RESEARCH ON THE SENSUALITY OF PRODUCTS

RESEARCH ON THE SENSUALITY OF PRODUCTS

University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data

Sensory marketing : research on the sensuality of products / editor, Aradhna

Krishna.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84169-753-6 (hbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-84169-889-2 (pbk. :
alk. paper)
1. Marketing--Psychological aspects. 2. New products--Psychological aspects.
3. Sensuality. 4. Senses and sensation. 5. Consumer behavior. I. Krishna,
Aradhna.

HF5415.S3696 2010
658.8001’9--dc22 2009039303

Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at

http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the Psychology Press Web site at
http://www.psypress.com
 For Sidd and Kamya,
my extreme sensory stimulants.
 Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

About the Editor xv
Contributors xvii

1. An Introduction to Sensory Marketing 1

Section Iâ•… Haptics

2. Does Touch Matter? Insights From Haptic Research in Marketing 17
Joann Peck

3. Touch: A Gentle Tutorial With Implications for Marketing 33

Roberta L. Klatzky

4. Understanding the Role of Incidental Touch in Consumer Behavior 49

Andrea C. Morales

5. Informational and Affective Influences of Haptics on Product

Evaluation: Is What I Say How I Feel? 63
Terry L. Childers and Joann Peck

Section IIâ•… Olfaction

6. Scent Marketing: An Overview 75
Maureen Morrin

7. The Emotional, Cognitive, and Biological Basics of Olfaction:

Implications and Considerations for Scent Marketing 87
Rachel S. Herz

8. Do Scents Evoke the Same Feelings Across Cultures?: Exploring the

Role of Emotions 109
May O. Lwin and Mindawati Wijaya

vii
viii Contents

9. The Impact of Scent and Music on Consumer Perceptions of Time

Duration 123
Maureen Morrin, Jean-Charles Chebat, and Claire Gelinas-Chebat

Section IIIâ•… Audition

10. The Sounds of the Marketplace: The Role of Audition in Marketing 137
Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa G. Bublitz, and Laura A. Peracchio

11. Auxiliary Auditory Ambitions: Assessing Ancillary and Ambient Sounds 157
Eric Yorkston

12. Understanding the Role of Spokesperson Voice in Broadcast

Advertising 169
Darren W. Dahl

13. Hear Is the Thing: Auditory Processing of Novel Nonword Brand

Names 183
Marina Carnevale, Dawn Lerman, and David Luna

Section IVâ•… Vision

14. Visual Perception: An Overview 201
Priya Raghubir

15. Differences and Similarities in Hue Preferences Between Chinese and

Caucasians 219
Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter Darke

16. Does Everything Look Worse in Black and White? The Role of
Monochrome Images in Consumer Behavior 241
Eric A. Greenleaf

17. Effects on Visual Weight Perceptions of Product Image Locations on

Packaging 259
Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng

Section Vâ•… Taste

18. The Gist of Gustation: An Exploration of Taste, Food, and Consumption 281
Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S. Elder

19. Psychology and Sensory Marketing, With a Focus on Food 303

Paul Rozin and Julia M. Hormes
 Contents ix

20. Estimating Food Quantity: Biases and Remedies 323

Pierre Chandon

21. Do Size Labels Have a Common Meaning Among Consumers? 343

Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Aradhna Krishna, and Brian Wansink

Section VIâ•… The Future

22. A Sense of Things to Come: Future Research Directions in Sensory
Marketing 361
Ryan S. Elder, Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Victor Barger, Cindy Caldara,
HaeEun Chun, Chan Jean Lee, Gina S. Mohr, and Antonios Stamatogiannakis

Author Index 377

Subject Index 387

 Preface and Acknowledgments

There was a minirebellion among the faculty at the Ross School of Business
in 1990 when the library ran out of space and we were told that all the old
journals would be scanned and we could only get electronic files for them.
When asked precisely why we were so keen to keep the physical journals,
we were all perplexed in coming up with what would seem like a “rea-
sonable” argument. The urge to keep them was strong, but the reasons
ran along the following lines: “I like to feel the paper,” “I like to turn the
pages,” “I love the smell of libraries,” “It’s just not the same thing!” We real-
ized that these reasons would not be considered sufficient for a prolonged
physical library presence, so we tried to link these same responses with
ones that sounded more rational and reasonable: “I think better in that
atmosphere,” “Lingering physically in the library makes me browse more
than I would do electronically and come across more articles of interest.”
There is a need to justify most sensorial longings. We buy perfume obvi-
ously for its smell, but we feel awkward telling someone that we are buying
a specific car or cell phone or laptop because of its color. Similar hesitation
also used to exist in research. When studying sensory perception, it had to
be couched within a more mainstream area of interest. Thus, smell used
to be studied within the context of affecting mood, taste too was studied
as a mood manipulation, but there were few studies where the explicitly
stated aspect of interest was the sense (smell or taste) itself. Research on
the senses had negative connotations of being “touchy-feely” work, thus
implying less science and rigor.
However, while consumer behavior researchers, who are typically in
marketing departments of business schools, were couching their sensory
work within broader areas, research in neuroscience and neuropsychol-
ogy was making rapid advances on the senses. In fact, “Sensation and
Perception” was fast becoming one of the most popular undergradu-
ate courses, and neuroscience one of the most desirable undergraduate
majors. This parallel development, with consumer behavior researchers
xi
xii Preface and Acknowledgments

avoiding focus on the senses but psychology and neurology researchers

emphasizing it in a very concerted fashion, was puzzling. I felt that a natu-
ral domain to connect the two was “sensory marketing” research.
To make sensory marketing more mainstream within marketing aca-
demia, the close link between the senses and psychology, neuroscience,
and neuropsychology needed to be made more salient. As such, in June
2008, I organized a conference on sensory marketing to do precisely that.
This book is a result of the first sensory marketing conference that was
held at the Ross School of Business, Ann Arbor, Michigan, on June 19–21,
2008. The specified objective for the conference was to get a core group of
researchers together to pioneer a new field within marketing, that of sen-
sory marketing. Although the term “sensory marketing” showed up in a
Google search, it was not used to describe research on the various senses,
even when it focused on highly sensory inputs and their impact on the
consumer (e.g., product color, advertiser’s speech characteristics, phonetic
appeal of a brand name, haptic qualities of products, ambient odor, or prod-
uct taste). The conference engaged marketing researchers, experts from
psychology on specific senses (some of whom were neuropsychologists),
and a few practitioners to share their knowledge and expand the field.
The conference was sponsored by the Ross School of Business, Marketing
Science Institute, and the Yaffe Center for Persuasive Communication.
Three keynote speakers at the conference were Roberta Klatzky (professor
of psychology at CMU, an expert on haptics), Paul Rozin (Edmund J. and
Louise W. Kahn, professor of psychology at University of Pennsylvania;
an expert on nutrition, sensation, and perception), and Rachel Herz (visit-
ing professor at the Brown University Medical School and an expert on
smell). Key people who facilitated the conference were Joan Meyers-Levy,
Maureen Morrin, Joann Peck, Laura Peracchio, and Priya Raghubir. The
conference Web site is located at: http://www.bus.umich.edu/sensorym-
ktg2008/default.htm and lists all the conference attendees. I thank all the
conference participants for making the conference and the book possible.
I did not put together the conference or the book alone. I am highly
indebted to Joan Meyers-Levy, Maureen Morrin, Joann Peck, Laura
Peracchio, and Priya Raghubir for their continuous intellectual input in
shaping the conference and the book and as coordinators for the different
senses at the conference, a role they carried on for the book. Ryan S. Elder,
my doctoral student, designed the conference logo, T-shirt, and bag and
shepherded guests to the right venues along with my other two students
at the conference, Nilufer Aydinoglu and Cindy Caldara. The conference
would not have been possible without all the logistical arrangements done
 Preface and Acknowledgments xiii

by Pam Russell, who was later helped by Karen Weber. Finally, in editing
this book, Wendy Yang’s services were invaluable. Andy is responsible for
the sibling rivalry that spurs me to develop my ideas. A big thanks goes to
Kamya, Sidd, and Jag for putting up with my rather odd dinner conversa-
tions; Ma, Papa, Vidya, Aditi, and Abhay for providing additional tex-
ture to my life; Marjorie, Poonam, Ditto, Sunita, Priya, Manish, Namita,
Swati, Sangeeta, Seema, Yan, Kusum, Anne, Mimi, Sue, Ruma, Rohini,
Eric, Prajit, Felicia, Aneel, Jaideep, Sendil, Angela, Harish, and Meera for
conversation and succor; and my best friend for being there.

Aradhna Krishna
Dwight F. Benton Professor of Marketing
Ross School of Business
University of Michigan
 About the Editor

Aradhna Krishna is the Dwight F.

Benton Professor of Marketing at the
Ross School of Business, University of
Michigan, and a pioneer of the field of
sensory marketing. She received her
Ph.D. from New York University in
1989, and her MBA from the Indian
Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
in 1984. Before joining the University of
Michigan, she spent time at Columbia
University, New York University, the
National University of Singapore, and
also worked as a brand manager and
a freelance journalist. Aradhna inves-
tigates how consumer perceptions and
responses change as a function of the
type of pricing, promotion, packaging and branding efforts undertaken by
managers. Her research focuses on many forms of sensory perception—
visual, haptic, olfactory, taste and combinations. Her research method-
ology combines experimental techniques with quantitative modeling
approaches. She serves on the editorial boards of several journals, has
published more than sixty articles in leading journals, and is considered
among the top fifty most prolific marketing researchers. Aradhna is a sen-
suist who enjoys drinking second flush Darjeeling tea in porcelain cups,
collecting figurative art prints, listening to atonal jazz, cooking foods
with strong aromas, and gardening without gloves. She divides her time
between Ann Arbor and Chicago.

xv
 Contributors

Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu is assistant professor of marketing at Koc University in

Turkey. She received her Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Michigan
in 2007. Her current work focuses on two major streams of research. One
attempts to understand how perceptual processes and consumers’ self-
perception affect their responses to marketing communications. The other
focuses on consumer preference between global and local brands.

Victor Barger is a doctoral student in marketing at the Wisconsin School

of Business at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Victor earned his
M.B.A. at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and holds a bachelor’s
degree in computer science, also from UW–Madison. His research inter-
ests include sensory marketing, social influence, and complex systems. In
2006 he was inducted into UW–Madison’s Teaching Academy for excel-
lence in teaching, and in 2008 he was selected as the 2007–2008 recipient
of the Henry C. Naiman Teaching Award.

Melissa G. Bublitz is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin–

Milwaukee. Melissa received her B.S. in marketing and her M.B.A. from
the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh. Melissa’s research interests are
focused on consumer judgment and buyer behavior in the areas of food,
nutrition, and health decision making. She is interested in the public
policy implications of the marketing of food, health products/services,
and financial products/services as well as marketing to children. She is a
member of the Society for Consumer Psychology and the Association for
Consumer Research.

Cindy Caldara is a Ph.D. student in consumer behavior at the University

of Grenoble 2 (Pierre-Mendés-France) in France. She belongs to the
CERAG laboratory of research. She received a grant from Rhône-Alpes
region in 2007 and has been a visiting scholar at the Ross Business School

xvii
xviii Contributors

(University of Michigan). Her areas of research interest are focused on the

processing of visual information, touch, and the interactions of senses.

Marina Carnevale is a Ph.D. candidate in marketing at Baruch College,

City University of New York. She received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree
in business administration from Bocconi University. Her research inter-
ests include consumer decision behavior, choice-making preferences, and
brand equity. Particularly, she studies psychological aspects of brand rela-
tionships, psycholinguistic and symbolic characteristics of brand names,
and the way emotions and experiences may influence the consumption
and evaluation of luxury brands.

Pierre Chandon is associate professor of marketing at INSEAD (with

tenure), which he joined in 1999. He was a visiting assistant professor of
marketing at the Wharton School (2005–2006) and at the Kellogg School
of Management (2004–2005). He holds a Ph.D. from HEC Paris and an
M.B.A. from ESSEC. His research examines how perceptual biases influ-
ence food consumption decisions, attention, and consideration decisions
at the point of purchase and the validity of marketing surveys. He has pub-
lished articles in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing,
and Journal of Consumer Research. He is a member of the editorial boards
of the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, International
Journal of Research in Marketing, and Recherche et Applications en
Marketing, the journal of the French Marketing Association. His research
and case studies have won numerous awards, including an honorable men-
tion in the 2005 Marketing Science Institute /H. Paul Root Award and the
ECCH prize for the fastest-selling case in 2006 (marketing category), 2007
(marketing category and overall award), and 2008 (overall award).

Amitava Chattopadhyay is the L’Oreal Chaired Professor in marketing-

innovation and creativity and professor of marketing at INSEAD. He is
an expert on branding and his research has appeared in leading jour-
nals, including the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer
Research, Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, and Management
Science. His participation in editorial review boards includes the Journal of
Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Research, International Journal
of Research in Marketing, and Long Range Planning. For his research, he
has been the recipient of the Robert Ferber Award. He has developed and
taught courses on branding, marketing strategy, communication strategy,
and consumer behavior for M.B.A. and Ph.D. students. He has taught in
 Contributors xix

executive programs in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Africa.

He is on the advisory boards of several companies and a consultant to lead-
ing multinational firms. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Florida,
a P.G.D.M. from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a
B.Sc. from Jadavpur University, India.

Jean-Charles Chebat holds the ECSC Research Chair of Retailing at HEC-

Montreal. He was the first marketing researcher ever elected to the Royal
Society of Canada, the first professor of management ever elected as the
president of the Academy I (humanities and social sciences), and the first
to receive a research medal from the Royal Society (the Sir Dawson Medal
for the best interdisciplinary researcher). He was recently knighted by the
prime minister of Quebec for his academic contribution, the highest rec-
ognition for this province of Canada. He is on the board of several mar-
keting journals (Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Journal
of the Academy of Marketing Science) and psychology journals (Journal of
Economic Psychology, Journal of Applied Social Psychology). He is the asso-
ciate editor of Perceptual and Motor Skills and Psychological Reports. He
received various fellowships in the United States (American Psychological
Association, Society for Marketing Advances, Academy of Marketing
Science) and Japan (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) and 12
best paper awards. He was recently elected to the board of the Academy of
Marketing Science. He has published about 130 refereed journal articles,
many conference papers, four books, and 10 book chapters.

Terry L. Childers is the Dean’s Chair in Marketing at Iowa State

University, Ames, where he will teach graduate courses at the Ph.D level
in measurement and M.B.A. and undergraduate marketing research.
He was previously on the faculty at the University of Kentucky and the
University of Minnesota and has a Ph.D. in marketing from the University
of Wisconsin–Madison. He was formerly director of the Von Allmen
Center for E-Commerce and is director of the Advertising and Interactive
Marketing (AIM) Research Laboratory. In 2005 he was selected as a fellow
of the Association for Psychological Science and Consumer Psychology
Division of the American Psychological Association. His research has
been published in a number of journals, including the Journal of Marketing
Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of
Consumer Psychology, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research,
Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Risk and Insurance, and Journal
xx Contributors

of Mental Imagery. He serves on the editorial review boards at the Journal

of Consumer Research and Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Hae Eun Chun is currently a doctoral candidate of marketing at the

University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and will
join the Cornell School of Hotel Administration as assistant professor in
the fall of 2009. She completed her bachelor’s (1999) and master’s (2001)
degrees in consumer studies from Seoul National University. Her pri-
mary research interests focus on consumers’ savoring of an anticipated
future consumption experience and its impact on consumption enjoy-
ment, the ways for a firm to manage consumers’ savoring of new products
or experiences, and affective forecasting. She is an AMA-Sheth Doctoral
Consortium Fellow and a Houston Doctoral Symposium Fellow.

Darren Dahl is the Fred H. Siller Professor in applied marketing research

at the University of British Columbia. His research interests are in the
areas of new product design and development, creativity, consumer
product adoption, the role of social influence in consumer behavior, and
understanding the role of self-conscious emotions in consumption. His
research has been presented at numerous national and international con-
ferences and published in various texts and such journals as the Journal of
Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research,
Management Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Marketing Letters,
Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Advertising Research. He
teaches courses in consumer behavior, marketing research, and strategic
marketing analysis at the undergraduate, M.B.A., and executive educa-
tion levels. Before coming to UBC he held a faculty appointment at the
University of Manitoba for 4 years. He also has been a visiting profes-
sor at Columbia University, Stanford University, Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology, and the Thammasat University in Thailand. He
received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia.

Peter R. Darke is currently an associate professor of marketing in the

Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, Canada. He
received his doctoral degree in psychology from the University of Toronto.
His current work focuses on consumer attitudes, judgment, and decision
making. He has published articles in the Journal of Applied Psychology,
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Consumer Psychology,
Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Economic Psychology, Journal
of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Personality and
 Contributors xxi

Social Psychology, Journal of Research in Personality, Journal of Retailing,

Marketing Letters, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Xiaoyan Deng is a doctoral candidate of marketing at the Wharton School,

University of Pennsylvania. She will join Fisher College of Business, at the
Ohio State University, as an assistant professor of marketing in July 2009.
Her research interests focus on consumer responses to visual designs of
product and packaging, consumer codesign and cocreation in the context
of mass customization, and consumer aesthetics. Her research on packag-
ing design has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Marketing
Research. Prior to her Ph.D., she received a B.E. and an M.A. in industrial
design, both from Hunan University, China, and an M.S. in advertising
from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She enjoys fine and
applied arts, movies, and traveling.

Ryan S. Elder is a doctoral candidate in marketing at the Ross School

of Business, University of Michigan. His research explores the impact of
sensory marketing communications on product evaluations. Specifically,
he is interested in both the cognitive and affective processing of sensory
advertising and its subsequent impact on sensory perceptions. He is cur-
rently working on projects exploring the impact of sensory advertising
on taste perceptions, the interaction of haptic and olfactory stimuli on
product evaluations, as well as the link between sensory descriptions and
hedonic consequences. Further, he works in the area of visual persuasion,
examining the usage of images in advertising, and the impact of design
aesthetics on consumption experiences.

