Under the Mortality Salience: Effects of Life Philosophy on Hedonic and Utilitarian Consumption

Based on the Terror Management Theory, this article examines the effects of mortality salience and outlook on life on consumer behavior. Two experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, the results indicate that individuals in the mortality salience condition allocate more money to their hedonic consumption than their utilitarian consumption; however, individuals in the control condition allocate more money to their utilitarian consumption than their hedonic consumption. In experiment 2, the results show that individuals who have a pessimistic outlook on life tend to spend more money on catering consumption, and spend less money on investment funds when they face the possibility of death. Specifically, there is no significant difference of buying life insurance between the high and low mortality salience condition.