Emotion in consumer behavior

Manas K Mandal
Emotions

• Emotions are
• bio-psychological state
• linked with neurophysiological changes in the body
• associated with cognition & behavioral consequences
• a degree of pleasure or displeasure
• Six emotions –
• happy, sad, fear, anger, surprise, disgust
• universal in terms of experience, expression &
perception
Emotion in Consumer Behavior

• Despite millions of years

evolution & reasoning power,
we still rely heavily on
emotions in decision making
• Emotions do not hinder
decision, rather these shape it
• Marketers appeal consumers’
needs & emotions

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 Descartes
• Cognition: ‘Reason’ which is uniquely human
• Emotion: Bodily expression shared with other animal
Modern Philosophers
Cognition & • Cognition: Associated with public knowledge & discourse
• Emotion: Consigned to a non-cognitive private knowledge
Emotion Lazarus-Zajonc
• Cognition has a temporal priority over emotion
• Emotion: It is a system independent of cognition
Damasio
• Emotional processing is required for decision making
Emotion & Decision
making

“When we are confronted with a decision, emotions

from previous, related experiences affix values to the
options we are considering. These emotions create
preferences, which lead to our decision”

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 Neuroscience of Buying

• Even with what we believe are logical decisions, the

very point of choice is arguably always based on
emotion
• People who have been injured in an area of the
brain that emotions are generated often have
Antonio Damasio difficulty making decisions
• fMRI shows that when
evaluating brands,
consumers primarily use
emotions (personal feelings,
experiences) rather than
information (brand features,
attributes, & facts)
• Advertising research reveals
that emotional response to
an ad has a far greater
influence on their reported
intent to buy a product than
does the ad’s content
Emotion in buying
behavior: Mirror
neurons

• Researchers have found a

specialized group of brain cells
that are responsible for social
response
• These cells enable everyone to
mirror emotions, to share another
person’s pain, fear, or joy
  Observation of action automatically triggers simulation
of that action
Mirror neuron
 Mirror neurons provide a neural basis for imitation &
in advertising empathy (inner imitation)

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Consequential model of decision-making
(Rick & Loewenstein, 2008)

‘It assumes that decision makers choose

between alternative courses of action by
assessing the desirability & likelihood of
their consequences, & integrating this
information through some type of
expectation-based calculus’
• Expected emotions: expected to occur as a
result of economic behavior
• Immediate emotions: experience at the
moment of choice

https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/docs/loewenstein/RoleEmotionEconBehav.pdf
Expected vs immediate emotions

• An investor who anticipates losing a small amount of

money will generally focus with disappointment on
the lost investment, rather than with pleasure on the
overall amount still owned
• Immediate emotions integrate cognition
with somatic or bodily experienced components &
may or may not be linked with decisions at hand
• Immediate emotions tend to operate differently from
anticipated emotion in consumer behavior
 Impact of emotions in economic
behavior: Research findings

• Decision-makers who were made to consider safety concerns that

induced negative emotions when deciding which car to purchase,
were more likely to "choose not to choose (Luce, 1998)
• Participants who experienced "frustrated anger" were more likely
to choose a high risk, high reward option in a lottery – a choice the
authors categorize as ‘self-defeating’ (Leith & Baumeister, 1996)
• People who had been induced to feel sad were likely to set a lower
selling price for an item they were asked to sell (Lerner et al., 2004)
 • Behavioral loyalty: when the consumer shops with a
brand because it’s convenient. Their loyalty is driven
by habit rather than a genuine connection to the
brand

Emotion & • Rational loyalty: when consumers shop with a

particular brand because of price, but will switch to
Consumer Loyalty another brand if they can find a more affordable
option.

• Emotional loyalty: when consumers are emotionally

engaged, feel delighted & would advocate…
recommend the brand to their friends & family. They
will spend with a brand no matter what.

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Emotional branding
• Emotional branding is about building a
brand that appeals directly to
consumers' emotions, needs, ambitions
& to trigger an emotional response in
consumers (like anniversary, nostalgia)
• By provoking emotions, marketers can
create a bond which disrupts traditional
consumer decision-making models

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Online shopping:
Emotional over-involvement
• I feel like I can’t stop online shopping even if I
wanted to
• Online shopping has hurt my relationships, work,
or financial situation.
• My family members are concerned about my
online shopping. I end up in arguments with
them over it.
• I often feel guilty after I go online shopping.
• I spend less time doing other things that I enjoy
because of online shopping.
• I often buy things that I don’t need or much
more than I planned, even when I can’t afford it.
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