Claire Gélinas-Chebat is a full professor of linguistics at the University of

Quebec in Montreal. Her research interests are related to messages’ percep-
tion and integration: more specifically phonetics and psycholinguistics. She
is also involved in computer text analysis. She had published some 30 refer-
eed journal articles and as many conference papers. She received several best
paper awards for her research, in Canada, the United States, and France.

Gerald Gorn is professor of marketing at the University of Hong Kong

and formerly chair professor of marketing at the Hong Kong University
of Science and Technology. He received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania
State University and his M.Sc. from the London School of Economics.
He previously was advisory council professor of consumer behavior at
the University of British Columbia from 1983 until 1996. He has been a
xxii Contributors

visiting professor at the Copenhagen Business School and held the Nabisco
Chair as a visiting professor at McGill University. His research focuses on
understanding consumer perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors and the
factors that influence them. He is primarily interested in understanding
and shaping consumer reactions to communications in areas of concern
to marketers and public policy makers. His research has been published
in marketing, health, and psychology journals, including in the Journal of
Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Management Science,
Journal of Consumer Psychology, Marketing Letters, and American Journal
of Public Health. His most recent publication in the Journal of Consumer
Research (June 2008) is titled “Babyfaces, Trait Inferences, and Company
Evaluations in a PR Crisis.” For his Journal of Public Policy and Marketing
(JPPM) article “Heightening Adolescent Vigilance Toward Alcohol
Advertising to Forestall Alcohol Use,” he and his coauthors received the
2007 Thomas C. Kinnear JPPM Award. This award recognizes articles that
have made a significant contribution to the understanding of marketing
and public policy within the past 3 years. His editorial board memberships
include the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology,
International Journal of Research in Marketing, and International Journal
of Internet Marketing and Advertising. He also has been associate editor of
the Journal of Consumer Psychology. He has taught a variety of courses at
both the graduate and undergraduate levels in business schools and also
in a psychology department. He has won an award for M.B.A. teaching
(University of British Columbia) and for undergraduate teaching (Hong
Kong University of Science and Technology).

Eric A. Greenleaf is professor of marketing at the Leonard N. Stem School

of Business, New York University. He has a long-standing interest in issues
of consumer aesthetics and design, the fine arts, and the art market. He
also has published research in the areas of consumer perceptions of prices,
auctions, why consumers delay making purchase decisions, and market-
ing research and survey methods. He has published articles in numer-
ous journals including Empirical Studies of the Arts, Journal of Consumer
Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Marketing
Letters, Marketing Science, and Public Opinion Quarterly.

Rachel Herz is a visiting professor in the Department of Psychiatry and

Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
She has been conducting research on the sense of smell for 19 years and is
considered one of the world’s leading experts in olfactory psychology and
 Contributors xxiii

psychobiology. She is the author of the first popular book about olfactory
psychology The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell
(William Morrow, HarperCollins, 2007), which has received numerous
accolades including being selected as a finalist for the 2009 AAAS/Subaru
Prize for Excellence in Science Books. She serves on several advisory
boards, including the Fragrance Foundation, and consults for many of the
world’s leading multinational flavor and fragrance companies.

Julia M. Hormes, M.A. completed her undergraduate degree at Princeton

University and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at the
University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests are in the field of psy-
chology of preference, with a particular focus on attitudes to food. She is
currently conducting studies on food cravings, specifically perimenstrual
chocolate craving, and on ambivalence or conflicting attitudes to food.
Her clinical interests are in the area of behavioral medicine, including the
treatment of eating disorders and obesity, and the psychosocial complica-
tions associated with chronic illnesses, such as cancer.

Barbara Kahn is currently the dean and professor of marketing at the

School of Business Administration at the University of Miami. Previously,
she spent 17 years at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,
where she was most recently the Dorothy Silberberg Professor of Marketing
and the vice dean of the undergraduate division of the Wharton School.
While at University of Pennsylvania, she was also a senior fellow of the
Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI) and a faculty mem-
ber of the graduate group in the psychology department. She received a
B.A. in English literature at the University of Rochester and an M.B.A.
in marketing and statistics and a M.Phil. and Ph.D. in marketing from
Columbia University. Her research focuses on customer decision making
and creating customer value. She has over 50 articles on these topics in
major journals in marketing, consumer research, public policy, retailing,
and statistics. She is coauthor of the book Grocery Revolution: New Focus
on the Consumer. She is currently on or has been on the editorial boards
of Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science,
Journal of Consumer Research, and Marketing Letters and is a past presi-
dent of the policy board of Journal of Consumer Research. She has been
an area editor of Marketing Science and an associate editor of Journal of
Consumer Research and Journal of Consumer Psychology. She has served
as an academic trustee of the Marketing Science Institute and as president
of the Association for Consumer Research.
xxiv Contributors

Roberta Klatzky is professor of psychology and human–computer inter-

action at Carnegie Mellon University, where she is also on the faculty of
the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. She received a B.S. in math-
ematics from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in experimental psy-
chology from Stanford University. Her research interests are in human
perception and cognition, with special emphasis on perception by touch.
She has done extensive research on how people recognize objects and their
properties through vision and touch and on how perception guides action.
Her work has application to haptic virtual environments and interface
design, exploratory robotics, telemanipulation, and image-guided surgery.
She is the author of over 200 articles and chapters, and she has authored
or edited seven books.

Dawn B. Lerman received her Ph.D. from Baruch College, City University
of New York and is associate professor of marketing at Fordham University.
Her main research interests include psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, and
cross-cultural aspects of consumer behavior, advertising, and brand-
ing. Her work has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Consumer
Research, Journal of Advertising Research, Psychology and Marketing, and
European Journal of Marketing. She has chapters in Managing Tourism
Firms, Best Practices in International Marketing, European Perspectives
in Marketing, and Cross-Cultural Marketing: Contexts, Concepts, and
Practices. She is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Business
Research and International Marketing Review.

Chan Jean Lee is a Ph.D. student in marketing at the Haas School of

Business, University of California–Berkeley. She received a bachelor’s and
a master’s degree in Consumer Studies from Seoul National University
and a master’s degree in Information Management and Systems from
University of California at Berkeley. Her research examines how emotions
affect various judgments such as aesthetic and financial judgments.

David Luna received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–

Milwaukee and is an associate professor of marketing at Baruch College
(City University of New York). His main research interest is marketing
communications. In particular, he has investigated how culture and lan-
guage influence the effectiveness of marketing messages targeting the end
consumer, both online and using traditional media. He has studied the con-
sumer behavior of U.S. Hispanic consumers. Other interests include imag-
ery processing, mental representation, and the role of automatic processes
 Contributors xxv

on judgment formation. His work has been published in academic journals

such as the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology,
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Journal of Advertising,
among others. His research has also been published in several books and
his papers appear regularly in the proceedings of national and international
conferences, such as the Society for Consumer Research and the Association
for Consumer Research proceedings. He has cochaired two major con-
sumer research conferences: the first Latin American Consumer Research
Conference and the Society for Consumer Psychology Conference.

May Lwin is an associate professor and a division head with the Wee
Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore. Her research interests are mainly in
the areas of olfactory and auditory communications and health and social
communications. She has published in many international journals and
authored numerous books, including the best-selling Clueless Series and a
leading textbook on advertising in the Asia Pacific.

Joan Meyers-Levy is the Holden-Werlich Professor of Marketing at the

Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. Her research
interests encompass a variety of consumer-related issues such as persua-
sion, people’s processing of visual, verbal, and other sensory information,
their use of alternative types or styles of information processing, and how
ad or environmental contextual factors (e.g., music, architectural ele-
ments) as well as various individual difference factors (e.g., gender, self-
construal) affect people’s processing and responses. She has published her
work in premier outlets such as the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal
of Marketing Research, and Journal of Marketing. In addition, her work has
been featured extensively in the business and popular media. She has been
actively involved in numerous marketing-related professional organiza-
tions and conferences, including chairing a major conference, serving on
several editorial boards, and serving as guest editor for a major journal.
She also has been recognized for her extensive research contributions with
the Society for Consumer Psychology Fellow Award.

Gina S. Mohr is a doctoral candidate in marketing at the Leeds School of

Business, University of Colorado–Boulder. Her research interests include
understanding the effects of multisensory external cues on the processing,
evaluation, and identification of olfactory stimuli in the consumer envi-
ronment. She also studies the relationship between negatively correlated
xxvi Contributors

choice environments and decision conflict, with an emphasis on the role

that compromise products play in mitigating decision conflict. Additional
research projects examine various consumer welfare issues such as social
influences on eating behavior, brand placement in television, and the effects
of nutrition labeling on guilt and purchase intentions. She received her
B.A. in economics at the University of Colorado in 2002 and is expected
to receive her Ph.D. in 2009.

Andrea Morales is associate professor of marketing at the W. P. Carey

School of Business at Arizona State University. She received her Ph.D. from
the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, her M.S.
in marketing from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in econom-
ics and liberal arts from the University of Texas–Austin. Before joining
ASU, she was assistant professor of marketing at the Marshall School of
Business at the University of Southern California, where she received their
Golden Apple Award for teaching excellence. She teaches the core market-
ing management class in the M.B.A. program in the W. P. Carey School
of Business. Her research interests include the role of emotions in a con-
sumer context, specifically disgust and gratitude, and consumer responses
to retail and service environments. Her work has been published in the
Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of
Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Journal of Retailing. For
her dissertation article she received an honorable mention for the Robert
Ferber Award, an award given annually to the best interdisciplinary dis-
sertation article published in the Journal of Consumer Research. In 2007
she was selected to participate in the Marketing Science Institute’s Young
Scholars Program, an honor extended every 2 years to the top 25 unten-
ured marketing professors in the world based on their research productiv-
ity and impact.

Maureen Morrin, an associate professor of marketing at Rutgers University,

conducts research on a variety of topics that impact the consumer deci-
sion-making process, including branding, atmospherics (e.g., scent and
touch), and financial decision making. Her dissertation, which examined
the impact of brand extensions on parent brand memory retrieval, was
awarded an honorable mention by the American Marketing Association
and was subsequently published in the Journal of Marketing Research. Her
research has been published in several other journals such as the Journal
of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Journal of
Public Policy and Marketing. She is the recipient of a grant from the NASD
 Contributors xxvii

Investor Education Foundation to explore the effects of plan structure on

investing for retirement. She won the Rutgers School of Business Superior
Achievement Awards in both Teaching and Research and Provost’s Award
for Teaching at Rutgers Camden. She is a graduate of New York University
(Ph.D.), where she was a consortium fellow and won an outstanding teach-
ing award as a Ph.D. student. She also is a graduate of Thunderbird, the
American Graduate School of International Management (M.B.A.), and
Georgetown University (B.S.F.S.). Her corporate work experience includes
5 years in packaged goods advertising and brand management.

Joann Peck is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of

Wisconsin–Madison. Peck received her Ph.D. from the University of
Minnesota and also holds a B.S. in secondary education from the University
of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Prior to joining the UW marketing department, she was a visiting professor
at the University of Chicago. Her primary research interests are in the con-
sumer behavior area, particularly involving the sense of touch or haptics.
Her work looks at aspects of the object (some objects encourage touch more
than others), aspects of the situation (in various media such as the internet
touch is unavailable), and individual differences (some people prefer haptic
or touch information more than others) to examine motivations for hap-
tic exploration. Her recent published research includes “The Effect of Mere
Touch on Perceived Ownership” (with Suzanne Shu) forthcoming in the
Journal of Consumer Research, “The Effects of Sensory Factors on Consumer
Behaviors” (with Terry Childers), in F. Kardes, C. Haugtvedt, and P. Herr
(Eds.), Handbook of Consumer Psychology (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum), “It Just
Feels Good: Consumers’ Affective Response to Touch and Its Influence on
Persuasion” (with Jennifer Wiggins), in the Journal of Marketing, “To Have
and to Hold: The Influence of Haptic Information on Product Judgments”
(with Terry L. Childers), in the Journal of Marketing, and “Individual
Differences in Haptic Information Processing: On the Development,
Validation, and Use for the ‘Need for Touch’ Scale” (with Terry L. Childers),
in the Journal of Consumer Research. When she is not studying touch, she
enjoys triathlons, bicycling, running, and drinking wine.

Laura A. Peracchio is professor of marketing at the University of

Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern
University and a dual B.A. and B.S.E. from the Wharton School and the
College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Her areas
of research interest are focused on consumer information processing
xxviii Contributors

including visual persuasion, language and culture, and food and nutri-
tion issues. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research,
Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of
Public Policy and Marketing, and Journal of Advertising. She is an associate
editor of the Journal of Consumer Psychology and has served as an asso-
ciate editor of the Journal of Consumer Research. She is immediate past
president of the Society for Consumer Psychology.

Priya Raghubir is a Professor of Marketing and the Mary C. Jacoby

Faculty Fellow at the Stern School of Business, New York University. Prior
to joining NYU Stern, she was a Professor at the Haas School of Business,
University of California at Berkeley and at the Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology. Professor Raghubir’s research interests are in the
areas of consumer psychology, including survey methods, psychological
aspects of prices and money; risk perceptions; and visual information pro-
cessing. She has published over 50 articles in journals and books, includ-
ing the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research,
Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology and Marketing
Science. She is on the editorial boards of five journals, and has delivered
more than 100 presentations of her research at major universities, sym-
posia and conferences around the world. She received her undergradu-
ate degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University; her
M.B.A from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad; and her
Ph.D. in Marketing from New York University.

Paul Rozin was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended the University
of Chicago, under the Hutchin’s General Education System, receiving an
A.B. in 1956, and received a Ph.D. in both biology and psychology from
Harvard, in 1961. His thesis research was sponsored by Jean Mayer. He
spent two subsequent years working with Jean Mayer as an NIH post-
doctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health. Since then, he
has been a member of the psychology department at the University of
Pennsylvania, where he is currently professor of psychology. Past scholarly
interests included food selection in animals, the acquisition of fundamen-
tal reading skills, and the neuropsychology of amnesia. Over the past 25
years, the major focus of his research has been human food choice, con-
sidered from biological, psychological, and anthropological perspectives.
During this period, he has studied the psychological significance of flavor-
ings placed on foods in different cuisines, the cultural evolution of cuisine,
the development of food aversions, the development of food preferences,
 Contributors xxix

family influences in preference development, body image, the acquisition

of liking for chili pepper, the weaning process, addiction, chocolate crav-
ing, and attitudes toward meat and water. Most recently, major foci of
attention have been the emotion of disgust, the entry of food issues (e.g.,
meat, fat) into the moral domain in modern American culture, and the
growing American tendency to worry more about food and enjoy it less.
Much of the recent research is carried out in France, Japan, and India, as
well as the United States. In the past few years, he has also investigated
forgiveness, aversions to ethnic groups, and ethnic identity. He is a mem-
ber of the Society of Experimental Psychologists, has twice been a fellow
at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, a visiting
scholar for Phi Beta Kappa, and a visiting scholar for 1 year at the Russell
Sage Foundation. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. He is a recipient of the American Psychological Association
Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award for 2007. He was an editor of
the journal Appetite for 10 years. He has been teaching introductory psy-
chology for about 30 years, has chaired the psychology department at the
University of Pennsylvania, directed the university-wide undergraduate
honors program, and has been involved in developing policies and teach-
ing materials to guarantee a minimal competence in quantitative skills
and critical thinking in University of Pennsylvania undergraduates. He
was also a founding director of the Solomon Asch Center for the Study of
Ethnopolitical Conflict.

Antonios (Adoni) Stamatogiannakis is a marketing doctoral candidate at

INSEAD, France. He is linked to sensory marketing through his research
on visual perception and product design. He is also doing research on
the areas of consumer goals and consumer memory. Part of his research
has been presented at leading conferences, including the Association for
Consumer Research, Society for Consumer Psychology, and European
Marketing Academy conferences. He holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from
the Athens University of Economics and Business.

Brian Wansink is the John Dyson Professor of Consumer Behavior at

Cornell University, where he directs the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.
He is author of over 100 academic articles and books, including the best-
selling Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think (2006) along
with Marketing Nutrition (2005), Asking Questions (2004), and Consumer
Panels (2002). From 2007–2009 he was granted a leave of absence from
Cornell to accept a presidential appointment as executive director of
xxx Contributors

USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, the federal agency
in charge of developing the 2010 Dietary Guidelines and promoting the
Food Guide Pyramid (MyPyramid.gov). His award-winning academic
research on food psychology and behavior change has been published in
the world’s top marketing, medical, and nutrition journals. It contributed
to the introduction of smaller “100 calorie” packages (to prevent overeat-
ing), the use of taller glasses in some bars (to prevent the overpouring of
alcohol), and the use of elaborate names and mouth-watering descriptions
on some chain restaurant menus (to improve enjoyment of the food). It
has been presented, translated, reported, and featured in television docu-
mentaries on every continent but Antarctica.

Mindawati Wijaya is a graduate student in Wee Kim Wee School of

Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore. Her research interests include children, health communica-
tion, market research, and computer-mediated communication.

Eric Yorkston is associate professor of marketing at the Neeley School of

Business, Texas Christian University. His research focuses on how con-
sumers’ language and information processing affect brand decisions.
His work has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of
Retailing, and others.
1
An Introduction to Sensory Marketing

The Sensuality of Products

I consider myself to be a sensuist. I enjoy the pleasure that my senses bring

me when I drink second flush Darjeeling tea in porcelain cups, view the
figurative art prints I have collected over the years, listen to a-tonal jazz,
cook foods with strong aromas, or garden without gloves. Each of these
activities gratifies at least one of my senses—taste, vision, sound, smell,
and touch, respectively. The word sensory means relating to sensation or
the senses, and the word sensual is similar in meaning, relating to a grati-
fication of the senses, as is the word sensuous. This book highlights what I
perceive managers and business school professors to have missed—the fact
that products are sensual in nature; that the more firms can create, accen-
tuate, or highlight the sensuality of their products, the more appealing
these products can be for consumers. This book provides many examples
of products’ sensuality and I begin with an example where a completely
new sensation is created in a consumer experience—a spa environment.

