Affective Intuition and Task-Contingent Affect Regulation - Term Paper Example

Name Professor Name Course Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Roles of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making 3 Affective and cognitive styles 5 Theories that involve interaction between affect and cognition 7 Consumer Brand Evaluation 8 Classical conditioning 9 Mere Exposure 9 Factors Influencing Mere Exposure and Affective classical conditioning 11 Brand Familiarity 11 Quality Differentiation 12 Motivation to Act at Point of Purchase 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction Since advertising is essentially persuasive, it can be depicted as referring to an intentional or instrumental form of business-related communication where an attempt is made to convince a consumer on the value of the brand or product advertised. As a form or persuasion, advertisement focuses stimuli on affective, cognitive and behavioural responses (Ruiz and Sicilia, 2004). Within this perspective is the focus on the effectiveness of advertising at an individual level. In which case, advertising stimuli could concern message elements such as the use of appeals, advertisement formats, music or arguments or source elements such as brand familiarity, credibility or attractiveness, or even channel elements such as visual and non-visual means of communications. Cognitive responses comprise attitude and belief formation and shift (Haddock and Zanna, 1993). On the other hand, affective responses include the influence that the advertisements have on an individual’s moods and emotions. Although this depictions suggest a linear process and passive receiver, a growing body of research shows it in another light. This literature review explores the roles of affect and cognition in advertising and consumer decision-making. Roles of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making Cohen, Pham and Andrade (2008) define term “affect” to the evaluative aspects of attitudes. Their definition stems from the classic tri-parte description of attitudes, namely cognitive, affective and cognitive (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). Compatible with a great number of scholarly discussions, this paper applies the term “affect” to mean an “internal feeling state.” In which case, an individual’s implicit or explicit “liking” for something is perceived to be an evaluative decision and not an internal feeling state. Russel and Carroll (1999) summed the term “affect” by stating that it means having in mind a genuine subjective feeling, such as the state of feeling sad, rather than having thoughts, such as when an individual thinks about people who are feeling sad. Cohen, Pham and Andrade (2008) demonstrated that the term affect should be emphasised as a state of feeling that is separate from a purely descriptive cognition or liking. Most consumer researches on “affect” are concerned with moods (Cohen & Andrade, 2004). Moods are often perceived to be low intensive affective states that in most cases lack source identification. In Cohen, Pham and Andrade’s (2008) view, an individual who is prompted by either hormonal or physiological activity experience an incoherent sense of feeling that is either good or bad without quite knowing why the moods have been manipulated by some form of advertisement that uses videos, music or pictures to send a message. In any case, since affect is generally used as information, misattribution of incidental affect has the capacity in influencing a consumer’s decision-making process (Schwarz, 1990). For consumers to make decision, consumers need to have information that is available, timely and accurate. In addition, they need to understand that information and its meaning (Cole et al, 2008). Consumers also need to determine the meaningful variations between the alternatives by matching their needs and values. They also need to make trade-offs and in the ultimate end make a choice (Cohen, Pham and Andrade (2008). Based on the literature review thus far, it is not yet clear if these shifts are because of the great influence of emotional information, also called emotional bias, or if they are as a result of positive information, also called positivity bias, or if they result from a smaller influence of negative information, also known as negativity bias. The idea that affective information will be considered more in the decisions made by consumers has implications on how advertisements should be presented (Cole et al 2008). A further review of different researches shows that consumers who experience negative affect would willingly make behavioural decisions that may lead to positive feelings. In which case, they would be more likely to engage in a range of behaviours in a bid to change their current feelings (Ruiz and Sicilia, 2004). Among the documented consumer behaviour under this scope include acting aggressively towards others, reading inspirational material, buying gifts for personal consumption, impulsive buying and selecting the status quo alternatives. All these factors signify mood-lifting alternatives, consumers pursue in an attempt to restore or achieve a desirable affective state. Several researchers have contributed theories that attempt to examine situation-specific individual decision-making process in order to understand