An interesting study on why women buy expensive designer handbags

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#22
I read the study and what I found most interesting was that according to the authors their study shows that women were more likely to pursue the mate of a woman who was wearing designer goods when they were told she paid for them herself!

Of course, I find the survey questions weak and frankly have a pretty low opinion of this type of sociobehavioral research in general. Also, it's interesting to note that Ms. Yang is a doctoral student in marketing so remember how much thought goes into exploiting your every insecurity the next time you see an ad. :D
 
#25
NicoleByTheLake said:
From the study:
For women to use luxury goods to signal that their partner is devoted to them, at least some women must believe that their own luxury goods can signal this kind of information. To examine if any women actually possess this lay belief, we surveyed seventy-six women (Mage = 33.46, SD = 11.27) on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The women were asked to “Imagine you are in a relationship and you go to a social event with your partner.” They then responded to four different yes/no questions regarding whether the women themselves believed that other women would infer that their relationship partner was more devoted to them based on the outfit and jewelry that the woman chose to wear. Specifically, the women were asked: “Do you think some women might judge that your partner cares about you more [is more committed to you] when they see you wearing a designer [more expensive] outfit and jewelry?”​
This seems to be really mediocre survey design, at least to investigate what they want to investigate. I mean, if you asked me that question, I would say yes too--I'm sure "some" women might see me and think that, but that has nothing to do with why I actually purchased the bag or other luxury product.
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NicoleByTheLake said:
I should say that having read more of the study, it's not terrible, and it's only a small pilot study. They did go on to do further testing from what I quoted, but again, only pilot studies. The problem is, as usual, less with the original research and more with the reporting on it. The original research is not really strong enough to draw many conclusions, but you know reporters want to tell the sexy story!
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Thanks for taking the time to read this and provide more insight because I knew it sounded kooky, but I didn't care to understand further.
 
#27
What? Lol. First of all men don't care about bags, second a man who is spending lots on his partners accessories must seem MORE attractive to other women not less. Get rid of the girlfriend, spend your money on me!

Whats wrong with the longstanding idea of accessorizing to increase your attractiveness to the other sex? Thats a much simpler explanation.
 
#28
It's 2013, women are getting more independent by the second, I don't think I have ever seen a woman wearing a chanel bag and think "her husband must love her", I always think that people buy these expensive stuff on their own, I think even when I do get married il buy my bags alone, but my hubby will handle my jewelry shopping and travel expenses, I mean, he has to atleast pay for something! Lol, don't judge :(
 
#29
This study is so flawed in so many ways. Geez, when I see a couple where the woman is wearing an expensive designer handbag, I don't automatically think that the man bought it for her. Instead I think, "yey! another woman like me who loves designer handbags and splurges on them for herself!!!"
 
#30
I'm from New york city. Half, if not more of the designer bags here are fake.
The first thing I think when I see one is: "is it real?". That's it. My thoughts regarding another womans bag don't get any deeper.
 
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