Creating a New Sensation

When I visited Singapore in August 2008, people urged me to go to a fish

spa. While I comprehended ice creams and birthday parties for dogs, I did
not quite understand spas for fish. The explanation, rather than assuaging
my concerns, made the concept seem quite bizarre. It was not, after all,
a spa for fish, but was instead an alternative pedicure method where one
inserted one’s feet into a fish tank and hundreds of tiny fish made a dash
for their fish food of your dead skin. Many phone calls from the concierge
got me an appointment along with every tourist who wanted to try it. I
reached the spa to see two dozen people with their calves and feet in a fish

1
2 Sensory Marketing

tank either screaming or grinning widely. Apparently, after three minutes

of initial screaming, which was the period of getting used to the fish bites,
most people settled down and really enjoyed the experience. Was it just
the thrill of fish giving a pedicure or was it also the absolutely novel haptic
sensation of hundreds of fish incessantly biting the feet with tiny, harmless
bites until all the dead skin was gone? I would argue that the novel haptic
sensation of the fish bites enhanced the whole experience. If consumers
were used to another pedicure product with the same sensation, getting it
from fish would not have been nearly as appealing.
Haptic feel and other sensory perceptions affect what we like and what
we buy. The example of the fish spa is just one among several that demon-
strates that our senses are innately linked to our perception of products
and services. This important role of the senses in consumer marketing is,
however, only just being acknowledged. But this recognition will change
how products are created and sold. The links between marketing and the
senses relate to a battery of questions. How do our senses affect which
products we like and which ones we don’t like? Can products be designed
more sensorially so that they stand out from others? Can sensory proper-
ties of products be enhanced to make them more memorable? Can one sen-
sory aspect of a product impact how a person perceives a different sensory
aspect of the product? For instance, will a person drink more wine when
the glass is less sleek and more squat? Will the haptic feel of an appeals
brochure from the botanical gardens impact how much one donates to
them? Why are hotels coming up with their own toiletries that have sig-
nature smells? Why does a computer emit a particular strange music each
time it is turned on? These are the types of questions that are addressed in
this book. I now put sensory marketing in perspective.

Sensory Marketing in Perspective

What is sensory marketing, and why is it interesting and also important?

I define it as marketing that engages the consumers’ senses and affects
their behavior. In this book, several experts discuss how sensory aspects
of products (i.e., the touch, taste, smell, sound, and look of products) affect
our emotions, memories, perceptions, preferences, choices, and consump-
tion of these products. We see how creating new sensations or merely
emphasizing or bringing attention to existing sensations can increase a
product’s or service’s appeal. The book provides an overview of sensory
 An Introduction to Sensory Marketing 3

marketing research that has taken place thus far. It should facilitate sen-
sory marketing by practitioners and also research by academics.
An analysis of the recent history of product marketing indicates that
the 1940s to 1960s, the post-Depression era, was also the no-nonsense era
in terms of products. People looked carefully at price and what the product
offered. They lived frugally, purchasing inexpensive products and making
lower-priced stores popular. However, the no-nonsense era was lost when
the economy started to prosper again.
The 1970s started the popularity of the branded good. In the 1970s,
jeans, especially Levis, became ubiquitous, and “brand” became a new
concept. Firms realized that brands could command a premium, and the
marketing focus shifted to creating brand names. In that decade, much
money was spent on advertising, and marketing researchers came up with
many methods of measuring brand equity and better ways to create it.
In the past, most firms ignored the sensory aspects of products; it was
invisible in the no-nonsense era, hardly being mentioned if at all, and the
focus on the brand later on detracted from other aspects of the product.
Only recently, in the new millennium, are firms actively looking at the
sensory aspects of products. If one considers advertising for food alone,
in the past year, many food items have started touting themselves as being
multisensory. The chewing gum “5 Gum” is called that because it pro-
poses to stimulate all five senses (the tagline is “5 gum Food—Stimulate
your senses”). Ads for Magnum 5 Senses Ice Cream and Denny’s breakfast
(“taste it with all five senses”) are similar. There are also new advertise-
ments that sell to one sense but try to also stimulate a totally different one.
Thus, Axe Dark Temptation deodorant’s new ad features a man made of
chocolate that the girls cannot get enough of (“Become as irresistible as
chocolate”). Even technical products want to evoke our senses adopting
names like BlackBerry, Chocolate, and Touch.
In saying that the focus on sense is a very recent phenomenon I am not
implying that marketers previously did not know about the power or the
idiosyncrasies of our senses—clearly some did. Let’s consider lemon dish-
washing detergent, which has been around for decades. The lemon scent
makes people feel the detergent works better, even though there often is
no real lemon in the product, and if there is, it is minimal. Someone first
came up with the idea of using a lemon scent for dishwashing detergent.
This entrepreneur knew about and exploited the connection between
lemon scent and a feeling of cleanliness. The early connection may have
been established based on lemon’s acidity and its use in earlier times to
cut through grease, to polish silver, and to generally make things cleaner.
4 Sensory Marketing

When people started associating the lemon scent with a feeling of cleanli-
ness, even the demise of the relationship could not preclude the perceived
link from persisting, so that a lemon scent still indicates “cleaner.” Sensory
feelings are difficult to eliminate. Reversing the relationship (making a
lemon scent indicate unclean) will be near impossible to do.
As styles change, such as jean types moving in cycles from bell bottoms
to straight legs to skinny jeans and back again, so too brands come and go
and certain features become more or less desirable. But our senses remain
an elemental part of us, and if we make a product more positively senso-
rial, it is more likely to stay that way. Our senses being primal, we react
immediately and subconsciously to them, unlike to a brand name or an
attribute, both of which are learned.
Sensory marketing will persist since senses can affect the marketing of
products in many ways. For instance, sense can be used as a symbol (e.g.,
Tiffany’s blue color bag), for arousal about the product (e.g., when artificial
smells are sprayed by cookie and pizza stores to entice shoppers into the
store), and for directing imagery. In fact, sensory aspects of products affect
us in ways we had never imagined. We also react immediately and subcon-
sciously to sensory inputs (the smell of cookies baking), unlike to a brand
name alone (e.g., McDonald’s). The rest of the book explains the many
ways in which sensory marketing can be done. We begin by discussing a
product’s sensory signature, which provides evidence for the inevitability
of sensory marketing.

Sensory Signature

Is there something about your brand that leaves a sensory impression in

people’s minds? Do people remember a certain sensory aspect of your
product that helps them recall the product and remember it fondly? Are
you emphasizing a sensory aspect of your product or creating a new sen-
sory aspect where none existed before? How strong is your sensory signa-
ture and why is it important?
One of the most frequently cited examples of sensory marketing by the
few consultants who work in the area is that of Singapore Airlines. While
the consultants call it sensory marketing or sensory branding, I like to
call it a sensory signature. The fleet has used a signature aroma, Floridian
waters, specially mixed for them, which is infused into the hot towels,
sprayed in the planes, and worn by flight attendants. When frequent-flyers
 An Introduction to Sensory Marketing 5

on Singapore Airlines smell this aroma, they feel more at home, enhancing
their flying experience and increasing their satisfaction.
For another example of sensory signatures, do the following imagina-
tion exercise. Close your eyes and think of the color pink. Keep your eyes
closed for 10 seconds. What comes to mind? Now, add a ribbon. If you
are reading this book in the United States, there is a very strong chance
that you thought of breast cancer with just the color pink alone and a near
perfect chance that you thought of it when the ribbon was added. Susan
G. Komen for the Cure was started in 1982 and is now the largest non-
profit devoted to breast cancer. They initiated the use of the pink ribbon
for breast cancer and also the message of hope. Most people will not know
Susan G. Komen but will know the pink ribbon.
Why is this pink ribbon different from other product logos, say the
McDonald’s arch? The most important difference is that logos are visual,
whereas sensory signatures can encompass any set of the five senses. If
a product or brand can claim a vivid and somewhat unique color and
link it to an emotion, then not only is the color memorable, but one can
also lay claim to the emotion. Then when one sees the color, the emo-
tion is also evoked along with the brand name. Logos that are typically
multicolored and bring visual attention to the shape, as opposed to the
color, are less able to evoke such strong emotions. Susan G. Komen has
managed to connect the pink to “goodness, giving, and hope.” The “pink
for cancer” link is now so strong that hundreds of pink products (not
just ribbons) are automatically recognizable as donating to breast cancer
research. Tiffany’s blue bag, Christian Louboutin’s red lacquer soles, and
ING bank’s orange also reveal a color–brand name link, with ING’s being
less strong. Pink is breast cancer’s sensory signature, and it has allowed
them to raise more money than would have been possible without the
color association.
Susan G. Komen is a nonprofit that asks for donations and does not
even have a specific product to sell; however, it has created a “positive”
sensory aspect around the notion of breast cancer and products linked
to breast cancer, and it has done this so strongly that pink is now auto-
matically linked with breast cancer awareness; if pink is not the normal
color for an object, people instinctively assume that the product is related
to breast cancer. When that happens (i.e., when the signature triggers a
brand name), a very strong sensory signature has indeed been created.
Recently, some companies (e.g., Frito-Lay) have started investing a lot of
money and resources to develop their brands’ sensory signatures. They
have come to understand its importance.
6 Sensory Marketing

Emphasizing a Sense

We discussed the fish spa earlier and how a new sensation can increase a
product’s appeal. Another sensorial way to increase product appeal is by
merely emphasizing the existing sensorial aspects of a product. An excel-
lent example of this is provided by iPod’s Touch, or iTouch as it is more
commonly known, launched by Apple in 2008. Here, the product name
itself brought attention to a sensory aspect of the product and gave owner-
ship to iTouch of that sense, the sense of “touch.” The product name iTouch
has connotations for the way the product feels when we use it and for the
way it responds to our fingers. This was yet another prescient move made
by Apple to play up the senses when few other competitors were doing
so. The product descriptions for iTouch further rides on the brand name
by pointing out the “Revolutionary Multi-Touch interface,” “So much to
touch,” and “Touch your movies, photos, and more.”

Sensory Imagery

Will everyone be affected by the senses in the same way? Sheehan (1967)
pointed out that not just vision but all senses can be imagined (i.e., we
can imagine smell, touch, sounds, and taste besides sights). However, he
also argued that there may be a difference in people’s ability to imagine
different senses (i.e., he argued for individual differences in sensory imag-
ery ability). Some prior literature has shown how this difference in sen-
sory imagery results in different responses to sensory stimuli. Thus Elder
and Krishna (2008) show that an individual’s imagery ability can interact
with the presentation of an ad and consequently affect perceived taste.
Similarly, Petrova and Cialdini (2005) show that the individual’s imagery
ability can interact with the presentation of an ad and consequently affect
brand attitudes.
People may also have differences in sensory arousal (i.e., How likely is a
sensory stimuli to arouse an individual or affect their mood?). So far, work
on mood manipulations has assumed that all individuals are affected by
the mood manipulation in the same way (such as when music is used to
manipulate food). This would be a good topic for researchers to study.
Thus far I have provided a definition of sensory marketing, its place
within marketing, how products can create a new sense or emphasize an
existing one, and the concept of sensory signatures. I now provide an out-
line for the rest of this book.
 An Introduction to Sensory Marketing 7

What This Book Contains

The book is divided into six sections, one for each sense and one for future
research on sensory marketing. I received tremendous help in putting
together each of the five sense sections by coordinators for each of the
five senses. These people were also the coordinators for each sense at the
sensory marketing conference held in 2008 at the Ross School of Business
in Michigan. Other conference participants provided additional chapters
for each sense. As for the future of the field, the doctoral students who
attended the conference collaborated to write the final chapter, discuss-
ing what remains to be researched. While the book is a compilation of
chapters submitted by conference participants, it is not a haphazard or
uncoordinated effort in any way. It is very systematically organized. Even
before they came to the conference, participants were required to submit
chapters along specific lines. In keeping with the focus of an organized
and useful book, the coordinators for each sense have written an overview
of literature related to that sense. These overviews are fairly comprehen-
sive and involve many years of reading by the authors. They are shared
with readers with the hope of facilitating future work in the area. Other
chapters within each sense show recent and ongoing research pertaining
to that sense, and the section coordinators and I debated at great length
about what to include here.
The book starts with the haptic sense and an overview by Joann Peck,
who is the most active consumer behavior researcher working on hap-
tics. In this overview, Peck provides a taxonomy of touch showing the
difference between various kinds of instrumental touch (touch with a
functional purpose behind it) and hedonic touch (touch for sheer plea-
sure). Situational, individual, and product-related reasons for touching are
discussed and incorporated into a cohesive framework. The chapter that
follows by Roberta Klatzky, who is undoubtedly one of the best neuropsy-
chologists working on haptics, unravels the mysteries of our skin and the
role of various haptic receptors that lie within it. While Joann presents
more about the effects of touch with a purpose, Andrea Morales’s chap-
ter focuses on the effects of incidental touch, such as people touching the
front-most package on a shelf of cereals. She discusses possible positive
and negative effects of incidental person-product, and product-product
touch. The last chapter on haptics by Terry Childers and Joann Peck is
centered on haptic product evaluation (i.e., what feels good haptically) and
whether this haptic evaluation is best measured by self-report or by an
alternative behavioral measure.
8 Sensory Marketing

After haptics, we turn to olfaction and an overview by Maureen Morrin

discussing the extant literature on olfaction organized by the various con-
sequences of scent. Morrin is one of the first people in marketing to study
olfaction and she continues to do so. In the next chapter, Rachel Herz dis-
cusses the close connection between odor, emotion, and the brain. If one
wants to read more of her work, her book The Scent of Desire (2007) is
excellent. In the book, one also gets a better understanding of the impor-
tance of studying the smell–emotion connection. She mentions how she is
often called upon by lawyers to put a value on someone losing their sense of
smell through an accident. May Lwin and Mindawati Wijaya offer a cross-
cultural perspective on scents. They look at the feelings that scents evoke
and whether these are similar or dissimilar across cultures; for instance,
what smells do Chinese versus Indians versus Americans associate with a
clean and an unclean place? The olfaction section ends with a chapter by
Maureen Morrin, Jean-Charles Chebat, and Claire Gelinas-Chebat that
discusses that not only does scent affect mood, memory, and emotion, but
also that scent can impact perceptions of time duration.
Audition has had little research devoted to it by marketing researchers.
While people have studied radio and television ads, not much research
has examined the effect of the sound itself, as opposed to the meaning
the words carry. As such, Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa Bublitz, and Laura
Peracchio had a difficult job writing an overview for the area. But their
overview is a revelation; instead of merely focusing on research that has
been done on audition, they show the connection between words, lan-
guage, and sound (e.g., that sound is symbolic, such as the Ex in FedEx
connoting the idea of speed), then review research on music that is per-
tinent to marketing, and finally discuss audition and the multisensory
experience. Eric Yorkston expands on this by highlighting the effects of
auxiliary sounds or sounds that are not a focal aspect of a product or ser-
vice, such as the sound of a car horn indicating information about its size.
Darren Dahl moves away from products and service sounds to voices of
spokespeople in broadcast advertising: How do voice characteristics affect
perceptions of the speaker? What do speech rate and frequency convey
about the speaker? Marina Carnevale, Dawn Lerman, and David Luna go
back to phonetic symbolism and look at the auditory processing of novel
brand names. Between the joint effort of the different chapters in this sec-
tion, one gets a fairly broad view of possible auditory effects within the
marketing toolbox.
Priya Raghubir and I started working together on visual perception in
1990. I was walking back from the health clinic to my office at Columbia
 An Introduction to Sensory Marketing 9

one day when I realized that I always took one of two possible paths. I
roughly sketched the Columbia map and asked eight colleagues which of
the two paths they would choose. Seven systematically chose one. I won-
dered why, dug through literature on the topic, and came up with some
theories. To make the project more enjoyable, I asked Priya, an old friend
and then a doctoral student at NYU, whether she would join me on the
project, resulting in a decade-long productive collaboration on spatial per-
ception biases. Priya has continued to work on visual perception since then
and her overview demonstrates her expertise in the area. She provides a
typology of visual properties of objects and a framework for how these
are processed and affect consumer judgments. Amitava Chattopadhyay,
Gerald Gorn, and Peter Darke provide the second cross-cultural chapter
in the book. They look at the similarities and differences between Chinese
and Caucasians in their preference for color. Eric Greenleaf’s chapter
reflects the virtuoso art historian and art critic in him. He provides a his-
tory of using black and white (monochrome) versus color in photography,
fine art, and communications in general. Eric also considers how mono-
chrome images can influence emotion and mood, defines when it is per-
ceived as highbrow versus lowbrow, and if there are individual differences
in preference for monochrome. The last chapter under visual perception
by Barbara Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng explores the connection between
the visual images on a package and its perceived heaviness. However, this
issue is considered within a broader context so that the authors examine
the more comprehensive role of visual package imagery, specifically layout
decisions regarding the use of a product image on the package.
The overview on taste also provides a framework of the antecedents
and consequences of taste, an aspect of taste that is emphasized in this
overview by Aradhna Krishna and Ryan Elder. In the chapter by Paul
Rozin and Julia Hormes, several ideas are presented for marketing aca-
demics (e.g., duration of neglect of sensory pleasures, benign masochism,
the low predictability of sensory pleasure, the disparity between experi-
ence and remembered pleasure, and many others), and it literally drips
with extremely deep insights (I love the following: “Older people have the
same potential experience anticipating a positive event that will occur in
the near future, but will have less opportunity to consume the memory
because of a shorter lifespan. The utility of building memories declines
with age, even assuming the acuity of memory remains intact!”). It also
makes us question the current norm of experimental research and pub-
lishing. Pierre Chandon provides a summary of all the extant research on
estimating food quantity, including psychophysical models of consumers’
10 Sensory Marketing

quantity perception with the resultant consequences for obesity. Nilufer

Aydinoglu, Aradhna Krishna, and Brian Wansink show how size labels,
even newly constructed ones (e.g., super-quencher), become an accepted
part of the consumer vocabulary with a common meaning, so that people
think similarly about relative sizes (Is super-quencher bigger or smaller
than an extra large?).
We end with a chapter on future directions in sensory marketing. One
important take-away from this chapter is that while there has been some
research on individual senses, there has been little research to date on the
interaction between senses.
We now briefly turn our attention to a few other issues before we dive
into the book itself. Since we have at least two chapters, those by Herz and
Klatzky, devoted to the neuropsychology of the senses, it is important to
discuss, at least briefly, the relationship between sensory marketing, psy-
chology, and neuroscience.

