The Roles of Emotion in Consumer Research
Elizabeth C. Hirschman, Rutgers University
Barbara B. Stern, Rutgers University
ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to describe and synthesize findings
across three different setsof literature dealingwith emotion: (I) the
cognitive stream, (2) the hedonic consumption stream, and (3) the
compulsive/addictive consumption stream. w e present a model of
emotion and suggest novel directions for future inquiry.
INTRODUCTION
A decade and a half have passed since consumer researchers
began attending to the roles of emotion in consumption (Hirschman
and Holbrook 1982, Holbrook and Hirschman 1982); and over a
decade has elapsed since Gardner's (1985) integrative review of
mood states. During this time period an extraordinary level of
research has occurred within the boundaries of our discipline
regarding emotion. The aim of this paper is to describe and
synthesize these findings and to present a inclusive model of
emotion and its influence on consumer behavior.
In the courseof thiseffort we will review three setsof literature
dealing with emotion. These include (1) the cognitive stream,
typified by inquiries regarding emotion's role as the affective
component of attitude (e.g., Aaker and Stayman 1989) or as a
precursor to cognitive restructuring (Isen 1984); (2) the hedonic
consumptionstream asexemplified early on by the workofHolbrook
and ~ a G l e n a(Havlena and ~ o l b r o o k1986) and most recently by
Celsi, Rose and Leigh (1993) and Arnould and Price (1993); (3) the
compulsiveladdictive consumption stream beginning with early
work on impulse purchasing by Rook (1985) and evolving into
more general models as exemplified by Faber and O'Guinn (1989),
Hirschman (1992) and Rindfleisch, Burroughs and Denton (1997).
A NEW MODEL
As shown in Figure One, we propose that every consumer has
apersonal emotional range which can move from extreme happi-
ness toextreme sadness. While most consumers usually experience
motions in the middle range, a significant proportion are likely to
experience emotions which lie beyond the middle range (Larsen
and Emmons, 1985). Indeed, if we view emotion as a normally
distributed human variable, then approximately 30 to 50% of the
consuming population probably experience emotions above or
below the middle range on a regular basis (Larsen and Diener, 1987
a, b).
The model further proposes that current personal events of
both a major and minor nature will have transient effects on adult
consumers' emotional states. A major negative event, such as job
loss or divorce, or a major positive event, such as a job promotion
or marriage, may cause long-term (say six months) emotional shifts
beyond the middle range, while minor positive or negative events
(say a helpful salesperson or an offensive advertisement), may only
affect emotional states for a few minutes.
The model also proposes the direct influence of emotion on a
variety of cognitive responses (such as attitude formation and
recall) and, thence, on a broad array ofconsumption behaviors, such
as impulse purchasing, consumption creativity, and innovativeness.
It suggests that consumption behaviors may also fed-back into
cognition and emotion; for example, a consumer may discover that
a new restaurant's food is delicious, causinga positive attitude tobe
formed and a happy feeling to occur. And cognitive responses may
also feed-back into emotion; for instance, thinking about the death
of a pet may cause the individual to become sad.
Finally, the model proposes that consumption behaviors oc-
curring in response to consumers' emotional states are shaped by
prevailing cultural norms. For example, a white, middle class
woman may 'treat' her chronic unhappiness with compulsive
shopping and bulimia, while a white, middle class man may deal
with his depression by drinking alcohol, and a white, middle class
teenager may respond to hisher 'blues' by smoking marijuana. We
begin a more detailed discussion of the model with the research
stream most closely aligned with emotion in consumer research:
cognitive psychology.
Cognitive Psychology and Emotion
An examination of this literature base rightly begins with
Meryl Gardner's comprehensive (1985) treatise, 'Mood States and
Consumer Behavior: A Critical Review.' Gardner's review fo-
cused upon moods, defined as 'feeling states that are transient; ...
particularized tospecific timesand situations(l985, p.282).' Thus,
her review did not examine research on more intense levels of
emotion or on personality dispositions, such as optimism/pessi-
mism, that are relatively stable and enduring characteristics of the
consumer. Indeed, as Gardner notes, exogenous mood effects are
markedly short lived: 'The effect of a positive mood induction on
the performance of a helping task has been found to last approxi-
mately twenty minutes' (1985, p. 289).The findings summarized in
her review would be relevant to the portion of our model titled
'Current Personal Events' and include those minor events, such as
exposure to a pleasing or offensive advertisement, which create a
short-term shift in the consumer's prevailing mood.