how consumers make their decisions based on the types of advertisement. Affective and cognitive styles Affect refers to a state of feeling that is separate from a purely descriptive cognition or liking. Most consumer researches on “affect” are concerned with moods. On the other hand, cognitive responses are essentially more analytics, deliberate and rational compared to affective responses. Additionally, they are not as automatic as the affective responses and tend to be considered as high order processing (Lemanski, 2007). Even though cognitive and affective responses to stimuli, such as advertisements, have been the subject of much research, cognition and affect can be applied to classify the persuasive attempts. Researches on consumer behaviour have indicated that individual differences among the consumers may lead to differences in the manner in which individuals respond to advertising appeals (Moore et al, 1993). Therefore, when certain individuals are exposed to emotionally-charged advertisement appeals may show a tendency to experience their emotions with great intensity. In the same manner, certain individuals may show a tendency to take part and derive enjoyment in thinking when exposed to an advertisement (Cacciopo and Petty, 1982). Cacciopo and Petty (1982) points out that classification of personality that focuses on the cognitive style or a consumer (a tendency to engage in active thinking and enjoy thinking) have often been depicted as the need for cognition (NFC). In which case, the NFC scale permits scholars to differentiate between two categories of people, mainly high and low NFC individuals. Ruiz and Sicilia (2004) pointed out those individual variations in the NFC considerably influenced the creation of attitudes towards brands and products. Individuals with high NFC have been depicted to process and evaluate advertisement information more pragmatically than the individuals with low NCF. This is consistent with findings by Petty et al (1983), which demonstrated that under low-involvement conditions, individuals will tend to process information using peripheral routes instead of central route. To promote consumer’s acceptance of assertions or claims, advertisers offer arguments as the justification for the advertisement. In any case, when the NFC increases, diagnostic information will increase as a result becoming the focus of a consumer’s attention (Ruiz and Sicilia, 2004). Some research scholars have suggested that positive responses are found in high individuals who have factual appeals or who have advertisements that have effective arguments and those that are informationally-dense. On the other hand, in situations where there is very little information in an advertisement and it is intensively emotional, both the high and the low NFC consumers will tend to present the same effectiveness in advertising since the emotionally-charged advertisement do not have any information that should be processed (Ruiz and Sicilia, 2004). Theories that involve interaction between affect and cognition Berkovitz (1993) postulates three processes that may occur when a consumer is exposed to stimulus event. Firstly, information that relates to the stimulus may be subjected to comparatively “basic and automatic associative processes” that happen before the start of cognitive processes like interpretations, appraisals, attributions, schemas and strategies. Second, the information that relates to the stimulus is conditional on more deliberative cognitive processes. The outcome may either weaken or strengthen the action tendencies that arise from the lower-order affective reactions (Shiv and Fedorikhin, 1999). Third, the affective significance of the result of high order process may lead to action tendencies that are stimulated slowly compared to the lower-order affective reactions. This is because the information is dependent on more deliberative processes before the reactions can take place. The theoretical perspective that Berkovitz (1993) proposes is consistent with Epstein’s Cognitive-Experiental Self Theory (CEST), which hypothesises that two conceptual systems will tend to operate in a parallel manner (Shiv and Fedorikhin, 1999). Given the distinction between cognitive and affective oriented advertising styles, the issue of suitable measures to assess the differences arises. A survey of literature shows a lack of theoretical and empirical researches on the issues. Indeed, scholars or theorists on advertising have drawn from an extensive body of research in psychology literature that seeks to explore the area. For instance a study by Bower (1981), examined the relationship between a person’s moods during the learning process. Bower’s study suggests an associative network theory, in which emotions serve as the memory unit that is capable of entering associations with coincidental events. However, something has to trigger the emotion unit. In a study by Scrull (1983), the researcher attempted to tackle the issue of moods and its relationships to reactions to advertisements. Scrull’s (1983) findings suggested that there are indeed significant reactions between the information acquired and the mood state. Attempts to relate advertising and attitude, toward the advertised brand appear to be consistent with the information processing theory. Lutz, MacKenzie, and