Sensory Marketing, Psychology, and Neuroscience

One important thing to note in the evolution of neuroscience research is

the relationship between psychology and neuroscience research. This is
exemplified in an article by Rozin (1982) that demonstrates that olfaction is
the only dual sensory modality, sensing objects both in the external world
orthonosally and also sensing them retronasally from within the mouth
(the back of the throat connect to the nose). He then suggests that the same
olfactory stimulation may be perceived and evaluated in two qualitatively
different ways, depending on whether it is referring to the mouth (smelled
orthonasally) or the external world (smelled retronasally). For instance,
aged cheese may taste good but smell bad. This is odd since smell is the
largest component of the taste of this cheese. Similarly, we like the smell of
many foods but dislike the taste (e.g., coffee). He ends with three possible
explanations for this duality: “(i) The olfactory input to the brain could be
gated differently depending on whether the input is processed as in-mouth
or out-there. The differential gating could lead to qualitatively different
sensations, … (ii) The olfactory input may not be gated but, rather, com-
bined with available oral inputs into an emergent percept in which the
olfactory component loses its separate identity, … and (iii) The stimulus
input to the olfactory mucosa may be very different in the in-mouth vs.
out-there situations.” This raises an interesting research question for neu-
roscientists. They can then do magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to see
 An Introduction to Sensory Marketing 11

which explanation is the valid one. In fact, Rolls (2005) has recently found
support for Rozin’s second explanation.
Indeed, much neuroscience research is done to investigate some intrigu-
ing finding of psychologists. Thus, the norm is not to do a few MRIs within
the psychology paper, but to keep the MRIs for neurologists to conduct
in later research. There are reasons for this; one reason is that a paper
can be complete, rigorous, and intriguing when one shows an interesting
effect. Demonstrating why that effect occurs, from the brain’s perspective,
is sometimes better left to a team of neuroscientists trained in different
skills. So, the role I see for psychology, neuroscience, and marketing in
“sensory marketing” research is for psychologists and marketing research-
ers to come up with interesting experimental results that are then probed
by neuroscientists for a neurological explanation. Neuroscience research
can also yield findings that raise interesting questions for marketing aca-
demics and psychologists to study. As such, the three fields would also
inform one another in determining important topics to study and what
results should be expected in the experiments (i.e., in developing hypoth-
eses and conceptual frameworks).

Cross-Cultural Differences in Sensory Response

While two chapters in this book (by Lwin and Wijaya and by Chattopadhyay,
Gorn, and Darke), as well as part of Herz’s chapter, are devoted to cross-
cultural research in sensory marketing, there is vast scope for more work
in this area. Sound preferences, for instance, could vary across cultures and
are not well understood. Similarly, while it is obvious that taste preferences
vary across cultures (Indians like more spicy food than Scandinavians), it
would be interesting to study differences in basic (sweet, salty, sour, bitter)
taste preferences across cultures.

Problems in Sensory Marketing Research

One needs to understand the difficulties in conducting sensory marketing

researcher. A good example is the study of smell. Studies on scent need to
control for many factors. First, if one is studying the effect of a scent on
something else, typically one needs to have a manipulation that includes
a sense, and it cannot be a simple paper-pencil study. For instance, if one
is looking at the effect of scent on memory, one needs to have at least two
12 Sensory Marketing

conditions, one with scent and one without. If there are additional vari-
ables within the scent condition (e.g., high or low load), then the conditions
with scent need to ensure that all subjects get the stimuli with the same
degree of scenting—not more and not less—so that there is no amount of
scent and load confound. That means that in all the scent conditions, the
stimuli needs to be infused with the scent to the same degree (with the
same amount of scent, in the same way, and for the same amount of time).
Thus, to infuse the scent into stimuli, one needs, for example, to drop
exactly the same amount of essential oils on or into the stimuli and then
put the stimuli into an airtight container (e.g., a double zipping bag so that
the smell is infused and does not get lost) for a specified period. Subjects
then take the stimuli out of the airtight container. If one is examining the
effects of a specific scent, one has to be additionally careful to ensure that
when subjects are given the scent stimulus, it (and also the environment)
is not contaminated by any other olfactory stimuli. Where subjects are
asked to evaluate multiple scent stimuli, respondents should clear their
nasal passage of the previous scent before moving on to the next one.
This is done to minimize contamination from one scent to the next—an
accepted practice in the fragrance industry to clear the nasal passage is to
smell coffee beans. In studies where a scent cue is provided to subjects as a
retrieval cue for aided recall, the cue often consists of a small glass bottle
(or zipping bag) that contains a blotter paper infused with several drops
of the essential oil and participants who receive the scent retrieval cue are
asked to uniformly take at most two breaths. One can thus see the time-
consuming nature in order for sensory studies to be done in a meticulous
manner. Besides the amount of effort involved, sample sizes for scent stud-
ies typically also need to be large to get significant effects, since the effects
tend to be subtle in nature.

Conclusion

I end this chapter by reminding the reader that the consumer market-
place is inundated with different brands. For example, we have hundreds
of cereals, shampoos, personal computers, hotels, and airlines to choose
from. While marketers have focused on trying to make their products and
services more attractive to consumers, I believe that sensory aspects of
products and services have not been emphasized enough. This book dem-
onstrates how enhancing a product sensorially can make a big difference
 An Introduction to Sensory Marketing 13

in product and service appeal, its memorability, and the emotional attach-
ment that consumers feel with it.

References

Elder, R. S., & Krishna, A. (2008). The effect of advertising copy on sensory thoughts
and perceived taste. University of Michigan Working Paper.
Herz, R. (2007). The scent of desire: Discovering our enigmatic sense of smell. New
York: William Morrow.
Petrova, P. K., & Cialdini, R. B. (2005, December). Fluency of consumption imag-
ery and the backfire effects of imagery appeals. Journal of Consumer Research,
32, 442–452.
Rolls, E. T. (2005, May 1). Taste, olfactory, and food texture processing in the brain,
and the control of food intake. Physiology and Behavior, 85, 45–56.
Rozin, P. (1982). “Taste-smell confusions” and the duality of the olfactory sense.
Perception and Psychophysics, 31(4), 397–401.
Sheehan, P. W. (1967). A shortened form of Betts’s questionnaire upon mental
imagery. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 23, 386–389.
Section I
Haptics
2
Does Touch Matter? Insights From
Haptic Research in Marketing
Joann Peck

Remember “Mr. Whipple … Please don’t squeeze the Charmin!”? And how
often when shopping do you hear parents telling their children “Please
don’t touch!”? Touch can be an almost irresistible urge for children and
adults, yet despite its ubiquity, this fascinating sense has not been studied
in marketing. In this chapter, I provide some background on the sense of
touch and introduce a taxonomy of touch in marketing. Next I discuss
object/product attributes and individual differences that have been con-
sidered in touch research. Finally, I end with recent developments in this
exciting area of sensory research.
The importance of the sense of touch has been recognized for centuries.
Aristotle believed that touch mediated all sense perception, even vision
(Siegel, 1970). It was thought that invisible particles bombarded the sur-
face of the body to convey smell, taste, and sound. During the Renaissance,
immense power was attributed to touch. In the fresco The Creation of Man
(Sistine Chapel, Vatican), Michelangelo painted God stretching out a hand
toward the hand of Adam in order to transmit life. As discussed by Weber
(1978), this is notable in that touch is depicted as not only necessary for
the survival of the human race, but for a person to become whole. Since
Adam’s body was already formed, what touch added was the soul and
spirit, without which the body could not function.
The historical prominence of touch is also reflected in language
(Ackerman, 1990; Katz, 1925; Montagu, 1986; Williams, 1976). The use
of various touch terms is prevalent in the English language. Some words
convey affect such as a “touching” story, while others are more concerned
with cognition, as in did you “catch” that mistake and can you “handle”
the problem? Personality is also described through touch terms such as

17
18 Joann Peck

a “touchy” person, an “abrasive” personality, or a “handy” person. Some

people are “hard” to deal with and they may be out of “touch” with real-
ity because they tend to lose their “grip.” Communication includes touch
words such as on the other “hand” and keep in “touch.” Finally, familiar
branding includes touch terms, as evidenced by reach out and “touch”
someone from AT&T and “touching” is believing from Apple.
Although studies of touch may involve any tactile surface on the
human body, in marketing, research has centered on the hands as the pri-
mary source of input to the perceptual system. The hand has been called
a person’s “outer brain” (Klatzky & Lederman, 1987) and Lederman and
Klatzky (1987) describe the “intelligent hand.” Gibson (1966) adopted the
term “haptics” to refer to the functionally discrete system involved in the
seeking and extraction of information by the hand. This term, first intro-
duced in 1931 by Révész (cited in Révész, 1950), comes from the Greek
word haptikos, which means “able to lay hold of.” The term haptics is also
used by Klatzky and Lederman (e.g., Klatzky & Lederman, 1992, 1993) and
incorporates both cutaneous (affecting the skin) and kinesthetic (muscle
tissue) information. The term haptics in marketing generally refers to the
active seeking and perception by the hands.

Touch and Other Senses

How is the sense of touch different from other senses? The sense of touch
is often called the near sense or the proximal sense. The other senses act
through some medium; vision, smell, and hearing all operate through the
air, while for taste the wetness of saliva must be present. Only with the
sense of touch do people usually only feel things that actually come into
contact with them. Touch can be extended beyond its normal body bounds
with special tools such as a cane. However, for the most part, if a stimulus
is to be perceived by touch, it must come in contact with the skin. Unlike
hearing, smell, and vision, the idea of an ambient touch is not relevant.
Besides being a proximal sense, perception by touch is sequential in
nature. While some other senses like vision can take in a vast array of sen-
sory information simultaneously, the sense of touch can generally perceive
only one input at a time. This sequential perception has led some research-
ers to note its limitations, especially compared to vision (Révész, 1950). A
long-standing question has been whether the senses of vision and touch
give the same information about objects, and if not, which sense tends to
dominate. Vision and touch seem to be differentially suited for different
 Does Touch Matter? Insights From Haptic Research in Marketing 19

events and interact in various ways depending on the nature of the percep-
tual performance that is involved (Warren & Rossano, 1991).

Information Available to Touch

Research has demonstrated that haptic explorers can be remarkably fast

and accurate at recognizing real objects (Klatzky, Lederman, & Metzger,
1985). Lederman and Klatzky (1987) explain the special perceptual abili-
ties of the hands by calling attention to particular hand movements that
they call exploratory procedures (EP). An EP is a stereotypical hand
movement that maximizes the sensory input corresponding to a certain
object property (Lederman & Klatzky, 1987). The haptic system is par-
ticularly adept at encoding the object properties corresponding to texture,
hardness, temperature, and weight information, and a separate EP has
been found to correspond to each object dimension. For example, when
an individual wants to assess the weight of an object, you can observe
him or her hefting the object, often repeatedly. Lederman and Klatzky
(1987) term this the “unsupported holding” exploratory procedure. They
have documented strong linkages between stereotypical hand movements,
or “exploratory procedures,” and the haptic perception of specific object
properties (Klatzky & Lederman, 1992, 1993; Lederman & Klatzky, 1987).
Texture, hardness, temperature, and weight information, which are best
gleaned by touch, have been termed material properties by Klatzky and
Lederman (1992, 1993). Roberta Klatzky’s chapter in this book further
discusses the haptic perceptual system and EPs.

Taxonomy of Touch in Marketing

In consumer behavior, products are touched for many different reasons,

not necessarily to ascertain material properties. The taxonomy of touch
presented here was facilitated by a formal observational study I did in the
produce department at a local grocery store as well as more informal obser-
vations at several art fairs and various retail establishments. In developing
a taxonomy of touch in consumer behavior, four distinct types of touch are
evident (see Figure€2.1). The first three types of touch assume a consumer
is engaged in goal-directed, problem-solving, prepurchase behavior. The
classification of instrumental touch is used to indicate that consumers are
touching products as a means to an end, possibly purchase. The actions of
20 Joann Peck

Instrumental Touch (touch as a means to an end)

Touch to Goal is to Purchase

Purchase -No Additional Product Information
is Intentionally Extracted

Goal is to Extract Specific Non-

Haptic Properties
Touch to -Visual Inspection
Obtain Non-Haptic -Olfactory Inspection
Product Information -Auditory Inspection
-Gustatory Inspection

Goal is to Extract Specific Material

Touch to Properties
Obtain Haptic Product -Texture
Information -Hardness
-Weight
-Temperature

Hedonic Touch (touch as an end in itself )

Goal is General Exploration

Hedonic -Sensory Experience
Touch -Fun

Figure 2.1â•… A taxonomy of touch in consumer behavior.

the consumer are directed toward product evaluation and making pur-
chase decisions. In contrast, the fourth type is hedonic touch, where touch
is an end in itself with the focus being the sensory experience of touch.
Hedonic touch may or may not ultimately result in product purchase.

Instrumental Touch

At the simplest level, a consumer may touch a product only to make a pur-
chase. For example, a consumer may wish to purchase a particular type
of cereal and touch it merely to place it in the cart for purchase. A simple
repeat purchase heuristic such as “purchase the same brand as last time”
 Does Touch Matter? Insights From Haptic Research in Marketing 21

may be operating. At this level of touch, the haptic perceptual system is

not intentionally extracting relevant purchase decision information about
the product.
At the next level, a consumer may touch a product with the goal of
obtaining information that is not best ascertained by the haptic perceptual
system. The most frequent type of touch where nonhaptic information is
desired is that of visual inspection. For example, a consumer undecided
about which brand of cereal to purchase may touch a package in order to
rotate it so that the nutrition information can be read. After visual inspec-
tion, the consumer may or may not decide to make the purchase depend-
ing on his or her evaluation.
Similarly, a consumer may touch a product to make an olfactory
inspection. In grocery stores, shoppers can be seen smelling cantaloupe
and pineapple, presumably to assess the ripeness of the fruit. Other forms
of nonhaptic information are auditory and gustatory sources of sensory
input. An example of auditory inspection would be a consumer pushing a
button to listen to information provided at a kiosk. Gustatory input may
be obtained by sampling products at a grocery store prior to purchase.
It is important to note that in both touch to purchase and touch to
obtain nonhaptic information, haptic information may be available to the
consumer, yet the consumer is not attending to the haptic information. In
picking up a box of cereal to visually inspect the label, the weight of the
cereal box, a haptic or material property, is available to the consumer, yet
the goal of the consumer is to obtain some sort of nonhaptic information,
so the haptic information may be overlooked.
Finally, a consumer may wish to touch a product to gain product knowl-
edge that can best be gleaned by touch, such as the material properties
of texture, hardness, temperature, and weight. The goal of a consumer in
touching to gain haptic product information is to extract specific mate-
rial properties. Evidence has been found for a “visual preview model,”
which states that vision provides a quick “glance” that results in broad but
coarse information on the haptic properties of an object, information that
is useful in directing further processing (Klatzky, Lederman, & Matula,
1993). When encoding properties of familiar objects, vision is often suf-
ficient because it triggers the retrieval of information stored in memory,
eliminating the need for direct perceptual encoding by haptic exploration.
However, vision may also reveal that more detailed information about
a material property is desired. For example, a visual glance at a sweater
may determine that the texture (a property best explored and encoded
22 Joann Peck

haptically) should be touched to obtain more detailed information on the

texture or weight of the material.

Hedonic Touch

The instrumental categories of touch to purchase, touch to gain nonhaptic

information, and touch to gain specific haptic information match the view
of the consumer as a problem solver engaged in goal-directed activities,
searching for information, retrieving cues from memory, and arriving at
careful product judgments. In contrast, the hedonic touch category sug-
gests that some touch is done as an end in and of itself. This hedonic touch
is oriented toward pleasant sensory experiences.
For some categories of touch, a barrier to touch such as shopping
online or through catalogs is not as problematic as other types of touch.
For example, touch to purchase and touch to gain nonhaptic information,
especially visual information, are easily compensated for when shopping
online. Instead of touch to purchase, a consumer simply adds an item to
the shopping cart with a mouse click. Touch to obtain visual information
can also be provided in nontouch media such as online or catalogs. In
the cereal example above, nutrition information can be conveyed in text
form online.
However, touch to obtain material property information and hedonic
touch are not easily provided in a nontouch context. Perhaps the rise in
online shopping can partially account for the increasing interest in touch
by marketing academics. The research done on touch in marketing has
been concerned with touch to gain specific haptic information as well as
hedonic touch. The next section will examine both informational and
hedonic touch and the research that has been done in marketing.

Object and Product Factors

Informational Touch

Some objects encourage touch more than others. Often consumers want
to touch products to ascertain specific product information that only
touch can provide. As discussed, touch excels at obtaining texture, hard-
ness, temperature, and weight information (Klatzky & Lederman, 1992,
1993). If a product category varies in a diagnostic way on one or more of
 Does Touch Matter? Insights From Haptic Research in Marketing 23

these attributes, also termed material properties, consumers will be more

motivated to touch the product prior to purchase. For example, clothing
varies on texture and weight and will likely encourage prepurchase touch
more than books, which do not vary on material properties in a diagnos-
tic manner.
Holbrook (1983), when using sweaters as stimuli for a study, noted
the strong role played by tactile cues when participants were evaluating
a product. He encouraged using, or at least being aware of using, actual
products instead of visual representations (e.g., pictures of products) in
research. McCabe and Nowlis (2003) varied whether products differed on
material properties and whether participants had the actual product to
evaluate a picture of the product, a list of attributes, or some combination
of these. The primary dependent variable was purchase likelihood. Results
showed that product categories that varied in the diagnosticity of touch
(e.g., bath towels, carpeting) were more likely to be preferred in shopping
environments that allow physical inspection than in those where touch is
unavailable. However, there was no difference in the preference of prod-
ucts across shopping environments (touch, no touch) when a product cat-
egory did not vary on material properties (e.g., videotape, rolls of film),
since for these categories, vision was diagnostic. Results also showed that
differences in preferences between the two environments were reduced
when the material properties of the products were verbally described. In
effect, compensation for lack of touch was possible with a written descrip-
tion (see Peck & Childers, 2003a).
Grohmann, Spangenberg, and Sprott (2007) also examined product
factors. They found that tactile input had a positive effect on the evalu-
ation of products that varied in the material properties of softness and
texture, especially for products high in quality. When evaluating high
and low quality levels at the same time, tactile input had a negative effect
on product evaluations for low quality products. The authors argue that
their results are best explained by an information processing mechanism
and not an affective one, as had been used in some touch studies (Peck &
Wiggins, 2006). The chapter by Childers and Peck in this book examines
more closely information processing and affective processes.