Mood andAdvertising Effectiveness-Since the publication of
Gardner's review, six articles have appeared in the JOUA~ of
Consumer Research which examined the role of such short term
moods in influencing advertising effectiveness. The first, by
Holbrook and Batra (1987) sought to incorporate a wider range of
emotional intensity in understanding consumers' responses to
advertisements and assumed homogenous responses on the part of
consumers toward given, emotion-stimulating advertisements. The
authors' findings supported the earlier model of emotional content
suggested by Mehrabian and Russell (1974) which categorized
emotions according to their positive or negative valence and level
of activation or arousal.
A second study, by Edell and Burke (1987), demonstrated that
'feelingsgenerated by an adaredifferentconceptually fromthoughts
about the ad and both are important and contribute uniquely to
explaining the effects of advertising' (1987, p. 421). The signifi-
cance of this study was that it demonstrated the independence of
mood and cognition in influencing advertising response, as advo-
cated by Zajonc (1980); whereas some cognitive approaches had
argued that mood was merely a subset of cognitive response. Edell
and Burke also found that individual consumers varied greatly in
the types of emotional responses they had to particular advertise-
ments, noting (p. 431) 'one person's warm commercial may be
another person's cool commercial.' This finding was contrary to
Holbrook and Batra's (1987) assumption that consumers would
exhibit homogeneous emotional responses to given advertise-
ments.
Advances in Consumer Research
Volume 26, O I999

FIGURE l
A Model o f Emotional Response
Personal
Emotional
D
Range
/
Happiness
El-
Current
Personal
Events
Sadness
In another 1987 article, Goldberg and Gorn showed consum-
ers a funny or sad television program to induce a positive or
negative mood. They then showed them 'informational' versus
'emotional' commercials. Consistent with several other studies in
the social psychology literature, they found that both types of
commercials were rated as more effective when embedded within
the funny program and that this effect was strongest for the
emotional commercials. They also found that recall of material
contained in the commercials was enhanced under the funny
program viewing condition. These findings are consistent with an
earlier study by Isen (1984), which suggested that a positive mood
enhances information processing ability and recall.
Two closely related studies examined the effect of mood on
attitudes toward the advertisement (Stayman and Aaker 1988;
Batra and Stayman 1990).The first looked at three typesof mood-
warmth, amusement, and irritation-and found that mood had a
direct effect on brand attitude at low exposure levels, but that this
effect appeared to be mediated by Aad at higher exposure levels.
The second study reported that positive moods indirectly influ-
enced consumers' attitudes toward the brand by, first, reducing the
number of negative thoughts generated and, second, by reducing
total cognitive elaboration, making processing 'more heuristic than
systematic' (p. 213).
Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 26) 1 5
Cognitive
Responses
e.g. attitude
formation and
change,
cognitive
complexity
Consumption
Behaviors
e.g. impulse
purchasing,
compulsive
buying, novelty
seeking, gift
giving
Prevailing
Cultural Norms
e.g. age, gender,
race
A 1991 study by Olney, Holbrook and Batra examined how
mood responses to an advertisement affected viewing time of the
advertisement. They found that advertisingcontent influencedboth
the positive-negative and arousal dimensions of mood and, not
surprisingly, that consumers spent more time watching advertise-
ments with positive content, which created happy moods in the
viewer.
To sum up, studies of the influence of mood on advertising
effectiveness support the general categorization of emotions as
psitivetnegative in valence and higMow in arousal. Multiple
studies have found that a positive mood enhances the rating of an
advertisement's effectiveness, consumers' information processing
ability and recall. Perhaps the most controversial findings relate to
the role of positive mood in enhancing information processing
ability. Although lsen found that thisability isenhanced by positive
mood, Batra and Stayman found that cognitive elaboration is
reduced and processing is more heuristic in positive mood states.
Thus, the relationship between mood and information processing
skill is still not fully understood.
Mood Effects in Non Advertising Contexts-Two studies have
examined mild emotional responses, i.e., mood, to stimuli aside
from advertisements. Swinyard (1993) investigated pre-existing
mood states' effectsupon consumers' shopping attitudes and inten-
6 / The Roles of Emotion in Consumer Research
tions. Using hypothetical scenarios, Swinyard found that a positive1
negative mood did not have any effect on reported shopping
intentions directly, but did act through involvement level (high/
low) to influence shopping intentions. Using mood also as a
dependent variable, Swinyard found that a positivelnegative shop-
ping experience had a significant effect on mood. This was espe-
cially tme for highly involved shoppers. As Swinyard (1993, p.