Belch (1983) took such perspective in their study that was aimed at discovering the causal mediating role of affective reactions to advertising. Consumer Brand Evaluation Baker (1999) posits that advertisements that evoke positive feelings have influence on a consumer’s brand evaluation. However, the origin of these feelings may be significant to their persuasiveness. In one instance, positive feeling may be stimulated by the intentional consideration of certain brand-related information that influences consumers that the advertised product is superior to other brands on different scales. For instance, advertisement for a certain brand of a drug may convince consumers that the advertised brand is better than a competitive drug. On the other instance, audiovisual content of an advertisement that is empty of performance-related content may as well stimulate positive feelings (Li, Sarathy and Xu, 2010). In the case of advertising the brand of drug, musical may be used to create the targeted feelings. In which case, the purpose of advertising is to persuade the brand choice or consumer’s decision-making process. As discussed above, advertising has the capacity to influence consumer’s decision when it creates affective associations to the brand (Baker, 1999). Affect can be transferred from an advertisement to a brand through mere exposure and classical conditioning. Classical conditioning In classical conditioning, repetitive pairing of unconditioned stimulus, such as a stunning sunset, with conditioned stimulus, such as the brand being advertised, may cause the conditioned stimulus (the brand being advertised) to automatically generate conditioned response. For instance, some good feeling that the stunning sunset evokes (Shimp, Stuart and Engle, 1991). In Baker’s (1999) view, successful affective condition demands that sufficient attention be given in facilitating associational learning. However, it does not require that consumers should be aware of its persuasive effects. In sum, although consumers looking to decide a brand may be aware that an advertisement is considerably funny, or has catching music or beautiful visuals, they might be unaware that such affect-generating elements are influencing their perceptions towards the brand. A number of researchers within the field of advertisement have pointed out on the significance of internal validity (such as classical conditioning behaviour) over external validity (such as the choice brand as a dependent variable). Mere Exposure In mere exposure, the repetitive exposure of certain stimulus, such as the brand being advertised, in the absence of any stimulus (for instance, by merely repeating the name), may as well evoke affective response (Baker, 1999). This implies that more exposure means that the consumer is repetitively exposed to the name of the brand. Mere exposure is particularly of great consequence in advertisement since it is generally perceived to be comparatively easy to implement although it may generate similar effect (Baker, 1999). Some scholars have expressed their views that mere exposure can evoke habituation response capable of rendering a stimulus that is less threatening and therefore more approachable (Baker, 1999). Empirical studies on the impact of mere exposure on the propensity to like certain objects is definite across a range of stimuli types such as photographs, nonsensical words, meaningful words or geometric figures. Within the field of marketing and advertisement, mere exposure has the potential to reduce the perceived risks that are associated with certain brands. Consequently, consumers would be more likely to approach as well as choose a brand that has exposure advantage. In which case, in some scenarios, intensive brand name exposure with any specific associated information content may adequately provide a brand the necessary exposure that gives a brand comparative advantage over the competitors’ brands. This is because such intense exposure makes the consumers to feel more willing and comfortable to approach the brand (Vanhuele, 1994). Several empirical studies have attested to these assumptions. Early studies by Becknell, Wilson and Baird (1963), when nonsensical syllables were exposed to consumers and afterwards identified with several boxes that contained nylon stockings, it was established that exposure frequency largely influence the brand preference and the brand decision. The concept of mere exposure has been interpreted in the modern-day online advertising. For instance, Pokhornn (2011) pointed out that when an internet user surfs through a website and then pauses at a particular webpage, there is a high chance that there would at least be an online advertisement on it, which may be simple text ad or a flashy banner. However, the online user may not negate the fact that he s aware that the ad is indeed advertising. In any case, the more attractive an ad is, the more likely it is for an individual to be distracted by it. In due course, as the individual continually views the ad, he would, as expected, demonstrate more inclination to the brand that was being advertised in the specific webpage compared to other brands he may be unfamiliar with. Factors Influencing Mere Exposure and Affective classical conditioning Bakers (1999) suggests that three factors can influence the ability