Noninformational or Hedonic Touch

What about touch that has no informational value? For example,

GlaxoSmithKline’s Alli, the fat-blocking pill used to help individuals lose
24 Joann Peck

weight, is accompanied by a pill carrying package that is shaped like a

finger. When this package is opened, the texture inside feels somewhat
rubbery, a bit like skin. The idea was that the package would allow the
consumer to feel as if he or she were holding the hand of a friend or an
ally who would be accompanying him or her on the weight-loss journey.
Although this type of touch carries no informational value, this example
suggests that it may nonetheless be persuasive.
For touch to influence marketing decisions and evaluations, does it have
to provide product attribute information? Or can hedonic aspects of touch
alone be persuasive? Peck and Wiggins (2006) examined touch unrelated
to a product in the context of a persuasive advertisement. They varied the
valence of a touch element attached to a pamphlet (negative, neutral, and
positive) as well as the fit of the touch element with the message in the
pamphlet. They found that adding a touch element that felt good (e.g., a
feather on a pamphlet requesting donations to a local arboretum) increased
persuasion, measured as attitude toward the ad, as well as the likelihood
of donating time or money to the organization. An unexpected finding
was that the fit of the touch element with the message did not matter for
individuals who prefer touch information; any touch element was better
than no touch element for these participants. However, for people who are
not as motivated to touch, it was important that the touch element fit with
the message; otherwise, it had no influence on persuasion.
Peck and Shu (2009) also examined the role of noninformational touch,
linking touch to the notion of psychological ownership. They found that
touching an object, compared to an inability to touch, resulted in greater
feelings of psychological ownership and also a greater willingness to pay.
They also employed ownership imagery to increase psychological owner-
ship when the ability to touch was absent, and this too resulted in increased
psychological ownership and the amount a person was willing to pay.
Similarly, Peck and Barger (2008) investigated haptic imagery to deter-
mine whether imagining touching an object is as good as actually touching
an object as far as psychological ownership and valuation. They found that
if a person closes his or her eyes and imagines touching, this is as effective
as actual touch. They conjecture that a person closing his or her eyes while
imagining touching focuses cognitive resources. They then added haptic
interference and varied whether the stimuli fit the object being imag-
ined (i.e., touching a soft swatch while imagining touching a soft blanket)
or did not fit (i.e., touching sandpaper while imagining touching a soft
blanket). They found that when a person’s eyes are open, the presence or
absence of haptic stimuli does not affect haptic imaging. However, when
 Does Touch Matter? Insights From Haptic Research in Marketing 25

a person’s eyes are closed, the presence or absence of haptic stimuli does
significantly impact haptic imagining if the stimulus is incongruent. A
cognitive resource explanation is used to support the findings.
In other research not related to attributes ascertained by product touch,
Hornik (1992) examined touch as nonverbal communication in an inter-
personal touch context. In three field settings (a bookstore, a restaurant,
and a supermarket), he found that unobtrusive touch by an employee on the
arm of a customer enhanced positive feelings for the external stimuli (e.g.,
the bookstore) as well as the touching source (the employee). Customers
touched by a requester tended to comply more than those customers who
were not touched.
Does touch by another person always result in a positive outcome?
In several studies (Argo, Dahl, & Morales, 2006; Morales & Fitzsimons,
2007), researchers have found that consumers react less favorably to prod-
ucts touched by other consumers. Manipulating contamination cues such
as proximity to contact varied the salience of the contamination and the
time elapsed since contact. Results for the proximity to contact only held
when participants believed that other consumers had recently come in
contact with the product. Disgust was found to be the underlying mecha-
nism explaining the negative effects of contamination on product evalu-
ation. The chapter by Andrea Morales in this book gives more details on
this concept.

Touch and Individual Differences

Peck and Childers (2003a) examined whether compensation for lack of

touch was possible, taking into account the type of material properties
to be compensated for as well as an individual difference in the prefer-
ence for touch information. They conjectured that not all material proper-
ties create the same type of response in consumers. Specifically, pleasant
sensory feedback experienced when assessing softness may differentially
influence the person touching compared to a more functional material
property such as weight. In addition, they considered an individual differ-
ence in the preference for touch information. Peck and Childers (2003b)
developed the need for touch (NFT) scale and tested the scale in seven
studies. NFT is defined as a preference for the extraction and use of infor-
mation obtained through touch. It includes two dimensions: instrumental
touch and autotelic touch. The instrumental dimension of NFT refers to
those aspects of touch that reflect outcome-directed touch with a salient
26 Joann Peck

purchase goal. The image of a consumer involved in instrumental touch is

that of a problem solver consciously engaged in the goal-directed activity
of searching for information and arriving at a final judgment. In contrast,
autotelic touch involves a consumer seeking fun, sensory stimulation and
enjoyment with no purchase goal necessarily salient. The autotelic factor
is defined as the enjoyment and affect of touch along with the compulsive
or irresistible urge to explore via touch.
Peck and Childers (2003a, 2003b) found that NFT moderated the rela-
tionship between direct experience and confidence in product judgments.
For individuals higher in NFT, a lack of direct experience (an inability to
touch) resulted in less confidence in the judgment. For low NFT individuals,
confidence in judgment was unaffected by a barrier to touch provided there
was a clear visual of the product. The researchers also found that for indi-
viduals high in NFT, compensation for an inability touch was not always
possible. For more functional haptic information, such as weight, a written
description compensated for the inability to touch. However, for a material
property with pleasant sensory feedback (softness), a written description did
not provide this compensation. In effect, there are certain types of product
attributes for which there is no substitute for actual touch. The authors con-
jecture that visual information compensated for actual haptic exploration.
Citrin, Stem, Spangenberg, and Clark (2003) developed an individual
difference scale they called need for tactile input that was similar to the
instrumental dimension of NFT. They found that it was negatively related
to products purchased over the Internet, especially those categories that
vary with respect to material properties. They also found that women
showed a higher need for tactile input than men.
An individual difference in the preference for touch information has
been found to moderate the time spent touching products to ascertain
information (Peck & Childers, 2004). Specific stereotypical hand move-
ments or exploratory procedures have been linked to the haptic percep-
tion of material properties as discussed earlier. These researchers found
that for all material properties except texture, high NFT individuals spent
less time exploring with their hands than individuals low in NFT. The
authors note that since touch information is more accessible for high NFT
individuals, they are more efficient at extracting this information. Higher
accessibility of haptic information for high NFT individuals was exhibited
through a free recall exercise and through a timed response measure (Peck
& Childers, 2003b). However, since texture provided a pleasant sensory
feedback (a soft sweater), high NFT individuals spent a longer time assess-
ing texture than their low NFT counterparts.
 Does Touch Matter? Insights From Haptic Research in Marketing 27

Besides product category differences and an individual difference in the

preference for touch information, situations vary as to whether touch is
salient. In some situations, such as online or catalog purchases, there is no
opportunity to touch. In other situations, the salience of touch has been
altered. For example, Peck and Childers (2006) manipulated the environ-
ment in a study in a grocery store to examine impulse purchase behavior
and environmental stimuli encouraging touch. They varied point of pur-
chase signs (either no sign or “feel the freshness”) to increase the salience
of touch in the grocery store environment and found that the sign encour-
aging touch resulted in more unplanned purchases than the no sign con-
dition. In addition, there was a main effect of individual difference in
autotelic NFT. Individuals high in autotelic NFT made more unplanned
purchases than individuals low in autotelic NFT.
To summarize, object or product differences, individual differences,
and situational differences all interact to determine the motivation of a
consumer to touch a product prior to purchase. Besides these three fac-
tors, there may be a mechanism in place that would compensate a con-
sumer for the inability to haptically examine a product prior to purchase.
For example, as discussed, a clear written description or a picture may
compensate for some types of material properties for some individuals
(e.g., McCabe & Nowlis, 2003; Peck & Childers, 2003a). Figure€ 2.2 is a
summary of the motivation to touch.

What’s Next?

During this sensory conference, it was clear that more research on the
interaction of the senses is needed. There has been some movement in
this direction in the area of haptic research. For example, Krishna (2006)
investigated the elongation bias and showed that sensory modality (touch
or vision) affects the extent and direction of the elongation bias. The elon-
gation bias predicts that with two containers of equal volume, the taller of
the two is judged to have a larger volume. The author hypothesized that in
a visual perception task, height is the salient dimension, and thus the taller
container would appear larger. However, in another condition, when the
participants had only haptic cues (they handled the objects blindfolded),
width became the salient dimension and there was a reversal in the elon-
gation bias (wide containers appeared bigger).
Krishna and Morrin (2008) asked whether nondiagnostic touch-related
cues can influence the taste of a product. They varied the nondiagnostic
 28
PRODUCT/OBJECT FACTORS INDIVIDUAL FACTOR SITUATIONAL FACTORS

Product Based Person Based Situational Based

Salience of Haptic Salience of Haptic Salience of Haptic
Information Information Information

Product Category Preference for y Opportunity to

Variability on a Haptic Touch Touch
Attribute y Point of Purchase
y Texture y Instrumental Sign
y Hardness y Autotelic
y Weight

Joann Peck
y Temperature

Compensation Mechanisms
for an Inability to Touch
y Written Description
y Brand Name
y Clear Visual
Motivation to Touch y Return Policy

Figure 2.2â•… Motivation to touch.

 Does Touch Matter? Insights From Haptic Research in Marketing 29

haptic qualities of a product’s package or serving container and found that

nondiagnostic haptic cues influenced the perceptions and evaluations only
of individuals lower in NFT. In other words, higher NFT individuals are
better at determining when touch information is informative and do not
use this information when making product evaluations if the information
is nondiagnostic.
Although multisensory research is important, there are other areas that
are also worthy of further investigation. To this end, the final chapter of
this volume is devoted to the future of sensory research.

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3
Touch
A Gentle Tutorial With Implications for Marketing
Roberta L. Klatzky

Advertising pervasively appeals to vision and hearing. Print and pictures

are ubiquitous in newspapers and magazines, commercials resound from
radio and television, and the Web combines both the visual and auditory
modalities. More recently, scent technology has made it possible to deliver
precise mixtures to closed areas, enabling businesses to enhance sur-
roundings and even brand themselves through olfaction. Pity, then, the
marketer who wants to exploit touch. Unlike vision, hearing, and smell,
which can sense the distal world, touch is the proximal sense. With rare
exceptions, like the warmth of the sun, we must physically contact a sur-
face or object to sense it through touch. Consumers must be seduced into
touching an object before its tactual properties can be communicated.
In this chapter I will recount some basic scientific findings about the
sense of touch, with the goal of drawing implications for its exploitation
in marketing. Certain properties of touch make it quite different from
other senses for that purpose. As was just noted, touch receives informa-
tion about the immediately surrounding world, not distant objects and
events. Furthermore, touching goes beyond mere contact. Tactual per-
ception is inextricably linked to action; what we feel depends on how we
explore. Touch informs us about the properties of surfaces and objects in
the world. Along with touching may come, as well, positive or negative
affective responses, such as pleasure or repulsion. The sense of touch also
encompasses the negative sensations of itch and pain.
The chapter begins with the neurophysiological building blocks of
touch, the sensory receptors underneath the skin. When describing touch,
starting out with the first layer is important, because primitive sensory
responses are tightly linked to full-blown conscious experience of the

33
34 Roberta L. Klatzky

world. Visual science, in contrast, tells us the story of a long process-

ing chain from eye to perceived surroundings. Photons of light are rep-
resented successively as points, edges, regions, volumes, and ultimately,
coherent objects. We can be informed quite directly about the properties
of the world, however, by receptors in skin, muscles, tendons, and joints.
For example, the perception of a surface as warm or cool comes to us with
minimal processing intervention: Specialized nerve endings underneath
the skin respond to the flow of heat from a warm surface into the cooler
body of the person contacting it, and these early neural responses convey
an impression of warmth to the brain. Not all of the properties of objects
and surfaces are perceived with so little mediation; some information
requires complex neural computations. The immediacy of touch, however,
constitutes one of its principal features.

The Receptors of Touch

The common conception of five senses is, of course, a fallacy. Consider

vision, which encompasses systems for objects (what) and space (where),
and within the object system has distinct modules for shapes, colors, and
motion, among other attributes. Smell, in many terrestrial animals, sepa-
rates gustatory appetite from sexual appetite, both anatomically and neu-
rally. Touch, too, is polysensory.
An initial division can be made between two subsenses of touch, called
cutaneous and kinesthetic. The cutaneous system responds to stimulation
of the skin and conveys information about the surface being contacted. The
kinesthetic system responds to signals from muscles, tendons, and joints;
it conveys a sense of the positions that limbs take in space. Kinesthesis also
informs us about the properties of objects, as, for example, when we deter-
mine how large an object is by enclosing it in our hand. When we actively
explore the world, we are drawing information from both the cutaneous
and kinesthetic subsystems, and the combination is called haptics, or hap-
tic perception. Of the two haptic subsystems, scientists arguably better
understand the cutaneous system at a basic neurophysiological level, and
the present discussion will concentrate on that component of touch.
To understand the polysensory nature of touch, we must refer to the
concept of a receptor. The term receptor, as applied to touch, refers to a
neural fiber, the axon of a neuron, which in some cases has a specialized
ending. Stimulation of a receptor causes the neuron to fire, sending a sig-
nal to a subsequent neuron across a synaptic connection. These electronic
 Touch 35

transmissions constitute the language of the nervous system and underlie

our conscious responses to objects and events.
In the cutaneous subsystem of touch, several populations of recep-
tors have been identified, differing according to the type of stimulation
that causes the neuron to fire. Some receptors, called mechanoreceptors,
respond to stimulation in the form of pressure applied to the skin. These
receptors terminate in special endings. Other neurons are “naked” at their
terminus. These include the thermoreceptors, which respond to ambient
and changing temperature. There are separate thermoreceptors to detect
warmth and coolness. Still other neural fibers have been identified that
correspond to itch and different types of pain.
Two features characterize the mechanoreceptors, which are pressure
sensitive. One is adaptation rate; that is, how quickly the receptors stop
firing when the world remains constant. The receptors may be fast adapt-
ing (FA), in which case they cease firing in the presence of unchanging
stimulation, or they may be slow adapting (SA), in which case they fire
throughout the application of a single continuous stimulus (within limits).
To make FA receptors respond repeatedly, a mechanical source must be
applied, removed, and reapplied, as is the case with a vibrating surface. FA
receptors tend to have preferred vibratory frequencies, where the stimulus
amplitude (strength) needed to invoke a response is minimized.
The second feature used to categorize the cutaneous mechanoreceptors
is the receptive field. A receptive field is the area of skin to which a receptor
is sensitive. Stimulation anywhere in a receptor’s receptive field will cause
it to fire, as long as the source is strong enough to exceed a minimum
(called the threshold). Some mechanoreceptors have small receptive fields.
As a result, groups or populations of these receptors divide up the skin’s
real estate into small regions, much like the pixels on a computer monitor.
The smaller their receptive fields, the more capable a neural population is
of resolving pressure on the skin into distinct points. On the other hand,
a large receptive field means that a single receptor fires when a stimulus is
applied anywhere over a relatively large region of the skin. Receptors with
larger fields tend to lie relatively deeply under the skin, whereas those with
spatial acuity tend to be nearer the skin surface. This makes sense, in that
it seems necessary to be close to the skin surface to partition it finely.
It turns out that the two features just described—adaptation rate and
receptive field size—act as a 2 × 2 partitioning that categorizes mecha-
noreceptors into four types. There are fast adapting receptors with small
and large receptive fields, called FA I and FA II, respectively. And there
are likewise SA I and SA II classes, that is, slowly adapting receptors with
36 Roberta L. Klatzky

small and large fields, respectively. The different fibers, when stimulated in
isolation, induce different sensations, like flutter versus buzz.
The distribution of different types of receptors across the skin of the
body is far from uniform. In particular, spatially acute receptors are
packed into the fingertips. You can demonstrate this for yourself with a
home-grown approximation to measuring the “two-point threshold.”
Bend a bit of wire (like a paper clip) into a U-shape and touch the tips of
the U into your skin. Determine the minimal separation of the tips where
they feel like two distinct points. Tips of a U that are close together may
be perceived as separate on the fingertips, but the same U-shape will blend
and seem like one point when placed on the back.
A recent addition to the catalog of touch receptors is a class associated
with pleasant touch; they respond, for example, to mild stroking of the
skin. These seem particularly to occur within skin surfaces that are hairy;
that is, not in the most sensitive areas of the skin such as the fingertips or
lips (McGlone, Vallbo, Olausson, Loken, & Wessberg, 2007).
A take-away message of this section, with potential relevance for mar-
keting, is that the world of objects sensed through touch begins with con-
tact. By virtue of different receptors, contact alone can arouse a variety of
sensations. Those initial responses are converted by the perceptual system
into a representation of object properties, as is described next.

