Affect as information hypothesis essay PDF

Preview

Summary

prof fabrizio di muro...

Description

Affect-as-Information Hypothesis and its Impact on Decision-Making

Decision-Making Marketing BUS-4245-001 Prof. Fabrizio Di Muro

1 Affect-as-Information Hypothesis and its Impact on Decision-Making Affect, a general word for many similar, but different concepts normally refer to emotions, feelings, and moods that can influence an individual. The affect-as-information theory states that a particular emotion has informational value for a current goal or task (Wang et al., 2020, p. 2). This theory considers the relevance that affective states ± including moods, emotions, cognitive experiences, and bodily sensations ± KDYHRQDQLQGLYLGXDO¶VMXGJHPHQWRU decision-making process. This theory concludes that people heed to their feelings as a source of information, with different feelings providing different types of information (Schwarz & Clore, 1983). However, the use of affective states as a source of information follows the same principles as the use of any other information. What people conclude from a given feeling depends on the question they are trying to answer, thereby confirming that judgements made IURPRQH¶VHPRWLRQVDUHFRQWH[W-sensitive. Along with performing as a basis of judgment, feelings inform us about the essence of our situations, and our thought processes are revised to match our current situation, therefore, the experience of affect is crucial for providing us with conscious information about our unconscious appraisals (Clore & Storbeck, 2006, p. 2). This analysis of the affect-as-information hypothesis will be correlated and measured against how it DIIHFWVRQH¶VGHFLVLRQ-making. This paper will be examining the methodology and results from five different research articles and use the information acquired to determine the managerial implications that result from the research. These implications will then be analyzed for any recommendations for future research regarding the implications affect-as-information can have on the internet, new methodology approaches, and biases. Methodology

2 Across all five research articles on the affect-as-information hypothesis, there is a common theme not only when it comes to results, but especially methodology. The methodology consistently applied in the research was the use of experiments. Participants who volunteered to take part in the research were asked to complete various tests to measure how their emotions affected their judgement, and the results from these different groups are compared. For instance, in the research conducted by Wang et al. (2020), they conducted three experiments to test out two hypotheses. In the first experiment, sixty-six (42 women and 24 men) university students participated in the experiment and were randomly assigned to various control groups. This H[SHULPHQWZDVFRQGXFWHGWRWHVWZKHWKHU³DQLQGLYLGXDO¶VGLIIHUHQWHPRWLRQVZLOOJHQHUDWH GLIIHUHQWLQIRUPDWLRQSUHIHUHQFHV´RULI³HPRWLRQVZLOODIIHFWLQIRUPDWLRQSUHIHUHQFHVOHVVWKDQLQ WKHSURPRWLRQIRFXV´:DQJHWDOS2). During this experiment, the participants spent approximately five to ten minutes writing a paragraph describing their thoughts on questions that were given to them. In the second experiment, they used identical demographics for the selection of particiSDQWVKRZHYHUWKLVH[SHULPHQWZDVFRQGXFWHGWRWHVWWKHWKHRU\WKDW³ZKHQDQ HPRWLRQ¶VVRXUFHLVPDGHVDOLHQWWKHLQWHUDFWLRQEHWZHHQHPRWLRQVDQGUHJXODWRU\IRFXVRQ LQIRUPDWLRQSUHIHUHQFHZLOOEHPLWLJDWHG´:DQJHWDOS6LPLODUSURFHGXUHs were made in the other four articles, participants were split into groups and were asked to write down their thoughts and feelings in response to the question being asked. Subsequently, participants were also asked to follow through with activities that challenge their judgements based on the situational context. The consistency of the methodology being used in this area of research is EHFDXVHLWLVRQHRIWKHPRVWHIIHFWLYHZD\VWRGLVWLQJXLVKEHWZHHQWKH³DIIHFWWKDWLVHOLFLWHGE\D particular referent DQGWKHDIIHFWWKH\KDSSHQWREHH[SHULHQFLQJIRURWKHUUHDVRQV´$OEDUUDFtQ

