Catherine Yeung

Affect, Appraisal, and Consumer Judgment

When consumers receive verbal information about a products attributes,the influence of the affect they are experiencing on their product evaluations depends on their belief that the product should be judged on the basis of hedonic versus utilitarian criteria. When consumers see the product before they receive attribute information, however, the products appearance can stimulate them to form an affect-based initial impression that they later use as a basis for judgments independent of the criteria they would otherwise apply. Consequently, the mood that consumers happen to be in has different effects on their judgments than it would otherwise.

The Duration Heuristic

The duration heuristic refers to the tendency to evaluate services based on their duration rather than on their content. We propose that consumers rely on the duration heuristic because it simplifies the evaluation process. In particular, the duration heuristic is most likely to be seen when the duration of the service experience is evaluable relative to other features and when duration is considered in relation to price. Across four experiments and a field study, we (a) provide demonstrations of the duration heuristic, (b) illustrate the biases that result as a consequence of its use, and (c) identify conditions under which consumers are more likely to use the heuristic. (c) 2007 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Building Character: Effects of Lay Theories of Self-Control on the Selection of Products for Children

This research studies the effect of consumers’ lay theories of self-control on their choices of products for young children. The authors find that people who hold the implicit assumption that self-control is a small resource that can be increased over time (“limited-malleable theorists”) are more likely to engage in behaviors that may benefit childrens self-control. In contrast, people who believe either that self-control is a large resource (“unlimited theorists”) or that it cannot increase over time (“fixed theorists”) are less likely to engage in such behaviors. Field experiments conducted with parents demonstrate that limited-malleable theorists take their children less frequently to fast-food restaurants, give their children unhealthful snacks less often, and prefer educational to entertaining television programs for them. Similar patterns are observed when nonparent adults make gift choices for children or while babysitting. The authors obtain these effects with lay theories both measured and manipulated and after they control for demographic and psychological characteristics, including own self-control. These results contribute to the literature on self-control, parenting, and consumer socialization.

Mood and Comparative Judgment: Does Mood Influence Everything and Finally Nothing?

Research indicates that mood can influence evaluation of a product when considered in isolation. However, little is known about its influence on comparisons among several alternatives. Four experiments assessed the nature of this influence. When evaluating each option individually upon encountering it, happy participants reported greater preferences for the first encountered option than unhappy participants. When withholding evaluations until having seen all options, however, happy participants reported greater preferences for the last encountered option than unhappy participants. Which comparison strategy was employed, and consequently the impact of mood on preferences, depended on the similarity of choice alternatives in terms of appearance versus descriptive features.

How a One-Time Incentive Can Induce Long-Term Commitment to Training

This paper asks whether a one-time incentive can induce workers to commit to short- and long-term training to remain competitively employable. The incentive was a one-time offer of

From Switching Intent to Behavior: A Construal Level Theory Perspective in the Context of Contractual Services

60, given to workers who finished two courses within 4 months. It had a remarkable, positive effect on training participation during this period, and a sustained effect beyond it, but only in the condition where two psychological techniques were used to increase commitment to training and to shape perceptions of the incentive. These results have practical implications for companies and governmental organizations wanting well-trained workforces to sustain growth in competitive environments.

Does Loving a Brand Mean Loving its Products? The Role of Brand-Elicited Affect in Brand Extension Evaluations

Measures of repurchase intent are often not good predictors of actual repurchase behaviors. A critical distinction between intention and actual switching is that the former is a response to a hypothetical situation, whereas the latter is an action that is actually carried out. Recent research on construal level theory (CLT, see Trope and Liberman 2007 for a review) shows that when an event feels psychologically far away (e.g., when the event is hypothetical), people tend to focus on “central” aspects of the event – i.e., aspects that give direct implications to the desirability of the event. According to CLT, these aspects constitute the “higher level construal” of the event. On the other hand, when an event feels psychologically near (e.g., when it is going to happen in the near future), people tend to focus on aspects that are associated with the procedures involved in carrying out the action (e.g., practicality, feasibility considerations). These aspects constitute the “lower level construal” of an event.