From Receptors to Surface Properties

Why bother with neurophysiology when considering the role of touch in

marketing? The answer has already been given: For some aspects of touch,
the receptors deliver an immediate depiction of the contacted surface, with
relatively little mediating processing. Apparent warmth and coolness have
already been alluded to as features that are delivered so directly. Others
include the presence of pressure discontinuities; for example, edges and
holes or the instantaneous prick of a sharp point.
In addition to discontinuities, which are essentially binary signals
(smooth or uneven), details of the shape of a surface contacted by the skin
can also come from the primary responses of the receptors. Consider cur-
vature: Just touch the surface of your pen with your fingertip and you have
a clear impression of how it is curved. This happens because less pres-
sure is produced by a surface as it curves away from the center of contact.
The less the pressure, the lower the neural output from slowly adapt-
ing receptors. If those receptors have small receptive fields (as with SA I
 Touch 37

mechanoreceptors), from their outputs it is possible for the sensory system

to assign a given sensation of pressure to a particular spatial location. The
result is a sensory map of the pressure differential across the fingertip, and
from this follows (with some additional brain processing) the perception
of curvature.
A take-away message of this section, with potential relevance for mar-
keting, is that mere contact with an object tells us quite a bit about its local
properties: thermal, punctate, and geometric. That first touch by itself
might have implications for consumer response. Yet, if we were to stop
at mere contact, even with our spatially sensitive fingers, we would learn
only a limited amount. The world sensed by touch expands dramatically
when we go beyond contact to active exploration, as discussed next.

Haptic Exploratory Procedures and the Properties of Objects

Touch a table tennis ball and the outside of an egg. Which is rougher? It
is likely you have done more than simply contacted the objects; you have
rubbed them. Rubbing is what Lederman and Klatzky (1987) call an “explor-
atory procedure.” It is a principled, stereotyped action pattern that is linked
to an object property, in this case surface texture. Lederman and Klatzky
showed that rubbing is not an isolated instance of purposive exploration.
In general, when blindfolded people were asked to compare objects along
some named dimension, like roughness or hardness, they moved their
hands in systematic ways. The researchers constructed a catalog of these
exploratory procedures and their associations with object properties.
For example, when asked to judge hardness, people exhibited an explor-
atory procedure called “pressure,” which could take the form of pressing
or twisting, but always exerted force on the object against a resisting force.
Rubbing is a version of the exploratory procedure they called “lateral
motion,” which can be done with the finger, toe, or tongue, but always pro-
duces a sideways or shearing force against a surface. Why these patterns?
It turns out that generally, the observed pattern of purposive exploration
optimizes the neural signals that are used to compute the object property.
Take temperature, for example. People judging the warmth or coolness
of an object use “static contact”; that is, they place a large skin surface
against the object and hold it steady. The large surface excites the maxi-
mum number of thermoreceptors, and signals from which converge. That
is, static contact is effective to sense temperature because it creates signals
38 Roberta L. Klatzky

from many thermal sensors distributed across space, which are summed
by “downstream” neurons.
Experiments by Lederman and Klatzky (1987) confirmed that in gen-
eral, the exploratory procedure that is spontaneously produced in con-
junction with an object property is also the optimal one. If you want to
know the roughness of a surface, you should rub, not use static contact.
Nevertheless, suboptimal exploration still turned out to be informa-
tive. By careful analysis, these researchers were able to show how well each
exploratory procedure delivered information about each object property
in their tested set. Some exploratory procedures turned out to be the most
generally informative in that they provided at least a crude amount of
information about several object properties. The winning exploratory pro-
cedures in this informativeness competition were enclosing an object (opti-
mal for gross shape and size), lifting it (optimal for weight), and exploring
its contours with the fingers (optimal for precise shape). Unfortunately,
the last procedure, contour following, was very slow to execute, rendering
it less useful.
It turns out, then, that simply enclosing and lifting an object is the most
efficient way to learn about it quickly. And that is what people are observed
to do when they are asked to quickly ascertain some feature. Only after
the first grasp and lift do they tend to perform further, more specialized,
exploration (Lederman & Klatzky, 1990). Grasping and lifting tell us a
lot about an object, and when followed with specialized exploration as
needed, the object leaps into life as a whole within the hand. It may be
surprising to learn that people are able to recognize common objects by
touch alone with virtually perfect accuracy, most often within a couple of
seconds of exploration (Klatzky, Lederman, & Metzger, 1985).
There is an important flip side of effective exploration, namely, ineffective
exploration. Some exploratory procedures are not generally informative; to
the contrary, they are specialized. This specialization of exploration means
that it is possible to handle an object without learning about some of its
properties. If you touch an object with an exploratory procedure special-
ized for property X, you will not get information about properties Y and Z.
Klatzky, Lederman, and Reed (1989) showed, for example, that people who
explored a wafer-shaped object around its edges, in an effort to determine
its precise shape, knew relatively little about its surface roughness.
A take-away message of this section, with potential relevance for mar-
keting, is that it is important to think not only about seducing people into
touching a product, but getting them to touch in the right way. Active
exploration can enhance or limit what is learned about an object.
 Touch 39

Touch in Relation to Vision

Decades ago, the sense of touch was considered by many as a weak form
of vision. The pixel power of touch in comparison to vision is very coarse.
The Braille symbol, which when seen in a public elevator is easy for our
eyes to resolve into dots, is near the spatial limits of touch. (People with
diabetes-induced blindness tend to suffer from loss of acuity in the finger-
tip as well, and generally they cannot easily learn Braille.) The poor-cousin
view of touch in relation to vision was mistaken, however. The senses have
complementary roles. They are not generally competing for the same
information, with touch the loser.
To understand this point better, let’s think about the properties of objects.
It is useful to divide them into two broad classes: material and geometry.
Material properties are generally defined as not depending on the shape
of any particular sample. They include surface properties like roughness
or stickiness or friction and other properties like compliance or elastic-
ity. Geometric properties pertain to size and shape, although measures of
shape in particular have proven difficult to define (pointiness? curviness?).
As a general rule, touch is most informative about material, and vision
about geometry. The relative specializations of vision and touch have been
demonstrated with a variety of experimental methods (see Klatzky &
Lederman, 2007, for a review). By way of summary, material properties
are more quickly accessed by touch relative to vision, and they are dis-
criminated more precisely. The same applies to geometric properties for
vision. I will describe two demonstrations of this specialization that have
particular relevance to marketing.
The first demonstration of vision versus touch specialization comes
from a task in which subjects were asked to judge which of two visible
objects was greater along some scale (Klatzky, Lederman, & Matula, 1993).
For example, they might be shown a pen and a toothbrush and asked which
was heavier. The objects were physically placed just in front of the subjects
so that they could see them and touch or not, as they pleased. However,
they were asked to respond as quickly as possible, so that idle touching
was discouraged. The experimental manipulations then comprised two
variables: (a) the specific property being judged, and (b) difficulty of the
comparison, as determined by the difference between the stimuli. With
regard to judged property, on some trials, material properties such as
weight, roughness, or hardness were queried; on others, the comparison
pertained to geometric properties of size and shape complexity. With
regard to difficulty, some judgments were easy, like the roughness of silk
40 Roberta L. Klatzky

versus sandpaper, and others were difficult, like the relative size of a grape
versus a marble.
The results were very clear: People did not bother to touch the objects
when the judgment was easy, in which case they could see the difference
or simply make their judgment on the basis of prior knowledge about
the objects. They also did not tend to touch the objects when the judg-
ment was difficult and the dimension of interest was geometric. However,
when making difficult judgments about material, the participants tended
to touch the objects, and in those cases, to explore them appropriately to
ascertain the desired property. In short, this experiment shows a clear spe-
cialization of the haptic modality: It is used for difficult discriminations of
material properties. If vision is effective, as with geometric and easy mate-
rial comparisons, it is preferred, and why not? Touch, the proximal and
active sense, is effortful, whereas vision, being distal, is cheap.
Interestingly, the same distribution of utility was observed in a men-
tal-imagery version of the object-comparison task (Klatzky, Lederman,
& Matula, 1991). In this case, the objects were presented verbally rather
than tangibly on each trial. After answering a question as to which of two
named objects was rougher, harder, or so on, the subject was asked about
any mental images that had been present. (Each subject in the experi-
ment was asked just one question, so as to maintain the spontaneity of
the imagery.) Visual images of the objects were commonly reported, but
in addition, when making difficult judgments about material, subjects
frequently mentioned seeing their hand in the image, generally mak-
ing appropriate exploratory procedures. Haptic imagery was reported in
over 30% of difficult material judgments and in less than 5% of geometric
ones. This intriguing finding suggests that imagined hand movement may
somehow facilitate the processing of material object properties that are
retrieved from memory. A follow-up brain-imaging study with the same
task (Newman, Klatzky, Lederman, & Just, 2005) supported the distinc-
tion between material and geometric properties in imagery by showing
that different patterns of brain activation were observed in the two types
of judgments. Comparisons of geometric features differentially activated
the intraparietal sulcus, associated with visual imagery, whereas questions
about material features differentially activated the inferior extrastriate
region, associated with processing of semantic object representations.
The second demonstration of visual versus touch specialization is a
bit subtler. It concerns the mental salience of object properties; that is,
their impact on imagination and thought (Klatzky, Lederman, & Reed,
1987). Participants in this experiment were asked to sort a large collection
 Touch 41

of hand-sized objects into three bins, so that similar objects were placed
together. Before sorting, they were allowed to explore the set of objects,
which revealed to them the nature of the problem: The objects had been
designed so that they could be sorted into three groups by any of four fea-
tures: size (small, medium, large), texture (coarse, medium, fine), compli-
ance (soft, medium, rigid), or shape complexity (oval, hourglass, clover).
These features were combined in all possible ways across the full set of
objects, so that sorting by shape, for example, meant that a bin of exclu-
sively oval objects would have to mix together objects having different
size, texture, and compliance.
In short, participants had to choose what it meant for objects to be “sim-
ilar” and hence to be aggregated or differentiated in sorting. The assump-
tion behind the research is that the feature that partitions the objects is
the most salient, perceptually and cognitively. As a further manipulation,
participants were instructed as to the meaning of similarity. Some sub-
jects were simply blindfolded and given no instruction. Others were blind-
folded but told to think of what the objects looked like, and yet another
group could see the objects. The intention was to determine how these
instructions affected the relative salience of the different features.
The effects were very clear: When people had vision, they sorted exclu-
sively by shape, and they touched the objects minimally, just enough to
toss them into the bins. When people were blindfolded and had no biasing
instructions, they tended to sort by surface texture and explored accord-
ingly. But when they were blindfolded and told to think about what the
objects looked like, they shifted to exploring the contours and sorting by
shape. The implication is that when objects are touched but not seen, what
comes to mind is their material more than their shape. When they are
seen, even if touched, shape predominates in the impression of the objects,
and visual imagination tilts toward shape salience in the same way.
Vision, and its preference for shape, may have dominated in the sorting
task, but it is important to note that dominance of one sense over another
is not universal. A more general model appears to apply when two senses
both contribute information about the same feature of an object. Consider,
for example, pinching a raised edge in space while looking at it. Both touch
and vision tell you how big the edge is. According to the model, the two
senses each contribute estimates of the edge’s size, and the perceptual out-
come is a weighted sum of the two together. One specific version of this
model says that if people integrate optimally, they weight the contribu-
tion of each modality according to its statistical reliability. This model,
called maximum-likelihood estimation, has been found to hold for some
42 Roberta L. Klatzky

judgments involving vision and touch (Ernst & Banks, 2002). As a general
rule, whether or not the weightings are optimal, vision should be weighted
more than touch in judgments of geometry, with the reverse weighting for
judgments of material.
A take-away message of this section, with potential relevance for mar-
keting, is that it is important to think about what touch can add to peo-
ple’s interest in a product. Touch may offer relatively little added value
when a product’s utility or interest is determined by its geometry. On the
other hand, invoking touch may be invaluable for products where mate-
rial is key.

Eliciting or Inhibiting Touch: Speculations for Marketing

What follows are speculations about a role for eliciting touch in marking.
I conceive of two stages of customer involvement where touch might be
usefully induced. The first is when customers are exposed to a product,
which they may or may not elect to touch. Seduce people into touching the
object, and this alone might increase the potential to buy it. If the product
has marketable material properties, eliciting an initial touch provides the
opportunity for enhancing its attractiveness by conveying information and
inducing pleasure. The second stage at which one might manipulate touch
during marketing is postcontact. At this point, the goal would presum-
ably be to guide customers to perform appropriate exploratory procedures,
with the intention of optimizing the impact of the product’s properties.
The goal of eliciting touch leads to the questions of when do people
touch and when do they avoid it? The study of haptic perception from
the perspective of cognitive science and neuroscience can give us insights,
although the scientific perspective clearly does not tell the whole story.
Here, supported by previous research, observation, and a bit of chutzpah, I
suggest distinguishing among five types of elicited touch, as follows:

Information-Seeking Touch: This is the touch that is exhibited when people

are asked which is softer, a rose petal or a piece of velvet. It is intended
to deliver discriminative information about object properties. Touch
is necessary because the discrimination is relatively difficult, and the
information desired pertains to an object’s material. Occasionally,
informative touching is post hoc rather than anticipatory; for example,
a surface that looks slick, but on first contact is found to inhibit slip, may
invite further exploration.
 Touch 43

Hedonically Elicited Touch: Touching may be regulated by biological mech-

anisms related to emotion. Obviously, people avoid touching stimuli
that they associate with pain; for example, objects that look very hot or
sharp. Conversely, people may seek touch for its positive hedonic value.
The receptors for pleasant touch, which respond to light stroking, may
lead to a desire for certain kinds of contact, as when people stroke a
fur coat. People may also anticipate positive emotions from touch. For
example, oral touch could be elicited from the prospective pleasure of
chewing or mouthing. The feel of fat constitutes an important dimen-
sion of gustatory enjoyment.
Aesthetics-Elicited Touch: Some objects in the world seem to invite touch-
ing: the soft skin of a baby, the smooth curve of a sculpture. In com-
parison to the biologically directed hedonic touch just described, the
aesthetic pleasure in this contact is relatively subjective and variable
across people (Peck & Childers, 2003). The spontaneity and variability
of exploration in aesthetic contexts would make it difficult to predict or
control for scientific study.
Compulsive Touching: Special cases involve the irresistible impulse to touch.
The most important example is itch. Light, localized contact, as occurs
when a mosquito lands on the skin, may also command touch.
Socially Elicited Touch: People touch others to communicate support or
sympathy, in social rituals such as hand shaking, and in sex. This type
of touch lies far from the scope of this chapter.

Of the foregoing categories of elicited touch, informative, aesthetic, and

positively valenced hedonic touching appear to be the best candidates for
marketing. Considering first informative touch, there are various avenues
that might be pursued to elicit it. We know that people exhibit information-
seeking touch when they wish to make difficult material discriminations.
Offering tangible comparisons of material (the smoothness of two fine-grit
sandpapers or the softness of two paper towels) is a potential means to elicit
touching. Another avenue might be to devise products that have novel or
unusual surfaces, particularly having extreme values along some tangible
dimension. Because people have in mind a notion of the usual range of hap-
tically accessible object properties, seeing an object that looks extreme or
exceptional might elicit touch. We might reach for a piece of velvet because
it looks so soft or a pebbly texture to feel its extreme bumpiness.
The elicitation of aesthetic or positive hedonic touch is more challeng-
ing. To my knowledge, there is no principled work on the attributes of
objects that invite contact in pursuit of pleasurable sensation; this is an
exciting area for research. There may be some form of haptically appealing
44 Roberta L. Klatzky

geometry, for example. Observation suggests that people voluntarily feel

objects with smooth, curved contours that fall within scope of the hand,
for example. It would be very useful to experimentally explore the dimen-
sions of objects that lead to aesthetic appeal. It is also possible that aesthetic
interest could be elicited by having another person serve as a model. Seeing
someone else enjoy touching is likely to pique one’s own desire to touch.
Work of Peck and Childers (2003) suggests an important constraint on
any general principles for eliciting touch, namely, that there are likely to
be individual variations. People differ in their tendency to touch for both
aesthetic or informational reasons, which Peck and Childers call auto-
telic and instrumental touch, respectively (although autotelic touch goes
beyond aesthetic or hedonic goals to include impulse and compulsion).
So-called high need for touch (NFT) individuals contact objects more,
think about objects more, rely more on touch for evaluation, and process
touch-related information more quickly.

Haptic Display Technology and Market Applications

Sights, sounds, and even scents can be readily simulated for marketing
purposes. The physical object that corresponds to these events need not
be present; it can be evoked by a picture, a recording, or an aerosol spray.
In contrast, it is not easy to create haptic experience in the absence of a
physical object. A picture of a terry-cloth towel does not substitute for the
sensory experience of rubbing its textured surface. As we have seen, dis-
criminating finely along material dimensions demands haptic input.
The difficulty of creating a haptic simulation represents a handicap for
marketers of products whose value is based on their material properties.
Obviously, technologies that rendered virtual objects for haptic explora-
tion would have great value in marketing.
The desired level of simulation is far from attainable at present, but the
technology for creating virtual tangible objects has been rapidly advanc-
ing (see Lin & Otaduy, 2008, for a review). Several commercial devices are
available, such as the PHANTOM and a new magnetic-levitation device
called Butterfly Haptics. These devices work by producing resisting forces
according to a computer-generated model. For example, a simulated wall
corresponds to “infinite” resistance (actually, the maximum stiffness of
the device) along a continuous line in the workspace. Typically, the user
guides a handle or thimble within a workspace, and when the location of
a surface is encountered, the user experiences a resisting force generated
 Touch 45

according to the model. Simulations can be very complex. Force-feedback

devices have been used for virtual object worlds, textures, spinal cords, or
gallbladders, for example.
A drawback to most of these devices is that they simulate not the act of
touching the world directly, but rather contact through some rigid inter-
mediary, like a thimble or a stick. This situation eliminates the pressure
map on the skin that is provided by the SA I mechanoreceptors, as well
as eliminating an impression of the thermal properties of objects. Hence
force-feedback devices rely heavily on kinesthetic signals to the positions
of the limbs as they encounter forces from the virtual world rendered by
the computer.
The limitations notwithstanding, force feedback provides a rich sense
of the tangible surround. David Katz (1925) observed decades ago that
when one feels the world through a stick, one feels the world, not the stick.
Think of stirring a pot to keep something from sticking or burning; the
impression is that the bottom of the pot is directly being explored. To some
extent, at least, it seems that the requirement of a rigid barrier between
object and skin may not be an insurmountable obstacle to creating virtual
objects that people really feel. Lederman and Klatzky (1999) systemati-
cally evaluated people’s ability to make perceptual judgments when their
fingers were covered with a rigid sheath, which essentially eliminated the
array of pressure sensation on the fingertip. What was lost was the ability
to perceive pattern information, like the direction in which an edge was
oriented. What was preserved on the skin was overall force and vibration,
from which people retained an excellent ability to judge and discriminate
texture. Force-feedback devices would preserve vibratory-based features,
then, as well as providing kinesthetic cues to object contours.
There have been efforts to design fingertip array stimulators; for exam-
ple, small pins driven by motors that force them into the skin to simulate
a pattern. Such efforts have generally been problematic. Two specific dif-
ficulties are restrictions on the density with which pins can be packed and
limits on the robustness of the stimulator. Augmenting force-feedback
displays with heating or cooling devices has also simulated thermal sig-
nals. However, commercial devices with array or thermal stimulation do
not seem to be a near-term possibility.
As for the marketing utility of commercially available force-feedback
devices, a major problem at present is the tradeoff between quality and
price. A vibrating joystick is cheap, but it will be low in temporal and spa-
tial precision and not amenable to programming realistic models. Costs
of high-bandwidth force-feedback devices at present are in the tens of
46 Roberta L. Klatzky

thousands of dollars. Their expense and size preclude the idea of attaching
haptic devices to the home computer for purposes of high-fidelity e-com-
merce. It should also be noted that every virtual world requires a model,
generally of considerable complexity. Building the model constitutes a sig-
nificant part of the cost of an application.

