Understanding Consumer Evaluations of Mixed Affective Experiences

This research examines the influence of final trend, temporal proximity, and source similarity on consumers' overall retrospective evaluations of sequential mixed affective experiences comprised of positive, negative, and neutral affective responses. Findings from the first experiment indicate that when consumers make comparisons based on similarities among affective responses, evaluations tend to be influenced by final trend. In contrast, when consumers make comparisons based on differences, temporal proximity influences evaluations. A second experiment shows that novelty of the experience attenuates these effects. This research is discussed in view of research on sequential single as well as simultaneous mixed affective experiences. (c) 2005 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Retrospective evaluations of playful experiences

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of key affective moments of a playful experience on consumers’ overall retrospective evaluations. Design/methodology/approach The authors build on past literature on hedonic psychology and sequential preferences and link it to specific characteristics of playful experiences to derive their hypotheses. The hypotheses are tested through two field experiments conducted at a videogame arcade. Findings Results demonstrated that consumers’ overall evaluations are better aligned with the affective intensity at the final or end moment of a playful experience. Findings also revealed the complexity of understanding playful experiences, for it is the meaningfulness of end moments rather than simply their recent position in the experience that underlies overall evaluations. When end moments cease to be meaningful, the trough or least affective intense moment impacts overall evaluations. Practical implications This research has implications for marketers who are deciding on which point of a playful experience to concentrate their resources for optimizing evaluations. Originality/value This research contributes to literature on playful consumption by illuminating how consumers rely on affective moments of a playful experience to construct overall evaluations. Additionally, it highlights the important role of meaningfulness of end moments, a relatively underexplored process, which extends literature on key moments and retrospective evaluations

Coping with sequential conflicting emotional experiences

What influences retrospective evaluations of sequentially arising conflicting emotions? The present research brings to light two competing views, one where the positive emotion enables successful coping with the negative emotion and the other where the most salient aspect of the experience guides evaluations. Results from study 1 support the coping view. Specifically, relatively close (vs. distant) temporal proximity between movie clips arousing positive emotions and those eliciting negative emotions produced more favorable evaluations of the overall viewing experience. Study 2 examines the underlying process of coping through relatively close (vs. distant) temporal proximity between positive and negative emotions. Findings from this study support the notion that reappraisal drives the beneficial effect of relatively close (vs. distant) temporal proximity, which in turn leads to more favorable evaluations of conflicting emotional experiences

Emotional Persuasion: When the Valence versus the Resource Demands of Emotions Influence Consumers' Attitudes

Can properties of emotions other than valence influence consumers' responses to emotional ads? We show that consumers' processing motivation moderates whether their attitudes are based on the valence of or the resource demands imposed by the emotion featured in an ad. When motivation is low, consumers respond more favorably to positively versus negatively valenced emotional ads. However, when motivation is high, attitudes are more favorable when the magnitude of allocated resources matches that required to process the ad. Three studies identify three distinct properties of emotions (univalence, purity, and self-consciousness) that can influence the resource demands of an ad. (c) 2009 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..