Juliano Laran

Behavioral Consistency and Inconsistency in the Resolution of Goal Conflict

During the course of a day, consumers experience choices that involve goal conflict (e.g., eat tasty vs. healthy food, recreate vs. work, relax vs. act). In some cases, an initial behavior is followed by a similar behavior. In other cases, an initial behavior is followed by an opposing behavior. We posit that a passive guidance system can nonconsciously guide behavior when there is goal conflict and, hence, determine whether a sequence of behaviors will be consistent or inconsistent. The passive guidance system is sensitive to whether a current behavior sustains goal activation and encourages similar future behaviors or results in goal achievement and encourages dissimilar future behaviors. Eight experiments provide evidence for this passive guidance system.

The Curious Case of Behavioral Backlash: Why Brands Produce Priming Effects and Slogans Produce Reverse Priming Effects

Five experiments demonstrate that brands cause priming effects (i.e., behavioral effects consistent with those implied by the brand), whereas slogans cause reverse priming effects (i.e., behavioral effects opposite to those implied by the slogan). For instance, exposure to the retailer brand name “Walmart,” typically associated with saving money, reduces subsequent spending, whereas exposure to the Walmart slogan, “Save money. Live better,” increases it. Slogans cause reverse priming effects and brands cause priming effects because people perceive slogans, but not brands, as persuasion tactics. The reverse priming effect is driven by a nonconscious goal to correct for bias and can occur without any conscious mediation (i.e., following subliminal exposure to the word “slogan”). These findings provide evidence that consumer resistance to persuasion can be driven by processes that operate entirely outside conscious awareness.

Work or Fun? How Task Construal and Completion Influence Regulatory Behavior

Volitional behaviors can be construed as “work” (extrinsically motivated) or as “fun” (intrinsically motivated). When volitional behaviors are construed as an obligation to work, completing the behavior depletes a consumer, and subsequent self-control becomes more difficult. When volitional behaviors are construed as an opportunity to have fun, completing the behavior vitalizes a consumer, and subsequent self-control becomes easier. Six studies show how individual differences and contextual factors influence the construal of a task, the motivation for completing it, and subsequent regulatory behavior.

Goal Management in Sequential Choices: Consumer Choices for Others Are More Indulgent than Personal Choices

What are the differences in exerting self-control in sequential choices when consumers choose for others (family or friends) rather than for themselves? Sequential choices represent an opportunity to manage the pursuit of ones multiple personal goals. Consumers typically manage these personal goals by combining indulgent and virtuous choices. When choosing for others, however, this is not the case. Consumers then focus on a pleasure-seeking goal, which leads to indulgent choices for others. Six experiments demonstrate this phenomenon and uncover conditions that encourage more virtuous choices for others. (c) 2010 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Life-History Strategy, Food Choice, and Caloric Consumption

Do people’s perceptions that they live in a harsh environment influence their food choices? Drawing on life-history theory, we propose that cues indicating that the current environment is harsh (e.g., news about an economic crisis, the sight of people facing adversity in life) lead people to perceive that resources in the world are scarce. As a consequence, people seek and consume more filling and high-calorie foods, which they believe will sustain them for longer periods of time. Although perceptions of harshness can promote unhealthy eating, we show how this effect can be attenuated and redirected to promote healthier food choices.

Context-Dependent Effects of Goal Primes

We provide evidence that goal priming effects are context dependent. We show that goal primes encourage prime-consistent behavior when the behavioral context is common and prime-inconsistent behavior when the behavioral context is uncommon. While the prime-consistent behavior is compatible with existing theory, the prime-inconsistent behavior poses a theoretical challenge. We argue that uncommon behavioral contexts encourage the release of a primed goal and, as a consequence, an increase in the relative activation of information inconsistent with the primed goal and prime-inconsistent behavior. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Uncertainty in Marketing Promotions Involving Free Gifts

The authors provide a framework to predict when uncertainty will have a beneficial or detrimental impact on marketing promotions involving free gifts. Whereas uncertainty (i.e., not knowing which free gift will be offered) decreases purchase likelihood when the decision is cognitive, it increases purchase likelihood when the decision is affective. Using field and laboratory studies, the authors demonstrate that when the decision involves affect, people like to be surprised and appreciate uncertainty in the purchase process. When the decision is cognitive, consumers appreciate having information about the product offer. This research has both theoretical implications for research on affect and uncertainty and practical implications for marketing managers designing and implementing promotional campaigns.

The Influence of Information Processing Goal Pursuit on Postdecision Affect and Behavioral Intentions

Two important forces in human behavior are action and inaction. Although action and inaction are commonly associated with the presence and the absence of behavioral activity, they can also be represented as information processing goals. Action (inaction) goals influence decision effort and increase satisfaction with environments that are structured to allow for more (less) processing (Studies 1 and 2). This increased satisfaction can transfer to the decision (Study 3) and can increase the intent to perform a decision-congruent behavior (Studies 4 and 6). Finally, the author shows escalation of action and inaction goals when they are not achieved (Study 5) and rebound of the alternative goal when the focal goal is achieved (Study 6).

Consumidores satisfeitos, e então? Analisando a satisfação como antecedente da lealdade

In search of deepening the knowledge on the relationship between consumer satisfaction and loyalty, we conducted a field experiment. The article presents the theoretical basis supporting the proposed relationship, as well as a research method in which consumers satisfaction judgment was processed right after the consumption of the product, proportioning a more precise judgment and better variables measurement. Results indicate a positive relationship between the two variables and a considerable amount of loyaltys variance is explained by satisfaction, contributing to advancing investigations on the consequences of satisfaction and loyalty formation.

The Readability of Marketing Journals: Are Award-Winning Articles Better Written?

This is a study of the readability of articles in four marketing journals: Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of International Marketing, and Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. For each journal, the authors compare articles that have won an award with articles that have not. The authors find that award-winning articles are more readable, as measured by indexes focusing on sentence and word length, than nonwinning articles. The authors also identify and analyze other characteristics of more readable journal articles and discuss the importance of good writing.