Conclusions

Touch-based advertising is in its infancy relative to use of sight and sound,

and it lags behind scent. Touch presents unique problems but also unique
possibilities. The purpose of this chapter was to improve understanding
of the potential niche for touch in marketing. To summarize particularly
salient points:

1. From the first moment of contact, touch provides a rich array of proper-
ties of the proximal surface, including temperature, local geometry, and
material.
2. Active touching greatly expands the available information and creates a
vivid impression of the object as a whole.
3. Touch is complementary to vision, offering fast and precise access to
material relative to geometry. This distinction plays out even when
objects are imagined.
4. People touch for a variety of reasons, some of which may be controllable
by marketing.
5. Technology for virtual touch is a growing field, but at present it is lim-
ited by the types of cues it can present, the size of the apparatus, and the
expense of the device.

References

Ernst, M. O., & Banks, M. S. (2002). Humans integrate visual and haptic informa-
tion in a statistically optimal fashion. Nature, 415, 429–433.
Katz, D. (1925). The world of touch. (L. Krueger, Translation in 1989). Hillsdale,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Klatzky, R. L., & Lederman, S. J. (2007). Object recognition by touch. In J. Rieser,
D. Ashmead, F. Ebner, & A. Corn (Eds.), Blindness and brain plasticity in
navigation and object perception (pp. 185–207). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Klatzky, R. L., Lederman, S. J., & Matula, D. E. (1991). Imagined haptic explora-
tion in judgments of object properties. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
Human Learning, Memory and Cognition, 17, 314–322.
 Touch 47

Klatzky, R. L., Lederman, S. J., & Matula, D. E. (1993). Haptic exploration in the
presence of vision. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception
and Performance, 19, 726–743.
Klatzky, R. L., Lederman, S. J., & Metzger, V. (1985). Identifying objects by touch:
An “expert system.” Perception and Psychophysics, 37, 299–302.
Klatzky, R. L., Lederman, S. J., & Reed, C. (1987). There’s more to touch than meets
the eye: The salience of object attributes for haptics with and without vision.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 116, 356–369.
Klatzky, R. L., Lederman, S. J., & Reed, C. (1989). Haptic integration of object
properties: Texture, hardness, and planar contour. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 15, 45–57.
Lederman, S. J., & Klatzky, R. L. (1987). Hand movements: A window into haptic
object recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 19, 342–368.
Lederman, S. J., & Klatzky, R. L. (1990). Haptic classification of common objects:
Knowledge-driven exploration. Cognitive Psychology, 22, 421–459.
Lederman, S. J., & Klatzky, R. L. (1999). Sensing and displaying spatially distrib-
uted fingertip forces in haptic interfaces for teleoperator and virtual envi-
ronment systems. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 8,
86–103.
Lin, M., & Otaduy, M. (Eds.). (2008). Haptic Rendering: Foundations, algorithms,
and applications (pp. 7–19). Wellesley, MA: A. K. Peters.
McGlone, F., Vallbo, A. B., Olausson, H., Loken, L. S., & Wessberg, J. (2007).
Discriminative touch and emotional touch. Canadian Journal of Experimental
Psychology, 61(3), 173–183.
Newman, S. D., Klatzky, R. L., Lederman, S. J., & Just, M. A. (2005). Imagining
material versus geometric properties of objects: An fMRI study. Cognitive
Brain Research, 23, 235–246.
Peck, J., & Childers, T. L. (2003). Individual differences in haptic information
processing: The “Need for Touch” scale. Journal of Consumer Research, 3,
430–442.
4
Understanding the Role of Incidental
Touch in Consumer Behavior
Andrea C. Morales

When thinking about how the five senses in general and touch in particu-
lar relate to marketing, one immediately thinks about how consumers use
their senses to acquire information about products and services in a retail
environment. Consumers actively engage different senses or combinations
of senses to help inform their purchase decisions. For instance, consumers
clearly rely on their sense of smell when choosing which perfume to buy,
but sight could also play a key role by influencing perceptions and prefer-
ences for one bottle shape over another (Folkes & Matta, 2004; Raghubir
& Greenleaf, 2006; Raghubir & Krishna, 1999). Likewise, the way a bottle
feels when touched might also impact product choice. Indeed, research-
ers have shown that information gathered through touch can have a sig-
nificant influence on product evaluations (Mooy & Robben, 2002; Peck &
Childers, 2003) and even hinder online shopping precisely because it does
not provide consumers with tactile information (Alba et al., 1997; Citrin,
Stem, Spangenberg, & Clark, 2003; McCabe & Nowlis, 2003). But what
about cases where touch is not used for information seeking about prod-
ucts? Will it still have an impact on consumer behavior? This is the focus
of the current chapter.
In Joann Peck’s chapter in this book, she proposed a taxonomy of touch
in marketing that divided consumer touch into two broad categories:
(a) instrumental touch—“touch as a means to an end,” and (b) hedonic
touch—“touch as an end in itself.” Although these two categories accurately
describe the different ways and reasons consumers touch products, the tax-
onomy leaves out a third category of touch that can also have a significant
influence on consumer behavior—incidental touch. In addition to actively
touching products, when shopping in a retail environment, consumers

49
50 Andrea C. Morales

may also observe other consumers or other products touching the items
for which they are shopping. These observed forms of physical contact
between consumers and products are two categories of incidental touch. In
this chapter I describe how these two categories of incidental touch, until
recently ignored by the marketing literature, can have powerful effects on
consumers by altering their evaluations and purchase intentions.

Incidental Touch by Other Consumers

We have all seen it happen and many of us are culprits ourselves. Instead
of taking the outer-most cereal box, we reach behind for another one; we
try on one shirt in the dressing room, but purchase another from the bot-
tom of the stack that is still neatly folded and in the protective packaging.
It is clear from these examples that consumers prefer to buy products that
appear untouched by others, but why is this the case? When consumer
touching actually damages a product (i.e., crushed cereal inside a well-
handled box or makeup stains on a shirt), it is just a desire for quality
driving the preference for untouched items. But what about cases where
the product is completely unaffected by consumer touching? Why do con-
sumers still prefer to buy products that no one else has touched? Research
in anthropology provides some answers.

The Law of Contagion

In studying the beliefs and practices of primitive cultures and how they
view the physical world, anthropologists discovered the laws of sympa-
thetic magic (Mauss, 1902/1972; Tylor, 1871/1974). Although these “laws”
are not necessarily explicit, they govern how people think the world works,
and as such, have a strong influence on behavior. The law of contagion is
the idea that when a person or object (the source) touches another per-
son or object (the target), the source will continue to influence the target
even after contact has ceased (Rozin & Nemeroff, 1990). This is because
the source is believed to transfer some or all of its essential properties to
the target upon contact (Nemeroff & Rozin, 1994).
Although anthropologists identified the law of contagion as the basis for
many of the magical practices and rituals observed in traditional cultures
such as voodoo and strict hierarchical rules for meal preparation (Meigs,
1984), work in psychology (Rozin, Millman, & Nemeroff, 1986) showed
 Understanding the Role of Incidental Touch in Consumer Behavior 51

that modern, Western cultures also behave in ways that suggest they, too,
follow the law of contagion and believe that “once in contact, always in
contact.” For example, they found that once a sterilized cockroach had
touched a drink or a person they disliked had worn a shirt, nothing could
be done to make these items more desirable; the contact with a negative
object or person permanently altered perceptions. Notably, participants in
these studies often could not or would not explain what was driving their
lowered perceptions of touched items, since acknowledging a belief in the
law of contagion might make them seem foolish or silly. Nevertheless,
this work clearly demonstrates that contagion beliefs exist and influence
behavior in both primitive as well as advanced societies.
So how might contagion effects change evaluations of products touched
by other consumers? The law of contagion argues that when a source
touches a target, the source has a permanent influence on the target. Thus,
evaluations of the touched product will depend completely on the source
doing the touching. If the source is negative, evaluations of the target
product should be lower, but if the source is positive, evaluations of the
target product should be higher. Although both forms of contagion are
theoretically possible, outside of a consumer context, previous research
has indicated that negative contagion effects, where contact with a source
devalues a target, are more powerful than positive contagion, where con-
tact with a source enhances the value of the target (Rozin & Kalat, 1971).
Indeed, until recently, no experimental evidence in either the psychology
or marketing literature had supported a significant, positive contagion
effect. However, recent work in marketing has demonstrated significant
effects for both negative and positive contagion in a consumer context.
Both are described in detail below.

Negative Contagion Effects

Evidence for negative contagion effects is relatively easy to find. Anecdotal

evidence and articles in the trade press provide numerous examples of
the strong aversion consumers tend to exhibit toward touched products.
In what can only be called a bittersweet consumer paradox, consumers
really like touching products (e.g., towels are touched on average six times
before purchase; Underhill, 2000), but they really dislike other people
touching products they plan to buy. As mentioned previously, consumers
often bypass the first item on a rack or stack of products and instead reach
for the fresh one behind or below. O’Reilly, Rucker, Hughes, Gorang, and
52 Andrea C. Morales

Hand (1984) found that 76% of survey participants indicated they would
not buy used underclothing and 20% refused to purchase used overcoats.
And in his bestselling book Why We Buy (2000), Paco Underhill talks
about the problems retailers face with consumers touching display prod-
ucts and how they can effectively manage the negative effects. In all of
these examples, the person touching or originally owning the products
is anonymous, so the lower perceptions of the touched products cannot
be attributed to specific negative associations with the contact source, but
instead demonstrate a general fear of contamination; touched products
are less desirable simply because they have been in physical contact with
someone else. But why?
The reason evaluations of products touched by other consumers are
lower is because physical contact leads to feelings of disgust toward the
contaminated items (Argo, Dahl, & Morales, 2006). Disgust has been
defined as “revulsion at the prospect of (oral) incorporation of an offensive
substance” (Rozin & Fallon, 1987, p. 23; see also Angyal, 1941), emphasiz-
ing the strong relationship between disgust and physical contact with the
human body. However, this does not mean that physical contact is neces-
sary to evoke disgust; oftentimes people experience disgust just thinking
about touching or even being near certain objects. Disgust evokes a feeling
state of revulsion, and this feeling state leads to an implicit action tendency
to distance oneself from surrounding objects (Rozin, Haidt, & McCauley,
1993). Thus, when another shopper touches the product a consumer is
planning to purchase and elicits disgust, evaluations of the touched prod-
uct will decrease as the consumer tries to pull away from the cause of
disgust. As such, disgust mediates consumer evaluations for products that
are touched by others. In addition to the consumer context, disgust has
been identified as the underlying mechanism driving contagion effects in
food rejection, disease, and moral taint (Rozin et al., 1993).
Argo et al. (2006) examined specifically how other shoppers can trig-
ger feelings of disgust in consumers simply by touching products before
them. Building off of the law of contagion, they developed a theory of con-
sumer contamination that shows when consumers become cognizant that
another shopper has previously touched a product, their evaluations of
and purchase intentions for that same product decrease. This occurs even
when a product is objectively unharmed by the physical contact, indicat-
ing an underlying contamination process at work. In order to be more
certain that the theory they were testing held true in the “real world,”
instead of documenting these effects in the lab, the researchers instead
conducted three field studies in an actual retail shopping environment
 Understanding the Role of Incidental Touch in Consumer Behavior 53

during regular store hours. Despite the complexity this added to the inves-
tigation, the contagion effects they documented were large in magnitude
and quite robust.
Previous research on contagion and disgust had shown that contagion
effects were stronger when contamination was made more salient (Angyal,
1941). Thus, Argo et al. (2006) followed up on this result by varying the
degree to which a T-shirt appeared to have been touched by another shop-
per. In doing so, they were able to demonstrate how different “contamina-
tion cues,” including proximity to contact, time elapsed since contact, and
the number of contact sources, could exacerbate or mitigate contagion
effects in a retail setting by making contamination more or less apparent.
In all of these consumer contamination studies, participants were
instructed to find a particular T-shirt (the target shirt) and try it on. The
researchers then manipulated proximity to contact by changing the loca-
tion in the store where participants found the target shirt. Consistent with
social impact theory (SIT; Latané, 1981), which proposes a force will have
the greatest impact on a target when it is in close proximity as opposed to
farther away (Latané & Wolf, 1981), the idea was that when the shirt was
closer to the point of contact with another shopper, contamination would
be more salient, and evaluations of the shirt would be lower. Depending
on condition, participants found the shirt either hanging on a rack in the
regular clothing section of the store, on the return rack of the dressing
room, or inside the dressing room. As predicted, evaluations of the shirt
were higher the farther away it was from the point of contact; evalua-
tions were highest when it was on the regular rack, lower when it was on
the return rack of the dressing room, and lowest when it was inside the
dressing room. In all cases, however, the target shirt was in perfect condi-
tion and untouched by others. It was only the perception of contact with
another shopper that led to it seeming contaminated and drove the drop
in evaluations across conditions.
In a second study, the researchers manipulated time since contact to see
whether the “once in contact, always in contact” belief about permanent
contagion effects also held true in a consumer context (Rozin, Markwith,
& McCauley, 1994). Arguing for more temporary contagion effects, in
their research on construal level theory, Trope and Liberman (2003) show
that temporal distance systematically alters the way individuals mentally
construe future events with people forming high-level construals (i.e.,
abstract representations) for things in the distant future and low-level
construals (i.e., more concrete and vivid details) for events in the near
future. Although this work has focused only on future events, the same
54 Andrea C. Morales

construal theory principles should apply to past events as well, thereby

reducing the salience of contamination when more time has passed after
contact. Indeed, in this study, contagion effects were only found when par-
ticipants were told that the target shirt “had just been tried on,” but were
not significant when the shirt “had not been tried on for a few days.” In
contrast to other contexts, this finding suggests that in an interpersonal,
retail context, contagion effects dissipate over time.
Finally, Argo et al. (2006) examined how consumer contagion effects
vary depending on the number of contact sources. According to SIT
(Latané, 1981), the more sources, the stronger the impact on the target;
therefore, more sources of contact predict stronger contamination effects
and lower evaluations of the target shirt. However, in this context, the
more sources of contact (i.e., the more people who tried on the same shirt),
the more popular the shirt may appear to be. Thus, even though being
touched by another shopper generally lowers evaluations due to contami-
nation effects, having a lot of people try it on may also serve to heighten
evaluations by signaling popularity. Although plausible, no support was
found for the popularity argument. When participants believed that lots
of other people had tried on the target shirt, contamination effects were
significantly stronger (with product evaluations and purchase intentions
being significantly lower) than when participants believed only one other
person had tried on the shirt.
It is important to note that in the Argo et al. (2006) consumer con-
tamination studies, consumers did not observe the target product being
touched by another shopper but instead inferred that contact had taken
place through the different contamination cues. This suggests that by
default consumers infer that the anonymous other who touched the target
product before them is an individual who elicits disgust. Given that these
studies took place on a college campus, in reality it is just as likely that
rather than being a disgusting person, the anonymous other shopper was
an average-looking college student or even a highly attractive co-ed. Yet,
when faced with contamination cues that imply previous touching has
occurred, consumers naturally think the worst of the other shopper and
feel disgusted by any unobserved touching. It appears that when it comes
to incidental touch, our imaginations are often more disgusting than real-
ity. These feelings of disgust then lead to lower evaluations and purchase
intentions for the touched products.
But what would happen if instead of inferring contact had occurred
through contamination cues, consumers actually saw the other shopper
who touched a product before they had? Would the same effects still hold?
 Understanding the Role of Incidental Touch in Consumer Behavior 55

According to the law of contagion, if a positive source comes in contact with

a target object, the value of the target object will be enhanced. By this reason-
ing, if consumers believe that an extremely attractive shopper has touched
a product before they had, evaluations of the product might increase rather
than decrease. To test this hypothesis, in a second paper described below,
Argo and her colleagues ran a similar set of studies, but this time manip-
ulated precisely who the contact source was. Specifically, they examined
whether the effects of incidental touch by consumers are different when
other shoppers of varying levels of attractiveness touched products.

