Commentaries on “Reconsidering the path for neural and physiological methods in consumer psychology”

The initial version of the article by Clithero, Karmarkar, Nave, and Plassmann (Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2024) was critiqued by open comments from a small group of scholars. Their suggestions encouraged the authors to clarify challenging relationships between brain processes and emotions, beliefs, and actions. The revision expanded fMRI and EEG to include measures of vision, facial expression, breathing, heart rhythms, and blood chemistry. The paper provides multiple avenues of joint work between neurological and psychological scholars. The comments below reflect different reactions to the final article. Wes Hutchinson acknowledges that neuroscience insights complement cognitive measures that generate explicit measures of thought, emotion, or preferences, but he warns that repeated measures over time are problematic for both types of measurement, and the inherent complexity of brain–behavior relationships is often underestimated. With both orientations, understanding the functioning of human behavior is akin to making sense of an orchestra, where the interactive blending of different instruments and musicians reflects a complex activity that generates sounds, emotions, and stories. Both consumer neuroscientists and psychologists need to broaden their paradigmatic approaches with bodily measures and advanced psychological procedures to overcome challenges to joint progress. Martin Reiman asserts that despite difficulties with measures that have different levels of abstraction or velocity, research has provided remarkable associations between brain activity and consumer behavior. Effective studies merging brain and behavior can effectively proceed with studies that differ in two dimensions: first, by altering the number of variables, and second, by shifting whether the scientific paradigm is inductive or deductive. In its simple form, the Excavation path explores brain activity when a person is exposed to specific statements or emotions. In its most challenging form, Integrative Studies generate predictions from theories that test the convergent validity of divergent measures and leverage skills from different researchers. Studies reflecting high levels on one dimension but low levels on the other can also provide fruitful research opportunities. Brian Knutson, like Reimann, counters the idea that consumer psychology has not lived up to its promises. He references studies showing that activity from very specific areas of the brain reliably predicts choices better than explicit ratings or choices. Such research generates deductions from increasingly precise neural maps that enable confirmation of theory. That said, he acknowledges that consumer neuroscience is not able to identify a brain button that would alter choice through manipulated neurostimulation. However, since human brains are similar across people, the depth of neural insights that are consistent across a small sample of 40 respondents may generate greater insights than conventional marketing research with 2000 respondents. The cost of neuroscience will further decrease with gains in reliability, validity, and generalizability, particularly if augmented with bodily measures. He acknowledges that the theoretical side has developed more slowly than applications, particularly applications that are supported by sponsoring organizations more satisfied with local insights than general models.     

消费者态度的新认知:二元化的矛盾态度

传统态度的研究认为态度是一元化的,而矛盾性态度的研究则提出态度是二元化的,即对于同一事物正面和负面的评价可以同时存在。态度矛盾是一个普遍现象。社会心理学主要对一般性矛盾态度进行了研究,尚处于起步阶段。而消费者矛盾态度是营销学和社会心理学相交叉的一个新兴研究领域,其与一般性矛盾态度的差别是,后者相对稳定,而消费者矛盾态度相对不稳定,容易受到外部环境的影响,并对消费者购买行为产生显著的影响。     

Eye See What You Are Saying: Testing Conversational Influences on the Information Gleaned from Home‐Loan Disclosure Forms

The federal government mandates the use of home‐loan disclosure forms to facilitate understanding of offered loans, enable comparison shopping, and prevent predatory lending. Predatory lending persists, however, and scant research has examined how salespeople might undermine the effectiveness of these forms. Three eye‐tracking studies (a laboratory simulation and two controlled experiments) investigated how conversational norms affect the information consumers can glean from these forms. Study 1 was a laboratory simulation that recreated in the laboratory; the effects that previous literature suggested is likely happening in the field, namely, that following or violating conversational norms affects the information that consumers can glean from home‐loan disclosure forms and the home‐loan decisions they make. Studies 2 and 3 were controlled experiments that isolated the possible factors responsible for the observed biases in the information gleaned from these forms. The results suggest that attentional biases are largely responsible for the effects of conversation on the information consumers get and that perceived importance plays little to no role. Policy implications and how eye‐tracking technology can be employed to improve decision‐making are considered. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

自我概念与商品形象的一致性和仿制商品消费及使用的关系:作用与反作用

通过一个相关研究和一个实验研究探索自我概念与仿制商品形象的一致性与消费者对仿制商品消费意愿的关系,以及反过来个体在使用仿制商品后对其行为的影响。研究一中,呈现给被试三组同一品牌的正品和仿制商品,让被试评价,相对于正品,其自我概念与仿制商品形象一致的程度以及对仿制商品的购买意愿,结果发现被试评价其自我概念与仿制商品形象一致性程度越高,其对仿制商品的购买意愿越高;研究二中,被试被要求使用正品或仿品钢笔完成矩阵谜题任务,并根据成绩自行兑换奖励,结果发现,相比使用正品钢笔,被试使用仿制商品后更倾向于谎报成绩,表现出与仿制商品相一致的虚假欺骗属性。以上研究结果说明,自我概念的影响贯穿于消费行为始终,自我概念和仿制商品形象的一致性会促进消费行为,而对仿制商品的消费也会反过来作用于自我,使消费者的行为倾向和仿制商品的负面特征趋于一致。     

