The Subjective Value of Popularity: A Neural Account of Socially Informed Functional Value and Social Value

Popular products are often thought of as being popular for a particular reason. Consumers may come up with different reasons to assess a popular product’s subjective value. This value may express functionality (Steinhart, Kamins, Mazursky, & Noy, 2014), or expectations on social approval (Berger & Heath, 2007). Research on social influence often distinguishes between two different routes through which popularity aids in value assessment by noting either informational (i.e. functional) incentives, or normative (i.e. social) incentives (Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990; Deutsch & Gerard, 1955). For evaluations on functionality, a product may be evaluated in terms of workmanship and overall quality, and for social evaluations in terms of expectations of approval of social peers (Sweeney & Soutar, 2001). We argue that the neural computation of the subjective value of popular products, is dependent upon whether consumers focus on a product’s functional value, or a product’s social value. The primary objective of this study is to explicate the neural processes through which popularity exerts influence on behaviour along these routes. In doing so, we draw upon insights that show how consumers use single pieces dependent upon their focus (Hare, Malmaud, & Rangel, 2011). Consumers’ choices, including those informed by popularity, are often driven by activity in the brain’s reward system (Bartra, McGuire, & Kable, 2013; Falk & Scholz, 2018). We propose that this activity is mediated by activity in other regions, dependent upon consumers’ focus. Consumers with a quality focus, are likely to display brain activity in regions known to process aspects of quality and specific product properties (i.e. functional value), such as ventral and lateral regions of the temporal cortex (Chao, Haxby, & Martin, 1999). Consumers with a social focus, are likely to show activity in regions known to revolve around thinking about (the opinions) of others (i.e. social value), such as the temporoparietal junction and the anterior cingulate cortex (Baek, Scholz, O’Donnell, & Falk, 2017; Berns, Capra, Moore, & Noussair, 2010)). We propose that the final subjective value that consumers derive from popularity is mediated by activity in regions that revolve around functional value when consumers focus on quality, whereas the effect is mediated by activity in regions revolving around social value, when consumers focus on social aspects.