THE SCIENCE OF HEDONISTIC CONSUMPTION Constrained Physical Space Constrains Hedonism

Prior research shows that people demonstrate greater regulation of motor and social activities when they are in a confined physical space. This article examines whether space constraint affects people’s behavior toward hedonistic consumption of vice products (e.g., high-calorie foods) and their self-regulation in general. We propose that space constraint may have a generalized effect that enhances regulation of behaviors that are unrelated to the space. Manipulating space constraint by varying density or by assigning individual participants to different-sized rooms, three experiments demonstrated that smaller (vs. larger) spaces reduce impulsive purchase of vice products, lead to lower consumption of high-calorie foods, and yield fewer false alarms in a go/no-go task. Consistent with our findings, both international and US data showed that more densely populated regions have a lower prevalence of outcomes associated with low self-control (e.g., prevalence of overweight and obesity, death caused by road traffic accidents). I mpulse buying is prevalent among consumers. Previous studies show that almost 90% of people make purchases on impulse occasionally, and between 30% and 50% of all purchases can be classified as impulse purchases by buyers themselves (Hausman 2000). A more recent study from CreditCards.com found that one out of five Americans report having spent more than $1,000 on an impulse purchase, and 84% of Americans say they indulged in smaller impulse purchases (Picchi 2016). Overeating is also common among consumers and is one of the most significant factors contributing to the high rates of overweight and obesity in the United States (Kessler 2010). Results from the 2011–12 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey indicate that an estimated 33.9% of US adults age 20 and over are overweight, 35.1% are obese, and 6.4% are extremely obese (Fryar, Carroll, and Ogden 2014). Both impulse buying and overeating represent self-control failures that can be caused by a number of reasons (for a review, see Baumeister and Heatherton 1996; Faber and Vohs 2013). For example, having many conflicting goals (e.g., saving for a house, retirement, and a vacation) may enhance the perceived difficulty of achieving the goal, thus reducing one’s commitment to the goal. Moreover, failure to track one’s behavior (e.g., losing track of how many calories have already been consumed) also reduces the chance of reaching the selfcontrol goal. In addition, resource depletion is an important factor influencing the success of self-control. To enhance the effectiveness of exercising self-control, cognitive factors (e.g., regulatory focus: Scholer and Higgins 2013), social factors (e.g., interpersonal relationship: Rawn and Vohs 2013), and individual difference factors (e.g., temperament: Rothbart, Ellis, and Posner 2013; self-efficacy: Cervone et al. 2013) have been investigated. Recent literature in marketing also demonstrates that environmental factors such as disorganization can reduce self-control (Chae and Zhu 2014). In this article, we explore the novel influence of another environmental factor—physical space—on people’s effectiveness to exercise self-control. We propose that constrained physical space may enhance the control of impulsive behaviors that are irrelevant to the physical space (e.g., eating highcalorie foods). CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW AND DEVELOPMENT