'Guess who's coming to dinner': An investigation of the actual self, ideal self, ought self, hoped-for self and social self in a consumption situation

Five self-concepts (actual self, ideal self, ought self, hoped-for self and social self) were examined in this study to complement and further explore the possibilities associated with an increased understanding about which self-concept is activated and which personality attributes for that self-concept are intensified for consumption situations having different levels of situational risk and either a self-oriented or other-oriented consumption orientation.; An experimental design was employed to examine the activation of the self-concepts and the intensity of the measured personality attributes using wine as the product. A convenience sample of 192 college students were randomly assigned to one of three consumption situations for which measurements were taken for the five self-concepts being investigated. The situations were either high, moderate or low in situational risk and had either a self-oriented or other-oriented consumption orientation presented as the perspective from which the product was to be selected.; The results revealed dramatic changes take place in the consumers, self-concept as the level of situational risk increases. The self-oriented and other-oriented consumption orientations presented across situations did not produce significant results.; This research confirmed that the set of self-concept traits activated for one situation can be quite different from the self-concept traits activated for another situation. By manipulating the amount of situational risk associated with a consumption situation the results of the research demonstrated that different amounts of importance are placed on different personality attributes for different levels of situational risk. Understanding which self-concept is activated and which personality attributes are intensified within that self-concept for a consumption situation in which a product is typically used will enable marketers to position a brand as being the solution to achieving the desired self-concept activated within the consumer.