Andrea Bonezzi

Stuck in the Middle The Psychophysics of Goal Pursuit

The classic goal-gradient hypothesis posits that motivation to reach a goal increases monotonically with proximity to the desired end state. However, we argue that this is not always the case. In this article, we show that motivation to engage in goal-consistent behavior can be higher when people are either far from or close to the end state and lower when they are about halfway to the end state. We propose a psychophysical explanation for this tendency to get “stuck in the middle.” Building on the assumption that motivation is influenced by the perceived marginal value of progress toward the goal, we show that the shape of the goal gradient varies depending on whether an individual monitors progress in terms of distance from the initial state or from the desired end state. Our psychophysical model of goal pursuit predicts a previously undiscovered nonmonotonic gradient, as well as two monotonic gradients.

Sharing with Friends Versus Strangers: How Interpersonal Closeness Influences Word-of-Mouth Valence

How does interpersonal closeness (IC)—the perceived psychological proximity between a sender and a recipient—influence word-of-mouth (WOM) valence? The current research proposes that high levels of IC tend to increase the negativity of WOM shared, whereas low levels of IC tend to increase the positivity of WOM shared. The authors hypothesize that this effect is due to low versus high levels of IC triggering distinct psychological motives. Low IC activates the motive to self-enhance, and communicating positive information is typically more instrumental to this motive than communicating negative information. In contrast, high IC activates the motive to protect others, and communicating negative information is typically more instrumental to this motive than communicating positive information. Four experiments provide evidence for the basic effect and the underlying role of consumers’ motives to self-enhance and protect others through mediation and moderation. The authors discuss implications for understanding how WOM spreads across strongly versus weakly tied social networks.

Perils of compensatory consumption: : within-domain compensation undermines subsequent self-regulation

Prior research has shown that psychological threat can provoke consumers to desire, seek out, and acquire products that symbolize accomplishment in the domain of the threat. Although such within-domain compensation can serve as a psychological salve to repair the self, the current research suggests that sometimes this form of compensation can have ill effects. Specifically, engaging in within-domain compensation can trigger ruminative thinking about the threat. As a consequence, performance in subsequent tasks that require self-regulation is undermined. In support of this hypothesis, multiple experiments demonstrate that within-domain compensation impairs subsequent self-regulation on behaviors ranging from resisting tempting but unhealthy food to performing cognitively taxing tasks. Evidence that within-domain compensation fosters ruminative thought, as well as documentation of boundary conditions, is provided.

Compensatory Advice Giving: How Experiencing a Need for Control Makes You Advise More

Consumers often advise other consumers by providing them with explicit recommendations on how to behave with regard to a wide range of purchasing decisions. Although previous literature (e.g., Goldsmith and Fitch 1997; Liu and Gal 2011) typically construes advice giving as a behavior driven by an empathic concern for others, in this research we propose and show across two experiments that advice giving can sometimes serve a compensatory function and thus be driven by a self-serving motive to restore a lost sense of control.

The Differential Influence of Advice and Opinions on Word-of-Mouth Recipients’ Behavior

When engaging in word-of-mouth (WOM) communications, consumers generally share either opinions, whereby they merely communicate whether they like or dislike a product (e.g., “I like the product I just bought”), or advice, whereby they offer explicit recommendations as to how others should behave (e.g., “buy or do not buy this product”). Past research has not examined whether and when advice and opinions exert similar or differential influence for WOM recipients’ behavior. We fill this gap by proposing that advice can be more or less influential than opinions based on how diagnostic consumers assess the information to be (e.g., Ahluwalia 2002; Feldman and Lynch 1988).