Journal of Consumer Research
March 2, 2010

































































































































































































































Contact JCR
[email protected]



JCR Home Page and
Submission Information

http://ejcr.org



Subscribe to JCR
http://bit.ly/7rbzQK



Follow JCR on Twitter Follow JCR on Twitter

http://twitter.com/JCRNEWS

Journal of Consumer Research
Highlights from Two Years Ago

Fact or Fiction: An Investigation of Empathy
Differences in Response to Emotional
Melodramatic Entertainment

Jennifer J. Argo
Rui (Juliet) Zhu
Darren W. Dahl


How does the influence of empathy and the level of fictionality of short stories affect consumer evaluations of emotional melodramatic entertainment? High empathizer evaluations are more favorable when the story is real. In contrast, low empathizer (often male) evaluations do not differ, regardless of the level of fictionality, except when provided with an excuse to become involved in the story; in this case a story that is make-believe as opposed to true is evaluated more favorably. Finally, transportation (absorption into a narrative) with the story is found to both moderate and mediate the effects.

Volume 34, Number 5, February 2008, DOI: 10.1086/521907


Selected Media Mentions

The New York Times
High Empathy (Mostly Women), Low Empathy (Mostly Men) and the Movies

The Economic Times
Men too enjoy chick flicks

Business Week
When it's all right for guys to cry

Science Daily
True Story? Men Prefer 'Chick Flicks' When They Are Explicitly Fictionalized

EurekAlert!
True story? Men prefer 'chick flicks' when they are explicitly fictionalized

PhysOrg.com
True story? Men prefer 'chick flicks' when they are explicitly fictionalized


The Cultural Construction of Risk
Understandings through Illness Narratives

Nancy Wong
Tracey King


A study of breast cancer screening and treatment decisions suggests that risk understandings are influenced by the dominant illness narrative of restitution within Anglo-Western cultures. Restitution stories reflect the cultural values of personal responsibility and control in combating disease and returning to a life of normalcy. In the context of breast cancer, individuals seek restitution by following the dictums of biomedicine, which promotes early detection as prevention, aggressive treatment as cure, and reconstructive surgery as concealment. Findings suggest that these risk understandings contribute to the consumption of health-care interventions that exceeds medical guidelines in this country.

Volume 34, Number 5, February 2008, DOI: 10.1086/520078


Selected Media Mentions

EurekAlert!
American women are more likely to choose overly aggressive treatments for breast cancer

Science Daily
American Women Are More Likely To Choose Overly Aggressive Treatments For Breast Cancer


Consumer Wait Management Strategies for Negative Service Events: A Coping Approach
Elizabeth Gelfand Miller
Barbara E. Kahn
Mary Frances Luce


In negative service environments, waiting time can serve to facilitate consumer coping. Consequently, the very wait management strategies (such as providing duration information or shortening the wait) that mitigate wait-based stress for nonnegative services may interfere with consumer efforts to cope with an upcoming negative event. The effectiveness of wait management strategies is moderated by event valence and, further, by the individual's coping orientation. Shortened wait times lead to increased stress for those using approach-oriented strategies (compared to avoidance), and duration information leads to increased stress for those using avoidance-oriented strategies.

Volume 34, Number 5, February 2008, DOI: 10.1086/521899


Selected Media Mentions

Science Daily
When Shorter Waits Increase Stress

PhysOrg.com
When Shorter Waits Increase Stress


Mood and Comparative Judgment:
Does Mood Influence Everything and Finally Nothing?

Cheng Qiu
Catherine W. M. Yeung


Research indicates that mood can influence evaluation of a product when considered in isolation. However, little is known about its influence on comparisons among several alternatives. When evaluating each option individually upon encountering it, happy participants reported greater preferences for the first encountered option than unhappy participants. When withholding evaluations until having seen all options, however, happy participants reported greater preferences for the last encountered option than unhappy participants. Which comparison strategy was employed, and consequently the impact of mood on preferences, depended on the similarity of choice alternatives in terms of appearance versus descriptive features.

Volume 34, Number 5, February 2008, DOI: 10.1086/522096


Selected Media Mentions

EurekAlert
Does mood matter?

Science Daily
Does Mood Matter? What About The Order Of Choices?

PhysOrg.com
Does mood matter? How you feel influences what you'll buy, says study

Thaindian News
How our mood influences what we buy


Be Fit and Be Strong: Mastering Self-Regulation through Regulatory Fit
Jiewen Hong
Angela Y. Lee


What is the effect of regulatory fit on self-regulation? Consumers experience regulatory fit when their strategy of goal pursuit fits (vs. conflicts) with their regulatory focus. Regulatory fit improves whereas regulatory nonfit impairs self-regulatory performance. These results were obtained across multiple self-regulatory tasks that included a handgrip exercise to test physical endurance, a choice between a healthy and a decadent snack to test willpower in the face of temptation, and a health-related compliance decision to demonstrate self-regulation. Intensified motivation seems to be the mechanism underlying the regulatory fit effect.

Volume 34, Number 5, February 2008, DOI: 10.1086/521902


Selected Media Mentions

Science Daily
Your Personality Type Influences How Much Self-Control You Have

PhysOrg.com
Your personality type influences how much self-control you have


Order of Entry and the Moderating Role of Comparison Brands in Brand Extension Evaluation
James L. Oakley
Adam Duhachek
Subramanian Balachander
S. Sriram


Extant research proposes that order of entry moderates the impact of fit on brand extension evaluation. The authors conceptualize a model in which new brands enter the market dynamically, driving consumers to engage in differential processing as a function of pioneer and follower evaluation scenarios. Consumers rely on singular evaluative processing in pioneer contexts and comparative evaluation in follower contexts, producing unique moderating effects based on the existence of comparison brands. Experimental results indicate that follower brands can actually benefit from comparison with pioneering brands that have a relatively lower fit with the extension category.

Volume 34, Number 5, February 2008, DOI: 10.1086/521905


Selected Media Mentions

EurekAlert!
Trailblazers don't always come out ahead

Science Daily
Trailblazers don't always come out ahead

PhysOrg.com
Trailblazers don't always come out ahead

Thaindian News
Pioneer products may not always be the best


Procedural Priming and Consumer Judgments: Effects on the Impact of Positively and Negatively Valenced Information
Hao Shen
Robert S. Wyer Jr.


The cognitive procedure consumers use to search for information about a product is influenced by the ease with which it comes to mind. Unrelated experiences can activate a search process that governs the order in which favorable and unfavorable product descriptions are identified and the evaluations made on the basis of them. The effects of priming a search strategy on the attention to positively or negatively valenced information are diametrically opposite to the effects of the semantic (for example, attribute) concepts that are called to mind in the course of activating this strategy.

Volume 34, Number 5, February 2008, DOI: 10.1086/523292


Selected Media Mentions

EurkAlert!
Study: How much you're willing to pay depends on what you were just doing

Science Daily
How Much You're Willing To Pay Depends On What You Were Just Doing

PhysOrg.com
How Much You're Willing To Pay Depends On What You Were Just Doing

Call for Nominations
click link above