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

3The terrorist attacks in the U.S. on September 11 th , 2001 shocked and horrified thenation. In the weeks and months following the attacks, people faced a heightened awareness oftheir vulnerability and lack of control over outcomes in life (Schuster et al. 2001). To cope, theyheightened support for the government (Willer 2004), held tighter to religious beliefs (Schusteret al. 2001; Smith, Rasinski, and Toce 2001) and increased spending on consumer goods(Zuckerman 2002). Interestingly, these attempts to re-establish control and order wereaccompanied by a perceived (if not actual) change in products that were introduced (Nussbaum2002). Specifically, it has been suggested that America‘s reaction to its vulnerable state wasreflected in a shift away from visually open, flexible, and translucent products to the morestructured and tightly bounded products (with their sharp edges, tight corners and opaquepackages) that captured design awards and accolades in the year that followed (Nussbaum 2002).Such an observation is purely speculative; yet the idea that we seek structure inconsumption (i.e., ‗structured consumption‘) as a means of dealing with low feelings of personalcontrol may provide powerful insight into our choices. The notion that such structure may befound in the simple elements of our surroundings is particularly intriguing. Thus, this researchasks how visual aspects of the environment interact with consumers‘ psychological needs andimpact choices. More specifically, how might such elements serve the underlying need thatconsumers possess to maintain feelings of control? Are there certain aspects of the environmentthat provide the sense of order and structure that consumers need to re-establish control?I specifically focus on how consumers‘ desire for ‗structured consumption‘ results inenhanced preferences for ‗boundaries‘ in their environment when personal control is threatened.Such boundaries can include the tangible, explicit aspects of products, such as the framesurrounding a painting, a fence circling a house, or a prominent border surrounding a firm‘s logo.