CONSUMERS IN REGARDS TO THEIR DEBT MANAGEMENT
Effectiveness of Credit Counseling: A Literature Review
United States consumers are unprepared and uneducated in regards to effective money management with credit and prioritized financial decisions. Use of credit counseling will benefit consumers by having a positive effect on their financial decision making. In contemporary capitalism, consumption takes front and center on the stage of everyday life.
Despite the importance of the twin forces of power and powerlessness, the relationship between them has not been systemically explored. Purchase power is seen as an aversive state that leads consumers to either flex this power, or enter a status of powerlessness. As a result, Rucker and Galinsky predict that feeling powerless, in relation to feeling powerful, will increase a consumers' desire to acquire products associated with status, which is measured by an overall willingness to pay. Further, they argue that this increased attraction to high-status products stems from a specific inclination to reestablish power, rather than a generalized action to repair mood or motive (Rucker, Galinsky 2008).
It was found that a great deal of research has demonstrated that power is a psychological state. Feeling powerful or powerless can be activated by instructing participants to recall prior events where they felt power, or a lack thereof. Being powerful, as opposed to powerless, tends to foster optimism and action, a greater reliance on one's thoughts, increased abstract thinking, and reduces accuracy in estimating the interests of other people (Keltner and Robinson 1997).
As further evidence for low power as an aversive state, individuals who have low power are also more likely to be targets of aggression and punishment by others. Work on low socioeconomic status, which can be seen as a form of powerlessness, has found that low-status children are... [continues]
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(2009, 06). Credit Counseling: Effects on United States Consumers in Regards to Their Debt Management. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 06, 2009, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Credit-Counseling-Effects-On-United-States-212180.html
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"Credit Counseling: Effects on United States Consumers in Regards to Their Debt Management." StudyMode.com. 06, 2009. Accessed 06, 2009. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Credit-Counseling-Effects-On-United-States-212180.html.