3 Kumkale, 2003, p. 2). Affective feelings allow us to learn about our implicit judgments and decisions. The role of affect in judgment and decision-making has been overlooked by the simple fact that feelings and beliefs are linked. To determine whether feelings themselves play a role, it ZDVQHFHVVDU\WRYDU\DIIHFWLYHVWDWHVVHSDUDWHIURPRQH¶VHYDOXDWLYHEHOLHIV7RGRWKLV6FKZDU] & Clore went outside of the norm of methodology and developed a more natural way to gather these results. Although the use of experiments, particularly control groups, is most commonly used in this area of research, supplementary methods such as interviews and surveys were also applied. For instance, Schwarz and Clore (1983) interviewed participants on the telephone on HLWKHUVXQQ\RUUDLQ\GD\VWRWHVWWKHWKHRU\WKDWLI³SHRSOHXVHWKHLUDIIHFWLYHVWDWHVDV information to evaluate their lives, they should report greater well-being and life satisfaction on VXQQ\GD\VWKDQRQUDLQ\GD\V´S6FKZDU]DQG&ORUHDGPLQLVWHUHGWKHVHWHOHSKRQH interviews because they not only wanted the results that the control groups offered, but they also ZDQWHGWRFRPSDUHWKHVHUHVXOWVZLWKDPRUH³QDWXUDOLVWLF´PHWhodology (Schwarz & Clore, 1983, p. 519). Contrarily, Wang et al. implemented surveys into her experiments in which the SDUWLFLSDQWVFDWHJRUL]HG³IXQFWLRQDODQGKHGRQLFLQIRUPDWLRQ´ZKHUHIXQFWLRQDOLQIRUPDWLRQ refers to instrumental and practical types of information, and hedonic information encompasses aesthetic and experiential types of information (Wang et al., 2020, p. 3). Results For the most part, the results have been congruent with one another regarding how ³SURFHVVLQJVWUDWHJLHVFDQEH influenced by happy and sad moods, by specific emotions, by IHHGEDFNIURPHPRWLRQDOH[SUHVVLRQVDQGHYHQE\HQJDJLQJLQDSSURDFKDQGDYRLGDQFHDFWLRQV´ &ORUH6WRUEHFNS$VDUHVXOW³WKHH[SHULHQFHRISRVLWLYHIHHOLQJVZKLOHWKLQNLQJ

4 about a target object is generally interpreted to mean that the target is desirable, attractive, valuable, etc., whereas the experience of negative feelings is interpreted to mean that the target is XQGHVLUDEOHXQDWWUDFWLYHQRWYDOXDEOHHWF´3KDPS 4). As expected, there was a ³VLJQLILFDQWLQWHUDFWLRQHIIHFWEHWZHHQHPRWLRQVDQGUHJXODWRU\IRFXVRQLQIRUPDWLRQVHOHFWLRQ SUHIHUHQFH´:DQJHWDOS However, even with the overwhelming consistency of results between research papers, AlbarractQ.XPNDOHKDYHHVWDEOLVKHGWKDW³ZKHWKHUUHFLSLHQWVZKRLGHQWLI\WKHLU affective reactions as potential bases for judgment actually use these reactions as information PD\DOVRGHSHQGRQZKHWKHUWKH\GLVFRXQWWKHVHUHDFWLRQVDVLUUHOHYDQW´S In other words, in their research about the implications that the affect-as-information theory has on persuasion, they discovered that DQLQGLYLGXDO¶VDWWHPSWWRGHWHUPLQHWKHLQIRUPDWLRQDOYDOXHRIWKHDIIHFWWKH\ experience are more likely to be successful when they experience high motivation and ability. Consequently, they are likely to disregard affect as a genuine basis for their attitudes. However, ZKHQWKHVDPHLQGLYLGXDOKDVORZPRWLYDWLRQ³WKH\PD\SHUIRUPWKLVDQDO\VLVOHVVFDUHIXOO\DQG IDLOWRGHWHUPLQHWKHH[WUDQHRXVVRXUFHRIWKHLUIHHOLQJV´$OEDUUDFtQ.XPNDOHS These results differ from other research about affect-as-information because they have illustrated WKDWQRWRQO\GRHVDQLQGLYLGXDO¶VDIIHFWLYHVWDWHDIIHFWWKHLr judgement, but if they believe that these feelings are irrelevant, they remove them from consideration. Along with Albarracín & .XPNDOH¶VFRQWUDGLFWLQJUHVXOWV6FKZDU]&ORUHKDYHGLVFRYHUHGWKDWIHHOLQJVGRQRW always affect judgment. For instance, when a cause other than the object of judgment was made noticeable, the mood effects disappeared. In their first and second experiment, the soundproof room where participants were asked to work was made salient as a possible cause for their feelings, and in the telephone interview when the sunny or rainy weather was made salient; in

