What’s my age again? The influence of subjective age on consumer health-related attitudes

Abstract

We examine how shifts in subjective age influence consumer health-related attitudes. In Study 1, participants made to feel subjectively young (vs. old) exhibited more positive attitudes after viewing a health-related marketing message. Underlying this effect, subjectively young (vs. old) participants experienced higher levels of self-esteem. Study 2 tested our process by manipulating subjective physical, as opposed to mental age. Our research is the first to investigate the impact of temporary changes in subjective age on consumer attitudes towards healthy behaviors, and the first to compare the effects of mental (vs. physical) subjective age on these attitudes.

Keywords:

• Age identity
• attitudes
• health messaging
• subjective age
• self-esteem