Consumer behavior and the aspiration for conformity and consistency

The (socio-)psychological concepts of individual aspiration for conformity and consistency are integrated into the rational-choice framework. By using this integrative approach it is shown that after a shock the aspiration for conformity results in an equilibrium which deviates from the homo oeconomicus' behavior towards the consumption of the peer group, whereas the aspiration for consistency leads to the result that the equilibrium consumption is not reached at once. Combining these e®ects a new consumption path is derived. After a shock the individual consumption converges step-by-step to the new equilibrium consumption.