278) reports: 'For involved shoppers a good shopping experience
is even better, and a bad shopping experience is still worse.'
A second study, Murry and Dacin (1996), investigated how
various moods created by television programs affect consumers'
liking of the programs. As these authors note, 'Existing consumer
theoriesofferlittle insight into why consumersseekout ...entertain-
ment products such as music that evokes sadness, books that elicit
fear, or movies that create anger (1996, p. 439).' The authors found
that a negative mood stimulated by a program had a negative effect
on program liking, when the program was seen as personally
relevant (e.g., 'could happen to me') and realistic. However, pro-
grams causing negative moods could still be liked, as long as
viewers saw them as irrelevant and unrealistic. Underlying these
findings is the larger proposition that consumers will seek out scary
or sad consumption experiences only so long as these are not seen
as personally threatening.
This last study takes us to a different segment of the model
shown in Figure One. Under Consumption Behaviors we have
listed thrill seekinglrisk aversion as a construct relevant to con-
sumption choices. Murry and Dacin's (1996) work suggests that
consumers may seekout television programs that provide thrills, so
long as genuine emotional risk is avoided. As we shall discuss
subsequently, consumers' willingness to take emotional risks is
dependent upon whatpart of the emotional range they arefunction-
in; within. w e will propose that consumers-who have positive
emotional states they believe to be durable will be willing to take
more emotional risks. Conversely, those consumers who believe
themselves to already be in substantial emotional jeopardy, i.e., are
teetering on the edge of depression, will make choices aimed at
reducing emotional risks.
Isen's Research on Emotion-We turn now to a subset of the
cognitive literature on emotion which has justly had a large impact
on consumer research investigation of this topic-the work of Alice
Isen. In 1985,1sen, ~ohnson,~ertzand~obinson examined whether
positive affect could influence the contents and complexity of
working memory. At the outset to their study, Isen et al. reviewed
anextensive literaturewhichsuggests that when personsare in good
moods, they are typically able to bring more extensive and complex
material into working memory, to discern unusual relations be-
tween elements in stimulus materials, to have enhanced recall of
distantly related items, and to be able to generate a larger number
of unusual word associations. As Isen et al. point out, all of these
behaviorsare associated with creativity, and, indeed, some are even
analogous to accepted measuresof creativity (seee.g., Mednickand
Mednick 1964). In keeping with this series of prior findings, the
Isen et al. (1985) study found that 'the results of this study confirm
that unusual [word] associations are to be found from persons who
are feeling happy (p. 1418).' These findings are supportive of the
proposed model.
- ~
Several propositions Isen (1987) puts forward in a review of
the literature are also consistent with the model we are proposing.
First, she notes that a 'large body of research indicates that positive
affect can influence social behavior-in particular, sociability,
cooperativeness in negotiation, and kindness (p. 206).' Second,
happy persons are more likely to be self-indulgent and to give
themselves 'self gifts' (Isen p. 210).
Thus from Isen's work we find support for various portions of
our proposed model. For example, we can support the notion that
emotion influences cognitive responses, such as recall, working
memory capacity and working memory complexity. We can also
support the proposition that emotion, working through cognition,
can influence behavior, for example, sociability, gift giving, and
helping others.
Two additional studies by Isen in creative problem-solving
were conducted with medical students and physicians. The first
(Isen, Rosennveig, Young 1991), found that medical students in a
positive mood produced accurate patient diagnoses more rapidly
than those in a neutral condition and also went beyond the assigned
task to consider the medical materials more integratively, working
with larger 'chunks' of related information. In the second study
(Estrada, Isen, Young 1995), physicians conducting diagnoses
under positive affect conditions exhibited this same pattern and,
additionally, were found to be less anchored to preliminary assump
tions and more open to new information as a reasoning style, than
controls. Thus, happy emotion stimulates rapid, accurate cognitive
processing, increases the volume of relevant material being pro-
cessed and enhances cognitive receptivity, all very valuable char-
acteristics for consumers to possess.
