Aparna A. Labroo

The Effect of Conceptual and Perceptual Fluency on Brand Evaluation

According to the processing fluency model, advertising exposures enhance the ease with which consumers recognize and process a brand. In turn, this increased perceptual fluency leads to consumers having more favorable attitudes toward the brand. The authors extend the processing fluency model to examine the effect of conceptual fluency on attitudes. In three experiments, the authors show that when a target comes to mind more readily and becomes conceptually fluent, as when it is presented in a predictive context (e.g., a bottle of beer featured in an advertisement that shows a man entering a bar) or when it is primed by a related construct (e.g., an image of ketchup following an advertisement of mayonnaise), participants develop more favorable attitudes toward the target. It is believed that positive valence of fluent processing underlies these processing-fluency effects. When conceptual fluency is associated with negative valence (e.g., hair conditioner primed by a lice-killing shampoo), the authors observe less favorable attitudes.

Of Frog Wines and Frowning Watches: Semantic Priming, Perceptual Fluency, and Brand Evaluation

Three experiments show that semantic primes can enhance perceptual fluency, resulting in higher liking of the perceived product. Specifically, semantic primes that cue the visual identifier of one of two products (e.g., a bottle of wine with a frog shown on the label) increase preference of the prime-compatible target over another target (e.g., a wine without a frog on the label). This is observed even when exposure to the target is limited to levels associated with perceptual encoding of the target (experiment 1). Semantic priming of constructs compatible with perceptual features of the target increases liking of the target (experiments 2 and 3), and increased liking of the target is mediated by the targets increased visual appeal (experiment 3).

Be better or be merry: how mood affects self-control.

In 6 studies, the authors tested whether the effect of mood on self-control success depends on a persons accessible goal. We propose that positive mood signals a person to adopt an accessible goal, whereas negative mood signals a person to reject an accessible goal; therefore, if a self-improvement goal is accessible, happy (vs. neutral or unhappy) people perform better on self-control tasks that further that goal. Conversely, if a mood management goal is accessible, happy people abstain from self-control tasks because the tasks are incompatible with this goal. This pattern receives consistent support across several self-control tasks, including donating to charity, demonstrating physical endurance, seeking negative feedback, and completing tests.

Psychological Distancing: Why Happiness Helps You See the Big Picture

We propose that a positive mood, by signaling that a situation is benign, might allow people to step back and take in the big picture. As a consequence, a positive mood might increase abstract construal and the adoption of abstract, future goals. In contrast, a negative mood, by signaling not only danger but also its imminence, might focus attention on immediate and proximal concerns and reduce the adoption of abstract, future goals.

The “Instrumentality” Heuristic Why Metacognitive Difficulty Is Desirable During Goal Pursuit

The literature overwhelmingly demonstrates that feelings of ease are good and that objects that are easy to process are much liked. We propose, and demonstrate across three experiments, that this is not the case when people are pursuing a goal. This is because people pursuing a goal (e.g., “become kinder”) usually invest efforts in whichever means (e.g., donate to a particular charity) they perceive as most instrumental for attaining their goal. Consequently, in their minds there is a correspondence between instrumentality of a means and feelings of effort. This correspondence becomes reversed in peoples minds during goal pursuit, and they also come to view an object that is associated with feelings of effort rather than ease as more instrumental for goal attainment and consequently more desirable. When an object is not a means to fulfill an accessible goal, or when goals relating to the means are not accessible, subjective feelings of ease improve evaluation, as found in previous research on ease of processing.

Lay Theories of Emotion Transience and the Search for Happiness: A Fresh Perspective on Affect Regulation

Across six studies, we demonstrate that consumers have beliefs pertaining to the transience of emotion, which, along with their current feelings, determine the extent to which they regulate their immediate affect. If consumers believe that emotion is fleeting, those feeling happy (vs. unhappy) engage in affect regulation because they infer that they need to take actions to maintain their positive feelings. In contrast, if consumers believe that emotion is lasting, those feeling unhappy (vs. happy) engage in affect regulation because they infer that the negative feelings will persist unless they take actions to repair them. These effects are obtained with measured and with manipulated beliefs, and they occur only when the theories pertain specifically to emotion. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.

From Firm Muscles to Firm Willpower: Understanding the Role of Embodied Cognition in Self-Regulation

Across five studies, we show that firming ones muscles can help firm willpower and that firmed willpower mediates ones ability to withstand immediate pain, overcome food temptation, consume unpleasant medicines, and attend to immediately disturbing but essential information, provided that doing so is seen as providing long-term benefits. We draw on theories of embodied cognition to explain our results, and we add to that literature by showing for the first time that one’s body can help firm willpower and facilitate the self-regulation essential for the attainment of long-term goals.

Making Products Feel Special: When Metacognitive Difficulty Enhances Evaluation

More than 200 studies suggest that metacognitive difficulty reduces the liking of an object. In contrast to those findings, the authors demonstrate that the effects of metacognitive experiences on evaluation are sensitive to the consumption domain. In the domain of everyday goods, metacognitive difficulty reduces the attractiveness of a product by making it appear unfamiliar. However, in the context of special-occasion products, for which consumers value exclusivity, metacognitive difficulty increases the attractiveness of a product by making it appear unique or uncommon. The authors reconcile their findings with prior research by positing that the effect of metacognitive experiences on evaluation depends on the naive theory people associate with product consumption. Four studies demonstrate the proposed effect and test for the role of lay theories in the interpretation of metacognitive experiences. The authors conclude with a discussion of theoretical and marketing implications.

Half the Thrill Is in the Chase: Twisted Inferences from Embodied Cognitions and Brand Evaluation

Do our bodies control our minds? That people approach positive outcomes is not surprising, but do people also infer an outcome is rewarding from their bodily sensation of approaching it, and does this positivity transfer indirectly to other outcomes linked in memory to the original negative outcome? We posit that, because people usually approach reward, they mistakenly infer that approach must equal reward. Thus, a sensation of approach, even toward a negative outcome, makes them feel more positively toward the negative outcome and associated outcomes. Experiment 1 demonstrates a positive effect of embodied movement in space toward an otherwise aversive product. Experiments 2 and 3 additionally show positive effects of psychological movement in time, using evaluative conditioning procedures, to associated stimuli in memory. Implications for downward spirals in habit formation-the idea that approaching one bad habit might increase liking of other bad habits-and affect regulation are discussed. (c) 2009 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

The influence of experience and sequence of conflicting emotions on ad attitudes

Two experiments suggest that when participants evaluate an ad, they prefer improving ad emotions, because attitudes are based on an assessment of whether the emotions deviate positively or negatively from previous levels of emotions. In contrast, when emotions are experienced, positive emotions facilitate coping with later negativity, and an ad with declining (vs. improving) emotions results in more favorable attitudes. This beneficial effect of experienced positive emotions in reducing the impact of subsequent negative emotions is reversed when the positive emotions are allowed to dissipate over a time delay between the experiences of the two emotions.