Washington, Feb 18 (Inditop.com) Emotions tend to influence our preferences in buying goods, says a new study.
Researchers found that different positive emotions had drastically different effects on the outcome of a sale.
Vladas Griskevicius, of Minnesota University; and Michelle N. Shiota and Stephen M. Nowlis, of Arizona State University showed that product preferences varied depending on whether one was feeling pride, contentment, or neutral emotionally.
Some participants read a short story in which they imagined doing well in an exam, which is known to elicit pride. “Pride enhanced desire for public display products,” the authors write.
“Feeling proud led people to want nice watches, shoes, and clothing for going out. However, pride did not enhance desire for home products.”
Conversely, “when people felt contentment, they were more attracted to products such as beds, dishwashers, and clothing for lounging around the house,” the authors write. They were less enthusiastic about public display products.
“Our findings suggest that shoppers are likely to want to buy different products depending on the specific emotions that they are feeling,” the authors write.
“If a retailer is selling products that allow the consumer to ‘show off’ to other people, this retailer may want to induce feelings of pride through the store atmosphere or advertising.”
“A retailer selling primarily home furnishings might want to try to induce feelings of contentment,” the study authors conclude.
These findings were published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