of mere exposure and affective classical conditioning generated to influence consumers choice on brands. These include consumer’s relative familiarity with brand, perceived differentiation among brands and motivation to act at the time of brand choice. Brand Familiarity Brand familiarity refers to several issues including advertising a brand, packaging and earlier usage experience. Mere exposure and affective classical conditioning trigger the consumption of the brand over competitors’ brands with either lower or equal brand familiarity and not over brands that consumers have better familiarity. The consequence is that mere exposure and affective conditioning can be critical for brands that are relatively unknown, or established brands poised to compete against other established brands. In any case, it is not an effective means of for brands that are relatively unknown to compete with already established brands (Hoyer and Brown 1990). Quality Differentiation A critical factor that has the potential to moderate the effective roles of affective classical conditioning and mere exposure is the availability of information that could be applied in determining the performance of different brands. Baker (1999) observes that such information may be available in memory or at the place of purchase. In any case, it is critical that the effects of recognised performance differences among the various alternate brands can counteract the effects of mere exposure and affective conditioning. In which cases, application of mere exposure and classical conditioning is expected to effectively enable a certain brand to compete against the competitor brand in cases where consumers are not familiar with the characteristics of that brand. Motivation to Act at Point of Purchase Low motivation to act at the time a consumer makes a choice about a brand can stem from the consumer’s belief that any such benefit derived by consideration of the information on the brand is not worth the cost or effort (Baker, 1999). When motivate to act is low, affective conditioning and mere exposure are expected to influence the brand choice since their effects are automatic. In addition, they do not require deliberation. Robertson (1976) points out that as the perceived differentiation increases on the alternative brands, the perceived risk of making the wrong choice also rises. As a result, this would increase the motivation to pursue and use reliable information on the performance of the brand. On the other hand, when the motivation to act is high, consumers would pursue and use information that presents more reliable information of the brand’s relative performance, or information that is more diagnostic on the performance of the brand. This is in place of the affective conditioning and mere exposure (Baker, 1999). Conversely, when the motivation to act at the time of making the choice on brand is high, and if the differences on performance between the brand alternative is not found, then the effects of affective conditioning and mere exposure would act as tie-breakers. However, if they fail to act as tie-breakers when consumers are highly motivated to act, the extent of their direct effects may be more extensive. Conclusion Advertising is a form of persuasion referring to an intentional or instrumental form of business-related communication where an attempt is made to convince a consumer on the value of the brand or product advertised. Advertising focuses stimuli on affective, cognitive and behavioural responses. Affect refers to a state of feeling that is separate from a purely descriptive cognition or liking. Most consumer researches on “affect” are concerned with moods. On the other hand, cognitive responses are essentially more analytics, deliberate and rational compared to affective responses. For consumers to make decision, consumers need to have information that is available, timely and accurate. In addition, they need to understand the information and its meaning. Consumers also need to determine the meaningful variations between the alternatives by matching their needs and values. They also need to make trade-offs and in the ultimate end make a choice. A survey of literature shows that consumers who experience negative affect would willingly make behavioural decisions that may lead to positive feelings. Given the distinction between cognitive and affective oriented advertising styles, the issue of suitable measures to assess the differences arises. A further survey of literature shows a lack of theoretical and empirical researches on the issues. Indeed, scholars or theorists on advertising have drawn from an extensive body of research in psychology literature that seeks to explore the area. References Becknell, J., Wilsonc, R. & Baird, R. (1963). "The effects of frequency of presentations in te Choice of Nonsense syllables." Journal of Psychology 56(1): 165-170 Berkovitz, L. (1993). "Towards genera; theory f anger and emotional aggression." Advances of Social Cognition 6:1-46 Bower, G.H. (1981), "Mood and Memory," American Psychologist, 36 (February), 129-148. Cacciopo, J. & Petty, r. (1982). "The need for Cognition." J Pers Soc Psychol 42:116-131 Cohen, J. B., & Andrade, E. B. (2004). Affective intuition and task-contingent affect regulation. 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