We conclude thissection on cognitive theory with an article by
Kahn and lsen (1993) which segues nicely into our next set of
literature. In this study Kahn and Isen proposed that (p. 257):
'The induction of positive affect in consumers carrying out
brand-choice tasks may lead to their showing a greater preference
for exploration and trying new things in safe and enjoyable con-
texts. This is because ...positive affect improves a person's expec-
tations about the likely outcome of anticipated neutral or positive
experiences or events and also prompts people to engage in more
elaboration and thinking about neutral things in which they are
interested.' And, over a series of three experiments, they found
these expectations confirmed. Thus, a happy mood increases con-
sumers' effortsat variety seeking among safe, pleasant alternatives.
We next consider the larger literature of which much variety
seeking behavior is a part-that of hedonidexperiential consump-
tion.
HEDONIC CONSUMPTION
In 1982 two papers appeared which encouraged consumer
researchers to explore the experiential boundaries of consumption
beyond the confines of cognitive psychology and utilitarian eco-
nomics (Hirschman and Holbrook 1982; Holbrook and Hirschman
1982). Following this, several studies were conducted exploring
various aspects of hedonic and experiential consumption. We will
review five representative examples here. A 1986article by Havlena
and Holbrook compared two classification systems foremotion:
Mehrabian and Russell's (1974) paradigm and Plutchik's eight
emotional categories (1980). Usingan elaborate seriesof multivari-
ate procedures, they determined that the three dimensional model-
pleasure, arousal, dominance-proposed by Mehrabian and Russell
was superior in representing emotion during actual consumption
experiences.
A second study, by Allen, Machleit and Klein (1992) exam-
ined whether recollectedemotions regarding anemotionally-mixed
consumption experience (blood donation)could serve as incremen-
tal predictors (beyond attitudes) of behavior. They argue that
emotion extends beyond attitude and encompasses 'a richer and
more diverse domain of phenomenological experience (p. 494):
They further propose that much emotional experience is likely
stored in episodicmemory,whereas attitudinal judgmentsarelikely
found in semantic memory. Using Izard's (1977) emotional tax-
 Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 26) / 7
onomy the researchers found that 'emotion can have a direct 'compulsive consumption.' The particular type of compulsive
influence on behavior that is not captured or summed up by attitude consumption Rook was studying, impulse purchasing, has impor-
judgments(p. 500).' This,of course, hasimplicationsfor our model tant emotional and behavioral components. Impulse purchases are
in Figure One and suggests that we should draw a causal arrow from associated with happy emotional states, when the consumer is
Emotion to Consumption Behavior directly, as well as retaining the feeling self-indulgent, optimistic, enthusiastic, and venturesome.
one which already passes from Emotion to Cognition to Behavior. Indeed, much of the safe, pleasant variety seeking behavior as
Toward the end of their article, Allen et al. (1992), write described by Kahn and Isen (1993) as well as novelty seeking
evocatively of the measurement problems inherent in using emo- behavior (Raju 1980) is likely to occur in an impulse purchasing
tion measurement scales and recollected events (p. 502): 'While contest (see Rook 1987, p. 194,196).
defending our selection of measures, we do not mean to suggest that A distinction can be drawn between impulsepurchasing and
"conventional" measures of emotion cannot be improved on for compulsivepurchasing, which O'Guinn and Faber (1989) describe
consumer research. If we are to do a better job of integrating as repetitive purchasingwhich is 'ultimately destructive financially
emotive experience into consumer research, there are important and psychologically to the consumer, but which provides momen-
improvements needed in the measurement arean. tary relief from tension, anxiety or sadness (p. 148)'. Impulse
The next year, 1993, two articles appeared which went a great purchases usually occur during 'high' emotional states, while
distance toward responding to these issues. What was needed was compulsive purchases usuall y occur as attempts to alleviate 'down'
not only novel approaches tomeclsurement, per se, but rather novel emotional states. And, as O'Guinn and Faber (1989, p. 148) have
approaches in the methodology used to comprehend emotion within described, compulsive purchasing is closely related biochemically,
the consumption experience. We next examine two revolutionary psychologically and behaviorally, to a host of other compulsive
efforts which did just this: Arnould and Price (1993) and Celsi, consumer activities: "These include substance abuse and extreme
Rose and Leigh (1993). excesses in behavior, such as eating disorders and compulsive
The context of Arnould and Price's research was whitewater sexuality, as well as more marketplace-oriented behaviors, such as
rafting on the Colorado River-a consumption experience that compulsive gambling and kleptomania".
