Appraising the unusual: Framing effects and moderators of uniqueness-seeking and social projection

In this paper, we examine people’s appraisals of unusual objects and their intuitions about whether others will like those objects. Prior work suggests uniqueness motives (e.g., Need for Uniqueness) affect appraisals, but the effect of these motives on projection of appraisals to others is unclear. Contrary to some prior work, we argue that uniqueness motives do not govern projection of appraisals but rather that individual differences in perceived similarity to a target group do. We also show that perceptions of uniqueness are partly constructed and susceptible to framing, holding all other object properties constant. In two studies, we confirm our predictions about the effects on uniqueness motives and perceived similarity on appraisals and social projection of those appraisals.