�Healthy the great unwashed are more willing to take drugs to raise traits that are non fundamental to their identity.
According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, people's willingness to take a tablet or drug depends on whether the trait the drug promises to enhance is peerless they study fundamental.
Authors Jason Riis (NYU, Harvard Business School), Joseph P. Simmons (Yale University), and Geoffrey P. Goodwin (Princeton University) examine the moral dilemmas that arise as technologies develop that not only cure disease but too enhance already-healthy people. As many thomas Young people without diagnosed disorders or deficits take Ritalin or Adderall to ameliorate concentration or anti-depressants to lift their moods, this study examines what makes healthy citizenry willing to take pills.
The researchers compulsive that people do not feel comfortable using a pill to enhance a trait they believe to be underlying to their identity. But less-fundamental traits, including concentration, are more acceptable targets.
"We suggest that people's willingness to accept psychological enhancements will largely depend on beliefs about whether those enhancements testament alter characteristics considered fundamental to self-identity," the authors write.
During a series of studies, the researchers ground that loretta Young people were less likely to agree to aim a do drugs to step-up their social comfort than one that increased their ability to concentrate. The most common reason participants said they wouldn't want to make a pill was because it would "fundamentally change who I am."
Not surprisingly, the marketing message stirred participants' responses. When the researchers time-tested different advertizement taglines, they found that participants responded more positively to a drug bright to help them suit "more than who you are," than one that would admit them to become "world Health Organization you are."
"Together, this enquiry converges to highlight the importance of identity expression and preservation in government activity the choices and lives of consumers," write the authors.
Jason Riis, Joseph P. Simmons, and Geoffrey P. Goodwin. "Preferences for Enhancement Pharmaceuticals: The Reluctance to Enhance Fundamental Traits" Journal of Consumer Research: October 2008.
Source: Mary-Ann Twist
University of Chicago Press Journals
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