Why Are We Not Choosing What We Want?: Lay Elitism Predicts the Dissociation of Choice from Preference and Conspicuous Consumption across Cultures

The current studies examined the multifinality effect of lay elitism(the believe that being an elite can help them achieved multiple goals). Four studies(cross-cultural) showed that the endorsement of lay elitism influenced preference and choice dissociation. Lay-elitism also increase people's affinity for luxury consumption across cultures, albeit at a different magnitude.