5 neither case did the attribution manipulation change how participants felt (Schwarz & Clore, 1983). However, it did change the apparent meaning of their feelings, hence their effects. Managerial implications Enhance operations Business managers can use the affect-as-information approach to improve their FRPSDQ\¶VRSHUDWLRQVEHFDXVHRQFHPDQDJHUVDFFHSWWKDWLQGLYLGXDOVPDNHMXGJHPHQWVDQG decisions based highly on their feelings and emotions, operations will run a lot smoother. Creating efficient operations has little to do with cost management, instead, managers must look ERWKLQWHUQDOO\DQGH[WHUQDOO\DWDQRUJDQL]DWLRQ¶VSURFHVVIRUKRZWKH\ZRUN in order to understand what must be changed or adapted. Subsequently, a manager can implement and FKDQJHSROLFLHVLPSURYHHPSOR\HHV¶ZRUNLQJHQYLURQPHQWDQGUHYLVHRSHUDWLRQDOSURFHVVHVWKDW positively affect the affective states of employees to encourage better results in their work. When LWFRPHVWRSHUIHFWLQJSURFHVVHVDQGSURFHGXUHVDPDQDJHUPXVWDFNQRZOHGJHWKDW³WKHUHOLDQFH on feelings in judgment is conditional on the interaction of three set of factors: the target to be HYDOXDWHGWKHSHUVRQ¶VJRDOVDQGYDULRXVVLWXDWLRQDOIDFWRUV´3KDPS%\ understanding this framework, managers can identify areas where inefficiencies exist and determine how to improve them. This creates a win-win scenario: optimal output for the company and a satisfactory product for the customer (Pham, 2008). Being on the front and NHHSLQJFRPPXQLFDWLRQOLQHVRSHQPDQDJHUVZLOOJHWDEHWWHUXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIZKDW¶VDIIHFWLQJ their operations. Develop a more motivated workforce Companies that are more willing to accommodate their employee¶VQHHGVYDOXHVDQG feelings tend to be more successful because the workers are motivated to not only work harder

6 but stay loyal to the company. Consequently, motivation and affect are linked. This is shown in the research from Albarracín and Kumkale (2003) when they emphasized that when participants were told that the topic of the message was relevant to them, this led to high motivation and were thus motivated to think about the issues at hand, whereas others believed the policy would have no impact on their life, and this led to low motivation. When managers are willing to alter the organizational culture according to the values and beliefs of the employees, rather than making the employees connect with a fixed organizational culture, employees are more persuaded to ZRUNKDUGHU7KLVZLOOXOWLPDWHO\HQKDQFHZRUNHUV¶SRVLWLYHPRRGZKLFKLQFUHDVHVWKHLU³DFWLYLW\ UHOHYDQWWRYHUEDOZRUNLQJPHPRU\DQGYHUEDODVVRFLDWLRQVWDVNVZLWFKLQJDQGHUURUGHWHFWLRQ´ (Clore & Storbeck, 2007, p. 10). Companies can create an effective and motivational culture that LVIRFXVHGRQKRZDIIHFWLYHVWDWHVFDQDOWHURQH¶VPRWLYDWLRQEHFDXVHWKHLQIOXHQFHRI³SRVLWLYH affective cues appear to trigger assimilation, top-down, or theory-driven processing, whereas negative affect elicits accommodation, bottom-up, or data-GULYHQSURFHVVLQJ´&ORUH6WRUEHFN 2006, p. 7). When positive affect signals a favourable situation, employees engage in heuristic processing which can impact how they make decisions and judgements about their job. Create a more satisfied customer base The results gained from various research on affect-as-information have shown that people attend to an array of feelings as a source of information. This insight can provide managers and marketers with the relevant information to understand how consumers make their decisions and judgements. The affect-as-information approach can help managers establish a structure that promotes and maintains customers satisfaction by recognizing how their branding and marketing can iQIOXHQFHWKHLUFRQVXPHU¶VDIIHFWLYHVWDWHV$VQRWHGE\:DQJHWDO³LWKDV LQFUHDVLQJO\EHFRPHLPSRUWDQWWRLGHQWLI\ZKDWIDFWRUVDIIHFWSHRSOH¶VLQIRUPDWLRQSUHIHUHQFHV´

