The existing literature suggests that metaphorical effects are mediated by semantic priming and embodied simulation is not necessary for these effects to occur. We qualify this prediction by showing that embodied simulation is necessary for dynamic metaphorical effects (i.e., moving down)and activates regulatory goals that increase preferences for status consumption

Baruch David Luna

College, USA Torsten Ringberg

David Luna

Massimiliano Ostinelli

Torsten Ringberg

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ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH 
 
Labovitz School of Business & Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth, 11 E. Superior Street, Suite 210, Duluth, MN 55802 
 
 
The Embodied Simulation of Verticality
Massimiliano Ostinelli, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, USA 
David  Luna, Baruch College, USA  
Torsten  Ringberg, Copenhagen School of Business   
 
The existing literature suggests that metaphorical effects are mediated by semantic priming and embodied simulation is not necessary
for these effects to occur. We qualify this prediction by showing that embodied simulation is necessary for dynamic metaphorical
effects (i.e., moving down)and activates regulatory goals that increase preferences for status consumption.
 
 
[to cite]:
Massimiliano Ostinelli, David  Luna, and Torsten  Ringberg (2015) ,"The Embodied Simulation of Verticality", in NA -
Advances in Consumer Research Volume 43, eds. Kristin Diehl  and Carolyn Yoon, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer
Research, Pages: 656-657.
 
[url]:
http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1020116/volumes/v43/NA-43
 
[copyright notice]:
This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in
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656 
Advances in Consumer Research
Volume 43, ©2015
The Embodied Simulation of Verticality
Massimiliano Ostinelli, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
David Luna, Baruch College, CUNY, USA
Torsten Ringberg, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
The existing literature proposes that metaphorical effects are 
mediated by semantic priming (Zhang and Li 2012): Sensory-motor 
experiences prime metaphorically associated knowledge that, in turn, 
affects judgments and behaviors (e.g., weight primes importance). 
Accordingly, embodied simulation— which entails the re-enactment 
of sensory-motor experiences—serves only as a means to prime 
metaphorical concepts and it is thus not necessary for metaphorical 
effects to occur. We qualify this metaphor-as-priming explanation by 
showing that semantic priming and embodied simulation are separate 
and independent underlying processes of the metaphorical transfer 
effects of verticality, each leading to opposite effects on preference 
for status products.  
We distinguish between metaphors based on dynamic (i.e., 
moving down) and static (i.e., being down) sensory experiences of 
verticality.  In line with  the metaphor-as-priming explanation  (Mei-
er and Robinson 2004), we suggest that metaphors based on static 
experiences of verticality (e.g., imagining being in a lower vertical 
position) are mediated by the priming of associated concepts (e.g., 
“low” primes “bad”). Since these associations generally result in as-
similative responses (Sela and Shiv 2009), static downward vertical-
ity reduces preferences for status products. 
By contrast, because dynamic sensory experiences are processed 
through the re-enactment of the sensory-motor system (Glenberg and 
Kaschak 2002; Tettamanti et al. 2005), we suggest that metaphors 
based on dynamic verticality are mediated by embodied simulation. 
That is, without embodied simulation there will not be dynamic 
metaphorical transfer effects on consumer behavior.  Furthermore, 
because the re-enactment of motor experiences (i.e., embodied simu-
lation), has been shown to activate regulatory goals (for a review see 
Pezzulo et al. 2013), we predict that metaphors based on downward 
movement activate a compensatory goal that increases preferences 
for high-status products (Sivanathan and Pettit 2010).  Moving up, on 
the other hand, is unlikely to have any effect on consumption prefer-
ence because self-worth boosts might have limited effects on prefer-
ences for high-status products (Sivanathan and Pettit 2010). There-
fore, moving down, not up, is the central focus of our investigation. 
Study 1 tested our prediction. Participants imagined one scenario of 
a 2 (direction: up vs. down) x 2 (movement: dynamic vs. static) de-
sign, before reporting the percentage price premium for a high-status 
product over a low-status product. Participants were informed of the 
retail price of each product and asked to report the highest percentage 
of the retail price they would be willing to pay for the two products. 
In line with the definition of price premium (Kusum, Lehmann, and 
Neslin 2003),  an index was created by subtracting the percentage of 
the full price participants were willing to pay for the low-status prod-
uct from the percentage they were willing to pay for the high-status 
product. Higher scores indicate a higher price premium for the high- 
versus low-status product. Measures of embodied simulation derived 
from past research (Labroo and Nielsen 2010) and theoretical con-
siderations (Barsalou 2005) were collected both for static (e.g. it felt 
as if I was at the bottom) and dynamic (e.g., it felt as if I was moving 
downward ) verticality. An ANOVA with price premium as depen-
dent variable revealed a significant interaction effect. Participants in 
the “being down condition” reported a lower price premium for the 
high relative to the low-status product.  Consistent with the meta-
phor-as-priming  explanation (Zhang and Li 2012), imagining being 
down should primes lower value hence decreasing preferences for 
status products (Mandel, Petrova, and Cialdini 2006; Sela and Shiv 
2009).  By contrast, imagining moving downward increased price 
premium for the high-status product, suggesting that moving down-
ward activates regulatory goals that increase preferences for status 
products. Furthermore, embodied simulation of dynamic verticality 
mediated the effect of vertical movements on price premium, as sug-
gested by a bias-corrected 95% confidence interval of the indirect 
effect did not include zero. By contrast, static embodied simulation 
did not mediate the effect in the static scenarios. 
Studies 2 and 3 provide further evidence, through a moderation-
of-process approach (Spencer, Zanna, & Fong, 2005), that dynamic 
metaphorical transfer effects are mediated by embodied simulation. 
Because the re-enactment of sensory-motor experiences is modulat-
ed by vividness of the imagination (Lorey et al. 2011) and vividness 
of the imagination intensifies the activation of the brain areas origi-
nally developed to process that particular sensory-motor experience 
(Amedi, Malach, and Pascual-Leone 2005; Cui et al. 2007; Lorey et 
al. 2011), we predict that metaphorical effects of dynamic verticality 
are moderated by the vividness with which movements are imagined. 
This prediction cannot be accounted for by the metaphor-as-priming 
explanation (Lee and Schwarz 2012).  
Study 2 tested whether the vividness of imagination moderates 
the effect of imagined vertical movement on preference for high-
status products. Participants read a text describing a virtual tour of a 
luxury building that started from the gym and ended at the apartment 
unit. Movement was manipulated by changing the location of the 
gym (on the 10th floor in the upward condition and on the 50th floor in 
the downward condition) while keeping constant the location of the 
apartment on the on the 30th floor, so that participants imagined mov-
ing either 20 floors upward or downward. Vividness was manipulat-
ed by changing the concreteness with which vertical movement was 
described. Intention to rent the apartment was then measured. The 
results show a significant interaction effect: In the downward con-
dition, vividness increased intentions to rent the luxury apartment, 
whereas vividness had no effect in the upward condition.
Study 3 tested whether the effect of imagined vertical move-
ment on preference toward status products is moderated by imagery 
dispositional ability. Participants reported their willingness to pay to 
rent the apartment after listening to an audio describing the vivid 
scenarios used in Study 2 along with measures of imagery ability 
(Marks 1973). A regression analysis revealed a significant interac-
tion effect:  In the moving down condition, imagery ability increased 
willingness to pay for the luxury apartment, whereas, in the moving 
up condition, imagery ability had no significant effect on willingness 
to pay.  
Altogether, our research advocates for a theoretical framework 
of metaphorical transfer effects on consumer behavior that incorpo-
rates both semantic priming and embodied simulation as independent 
underlying processes.
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