Emotion and Consumption: Perspectives and Issues

Over the course of the last two decades, consumer research has been making considerable contributions to the study of affect. The articles in this volume deal with conceptual and methodological issues in affect research that bridge the gap between theory and practice and represent sample of the many research topics currently being explored by consumer researchers. In my remarks, I briefly discuss each article and I provide some directions for future research in each of the specific areas covered in the articles. Much research in affect is motivated by the desire to test and extend theory and resolve theoretical debates stemming from conflicting evidence. While the focus of affect research is increasingly on theory, we may not always be as careful about our constructs and methods and we need to apply additional, new and more precise methodologies to address old theoretical problems. I conclude that among the most important future tasks are the needs to adopt appropriate methods aimed at capturing affect's influence and underlying processes, and to refine the theoretical basis for such methods.