The asymmetric connection between money and material vs. experiential purchases

We examined the relationship between having a monetary mindset and the pursuit of material goods over experiences and found that people tend to think of their material purchases more in monetary terms than their experiential purchases. Purchase price correlated more highly with participants’ satisfaction with their material goods than their experiences (Study 1) and participants reported that the amount spent on significant components of a purchase (Study 2) would have more impact on their satisfaction with material goods than with experiences, as would a change in purchase price (Study 3). When the same purchase (a 3D TV) was framed in material terms (vs. experiential terms), participants reported that a price change would have a greater impact on their satisfaction. These findings suggest experiences suffer less than material possessions from the extrinsic psychology that comes with thinking about purchases in monetary terms.     

消费决策中的零：零价格效应和零比较效应

数字“0”由于自身所具有的特性(最小的自然数和不可作为被除数),当其与商品的价格维度和属性维度相结合时会对消费者的决策产生影响。已有研究表明商品的零价格和零属性会对消费决策产生影响,即零价格效应和零比较效应。情绪和社会规范是零价格效应产生的心理机制,参照依赖则是零比较效应产生的心理机制。商品价格、商品类型和消费者的心理因素是零价格效应的边界条件;而选项的数量是零比较效应的边界条件。未来的研究可以从不同商品类型、不同社会规范、“价格-损失”与“价格-质量”、注意等角度对零价格效应进行深入研究;也可以从结构匹配模型和齐当别模型的角度进一步探索零比较效应的“比较”机制;可以探讨价格是否能被视为商品的“坏属性”,进而讨论零价格效应和零比较效应二者之间的关系。     

传统媒体上强势品牌广告竞争溢出效应的作用机制及分布规律

由于产品之间存在相互关联性, 一个企业的广告不仅会对本企业产品的市场需求产生促进作用, 而且对其它企业产品的市场需求也会产生一定影响, 这种影响被称为广告的溢出效应。以往研究发现, 强势品牌广告竞争对弱势品牌具有溢出效应, 但该研究仅验证了溢出效应存在, 并未对其作用机制进行深入挖掘。通过实验方法探讨强势品牌广告竞争对弱势品牌的溢出效应的作用机制及边界条件是当务之急, 实验一探讨强势品牌广告竞争对弱势品牌溢出效应的作用机制, 主要包括探讨中介变量和调节变量两个方面的问题。中介变量包括消费者对强势品牌的涉入度、感知产品质量、行业市场份额变化三个变量, 调节变量包括消费者广告态度、消费者任务导向、产品生命周期、产品同质性四个变量。实验二探讨强势品牌广告竞争对弱势品牌的溢出效应的整体分布规律, 包括产品成长期和成熟期两个时期的溢出效应分布规律。研究将揭示强势品牌广告竞争的作用机制和整体分布规律, 有利于丰富溢出效应理论和广告效果理论。     

Package Graphics and Consumer Product Beliefs

In recent years, marketers' tactics to increase product sales through health claims have been scrutinized by public policy makers. The culmination of this process was the passage of the National Labeling Education Act, which highly restricts the type, amount, and format of nutritional information conveyed on the package. In this investigation, we examine an under-explored aspect of the package—its colors and pictures—to determine what, if any, impact these aspects have on consumer beliefs regarding important product characteristics. We find that even when very concrete verbal information is used, graphical representations have a significant and long-term effect on product beliefs and purchase intentions.     

现阶段我国城市居民消费心理预期的性质与特点

采用自编《消费心理预期问卷》对1097名城市被试进行了研究,结果表明：1．《消费心理预期问卷》具有较高的信度和效度;2．消费心理预期是由五个因素构成的：宏观经济形势预期、个人生活与收入预期、政府经济政策预期、物价走势预期和突发事件预防预期;3．现阶段,我国城市居民的消费心理预期普遍比较消极．甚至悲观;4．影响消费心理预期的因素是多维的,其中?肖费者的性别、年龄、学历、工作单位和所在城市等变量都是直接影响心理预期的一些重要因素,即不同性别、年龄、学历、工作单位和城市的消费者对未来存在着不同的心理预期。     

Understanding Japanese consumers: Some important underlying factors

This article reviews existing findings and outlines some general points that need to be considered when trying to understand Japanese consumer behavior. In addition to various psychological variables, researchers need to attend to a set of unique sociocultural factors. Among the factors considered are Japan's setting, population density, economic prosperity, modernization, homogeneity, and group orientation. Other issues that are raised are the implications of a well informed society, and the importance of both age and aesthetic values. The article also discusses risk aversion, eclecticism, lack of time and space, the importance of quality and image to the Japanese, and recent changes as they affect consumer behavior. In addition to universals, there are some unique factors that should be considered in order to understand Japanese consumer behavior, much as, undoubtedly, another set of unique features should be considered for the study of any other society.