Emotion and Consumer Behavior: Affect, Branding, and Buying

Introduction

The study of consumer behavior is essential to the contemporary business advertiser and marketer. It is essential to determine the way that consumers perceive products and make decisions based on feelings and emotional perceptions. While targeting consumers has traditionally been based on information, logical choice theory, and rational analysis, modern marketers and psychologists have also begun to realize the importance that emotional responses and "feelings" play in consumer behavior.

Marketers and business researchers are becoming increasingly aware of the way that emotional factors affect and influence consumer behavior. However, the term "emotion" brings with it a great degree of ambiguity and misunderstanding, which often confuses the way that this aspect is seen to relate to consumer behavior. This paper will attempt to discuss some of the aspects of the interaction between emotion and consumer behavior in both a practical and theoretical sense.

Emotional factors are often seen as the opposite of rational or logical processes that affect decision-making in consumer behavior. It has long been recognized that emotional factors in behavioral marketing are linked to associations that the consumer may have with a product. These associations can be both negative and positive, and their intensity influences the way that the consumer relates to the product — especially with regard to the purchasing choices that the consumer makes. In other words, emotional behavioral patterns of response are significant in consumer purchasing behavior and are therefore an important aspect to consider in modern marketing strategies.

Theoretical Perspectives on Emotion in Consumer Behavior

It should also be borne in mind that the study of emotions in consumer behavior is a relatively new field of research (Chaudhuri). The history of this subject in marketing and advertising began in the 1950s and 1960s. However, "in general, the role of affect in marketing applications did not begin to be studied until the early 1980s" (Chaudhuri). The relative lack of theoretical interest in affect or emotions on consumer behavior has been ascribed to the fact that feelings and emotions are extremely difficult to assess and measure in a quantifiable sense. As one commentator notes, "they are not amenable to control and evaluation as are the more often mentioned thoughtful, rational processes" (Chaudhuri). Therefore, many researchers and theorists tended to avoid this rather obscure and amorphous area and instead focused on the more easily measurable patterns of consumer behavior related to logical and rational factors.

Since the 1980s there has been an increase in theoretical interest in emotional factors in consumer behavior, as it has been recognized that "affective executions of ads lead to more favorable attitudes for the product, because the liking for an advertisement gets conditioned onto the brand itself and becomes part of the attitude to the brand" (Chaudhuri). Marketers and researchers have become cognizant of the way that emotions and feelings can shape brand values and can lead to a long-lasting and effective response to a brand through the emotional values and "feelings" attached to it.

What has further interested theorists in this field is that emotional attachment to products can occur even in contradiction to the rational or logical attributes of the brand. For example, while one brand or product may be rationally identical to another, the emotional attachment or connotations associated with one brand may be greater than the other — which leads to better sales. As Chaudhuri suggests, "This may take place in the total absence of rational beliefs and product attributes" (Chaudhuri).

However, many theorists do not agree with this stark dualism between the emotional and the rational, suggesting instead that consumer behavior is a combination of both factors. On the other hand, theorists like Zajonc (1980) state that emotion or feelings are more primary and more important factors in consumer behavior than reason or logic, and that they "precede" rational processing (Chaudhuri). The term "affective judgment" is used in the literature to refer to this aspect.

Cognitive vs. Affective Decision-Making

Affective cognition is a term that relates to feelings and emotions. The following is a concise but thorough description of affective judgments:

Affective reactions are unavoidable and involuntary. Affective choices are hard to reverse; they are our basis for right and wrong — our "gut feeling." Affective judgments are internal, based on the self, while cognitive judgments are external, based on stimulus. Affective choices are hard to explain, whereas the path of logic that led to a cognitive choice is often easy to articulate. Affective reactions do not need to depend on cognition. For example, most people cannot explain why they like something aesthetically, but they do (Cognitive vs. Affective).

This description clearly outlines an understanding of the primary and basic nature of emotion in human and consumer decision-making. The important point is that while affective behavior — emotions — refers to something as vague as a "gut feeling," these feelings are extremely important in understanding and determining consumer behavior.

Conclusion

The study of consumer behavior has taken greater cognizance of the way that emotional factors are related to certain behavior patterns. The impact of emotional aspects on consumer behavior is summarized clearly and succinctly by Zajonc (1980), who states that "there are practically no social phenomena that do not implicate affect in some important way. Affect dominates social interaction and it is the major currency in which all social intercourse is transacted" (1980, p. 153). In essence, this refers to the undeniable fact that we feel and respond to things and events in our environment in an affective and emotional sense, as well as in a rational way. The debate about whether affective aspects precede reason and logic remains a contentious subject in the field. What is clear, however, is that emotional factors exert a profound influence and impact on consumer behavior.

Works Cited

Chaudhuri, A. Emotion and Reason in Consumer Behavior. January 31, 2008.

Cognitive vs. Affective. January 31, 2008.

Houwer, J., and Hermans, D. "Editorial: Automatic affective processing." Cognition and Emotion, 2001.

Zajonc, R.B. "Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences." American Psychologist, Vol. 35, pp. 151–175. 1980.

Flavor trends are evolving as consumer demands become more complex. 2007.