usually evokes the gamut of emotions for most participants. In In their study of compulsive buyers, O'Guinn and Faber
contrast to prior studies we have reviewed, the Amould and Price combined depth interviews with survey data toconstruct a compre-
article used a combination of ethnography and survey-scaling hensive portrait of the phenomenon. They found that most compul-
methodologies, creating a very rich and detailed data base from sive shoppers were female (supporting the portion of our model
which to construct interpretations. As they comment, the consum- which proposes that cultural norms about gender help direct emo-
ers of the river rafting experience typically have emotional re- tion-laden consumerbehaviors, i.e., women are socialized toshop),
sponses which are long-lasting and profound: Because of the nature and that compulsive buyers tended toward obsessive-compulsive
of their methodology, Amould and Price were able to trace socio- traits, had lower self-esteem (both a cause and consequence of
logical/anthropological aspects of the emotional experience which compulsive buying), had higher imagination levels and higher
traditional measurement devices would have missed. Among these levels of envy and non-generosity (i.e., hoarding) than other con-
were the perception by several consumers of the experience as a sumers. And, of course, their behavior had a strong, emotional
pilgrimagetrite of passage and the growth of bonding among component--elatedly high when it was occurring, depressingly
participants and between the participants and their guide over the low once one came to one's senses.
course of the journey. The research project also shed light on rarely In two later studies, (Faber and O'Guinn 1992; Faber,
investigated emotions such as transcendence and ecstasy, which lie Christenson, De Zwaan and Mitchell 1995), these researchers and
at the extremes of the positive emotional spectrum. Notably, many their associates developed a clinical screenerforcompulsive buyers
consumers did not want to translate their experience into cognitive and investigated the comorbidity (i.e., co-occurrence) of compul-
material. sive buying and binge eating. They found that both forms of
Similar findings resulted from the investigation of skydiving compulsive consumption occur along a continuum from normal to
by Celsi, Rose, and Leigh (1993). The authors proposed that high moderate to severe, a point made by Rook (1987) and Hirschman
risk consumer behaviors are 'motivated by a dramatic worldview (1992), as well. In discussing their findings, they reported that
(p. 2)' ,and discovered that participants' motives varied from thrill gender segregation was again apparent; that is, women tended
seekingtosocial compliance (e.g., toaccompany a friendor spouse) toward binge eating, kleptomania and compulsive buying, while
and that all participants saw it as involving some degree of risk men predominated in pathological gambling and hard drug usage,
acceptance. As with Arnould and Price's consumers, these also further supporting the 'Cultural Norms' segment of our model.
cited personal mastery (i.e., 'I can do it'), transcendencetecstasy They also reported results from other studies suggesting that
and identity construction/renewal as significant outcomes of the compulsive buyers had greater mood swings in response to buying,
behavior. And, asbefore, the participants felt a sense ofcommunitas than normal consumers: 'higher' during purchase, 'lower' after
or bonding with other participants. purchase.
These latter researchers introduced another aspect of con- In 1992, Hirschman used depth interviews with present and
sumer desire for such high risk experiences-the addictive high recovering drug addicts/alcoholics to construct a general model of
resulting from the adrenaline rush they provide. As they note, while compulsive consumption. Her research also included introspective
the addiction model does not fully account for all aspects of the accounts of the phenomenology of compulsive consumption.
high-risk consumption experience, it does serve as a phenomeno- Hirschman (1992), like O'Guinn and Faber (1989, 1992,
logical explanation for much of it. It also serves as a bridging 1996), noted the serial and/or multiple outlet aspect of compulsive
concept to take us to our next set of literature: consumer research consumption. It is posited that because compulsive consumption is
conducted on compulsive consumption. rooted in abnormal emotional reactivity, (see Larsen a n d - ~ i e n e r
1987 a,b) it is an ongoing feature of these consumer's lives.
COMPULSIVE CONSUMPTION Typically, they will use multipleformsof compulsive consumption
Rook's 1987 article, 'The Buying Impulse' wasone of the first or turn to a series of compulsive consumption activities over time
published in consumer research to investigate what is now termed to allieve anxiety, tension and/or depression. The type and pattern
8 / The Roles of Emotion in Consumer Research
FIGURE 2
Emotional Quadrants
contentment
tranquility
serenity
placidity
Low
arousal
hopelessness
dread
melancholy
lethargy
of activities these consumers engage in is often guided by social
norms regarding what is appropriate for their gender, age, social
class and ethnicity. And, as Rook and Fisher (1995) recently found,
some types
- . of impulsive consumer behavior may be held in check
by social norms, as well.
