Heart and Mind in Conflict: The Interplay of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making

I want to start this post by saying this study was what got me hooked on academic research. By chance I happened to catch an NPR report about the experiment performed in this study. The same quarter we were asked in my Statistical Modeling class to choose an interesting study, interpret the statistics, and present the findings of the study to the class. Naturally, I chose this study, not only because it was interesting, but because it was the type of research I could see myself working on in the future.

Baba Shiv (Stanford currently [University of Iowa at the time of the study]) and Alexander Fedorikhin (Indiana University [Washington State at time of the study]) performed an experiment where they asked subjects to memorize a number, then move to the next room to recite the number. Inbetween the room someone would stop the participant, thank them and offer them the choice of chocolate cake or a fruit salad, after making the decision they were given a ticket of the type of food to take to the next room. A price sticker of $1 was put on each item to show that they were equally valuable. In the second room they would recall the number they were asked to memorize. Of course, this was not a memory experiment, but an experiment looking at the effects of processing information and consumer choice.


The results showed that subjects that memorized the longer number were more likely to choose the chocolate cake and the subjects that memorized the smaller number were more likely to choose the fruit salad. 


One of the reasons I love experiments like this is that it 1) brings out my clever marketing side and 2) it helps me realize my own tendencies to choose products that are either unhealthy or more expensive them I would normally choose. Most importantly, the experiment is fun.


The study also mentions that finding a way to occupy consumers minds while shopping may also help. Whether intentional or not, Albertsons does this with the giant flat screen TVs blasting high volume information about things, such as how to pick good fruits and vegtables, to celebrity gossip at the checkout line. I always thought it'd be fun to open a sugary snack booth in the lobby of an engineering firm. 


Citation:
Heart and Mind in Conflict: The Interplay of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making
Journal of Consumer Research, Vol 26, p. 278-292
University of Denver Link to Article 
Baba Shiv (Stanford currently [University of Iowa at the time of the study]) and Alexander Fedorikhin (Indiana University currently [Washington State at time of the study])