We talked previously about impression management, and the idea that we strategically use products to communicate to other people who we are. But in this section, I also want to focus on the idea that our possessions and affiliations actually help us to decide who we are as well. As we saw earlier, many of the props and settings consumers use to define their social roles become part of themselves. Those external objects that we consider a part of us constitute the extended self. In some cultures, people literally incorporate objects into the self. They licked new possessions.

Take the names of conquered enemies, or in some cases, eat them or bury the dead with their possessions. Closer to home, some of us dress up as characters From our favorite TV shows. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Americans get over 9 million cosmetic surgical and non surgical procedures in a year. The most frequently performed surgical procedure is breast augmentation, which typically involves the integration of manmade silicon implants with the patient's organic material. More than 4 million Americans have an artificial knee. Nike teamed up with the orthopedics company was here to introduce its first sprinting prosthesis called the Nike soul, perhaps the first commercially scalable transformation of disabled athletes into super abled athletes.

So these are all very literal examples of an extended self in that way We are taking manmade objects and integrating them with our organic material to essentially become new people. Of course, there are many other ways that the extended self influences our definition of who we are. So let's talk about those as well. To illustrate how our possessions help to define ourselves and the way we think about ourselves. Consider this study, researchers approached women in a shopping mall, and gave them one of two shopping bags to walk around with for an hour. Women who received a bag from Victoria's Secret later reported to the researchers that they felt more sensual and glamorous.

And that was only after an hour and another experiment. MBA students were asked to take notes for six weeks using a pen embossed with the MIT logo. Guess what These students reported feeling smarter. At the end of the term. We describe four levels of the extended self. And These range from very personal objects to places and things that allow people to feel as though they are rooted in their larger social environments.

First, we have the individual level. And we know that consumers include many of their personal possessions in self definition. These products can include jewelry, cars, clothing, and many other personal items. The saying you are what you wear, reflects the belief that once things are a part of one's identity. The family level of the extended self includes a consumers residence and the furnishings in it. We can think of the house as a symbolic body for the family.

And the place where we live often is a central aspect. of who we are. Then we come to the community level, where we find that it's common for consumers to describe themselves in terms of the neighborhood or town from which they come. For farm families or other residents with close ties to a community. This sense of belonging is particularly important. And then we have the group level.

We regard our attachments to certain social groups as part of the self. We'll consider some of these consumer subcultures in a later module. A consumer may also feel that landmarks, monuments, or sports teams are a part of the extended self. The takeaway is that you create a strong bond with your customers by helping them to express some aspect of their extended selves. Let's go a step further. To what extent to the products we buy influence How we define ourselves.

Social scientists who study relationships between thoughts and behaviors, increasingly talk about the theory of embodied cognition. A simple way to explain this perspective is that states of the body, modify states of the mind. In other words, our behaviors and observations of what we do and by shape our thoughts rather than vice versa. One of the most powerful examples of embodied cognition is the idea that our body language actually changes how we see ourselves. In one of the most widely viewed TED Talks, a social psychologist discusses how power posing, that is standing in a confident way, even if you don't feel confident, affects brain activity. Again, the self fulfilling prophecy at work