In 1996, DeSarbo and Edwards published a large-scale, sur-
vey-based research study that distinguished between impulse pur-
chases and compulsivd purchasing. These researchers demon-
strated that compulsive buyers react to stress by experiencing
higher than average levels of anxiety, i.e., are emotionally reactive.
T; escape these anxieties, they may turn to compulsive buying,
which temporarily provides positive emotions; in essence, compul-
sive consumers areself-medicatin their anxiety with the emotional
high of shopping.
DeSarbo and Edwards (1996) additionally found that persons
coming from abusive-andlor addictive families were more likely to
becom~compulsiveconsumers,consistentwith 0 ' ~ u i n n& Faber's
(1989) and Hirschman's (1992) findings, and supporting the Par-
ents and Childhood/Juvenile Environment segments of our model.
Analogously, Rindfleisch, Burroughs and denton (1996) found
that adults whose parents were divorced or separated exhib-
ited higher levels of compulsive buying.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Our model proposes that adult consumers will exhibit a
Personal Emotional Range. Our model additionally suggests that
adult consumers will respond emotionally to both major and minor
current personal events, such as job loss, exposure to advertising
and salesperson encounters. The model further suggests that these
Positive
valence
B
exuberance
delight
Y-
elation
High
arousal
anger
hostility
panic
paranoia
r Negative
valence
emotional responses will be filtered through various cognitive
activities (e.g., attitude change) and result in a wide-ranging set of
consumer behavior, such as impulsive product purchases, variety
seeking, and compulsive buying. Which specific behaviors are
undertaken will be influenced by prevailing cultural norms regard-
ing what is appropriate for one's gender, age, race, and socioeco-
nomic status.
We can also extend this model into a predictive set of propo-
sitions and a classification scheme as shown in Figure Two, which
is adapted from Holbrookand Batra (1987). The Figure depicts four
quadrants resulting from the orthogonal axes of positive-negative
emotional valence and low-high emotional arousal.
CONTENTED CONSUMERSICALM
CONSUMPTION
Quadrant A contains the emotions typical of positive affect
and low arousal: contentment, tranquility, serenity and placidity.
Given what we have learned from prior research, this section of the
emotional space may be labeled as containing Contented Consum-
ers/Calm Consumption. It is likely that some consumers spend
much of their lives in this range of emotional experience, and that
all consumers experience these emotions from time to time (see
e.g., Holbrook and Batra, 1987; Larsen and Diener 1987a). The
following speculative propositions1 may be put forward regarding
consumers/consumption in this portion of the emotional range.
1We are skatingon thin ice here, empirically. Yet we optimistically
anticipate these propositions will be confirmed in the near future.

1) Consumers experiencing these emotions are contented
with the present state of affairs.They are likely to be brand
loyal, due to feelings of productlservice satisfaction. Be-
cause of their low arousal levels, they do not have the
energy or desire to be venturesome, innovative or variety-
seeking, and they are unlikely to voice complaints or
express dissatisfaction.
2) Contented consumers are likely to be quite receptive to
'warm' advertisements (e.g., Aaker and Stayman), as
these would help maintain and reinforce their emotional
tranquillity.
3) Because Contented Consumers are in a state of low
arousal and positive emotion, they may use heuristic
processing to simplify decision tasks (see Batra and
Stayman 1990), thus avoiding expending energy on cog-
nitive activity.
Following from #3 above, it is likely that Contented Consum-
ers will choose to avoid extended problem solving activities; in
general, we expect that they will try to avoid activities that are
cognitively or physically demanding, because these would disrupt
their sense of serenity. These propositions are consistent with some
mood experiments, which have found subjects unwilling to under-
take activities that might threaten their positive affect, see e.g.
Gardner 1985.
Happy Consumers/Active Consumption
As we move into Quadrant B, we reach feelings such as
exuberance, delight, ecstasy and elation.These are the high arousal,
positive emotions. Because, as Isen's extensive work has shown,
the mental conditions responsible for creating elation and joy are
also linked to the stimulation of cognitive and physical activity,
many consumers who experience strong positive emotions will feel
physically and mentally energized, as well (see also Larsen and
Diener 19831 for psychological empirical confirmation). We an-
ticipate that such consumers will be optimistic about consumption
endeavors and enthusiastic about acquiring pleasurable experi-
ences. Thus, we propose that:
1. Happy consumers will actively seekout new consumption
information, experiences, and products, so long as these
are deemed likely to provide pleasure. Following from
Kahn and Isen (1993), we expect happy consumers to be
innovative, novelty-seeking, and variety-seeking.
