“At some point I asked myself why I actually own an unusual snake print jacket or drive such a flashy car,” says Hans-Peter Erb. The social psychologist found the answer without much research. It is due to this one personality trait, which – as he now knows – is more pronounced in him than in others: the need for Uniqueness.

This has been the subject of psychological research since the 1970s. Need for Uniqueness, NfU for short, is “an individual’s striving for being different from others”. But wanting to be different doesn’t mean that you want to stand out at all costs.

More than 0815

Because people live out the increased need for uniqueness in two different ways: some more privately, others more obviously. “Some people are fine with their own initials embroidered on the inside of their jackets,” says Hans-Peter Erb, who works as a professor of social psychology at the Helmut Schmidt University of the German Armed Forces in Hamburg. Others want to show their uniqueness more to the outside world. So they dye their hair yellow-green, wear purple polka-dot glasses or the unusual snake-look jacket like Erb himself: “The idea behind this is often: Others should see that I’m not the 0815 type, Max Mustermann or the average Joe .”

That’s what the need for uniqueness is all about: a special consumer behavior. Individually adapted, rare or very eye-catching products often end up in the shopping cart of people who value uniqueness. And advertising takes advantage of this. “Be something special – buy our product!” is what many commercials convey. But the longing for something special can not only be felt through clothing, an unusual style of speech or consumer behavior.

Fancy clothes, personalized products, tattoos and piercings

According to psychologists, a greater willingness to take risks and greater self-esteem are also associated with a greater need for uniqueness. In addition, these people tend to be more extraverted, less neurotic, and more open to new experiences than others. For people with this penchant for something special, currywurst with fries is less likely to end up on the plate. “They’ll probably try out the new Syrian restaurant around the corner,” says Erb.

Having lots of tattoos and piercings or making extreme physical changes also indicates a higher need for uniqueness, as another study found. And Erb and his research team had another exciting finding: if you want to be particularly unique, you usually have a larger signature – adjusted for the total length of the name, of course.

The need for uniqueness can also be a condition that manifests itself differently in different situations. “When soldiers wear uniforms, for example, the measured need for uniqueness is usually greater than when they wear normal street clothes,” says Hans-Peter Erb.

But striving for something special is not all rosy: these people are often less socially acceptable than others. “One often offends, especially when it comes to opinions, attitudes and values,” says Erb. People with a high need for uniqueness tend to be ruthless in expressing their opinions – and they often agree with minority opinions. “This allows them to demonstrate their uniqueness,” says Erb. They also usually see it a little more relaxed with rules. Several studies also show that people who believe conspiracy stories have a higher need for uniqueness than people who don’t.

The world is becoming more individualistic – and also more selfish?

An increasing need for uniqueness also points to increasing Individualism. Since 1960, it has increased by about 12 percent worldwide, researchers found. Individualism is a fundamental attitude that values ​​the worth of an individual over that of a group. In order to measure this, researchers not only look at the need for uniqueness. They also associate the fact that parents give their children unusual first names more frequently and more and more people are getting divorced with individualism.

States such as the USA, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium or Denmark are considered individualistic. On the other hand, there are collectivist cultures in which belonging to a group, a sense of family and the collective have a higher priority than the self-realization of individuals. Large parts of Asia, South America, many African and Arab countries are collectivist. However, some studies show that traditionally collectivistic cultures also achieve higher values ​​of individualism. Will the world soon only consist of egocentric people who think they are something very special?

What increasing individualism means for individuals and entire societies is not entirely clear to researchers either. On the one hand Individualistic people achieve higher educational qualifications, do more further education, earn higher wages and are less likely to be unemployed. Simultaneously However, individualistic people experience less social support and more competition and comparison with others, which can negatively impact mental health. However, the prejudice that individualistic people are inevitably less interested in the well-being of others is not true.

We’re all a little Lady Gaga

“Just because some people have a strong need for uniqueness doesn’t mean that they automatically behave more selfishly than others,” Erb agrees. The fact that the zeitgeist, particularly in western cultures, is moving strongly in the direction of individualism and uniqueness does not worry him much.

He defends the little Lady Gaga that is in many people. “We really are all unique,” ​​says Erb. “People differ in what meaning they attribute to their own uniqueness – and how strongly they want to convey this to the outside world.”