Children's Recognition of Consumption Symbolism in Children's Products

Abstract

The development of children's abilities to recognize consumption symbolism has been examined using adults' products, but not using children's products. The present study examines children's perceptions of the users of children's products and tests hypotheses concerning the effects of age, sex, social class, and sibling influence. As expected, the greatest differences are found among children of different ages. Results are interpreted as due to product-related experience and positive biases toward higher-status brand names and personally owned products.