2. Consumers who are experiencing delight and elation will
have greatly enhanced cognitive abilities. They will be
able to construct elaborate cognitive patterns, have in-
creased recall and accelerated processing speed, consis-
tent with Isen's extensive research.
3. As a result of 1 and 2 above, elated consumers should
display high levels of consumption creativity: i.e., the
ability to use products in novel and unusual ways in order
to solve problems.
Sad Consumers/Passive Consumption
Moving into Quadrant C, we encounter consumers with low
levels of arousal coupled with negative emotion: this space is
aligned with emotions such as hopelessness, dread, melancholy and
lethargy; these persons may be termed Sad Consumers who are
likely to engage in Passive Consumption. This area of emotional
Advances in Consumer Resemh (Volume 26) / 9
response has been very little investigated in consumer research.
Nonetheless, from the literature on depression and dysthymia (see
Isen 1985), we propose that:
Consumers who are experiencing the emotions of hopeless-
ness and dread will be very risk averse and pessimistic about
consumption activities. They will be unlikely to try new
products or services and are at a low probability for variety
seeking.
1) Given 1,above,such consumersare likely to display brand
loyalty and habitual purchasing patterns, because they
lack the cognitive ability to process novel information or
to combine existing information in novel ways.
2) Decision-makingby such consumerswill be slow, hesitant
and aimed toward minimizing possible disappointment.
These consumers will stick with 'tried and t ~ e alterna-
'
tives.
3) Because they are physically and mentally lethargic, sad
consumers will be less likely to express dissatisfaction or
voice complaints, even when product performance is
unsatisfactory. They are likely to believe that such activi-
ties are 'not worth the effort' and would be futile.
4) Sad consumers' behaviors will be marked by simplicity,
ritualism, passivity and resignation. They are based on the
premise that 'things will never get any better than this.'
Decision-making by such consumers will be slow, hesitant
and aimed toward minimizing possible disappointment. These
consumers will stick with 'tried and true' alternatives. Because they
are physically and mentally lethargic, sad consumers will be less
likely to express dissatisfaction or voice complaints, even when
prodkt performance is unsatisfactory. They are likely to believe
that such activitiesare 'notworth theeffort' and wouldbe futile. Sad
consumers' behaviors will be marked by simplicity, ritualism,
passivity and resignation. They are based on the premise that
'things will never get any better than this.'
Angry Consumers/Hostile Consumption
As we continue toward Quadrant D, we cross-over into the
high arousal/negative emotion* anger, hostility, panic and para-
noia are the feelings often experienced by persons here. It is likely
that anger and hostility are the most commonly experienced con-
sumption emotions within this portion of the spectrum; for ex-
ample,a delayed flight,a malfunctioningcar,or abotched repairjob
can sometimes provoke rage in consumers. Again, little empirical
consumer research has been conducted on these emotions, but some
speculative propositions can be made:
1. Obviously, consumers with tendencies toward active dys-
thymia are those most likely to 'lose their temper' in a
provocative consumption situation, but all consumers
occasionally find themselves in this emotional space.
Loud, demanding, complaining behavior is likely tooccur,
perhaps even including physical damage to property or
personnel (e.g., assaulting a waiter). Research on how to
disarm such volatile negative consumer behaviors would
be very valuable.
2. Drawing from the compulsive consumption literatures
(e.g., O'Guinn and Faber 1989), we propose that much
101 The Roles of Emotion in Consumer Research
drug and alcohol abuse, compulsive eating, compulsive
shopping, pathological gambling and similar addictive1
compulsive behaviors are undertaken by consumers who
are attempting to self-medicate feelings of anger, anxiety
and paranoia.
3. We propose that it is likely at the juncture between the Sad
and Angry positions on the emotional map that most
compulsive consumption will occur: the consumer must
feel unhappy, but still have the physical and mental energy
(i.e., arousal) to get to the casino, liquor store, cigarette
machine, shoppingmall,orcrack house in order to remedy
hisher misery.
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