Effects of Mortality

Salience and Self-

Monitoring on Ad

Preference

Vanessa Fortes

Jessica Horton

Thomas F. Harlow, Ph.D.

Davis Mertz, Ph.D.

J. Brian Pope, Ph.D.

Tusculum College

Abstract

We investigated the effects of Mortality Salience on the preference for ads emphasizing Social Identity or Intrinsic value among high and low Self-

Monitors to test competing hypotheses drawn from Terror Management and Martin, Campbell and Henry’s (2006) “close brush with death” account of personal reexamination. Sixty-four participants completed questionnaire

packets in their psychology classes. These packets included the 25-item self-monitoring scale followed by questions intended to vary the level of mortality salience (either describe your own death or describe the experience of eating at your favorite restaurant) before rating two sets of ads (Barclay cigarettes and Canadian Club whisky). Each set of ads had one version emphasizing a Social

Identify slogan and another emphasizing the Intrinsic (or product) Quality slogan. In the absence of mortality salience low self-monitors showed greater preference for the Barclay ad emphasizing product quality than did the high

self-monitors. A 2 X 2 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) on the Barclay preference ratings revealed a marginally significant Self-monitoring X

Mortality Salience interaction. Relative to high self-monitors in the control condition, high self-monitors who were asked to consider their own mortality shifted their preference from the ad emphasizing social identity towards the ad

emphasizing the intrinsic quality of the product. Failure to find effects the Canadian Club ads may be attributable to a possible confound of social identity

concerns in the ad intended to emphasize product quality.

Hypotheses

In the absence of mortality salience, it was predicted that the results would replicate Snyder and DeBono’s (1985) finding that high self-monitors would prefer ads emphasizing social identity relative to low self-monitors who would prefer ads emphasizing intrinsic product quality. Under the condition

of Mortality Salience, based upon Terror Management Theory it was predicted that mortality salience would

increase social identity concerns and increase the effectiveness of advertisements emphasizing social

image. Alternatively, based upon Martin, Campbell and Henry’s (2004) “brush with death” account it was predicted that increased mortality salience would lead to a preference

for advertisements emphasizing intrinsic qualities.

Participants

Participants were thirty-six female and twenty-eight males undergraduate students

enrolled in introductory psychology,

educational psychology, and sociology at

Tusculum College participated in this

study for college course credit.

Materials

• All participants received questionnaire packets that began with a cover page followed by a page with demographic questions (e.g. age, gender, college class, and whether they smoke or drink). Next in order was the twenty-five item Self-Monitoring scale (Snyder, 1974). Half of the packets included a pair of questions intended to create high mortality salience condition and half included a pair of questions intended to create a restaurant control (Greenberg, Arndt, Simon, Pyszczynski, Solomon, 2000). The mortality salience question stated, “Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of your own death arouses in you? Jot down, as specifically as possible, what you think will happen to you physically as you die and once you are physically dead?” The control question stated, “Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of eating at your favorite restaurant arouses in you? Jot down, as specifically as possible, what you think will happen to you physically as you eat at your favorite restaurant and after you leave?” Finally each packet included two pairs of advertisements for Barclay cigarettes and Canadian Club whiskey (Snyder & DeBono, 1974). In each set of advertisements, one advertisement emphasized social image and one emphasized product-quality.”

• Barclay Cigarettes

• The picture of this advertisement depicts a mirror image of a handsome gentleman, about to light up a cigarette, looking at his female companion. The woman’s hand is shown resting on the gentleman’s shoulder and only the female’s shoulder is visible. The image-oriented advertisement states, “Barclay…you can see the difference,” and the product-quality-oriented advertisement claims, “Barclay…you can taste the difference.

• Canadian Club Whiskey

• The picture for this set of advertisements prominently displayed a bottle of Canadian Club and a tumbler of ice resting on a set of house blueprints. The written copy for the image-oriented advertisement stated, “You’re not just moving in, you’re moving up,” and the product-quality-oriented advertisement stated, “When it comes to great taste, everyone draws the same conclusion.”

