Acquisition-Based Self-Transformation Expectations Scale

What it measures

Five items measure a consumer's anticipation that owning a particular product would produce meaningful personal gains -- greater respect from others, an enhanced sense of personal importance, increased self-confidence, improved attractiveness to others, and an improved appearance. The items reflect the belief that objects can function as vehicles for self-enhancement and status signalling. The scale is grounded in the concept of transformation expectations: the anticipation that a purchase will change the buyer's life in some personally significant way.

Scale items

• Other people would respect me more.
• I would feel like a more important person.
• I'd feel more self-confident.
• I would become more attractive to other people.
• My appearance would be improved.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

This five-item version combines items originally associated with two theoretically distinct transformation dimensions -- self-transformation and appearance transformation -- that unexpectedly loaded together in earlier factor work and were subsequently validated and used together as a single unit. The scale was developed for situations in which participants have just imagined or described a desired object. Minor adjustments to instructional framing could potentially extend it to other transformative life events such as career advancement or relational milestones, but re-evaluation of face validity in those contexts would be required. No formal validity analysis was reported.

Citation

Richins, M. L., & Chaplin, L. N. (2015). Material parenting: How the use of goods in parenting fosters materialism in the next generation. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(6), 1333-1357.

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