Current Issue Highlights
 
August 19, 2014

"So Cute I Could Eat It Up": Priming Effects of Cute Products on Indulgent Consumption

Gergana Y. Nenkov
Maura L. Scott  

 

This article examines the extent to which consumers engage in more indulgent consumption when they are exposed to whimsically cute products and explores the process by which such products affect indulgence. Prior research on kindchenschema (baby schema) has found that exposure to cute babies or baby animals leads to more careful behavior, suggesting restraint. The present research uncovers the opposite: consumers become more indulgent in their behavior after exposure to whimsically cute products. Exposure to whimsically cute products primes mental representations of fun, increasing consumer focus on approaching self-rewards and making consumers more likely to choose indulgent options. These effects do not emerge for kindchenschema cute stimuli, since they prime mental representations of vulnerability and caretaking. Four studies provide evidence for the proposed effects and their underlying process.


Something to Chew On: The Effects of Oral Haptics on Mastication, Orosensory Perception, and Calorie Estimation

Dipayan Biswas
Courtney Szocs
Aradhna Krishna
Donald R. Lehmann 

 

This research examines how oral haptics (due to hardness/softness or roughness/smoothness) related to foods influence mastication (degree of chewing) and orosensory perception (orally perceived fattiness), which in turn influence calorie estimation, subsequent food choices, and overall consumption volume. Consistent with theories related to mastication and orosensory perception, oral haptics related to soft (vs. hard) and smooth (vs. rough) foods lead to higher calorie estimations. This "oral haptics-calorie estimation" (OHCE) effect is driven by the lower mastication effort and the higher orosensory perception for soft (vs. hard) and smooth (vs. rough) foods. Further, the OHCE effect has downstream behavioral outcomes in terms of influencing subsequent food choices between healthy versus unhealthy options as well as overall consumption volume. Moreover, mindful calorie estimation moderates the effects of oral haptics on consumption volume.   

 
Volume 41, Number 2, August 2014
DOI: 10.1086/675739


Accepting Inequality Deters Responsibility: How Power Distance Decreases Charitable Behavior

Karen Page Winterich
Yinlong Zhang  


Could power distance, which is the extent that inequality is expected and accepted, explain why some countries and consumers are more likely to engage in prosocial behavior, including donations of both money and time? Higher power distance results in weaker perceptions of responsibility to aid others, which decreases charitable behavior. Both correlational and causal evidence is provided in a series of studies that examine country-level power distance as well as individual and temporarily salient power distance belief. Consistent with the mediating role of perceived responsibility, results reveal that uncontrollable needs and communal relationship norms are boundary conditions that overcome the negative effect of power distance on charitable behavior. These results explain differences in charitable giving across cultures and provide implications for nonprofit organizations soliciting donations. 

 
Volume 41, Number 2, August 2014
DOI: 10.1086/675927 
   

Judging a Part by the Size of Its Whole: The Category Size Bias in Probability Judgments

Mathew S. Isaac
Aaron R. Brough  

  

Whereas prior research has found that consumer probability judgments are sensitive to the number of categories into which a set of possible outcomes is grouped, categorization can also bias predictions when the number of categories is fixed. Specifically, the experiments document a category size bias in which consumers perceive an outcome as more likely to occur when it is categorized with many rather than few alternative possibilities, even when the grouping criterion is irrelevant and the objective probability of each outcome is identical. For example, consumers irrationally predicted being more likely to win a lottery if their ticket color matched many (vs. few) of the other gamblers' tickets -- and wagered nearly 25% more as a result. Consumer perceptions of risk and probability are influenced not only by the number of categories into which possible outcomes are classified but also by category size.  

 

When Identity Marketing Backfires: Consumer Agency in Identity Expression

Amit Bhattacharjee
Jonah Berger
Geeta Menon 

  

Consumers prefer brands positioned around identities they possess. Accordingly, the consumer identity literature emphasizes the importance of a clear fit between brands and target identities, suggesting that identity marketing that explicitly links brands to consumer identity should be most effective. In contrast, the authors demonstrate that explicit identity-marketing messages can backfire. Messages that explicitly connect a particular brand to consumer identity increase the salience of external determinants of behavior, reducing consumer perceptions of agency in identity expression. Hence, compared to messages that merely reference consumer identity, messages that explicitly define identity expression reduce purchase likelihood, despite more clearly conveying identity relevance. These findings highlight the need to consider consumer need for agency in addition to their drive for self-definition and expression through consumption, offering a foundation to examine both the risks and the rewards of identity marketing.  

 
Volume 41, Number 2, August 2014
DOI: 10.1086/676125
   
Kelly Tian 
Pookie Sautter
Derek Fisher
Sarah Fischbach
Cuauhtemoc Luna-Nevarez
  Kevin Boberg
  Jim Kroger
  Richard Vann
 
 

Health technology innovations continue to revolutionize health care delivery but simultaneously challenge the design of services that do not marginalize human participation in the creation of value in the health care delivery process. This research recruited persons living with chronic disease to collaborate in developing information communication technologies (ICTs) conceived as a virtual reality game and web-compatible graphic novel intended to function as entertaining health education aids. The findings revealed a transformative potential for ICTs far beyond original expectations. Consumers envisioned ICTs that integrate data from biophysical monitoring devices with personal narratives toward creating social platforms that empathically share a common and clear understanding of the physical, emotional, and sociocultural realities of living with chronic disease. Consistent with cultural trauma theory, the research conclusions focus on realizing the power of technology-enhanced narratives to build collaborative therapeutic communities and to provide impetus for affecting social change and action in health care systems. 

 

Volume 41, Number 2, August 2014  

DOI: 10.1086/676311 



Morality and the Marketplace

(Summer 2014)

Curator: Kent Grayson

Decisions at a Distance

(Spring 2014)

Curator: Rebecca Hamilton

      
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