Consumers frequently make choices and purchase products for other people (e.g., buying a gift for a friend). While extant research identified many factors that influence how choices for others are made, much of this literature focused on product-specific factors or motivations pertaining to the process of exchange to understand choice-for-others phenomena. Little is known about the influence of consumer-relevant factors on choices made for other people. In the current research, we examine how choices for others are influenced by consumers' own salient personal goals (e.g., to get fit, to succeed professionally). We find that consumers choose goal-inconsistent options for others to enhance their own perception of progress toward their salient goal. This effect is most robust when a salient goal is held at an individual (vs. group) level and when the choice-forother situation exhibits a relationship (vs. recipient) focus. Results of seven experiments support these claims.

Many people in Western societies pursue a thin body. Among the multiple reasons to lose weight, concerns about social perceptions play a prominent role in the desire to shed pounds. Previous research associates thinness with attractiveness, especially in Western societies. The current work demonstrates that moderate deviations from the average body size cue judgments on person perception dimensions. Results from three studies show that whereas moderately thin (vs. heavy) individuals are rated as more competent, moderately heavy (vs. thin) people are rated as more warm. The studies present mediation- and manipulation-based evidence that these effects occur because a thin (vs. heavy) body signals self-control—a construct instrumental in drawing competence inferences—and that a heavy (vs. thin) body signals emotional expressiveness—a construct that triggers inferences of warmth.

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