abstract:The Diderot effect is a social phenomenon related to consumer goods which either posits that form culturally defines groups that are considered cohesive or refers to a process of spiralling consumption resulting from dissatisfaction induced by a new possession. The term was coined by anthropologist and scholar of consumption patterns Grant McCracken in 1988, and is named after the French philosopher Denis Diderot (1713–84) who first described the effect in an essay.