by H. Çağatay Karabıyık*, Mahmut Nevfel Elgün and Mehmet Ak
ABSTRACT
This study aims to analyse post-modern consumer behaviour within the framework of the Cognitive Behavioural Approach by focusing on the automatic thoughts and intermediate beliefs underlying luxury consumption. In the post-modern era, consumption has evolved beyond the functional satisfaction of needs and has become a lifestyle shaped by symbolic meanings, social status, and identity construction. Therefore, understanding consumer behaviour requires an interdisciplinary perspective integrating psychology, sociology, and marketing. In this context, the study investigates how consumers ontologically define consumption, need, and luxury, and explores the unconscious cognitive structures guiding luxury consumption decisions. The research was conducted using in-depth, unstructured interviews with 138 individuals aged between 25 and 35 living in Konya, Türkiye. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques were adapted to identify automatic thoughts and intermediate beliefs related to luxury consumption. The findings reveal that luxury consumption is primarily driven by social motives such as status, differentiation, and perceived success rather than functional benefits. Consumers tend to perceive luxury as a symbolic right and evaluate it within a competitive and zero-sum resource framework. Moreover, social contexts significantly increase emotional satisfaction and reinforce symbolic meanings in luxury consumption. This study contributes to the literature by offering an original interdisciplinary methodological perspective, expanding symbolic consumption theory through cognitive mechanisms, and providing strategic implications for luxury brand positioning and marketing communication.
