Mario Pandelaere

The Impact of Need for Closure on Conservative Beliefs and Racism: Differential Mediation by Authoritarian Submission and Authoritarian Dominance

The present study explores the influence of need for closure as well as authoritarian submission (Right-Wing Authoritarianism [RWA]) and authoritarian dominance (Social Dominance Orientation [SDO]) on the genesis of conservative beliefs and racism. For this purpose, two structural equation models were compared. In Model 1, RWA and SDO were entered as independent variables and the need for closure facets Decisiveness and Need for Simple Structure acted as mediator variables. In Model 2, the need for closure facets served as independent variables and RWA and SDO acted as mediators. In two student samples (Sample 1, N = 399, Sample 2, N = 330) and one adult sample (Sample 3, N = 379), Model 2 showed superior fit to the data. These results corroborate the hypothesis that authoritarianism should be interpreted in terms of generalized beliefs rather than in terms of personality characteristics. In addition, analyses show that the effects of Need for Simple Structure on conservative beliefs and racism are fully mediated by RWA but only partly by SDO. These results suggest a differential genesis of RWA and SDO.

Tempt Me Just a Little Bit More: The Effect of Prior Food Temptation Actionability on Goal Activation and Consumption

People are often exposed to actionable food temptations (i.e., an immediate opportunity to consume, like when friends offer cookies) and nonactionable food temptations (i.e., no immediate consumption opportunity, like ads for chocolate). The results of three experiments suggest that prior exposure to nonactionable food temptations does not prevent the activation of an eating goal, given a subsequent consumption opportunity, while prior exposure to actionable food temptations prevents such activation. As a consequence, prior exposure to actionable food temptations enhances self-control on a current consumption occasion, while prior exposure to nonactionable food temptations reduces it.

On the Replicability of the Affective Priming Effect in the Pronunciation Task

Bargh, Chaiken, Raymond, and Hymes (1996) and Hermans, De Houwer, and Eelen (1994) showed that a valenced target word is pronounced faster after the presentation of an affectively related prime word than after the presentation of an affectively unrelated prime word. This finding is important because it provides crucial evidence for the hypotheses that stimulus evaluation (a) is goal-independent and (b) facilitates the encoding of stimuli that have the same valence. However, recent studies indicate that the affective priming effect is not a reliable finding in the standard pronunciation task. We report the results of a nearly exact replication of Bargh et al.s (1996) Experiment 2. In line with previous replication studies, we failed to detect the affective priming effect.

How to Make a 29% Increase Look Bigger: The Unit Effect in Option Comparisons

Quantitative information can appear in different units (e.g., 7-year warranty = 84-month warranty). This article demonstrates that attribute differences appear larger on scales with a higher number of units; expressing quality information on such an expanded scale makes consumers switch to a higher-quality option. Testifying to its practical importance, expressing the energy content of snacks in kilojoules rather than kilocalories increases the choice of a healthy snack. The unit effect occurs because consumers focus on the number rather than the type of units in which information is expressed (numerosity effect). Therefore, reminding consumers of alternative units in which information can be expressed eliminates the unit effect. Finally, the unit effect moderates relative thinking: consumers are more sensitive to relative attribute differences when the attribute is expressed on expanded scales. The relation with anchoring and implications for temporal discounting and loyalty programs are discussed.

The Backdoor to Overconsumption: The Effect of Associating "Low-Fat" Food with Health References

Using a priming procedure, the authors study the influence of associating low-fat snack products with contextual health references (e.g., words, such as diet and fiber) on the consumption of these products. Health primes increase consumption of low-fat potato chips (Study 1) and lead consumers to report that they are closer to their ideal weight (Study 2). These results indicate that associating low-fat products with health references may contribute to rather than solve the obesity problem, and they have useful implications for public policy and society.

Wanting a Bit(e) of Everything: Extending the Valuation Effect to Variety Seeking

Markman and Brendl have demonstrated that individuals tend to regard as more valuable those objects that are able to satisfy an active desire. Building on their framework, we predicted that desire would enlarge the consideration set and, hence, affect variety-seeking tendencies in a product category. Our first study shows that hunger and visual food cues enhance variety seeking in food items. Further, by means of mediation analyses and a suppression manipulation (exposing participants to stale foods), we are able to show that this increase in variety-seeking results from an increased attractiveness in the food items. Our second study, where we generalize these findings by applying them to nonphysiological goals, produces evidence that the effect-the increase in variety seeking-is domain specific. (c) 2007 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Using motivation theory to develop a transformative consumer research agenda for reducing materialism in society

Materialism represents a pervasive value in contemporary society and one that is associated with multiple negative consequences. Although a considerable amount of research has documented these consequences, little research has examined how materialism levels might be reduced. This article presents a research agenda for reducing materialism. The authors begin with an overview of the motivation theory of materialism, a humanistic perspective that holds that materialism is often an outward manifestation of deeper unmet psychological needs and insecurities. Thus, research that contributes to reducing materialism should do so by addressing these more fundamental inadequacies. To this end, the authors outline three emergent research areas that have potential to reduce materialism by enhancing self-esteem—namely, experiential consumption, prosocial giving, and healthy social development in children. The authors review research in each area, consider its relevance to the materialism question, and propose future research directions. They also present the public policy implications of these discussions.

Are All Units Created Equal? The Effect of Default Units on Product Evaluations

Previous research on attribute framing has shown that people often infer higher quantity from larger numbers, usually with the assumption that the units used to specify this information elicit the same meanings. Drawing on literature on categorization and numerical cognition, the authors challenge this assumption and show that consumers often have preset units for attribute levels that strike an optimal balance between a preference for small numbers and the need for accuracy (study 1a). As such, these default units appear commonly (study 1b). Specifying positive attributes in default units renders products’ evaluation more favorable, even if such specification lowers the nominal value of the attributes (studies 2–4). This effect disappears if participants attribute metacognitive feelings generated by default units to an irrelevant source (study 3). Study 5 shows that a default unit effect is more likely in single evaluation mode, but a numerosity effect may reemerge in joint evaluations.

Cueing common ecological behaviors to increase environmental attitudes

A major obstacle for promoting sustainable (e.g. ecological) consumer behaviors is peoples negative attitude towards these. We tested the potential of a persuasion technique for improving these attitudes. We propose that cueing ecological behaviors people usually engage in, increases the accessibility of previously performed ecological behavior in the memory. As several theories suggest attitudes are inferred from previous behavior, we expected the increased ease of retrieval of ecological actions to result in more favorable attitudes towards these. Two studies confirmed this hypothesis, and further research will verify the success of the technique in promoting actual environmental behavior. Implications for setting up effective social marketing campaigns are discussed.

Cognitive Load has Negative After Effects on Consumer Decision Making

Concurrent cognitive load has a devastating effect on consumer decision making. Implicit in the theorizing about cognitive load seems to be that this negative effect disappears when the load is removed. Three experiments explored whether cognitive load produces after-effects and showed that various types of prior cognitive load increase the subsequent impact of easily available information on brand choice (study 1), product similarity ratings (study 2), and the quantity of food consumed in a taste test (study 3). Information availability was manipulated by means of a salience manipulation (poster display in study 1 and position of product attribute in study 2), and an accessibility manipulation (study 3).