• Following each pair of advertisements were five questions intended to assess preference on 6-point graphical Likert scales. The five questions were: “Overall, which ad do you think is better?”, “Which ad appeals to you more?”, “Which ad do you think would be more successful in promoting the product?”, “Which item would you be willing to pay more for?”, and “Which ad would you be more willing to buy or consume?”

Procedure

• Upon arrival at the three different classes, the participants were invited to participate in a study measuring personality and emotional reactions and preferences to advertisements. The questionnaire packets were distributed in random order. Participants were asked to not work ahead in the survey as they would be paced through it. After the surveys were handed out, the participants were instructed to turn to the first page and fill out the demographic information that it asked for. The participants were told that all information would remain confidential. They were given a few minutes to complete this information before turning to the next page.

• The participants were then asked to fill out the questionnaire to the best of their ability. They were instructed to read each question carefully and to answer as honestly as possible as either true or false. The participants were given approximately five minutes to finish this questionnaire before being asked to move on to the next part. Next, the participants were either given a control question or a mortality salience related question in their packets. The randomized order of the packets blinded the participants and The researchers as to who received a mortality salience question or who received a control question. They were asked to write down whatever came to their minds upon reading the question and to be as honest as possible. The participants were given approximately five minutes before moving on to the next part.

• The participants then were asked to look at the first set of advertisements and were given a few minutes to look at the advertisements and compare the two before answering the questions that followed the first set. Next, they were asked to move on to the second set of advertisements and answer the questions following those as well.

• Upon completion of the surveys, they were collected from the participants. The participants were thanked and debriefed about the full purposes of the study.

Results

The responses to the five questions were treated as an overall measure of preference within ad pair and examined for internal consistency. The Cronbach’s Alpha for the first pair of ads was .934 and .98 for the second set of ads. Therefore, the five questions were combined within type of ad (Barclay cigarettes and Canadian Club whisky) to create a scale measuring degree of functional preference. Scores could range from five to thirty. Lower scores reflected a preference for the social identity advertisement whereas higher scores reflected a preference for the product-quality advertisement.

An examination of the control conditions provided partial support to the notion that those low in Self-Monitoring would prefer the more intrinsically product-quality based ads relative to those high in Self-Monitoring. A t-test corrected for unequal variance was performed on ratings of the Barclay advertisements. It revealed a significant difference, t (23.21) = 2.071, p = .05. Low self-monitors demonstrated a preference for the functional advertisements based on a mean preference rating of 22.0 while the mean functional preference rating by high self-monitors was only 16.3. However, for the Canadian Club advertisements, high and low self-monitor did not differ significantly in preference, t < 1. With regard to the Canadian Club ads there was a possible confound. Each was supposed to convey either a message about social identity or product quality, however, one advertisement states “when it comes to taste, everyone draws the same conclusion” and the other said “you’re not just moving in, you’re moving up.” Both advertisements could convey a social identity message which minimized the difference between social identity and product quality.

Based upon the failure to replicate the self-monitoring effect with the Canadian Club Ads, the test of competing hypotheses was performed only on the Barclay Ads. The functional preference rating was analyzed by a 2 x 2 Analysis of Variance. A median split was used to define the two levels of self-monitors as (high or low), and the two levels of mortality salience were manipulated by having participants write about their own death or eating at their favorite restaurant experience. The only effect approaching significance was the self-monitoring X mortality interaction, F (1, 60) = 3.556, p = .064. Under the control condition, high self-monitors preferred the social identity advertisement whereas the low self-monitors preferred the product-quality advertisement. Under the mortality salience condition, the two groups converged in their preference of the two advertisements (please see Figure 1). Follow up t-tests indicated that the high self-monitors shifted their preference towards the product quality ad with mortality salience with t (60)=2.05, p<.05. In the restaurant control condition the average rating was 16.3 for high self-monitors. Under the condition of mortality salience their average rating was 20.3. Low self monitors did not differ statistically across conditions of mortality salience, t (60)=1.41,p>.10 (M= 22.0 control versus M=18.9 mortality). These findings offered equivocal support to the prediction based upon Martin et. al (2004) “brush with death” account that increased Mortality Salience would lead to a preference for advertisements emphasizing Intrinsic Qualities.

