When consumers follow their feelings: The impact of affective or cognitive focus on the basis of consumers' choice

Abstract

The authors assumed that automatic preferences based on lowerorder affective processes have a greater impact on choice when people focus on their affective response to choice options (affective focus) than when they try to find reasons for their preferences (cognitive focus). They further supposed that the impact of the focus during decision making is less important when the cognitive resources of consumers are constrained. In an experiment, participants had to choose between two options while the cognitive or affective focus and processing resources were manipulated. Measures of automatic preferences correlated with choice under an affective, but not under a cognitive, focus. In contrast to expectations, this effect of focus was not moderated by the manipulation of processing resources. Interestingly, the automatic measures contributed to the prediction of choice under an affective focus independently and apart from self-report measures.

Reaching for the (Product) Stars: Measuring Recognition and Approach Speed to Get Insights Into Consumer Choice

“…As in Study 1, we expected that differences in approach movement times, but not in recognition times, would predict choice. Moreover, in line with previous studies that demonstrated the influence of impulses under an affective compared to a cognitive focus (e.g., Scarabis, Florack, & Gosejohann, 2006;Smith & Nosek, 2011), we hypothesized that approach movement times measured with the RaBAT would show a stronger unique contribution to the prediction of a choice between fruit and chocolate when individuals focused on their affect than when they thought about the reasons for their choice.…”

“…By contrast, the differences in recognition times were in no condition correlated with choice. Thus, approach movement time, but not recognition time as measured with the RaBAT, taps into impulsive processes, which are known to affect behavior more under an affective than under a cognitive focus (Scarabis et al, 2006). Indeed, it cannot be expected that a measure of approach predispositions would predict behavior in every case, but, as a task to measure automatically activated approach tendencies, it should predict behavior that is driven mainly by impulses (Florack et al, 2010;Friese et al, 2008).…”

“…The processing time for both conditions was limited to 90s. A similar manipulation was used already by Scarabis et al (2006). After participants completed the manipulation, they chose between four snacks.…”

Affective Focus Increases the Concordance Between Implicit and Explicit Attitudes

“…If the prime activates positivity, then the evaluation of Scarabis, Florack, and Gosejohann (2006) found that implicit measures related to consumer choices when participants made those choices while focusing on their feelings, but not while analyzing their reasons. These latter two papers built on evidence that, because people do not have easy introspective access to their mental processes (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977), focusing on reasons leads to less satisfaction with behavioral choices (Wilson, Lisle, Schooler, Hodges, Klaaren, & LaFluer, 1993).…”

The Attitude–Behavior Relationship in Consumer Conduct: The Role of Norms, Past Behavior, and Self-Identity

“…Some researchers have examined aspects of the consumer (e.g., involvement; Swinyard, 1993), whereas others have focused on the effects of social factors, such as reference groups, on consumer choice (e.g., White & Dahl, 2006). Some researchers have focused on the distinction between explicit and implicit consumer preferences and how these preferences interact to influence consumer choice (e.g., Friese, Wanke, & Plessner, 2006) or on the relative impact of affective versus cognitive aspects of consumer preferences on consumer choice (e.g., Scarabis, Florack, & Gosejohann, 2006). Last, researchers have drawn on dominant models of the attitude-behavior relationship, namely the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1985), to explain consumer behavior.…”