Mitigating Appearance Threats: The Differential Effects of Compensatory Consumption on Self-Control

Abstract

Appearance threats, arising from gaps between one’s appearance and societal beauty standards, weaken self-control the capacity to favor long-term goals over immediate impulses. This research explores how compensatory consumption mitigates these effects, focusing on type (within-domain vs. across-domain) and timing (near-future vs. distant-future) across two studies. Rooted in symbolic self-completion and construal level theories, Study 1 examines how compensation type affects self-control under appearance threats, with rumination as a mediator. Findings show across-domain compensation sustains self-control by diverting focus from appearance concerns, unlike within-domain compensation, which heightens rumination and impairs self-regulation. Study 2 investigates how compensation timing moderates these outcomes, revealing that delayed within-domain compensation boosts self-control via psychological distance, while across-domain benefits persist regardless of timing. These insights illuminate the interplay of compensation strategies and cognition in self-regulation, offering a foundation for future research into threat contexts and interventions to enhance consumer resilience.