A Behavioral Model of Conumption Patterns : The Effects of Cognitive Dissonance and Conformity

Cognitive dissonance causes people to rationalize actions that differ from their own preferences.Conformity, on the other hand, causes people to change their behavior as a result of pressure from others.This paper investigates the consequences of preference dynamic that occur when individuals rationalize their preferences, are conformists and have a minimum consumption constraint.The main results are: (1) Individuals who have a greater tendency toward conformity will rationalize their preferences to a greater degree, (2) Individuals' optimal consumption pattern will be unstable and scatter over time, (3) Average consumption in society will increase along a cyclical path and (4) An increase in either cognitive dissonance or conformity induces greater volatility of average consumption.