The Beauty of Boundaries: When and Why We Seek Structure in ...

18An additional way to demonstrate that the need for structure is an important underlyingfactor in consumers‘ desire for boundaries is to demonstrate that individuals‘ chronic needs forstructure are related to their desire for boundaries. A ‗chronic‘ need for structure refers to theextent to which people regularly desire simple structure in their lives (Neuberg and Newsom1993). The scale designed to capture the essence of this construct includes questions such as ―Ienjoy having a clear and structured mode of life,‖ ―I like to have a place for everything andeverything in its place.‖ If my hypothesis is correct and low feelings of control lead to a greaterpreference for boundaries because of an enhanced need for structure, then we should find thatindividuals with high chronic needs for structure have a greater preference for boundaries atbaseline (i.e., when control is not threatened) than individuals without such needs for structure.To test this hypothesis, 28 adults were recruited online and asked to complete the need forstructure scale (α = .80). They then indicated their preferences for a new measure of boundaries.Participants chose between items that can be characterized as explicitly bounded or not (e.g., apicture with a frame vs. no frame, a house surrounded by a fence vs. no fence; see appendix 2.)Specifically, participants chose one item in each of six pairs of items where one item in each pairwas bounded and the other was not. Pre-testing indicated that these items differed in perceptionsof structure, but not other measures such as quality, price or attractiveness. Using repeatedmeasures logistic regression, the choice of bounded versus unbounded items was regressed onthe continuous need for structure measure. The analyses revealed that the higher a consumer‘sneed for structure, the more likely he/she was to choose bounded products (B = .40, Z = 1.96, p =.05). This therefore provides further support for the idea that a need for structure is an importantunderlying factor in why people prefer boundaries.