7 (p. 1). Consumers are more inclined to buy from or support a company that has views and attitudes that are consistent with theirs. For this reason, companies must understand how they can GHYHORSWKHLUEUDQGVDQGPDUNHWLQJWHFKQLTXHVLQDZD\WKDWLPSDFWVWKHLUFRQVXPHU¶VPRRGVDQG emotions. For instance, if a marketing campaign induces satisfaction or happiness with a consumer, the consumer will want to use their products or services, whereas if the marketing campaign induces sadness, they will most likely never use the product because feelings are used as a source of information tKDWZKHQPDNLQJDGHFLVLRQ3HRSOHJHQHUDOO\LQWHUSUHW³SOHDVDQW feelings as evidence of liking, satisfaction, or well-being, and unpleasant feelings as evidence of GLVOLNLQJGLVVDWLVIDFWLRQRUPLVHU\´3KDPS7KHUHIRUHZKHQPDUNHWHUVDUHXVing FRQWH[WXDOFXHVWRLQGXFHKDSSLQHVVLWFDQLQFUHDVHWKHFRQVXPHU¶VKHGRQLFFRQVXPSWLRQRIWKHLU products or services (Wang et al., 2020). As a result, this will create more satisfied customers because they are buying from companies that satisfy their emotional and sensory needs. As a UHVXOW³HQKDQFLQJRQH¶VSUHIHUHQFHIRUFHUWDLQLQIRUPDWLRQQHHGVLQGXFHVDFRUUHVSRQGLQJ HPRWLRQWKDWPDWFKHVZLWKRQH¶VUHJXODWRU\IRFXV´:DQJHWDOS Develop a better shopping experience After creating a satisfied customer base with the help of the affect-as-information approach, companies can generate more revenue by developing a better, more appealing shopping experience. The shopping experience, whether online or in-person, is crucial when competing against similar stores offering similar products. Companies are always trying to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and the main way they do that is by enhancing the shopping experience for their customers. Consumers may bring affect, induced by activities or incidents into their shopping. Consumers can unconsciously misattribute the affect to it, therefore influencing their shopping behaviours. As well, affect can be induced by the shopping

8 environment itself. There are so many similar stores and so many product options available that it is unlikely for consumers to consider all alternatives. If the shopping experience satisfies the FRQVXPHULWZLOOLQIOXHQFHWKHFRQVXPHU¶VGHFLVLRQ-making because they will no longer consider a variety of options, instead, they will only consider shopping at the store they know will bring them satisfaction (Pham, 2008). Therefore, managers can create a more pleasant shopping experience by educating the employees on all products so they can better assist customers, designing the store with calming colours and an easy-to-navigate layout, or playing pleasant music. All these notions, especially music, can be used to induce mood without activating mood concepts, and if done correctly, it can induce happiness and enjoyment within the consumer which will entice them to keep returning to the store because they now view this store as the ³VXSHULRURSWLRQ´ZKHQGHFLGLQJZKHUHWRVKRS3KDPS&RQVXPHUVZLOOVSHQGPRUH time, purchase more items, and enjoy the experience more when they perceive the environment as enjoyable and experience a moderate level of satisfaction or arousal. As a result, a "store" DWPRVSKHUHFDQLQIOXHQFHVKRSSHUV¶H[SHULHQFHVEHFDXVHLWLQFUHDVHVVKRSSHUV¶SRVLWLYHIHHOLQJV Future research directions Affect-as-information on the internet How does the affect-as-LQIRUPDWLRQK\SRWKHVLVDIIHFWFRQVXPHUV¶RQOLQHEHKDYLRXU"7KLV UHVHDUFKLVLQFUHGLEO\LPSRUWDQWHVSHFLDOO\LQWRGD\¶VWHFKQRORJLFDOO\DGYDQFHGVRFLHW\. There should be research conducted to understand consumer online experiences and how they can be further impacted or enhanced by affective states. There are various emotions and experiences that consumers feel when they are browsing the internet. For instance, consumers get frustrated when they are not able to find things they want, they get annoyed by misleading information, or they feel excited by new media and content. Since consumers have these complex and versatile

