How and Why Conversational Value Leads to Happiness for Experiential and Material Purchases," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(3), pages 598-612.
    5. Marsha L. Richins, 2013. "When Wanting Is Better than Having: Materialism, Transformation Expectations, and Product-Evoked Emotions in the Purchase Process," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(1), pages 1-18.
    6. Leonardo Nicolao & Julie R. Irwin & Joseph K. Goodman, 2009. "Happiness for Sale: Do Experiential Purchases Make Consumers Happier than Material Purchases?," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(2), pages 188-198.
    7. John, Deborah Roedder, 1999. "Consumer Socialization of Children: A Retrospective Look at Twenty-Five Years of Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 26(3), pages 183-213, December.
    8. Holt, Douglas B, 1995. "How Consumers Consume: A Typology of Consumption Practices," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 22(1), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Joseph K Goodman & Selin A Malkoc & Mosi Rosenboim, 2019. "The Material-Experiential Asymmetry in Discounting: When Experiential Purchases Lead to More Impatience," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(4), pages 671-688.
    10. Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann & Jan Schreiber & Tania Singer & Nikolaus Steinbeis & Angela D. Friederici, 2017. "White matter maturation is associated with the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhood," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, April.
    11. Lan Nguyen Chaplin & Tina M. Lowrey, 2010. "The Development of Consumer-Based Consumption Constellations in Children," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(5), pages 757-777, February.
    12. Lan Nguyen Chaplin & Deborah Roedder John, 2005. "The Development of Self-Brand Connections in Children and Adolescents," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(1), pages 119-129, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Claudia Bacter & Sorana Săveanu & Raluca Buhaș & Cristiana Marc, 2021. "Housing for Sustainable Societies. Children′s Perception and Satisfaction with Their House in Countries around the World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    2. Bastos, Wilson & Moore, Sarah G., 2021. "Making word-of-mouth impactful: Why consumers react more to WOM about experiential than material purchases," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 110-123.
    3. Matylda Siwek & Anna Kolasińska & Krzysztof Wrześniewski & Magdalena Zmuda Palka, 2022. "Services and Amenities Offered by City Hotels within Family Tourism as One of the Factors Guaranteeing Satisfactory Leisure Time," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-18, July.
    4. Bogner, Anna, 2023. "Memory asymmetries in experiential and material purchases: The role of self-expression," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 8(1), pages 163-187.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Heleen van der Meulen & Rinaldo Kühne & Suzanna J. Opree, 2018. "Validating the Material Values Scale for Children (MVS-c) for Use in Early Childhood," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(4), pages 1201-1216, August.
    2. Bogner, Anna, 2023. "Memory asymmetries in experiential and material purchases: The role of self-expression," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 8(1), pages 163-187.
    3. Bastos, Wilson & Barsade, Sigal G., 2020. "A new look at employee happiness: How employees’ perceptions of a job as offering experiences versus objects to customers influence job-related happiness," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 176-187.
    4. Wilson Bastos, 2020. "Want to make me happy? Tell me about your experiences but not your objects," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 978-1001, September.
    5. Petersen, Francine Espinoza & Dretsch, Heather Johnson & Komarova Loureiro, Yuliya, 2018. "Who needs a reason to indulge? Happiness following reason-based indulgent consumption," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 170-184.
    6. Juan Francisco Dávila & Mònica Casabayó & Jatinder Jit Singh, 2017. "A World beyond Family: How External Factors Impact the Level of Materialism in Children," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 162-182, March.
    7. Yi He & Qimei Chen & Dana L. Alden, 2016. "Time will tell: managing post-purchase changes in brand attitude," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(6), pages 791-805, November.
    8. Liselot Hudders & Mario Pandelaere, 2012. "The Silver Lining of Materialism: The Impact of Luxury Consumption on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 411-437, June.
    9. Strong, Carolyn A. & Martin, Brett A.S., 2014. "Effects of perspective taking and entitlement on consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1817-1823.
    10. Zsótér, Boglárka & Nagy, Péter, 2012. "Our Everyday Emotions and Finances – The role money-related attitudes and materialistic orienta-tion play in developing financial culture," Public Finance Quarterly, Corvinus University of Budapest, vol. 57(3), pages 286-297.
    11. Ma, Jianfeng & Tu, Hongwei & Zhang, Pan & Fan, Lele & Cheng, Bao & Ma, Jie, 2021. "Can work–family conflict influence purchase preference? Experiential vs. material consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 620-632.
    12. Söderlund, Magnus & Sagfossen, Sofie, 2017. "The consumer experience: The impact of supplier effort and consumer effort on customer satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 219-229.
    13. Bastos, Wilson, 2020. "“Speaking of Purchases”: How Conversational Potential Determines Consumers' Willingness to Exert Effort for Experiential Versus Material Purchases," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-16.
    14. Georgia Teare & Marijke Taks, 2021. "Exploring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Youth Sport and Physical Activity Participation Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-15, February.
    15. Lan Chaplin, 2009. "Please May I Have a Bike? Better Yet, May I Have a Hug? An Examination of Children’s and Adolescents’ Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 10(5), pages 541-562, October.
    16. Williams, Janine & Ashill, Nicholas & Thirkell, Peter, 2016. "How is value perceived by children?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5875-5885.
    17. Michael J. Dorsch & Kjell Y. Törnblom & Ali Kazemi, 2017. "A Review of Resource Theories and Their Implications for Understanding Consumer Behavior," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 5-25.
    18. Downey, Hilary & Ellis, Sarah, 2008. "Tails of animal attraction: Incorporating the feline into the family," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 434-441, May.
    19. Sundie, Jill M. & Pandelaere, Mario & Lens, Inge & Warlop, Luk, 2020. "Setting the bar: The influence of women’s conspicuous display on men’s affiliative behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 569-585.
    20. Elodie Gentina & L. J. Shrum & Tina M. Lowrey & Scott J. Vitell & Gregory M. Rose, 2018. "An Integrative Model of the Influence of Parental and Peer Support on Consumer Ethical Beliefs: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem, Power, and Materialism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 1173-1186, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:37:y:2020:i:3:p:572-586. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-research-in-marketing/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.