References

Martin, L. L., Campbell, W. K., & Henry, C. D. (2004). The roar of awakening: Mortality

acknowledgment as a call to authentic living. In J. Greenberg, S. L. Koole, & T.

Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology (pp. 431-

448). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Greenberg, J., Arndt, J., Simon, L., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (2000). Proximal and distal defenses in response to reminders of one’s mortality: evidence of a temporal sequence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26(1), 91-99.

Rosenblatt, A., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S, & Pyszcynski, T. (1989). Evidence for terror

management theory: I. The effects of mortality salience on those who violate or

uphold cultural values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(4), 681-

690.

Snyder, M. (1974). The self-monitoring of expressive behavior. Journal of Personality

and Social Psychology, 30, 526-537.

Snyder, M., & DeBono, K. G. (1985). Appeals to image and claims about quality:

Understanding the psychology of advertising. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 49, 586-597.

Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (1991). A terror management theory of

social behavior: The psychological functions of self-esteem and cultural

worldviews. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 24, 93-159.

SELF-MONITORING SCALE

Example

DIRECTIONS: The statements below concern your personal reactions to a number of different situations.

No two statements are exactly alike, so consider each statement carefully before answering. If a

statement is TRUE or MOSTLY TRUE as applied to you, circle the “T” next to the question. If a

statement is FALSE or NOT USUALLY TRUE as applied to you, circle the “F” next to the question.

(T) (F) 1. I find it hard to imitate the behavior of other people.

(T) (F) 2. My behavior is usually an expression of my true inner feelings, attitudes, and beliefs.

(T) (F) 3. At parties and social gatherings, I do not attempt to do or say things that others will like.

(T) (F) 4. I can only argue for ideas which I already believe.

(T) (F) 5. I can make impromptu speeches even on topics about which I have almost no information.

(T) (F) 6. I guess I put on a show to impress or entertain people

(T) (F) 7. When I am uncertain how to act in a social situation, I look to the behavior of others for cues.

(T) (F) 8. I would probably make a good actor.

(T) (F) 9. I rarely seek the advice of my friends to choose movies, books, or music.

(T) (F) 10. I sometimes appear to other to be experiencing deeper emotions than I actually am.

Mortality Salience Stimulus

Sample

Please briefly describe the emotions that the

thought of your own death arouses in you?

Jot down, as specifically as you can, what

you think will happen to you physically as

you die and once you are physically dead?

Questions about

Advertisements

Sample If you could, please rate each question as close as possible to one or the other end of the scale depending on your

answer , you should place a check mark in the corresponding segment depending on the number as follows:

Ad 1_____:_____:_____:_____:_√____:_____Ad 2

3 2 1 1 2 3

1 = slight preference for the ad

2 = moderate preference for the ad

3 = extreme preference for the ad

1. Overall, which ad do you think is better?

Ad 1_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:_____Ad 2

3 2 1 1 2 3

2. Which Ad appeals to you more?

Ad 1_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:_____Ad 2

3 2 1 1 2 3

3. Which Ad do you think would be more successful in promoting the product?

Ad 1_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:_____Ad 2

3 2 1 1 2 3

Estimated Marginal Means

higher score favor functional ad

Barclay Cigarettes

Mortality Salience

MortalityControl

Est

ima

ted

Ma

rgin

al M

ea

ns

23

22

21

20

19

18

17

16

15

Self-Monitoring

Low

Hi

Sample Advertisement for

Intrinsic Quality Condition

Sample Advertisement for Social Image Condition