9 feelings, emotions, and experiences, an in-depth view of the consumer effect online is needed. I would conduct research by holding experiments and questionnaires to understand what users experience and feel when they are online shopping. I think the results would highlight how the virtual environment can evoke emotional states that are essentially the same as the physical environment. If the online environment is powerful enough to draw out affective states, these feelings or emotions may have a significant influence on information processing and product evaluation. Methodology Can the affect-as-information hypothesis produce different results if the methodology is different? As we have seen throughout the five research papers, the results from the experiments have been somewhat consistent, regardless of the few discrepancies from the Schwarz and Clore (1983) study where they conducted naturalistic telephone interviews. However, all these experiments, including the telephone interviews and surveys, were not natural at all. They were all conducted in a laboratory setting, external from the influences of environmental cues or friends and family. I would argue that many of our judgements and decisions that we make are based on our affective states such as mood and feelings, but we change those affective states multiple times throughout a day. There should be additional research done about the affect-asinformation hypothesis using other types of methodology, including case studies or participant and non-participant observations. This type of research can be conducted by simply observing how friends, family, or even peers at work come to a decision or create a judgement. For LQVWDQFH,ZRXOGDVNWKHP³ZKHUHGRZDQWWRJRRXWWRHDW"´:KHQWKH\KDYHFRPHWRD decision, I ask what influenced that decision. I would do the same process, just different questions, different scenarios, different days of the week. This research is important because I

10 FDQJDWKHUDEHWWHUXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIKRZDIIHFWLYHVWDWHVUHDOLVWLFDOO\DQGSUDFWLFDOO\DOWHURQH¶V judgement throughout the day. Affective states are not fixed, they continuously change, and you FDQ¶WVWXG\WKHLUHIIHFWVRQMXGJHPHQWVLQDODEE\DVNLQJTXHVWLRQVLQDVHWWLQJWKDWFRXOG unknowingly manipulate their answers. I believe the results would show that affective states do FKDQJHRQH¶VMXGJHPHQWEXWWKH\FRXOGKDYHQRHIIHFWLIWKHLQGLYLGXDOLVLQIOXHQFHGE\WKH environment or the opinions of friends and family. Often, people take into consideration the opinions of others regardless of their own feelings or mood. Bias 'RHVDQH[LVWLQJELDVWRZDUGVDQREMHFWFKDQJHRUFRXQWHUDFWZLWKDQLQGLYLGXDO¶V affective state, and therefore judgement? This research question is important because it changes WKHHQWLUHFRQFOXVLRQWKDWRQH¶VDIIHFWLYHVWDWHFKDQJHVWKHLUMXGJHPHQW or affects their decisionPDNLQJ7KLVDUHDRIUHVHDUFKLVIRFXVHGRQKRZWKDWSHUVRQ¶VIHHOLQJVRUPRRGDIIHFWVWKHLU judgement, but what if they have already created a bias against the object or the study being conducted beforehand? I would conduct research by initially holding the assumption that people are more complex than how they are interpreted in previous research. After I have randomly selected an array of participants, I would ask them questions individually about what they did that week, what activities they enjoy doing, did they get in any fights or arguments in the past week. This would give me an idea of what potential biases they could have during the study. If I find that they are currently angry, sad, anxious, or stressed, they could potentially try to counteract their current feelings to produce favourable results in the experiment. I believe the results would illustrate that affect may have no influence when people hold an existing bias. Conclusion

11 The affect-as-LQIRUPDWLRQK\SRWKHVLVDIIHFWVRQH¶VGHFLVLRQ-making. This paper examined the methodology and results from five different research articles and used ...