The Protagonist Mindset

Consumers have increasingly been using narrative terms to describe themselves and their lives. For instance, in 2022, over 170 million TikTok videos were tagged with the term “main-character energy” (McKinsey & Company 2022). Doing things “for the plot” is popular Gen Z slang. Offline, 55% of surveyed Gen Z and Millennials reported seeing themselves as the protagonist of their lives (Y-Pulse 2022). 

In my research, we study whether viewing oneself as the protagonist of one's life story is a psychological mindset that shapes how some consumers seek and respond to experiences. We introduce a novel construct, the protagonist mindset, and investigate its behavioral and attitudinal implications in the domain of experiential consumption.

We find that consumers with a protagonist mindset are more likely to engage in experiential consumption and pursue extraordinary experiences despite various barriers to doing so. This is because they recognize an additional utility from these experiences: that new, immersive, and emotional experiences contribute more to their life story. Having these experiences lets them feel more in control over their story. 

Ultimately, we argue this mindset has consequences on overall well-being: leading consumers to perceive themselves as living life to the fullest and experience greater personal growth.

Next Steps

We continue to examine what the consequences of the protagonist mindset are in other domains like risk-taking or goal-pursuit.  We also are interested in how people who want to go beyond their comfort zone (but have a hard time doing so) might implement this mindset.