Positive Contagion Effects

Research in psychology has provided mixed support for the existence of

positive contagion effects. Although the law of contagion predicts positive
effects resulting from contact with positive sources, demonstrating such
effects has proven difficult in response to questionnaires. In two different
studies where participants were asked to imagine different positive sources
(e.g., a lover, an admired religious figure) coming in contact with various
target objects (e.g., a blouse, a toothbrush), only a few sources resulted
in significant increases in value for the target objects and some showed
no change or even decreases in value (Nemeroff & Rozin, 1994; Rozin et
al., 1986). Whenever evidence for positive contagion has been found, the
contact source was a liked or aspirational other, suggesting that positive
contagion is largely dependent on precisely who is doing the touching.
Building on this previous research, Argo, Dahl, and Morales (2008) ran
several studies where they varied the attractiveness of the contact source,
successfully providing the first experimental support for the existence of
positive contagion effects. The results of their studies demonstrate con-
sumer evaluations of a target product are actually higher when male con-
sumers believe that a highly attractive (vs. average) female has touched
the product before they had, as well as when female consumers believe
that a highly attractive (vs. average) male has touched the product before
they had. Thus, positive contagion effects exist in a retail context but only
when the contact source is highly attractive and the opposite gender of
the target consumer. When the contact source and the gender of the tar-
get consumer are the same (either female/female or male/male), consumer
evaluations are unaffected by the contact source trying on the target shirt.
Moreover, in a third study, they show that these positive contagion effects
go away when the target shirt previously worn by a highly attractive source
56 Andrea C. Morales

of the opposite gender is dry cleaned. Consistent with a physical model of

contagion (Rozin et al., 1986), cleaning the garment reduces the positive
nature of the contagion by wiping away the physical trace or “essence”
that the highly attractive other left on the shirt when he or she touched the
product. In this case, leaving products dirty is actually better, as it leads
to higher evaluations and purchase intentions when highly attractive con-
sumers touch them.

Incidental Touch by Products

Contact between other consumers and products is one form of incidental

touch that can impact consumer behavior, but shoppers also frequently
observe contact between products. For example, as a practice, grocery
stores strive to utilize every square inch of shelf space; consequently,
almost every product in stock is likely to be touching the product next to it
on the shelf. Even in cases where contact between products is minimized
at the retail level, once consumers place items inside a basket or cart, a sec-
ond stage of contact occurs between products when they brush against one
another or are stacked upon each other in a tighter, more confined space.
Despite the frequency with which incidental touch between products
is likely to occur, in order for the contact to result in contagion effects,
at least one of the products involved needs to elicit disgust. As discussed
previously, the law of contagion suggests that negative sources are able
to contaminate target objects through direct, physical contact with them.
Applying this law to the current context, product contagion occurs when
disgusting products come in contact with other products, making them
less desirable. Because people believe disgusting products (as opposed to
products that induce other forms of negative affect) transfer general or
specific offensive properties to the target products they touch, they alone
will contaminate products upon contact. If a product does not initially
have offensive properties to transfer to a target, it cannot contaminate
another product through touch alone.
If disgust-inducing products are necessary for contagion effects to
occur between products, a natural question to ask is how many products
actually induce disgust? Are such products readily available in the mar-
ketplace, or are there so few that contagion is not an issue worth studying?
Morales and Fitzsimons (2007) answered these questions by having con-
sumers report the level of disgust they experienced when thinking about
the top 100 supermarket sellers (as defined by the Food Institute’s Food
 Understanding the Role of Incidental Touch in Consumer Behavior 57

Industry Review 2004). Their study found that consumers rate 6 of the top
10 nonfood supermarket sellers, as well as many other top selling food and
nonfood items, at least moderately disgusting (a mean disgust rating of 5
or higher on a 10-point scale). These items are not obscure products that
consumers rarely purchase or see in the store, but are instead things such
as trash bags, cat litter, diapers, mayonnaise, shortening and oil, cigarettes,
and feminine napkins; products that are frequently purchased, common
household items. Rather than being a trivial issue for consumer behav-
ior, these results suggest that disgust and contagion are likely to impact
behavior even on routine shopping trips and warrant further attention
from researchers.

Consumers Touching Products

Before looking at the effects of incidental touching between products,

with so many of the top selling products evoking disgust in consum-
ers, it is first important to establish how consumers themselves react
to direct, physical contact with such products. Indeed, if consum-
ers feel contaminated when they touch disgusting products, they may
also believe the same contamination process occurs between products.
Morales and Fitzsimons (2007) examined this issue by having partici-
pants either carry a disgusting product (feminine napkins) in its pro-
tective packaging back to their seats, thereby touching the product, or
look very closely at, but not touch it before reporting evaluations on a
survey. As the law of contagion would predict, they found that consum-
ers reported feeling more dirty, gross, revolted, and disgusted when they
actually had contact with the disgusting product versus when they were
only looking at, but not touching it. Although most would be reluctant
to state it explicitly, consumers responded as though the disgusting
product contaminated their hands by passing its offensive properties
to them upon contact. Looking at the disgusting product and thinking
about the negative associations it evokes were not enough to elicit such a
strong response; physical touch was necessary for consumers to experi-
ence feelings of contamination. Although in reality the product (still in
its package and sterilized) was not harmful in any way, because it elicits
disgust, it was perceived as having the power to contaminate. The study
above shows this to be true for products contaminating consumers, but
do products also have the ability to contaminate one another? And if so,
to what degree?
58 Andrea C. Morales

Products Touching Other Products

Building on the idea of disgusting products having the power to con-

taminate, Morales and Fitzsimons (2007) developed a theory of product
contagion that demonstrates how disgust-inducing products can influ-
ence evaluations by touching other products. They ran a series of studies
where participants observed four products either inside a grocery cart or
on a shelf, with the middle two products either touching or separated by a
6-inch space. One of the middle products was a source product that elicits
disgust, and the other was a neutral target product, so in all cases, the
disgusting product was either touching or not touching the neutral tar-
get product. Across studies, they found that when the source product was
next to, but not touching, the target product, perceptions of contamination
did not occur and evaluations of the target product remained unchanged.
However, when the source product was touching the target product, par-
ticipants believed the disgusting product contaminated the target product,
thereby lowering evaluations of it. These effects were found at a general
level, making a target product overall less desirable, as well as at a spe-
cific level, where a source product (e.g., lard) could contaminate a target
product (e.g., rice cakes) by passing on its undesirable attribute (e.g., fat) to
the target (e.g., fattening rice cakes). Originally, they also expected prod-
uct contagion effects to be stronger in cases where the target product was
consumable (e.g., cookies) versus nonconsumable (e.g., notebook paper),
as prior work has established a powerful relationship between disgust and
contact with one’s own body (Angyal, 1941; Rozin & Fallon, 1987), but
they found no difference in contagion effects across target products. Being
touched by a disgusting product led to contamination regardless of the
degree of contact a product had with consumers’ bodies.
Based on the above results it is clear that incidental touching between
products can alter evaluations of the touched products, but how long do
these changes last? To address this question, Morales and Fitzsimons (2007)
had participants look at the four products with the source and target prod-
uct either touching or not touching, but then waited to ask evaluations of
the products for more than an hour. Not only did contact still lead to lower
ratings of the touched product, but it also resulted in a significant difference
in choice. Participants were given the choice of sampling a cookie from the
target box of cookies (which were rated higher on taste) or from a differ-
ent box of cookies (which were rated lower on taste). In the nontouching
condition, a larger percentage of participants chose the higher rated, tar-
get cookies than those in the touching condition, where the target cookies
 Understanding the Role of Incidental Touch in Consumer Behavior 59

were higher rated but also thought to be contaminated by the disgusting

product. These results indicate that product contagion can not only have
a significant impact on product evaluations, but that this impact persists
across time and can have an enduring effect on consumer behavior.
Morales and Fitzsimons (2007) also highlight the unique nature of dis-
gust with regard to contagion effects by showing that contamination does
not occur for products that induce other nondisgusting, negative feelings.
When the source product was one that induces frustration and anger (e.g.,
income tax software) instead of disgust, ratings of the target product did
not differ whether the source product was touching or not touching the
target product. Since disgusting products are believed to have contami-
nating properties that they can pass to other products upon contact, only
disgusting source products generate contagion effects. Moreover, since
disgust alone is associated with the implicit action tendency to pull away
from surrounding objects, contamination will only occur in situations
where disgust is evoked.
Finally, this work also shows that product contagion and experiences of
disgust more generally have a strong visual component. When target prod-
ucts were in opaque rather than transparent packages and consumers liter-
ally could not see the source product touching the target, no contamination
was perceived to have occurred. This finding has important implications
for marketers with regard to product packaging and managing contagion
effects in the retail environment, but it also speaks to the interaction between
touch and vision that Roberta Klatzky discusses in depth in her chapter in
this book and provides an interesting avenue for future research. In order
for contagion to occur in this case, consumers have to see the source prod-
uct coming in contact with the target product. As mentioned previously,
however, contamination cues alone are enough to trigger contagion effects
between other consumers and products. Consumers do not have to see
another shopper touching a product for consumer contamination to occur;
they only have to know that it has been previously touched. Thus, it seems
there is a difference in the way touch and vision interact for the two forms of
incidental touch, with vision being optional for touch by other consumers to
have an impact on evaluations but necessary for touch between products.

Conclusions and Future Research

Though relatively new to the marketing literature, studies show that inci-
dental touch can have a significant impact on consumer behavior. Whether
60 Andrea C. Morales

a consumer decides at the last second not to buy a pair of jeans because the
price tag has been ripped off, indicating that someone else had purchased
and returned it, or puts the loaf of bread back on the shelf after it touches
a box of trash bags inside the grocery cart, the effects of incidental touch
are widespread and far-reaching. To date, researchers have identified and
examined two forms: incidental touch by other consumers and incidental
touch between products. However, clearly there are additional forms and
combinations that deserve consideration, with touch between consumers,
touch between employees, touch between products and consumers, and
touch between consumers and employees being obvious contenders. When
it comes to incidental touch involving consumers, future work should also
look more closely at how contagion effects differ depending on the roles
and individual characteristics of the consumers. Prior work has already
examined touch by other shoppers and sales associates, as well as the posi-
tive effects of physical attractiveness, but there are numerous factors that
might also influence the way consumers respond to incidental touch. In
addition, more research should investigate how incidental touch interacts
with the other senses. As mentioned above, vision and touch have a com-
plicated relationship when it comes to the effects of incidental touch, but
it is likely that there are also interesting interactions with the other senses
just waiting to be discovered. Stay tuned.

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5
Informational and Affective Influences
of Haptics on Product Evaluation
Is What I Say How I Feel?
Terry L. Childers and Joann Peck

The role of touch in product evaluation is emerging as an important area

of study in marketing and consumer behavior (Peck & Childers, 2003a,
2003b; Peck & Childers, 2008). The chapter by Peck in this book provides
a comprehensive review of the role of touch, and thus we focus our discus-
sion in this chapter on haptic product evaluation. The studies in marketing
conducted to date on haptic product evaluation have used questionnaire-
oriented responses and scales that are subject to a number of limitations
produced through various forms of response biases (cf., Viswanathan,
2005). When utilized, responses of a self-report nature are potentially
more accurate at capturing the more cognitive informational influences of
touch. In contrast, self-report measures may be more seriously challenged
in representing affective-based influences of touch. This has become more
significant as several recent studies have examined in greater depth how
touch may influence product evaluation through a more affective route to
persuasion (Krishna & Morrin, 2008; Peck & Wiggins, 2006). Thus, cur-
rent studies that find support for haptic product evaluation through both
informational and affective or hedonic forms of touch have assumed that
self-report methodologies converge with how individuals actually behave
in the marketplace. The primary purpose of this chapter is to report on
research that examines this correspondence for both informational and
affective forms of haptic product evaluation.

63
64 Terry L. Childers and Joann Peck

Haptic Attributes and Product Evaluation

Whether a consumer feels the need to explore a product haptically will

partially depend on the salience of haptic attributes of the product. One
factor that may affect the salience of haptic properties has been referred
to as stimulus-set discriminability. Simply, this states that if all stimuli
or products in a category have similar values along a dimension, then
this dimension should not be highly salient (Klatzky, Lederman, & Reed,
1987). For example, most consumers perceive that the product category of
clothing varies on material attributes such as texture (or perhaps softness)
and weight, and consequently it is more probable that consumers would
want to touch these products prior to purchase.
In contrast, for a product category such as compact disks or books, most
people would not perceive product category discriminability of a haptic
attribute. McCabe and Nowlis (2003) demonstrate this finding through a
self-report-based increased likelihood of purchase. Products varying on
haptic attributes (e.g., carpeting or bath towels) were directly examined
through touch relative to products that emphasized geometric (shape)
discriminability (e.g., videotapes and containers of motor oil or soup).
Similarly, these informational influences of touch should be reflected in
alternative behaviors, such as the time spent touching products during
product evaluation. Even more important, a behavioral indicator should
be sensitive enough to capture variations in discriminability of the mate-
rial attributes across different products. Lastly, a behavioral measure may
be useful in differentiating haptic responses of a diagnostic informational
nature from a more affective oriented evaluation.

Informational Touch: Self-Report Versus Behavioral Measures

“If investigators are to make inferences about touch on the basis of such
measures (self-report), it seems necessary to validate these claims by com-
paring scores on questionnaires and behavioral data” (Jones & Brown,
1996, p. 148). Given the predominance of self-report methodologies and
the recency of touch to marketing, the correspondence between self-report
measures and behavioral measures is important to verify.

H1: For product categories lower (higher) in a self-report-based discrimina-

tion of their material properties, less (more) time will be spent touching during
product evaluation.
 Informational and Affective Influences of Haptics on Product Evaluation 65

Exploratory Procedure Hand Movements and “Need for Touch”

The nature of the time spent haptically evaluating products should also
be informative. Klatzky and Lederman (1992, 1993; Lederman & Klatzky,
1987) have documented linkages between hand movement profiles
(exploratory procedures [EPs]) and the haptic perception of specific mate-
rial properties. When individuals need to assess texture, they engage in
the lateral motion EP, which consists of rubbing the fingers back and forth
across the surface of an object; for hardness, individuals engage in the pres-
sure EP, which consists of squeezing or poking the object; for temperature,
they engage in the static contact EP (laying the hand on the object without
moving it); for weight, individuals use the unsupported holding EP, which
consists of resting the object flat in the hand and lifting it away from any
supporting surface, often repeatedly. This research suggests that consum-
ers will use specific haptic EPs depending on the product evaluated and
the information to be assessed. For instance, when evaluating a sweater
consumers will use the lateral motion EP to assess the sweater’s texture.
We conjecture that persons higher in their need for touch (NFT) are
more likely to have chronic information accessible and to seek haptic
information and to use it as they form judgments. Research has found
that chronically accessible categories are used more efficiently, allowing
one to encode relevant information in less time than people who are non-
chronic (Bargh & Thein, 1985). At first glance, this may suggest that per-
sons higher in their NFT may spend less time performing the haptic EPs
when evaluating a product compared to those low in their NFT. However,
a useful distinction needs to be made concerning the type of information
extracted. High NFT individuals may spend less time extracting haptic
information, such as weight (of a computer or cell phone using the unsup-
ported holding EP) or the responsiveness of the keys of a calculator or
microwave (using the pressure EP), of an object.
In contrast, the softness of an object (assess by the lateral motion EP)
has been associated with a pleasant sensory feeling (Bushnell & Boudreau,
1991; Essick, James, & McGlone, 1999). This pleasant sensory feedback
may encourage high NFT persons to forgo their efficiency in process-
ing haptic information, and it turn, to enjoy this pleasant feedback. Peck
and Wiggins (2006) recently demonstrated a related outcome of this pre-
dicted effect using self-report methods. Participants received a pamphlet
that contained a manipulation eliciting positive haptic associations asso-
ciated with softness (a feather). The pamphlet containing this positive
haptic manipulation elevated attitudes toward the message (pamphlet)
66 Terry L. Childers and Joann Peck

for individuals high in NFT. Similarly at the behavioral level, we expect

individuals higher in their NFT will engage in the lateral motion EP (to
assess softness) for a longer period of time than their low NFT counter-
parts. This leads to a hypothesis concerning the times of EPs performed
and the interaction with the individual difference NFT.

H2: Individuals high in their “need for touch” will perform the lateral motion
exploratory procedure (softness) longer than those low in their “need for touch”
while the reverse is expected for the unsupported holding (weight) and the pres-
sure (hardness) exploratory procedures.

Study

Overview

This experiment tests H1 and H2 and documents the various haptic

exploratory procedures used by consumers. This study has two primary
objectives. The first is to demonstrate that product categories differ in
their salience of haptic information as measured by the time spent extract-
ing haptic information (by using EPs) during product evaluation. Also,
this experiment examines the correspondence between the self-report
measure (that touch is important to product evaluation in certain product
categories) and the behavioral measure (actual hand movements and time
touching). In addition, this study looks at the individual difference NFT as
a moderator of time extracting different types of material properties. The
experiment was a 3 (product-based salience of haptic attributes) × 2 (prod-
uct replicates) × 2 (need for touch) design with product-based salience of
haptic attributes within subjects factor and product replicates and need for
touch between subjects factors.

Procedure

One hundred and seventy-five undergraduate students were videotaped as

they evaluated three products. A warm-up procedure was used (cf., Bettman
& Park, 1980; Biehal & Chakravarti, 1982) consisting of individuals eval-
uating a pen. Following this, each product (participants evaluated three
products in total) drawn from three categories differing in potential hap-
tic attribute salience was positioned on a raised table. Two replicates were
used and the order of product presentation was counterbalanced between
 Informational and Affective Influences of Haptics on Product Evaluation 67

participants. Each participant was told that he or she should evaluate the
product. After each product was evaluated, the participant went to a nearby
cubicle while the experimenter set up the next product for examination.
Following the product examinations, participants filled out a question-
naire that included the NFT scale, among other measures. After comple-
tion, participants were asked whether they knew the purpose of the study.
No subject realized that the focus of the camera was to videotape the par-
ticipants’ hand movements.

Independent Variables

Need for Touch

NFT was measured with a 12-item scale (reliability = .96). The possible
range of the 12-item NFT scale was from –36 to +36 and the entire range
was represented in this sample. Low and high NFT were determined by
a median split with participants scoring above the median (a score of 7)
classified as high NFT (n = 85) and those scoring at or below the median
classified as low in NFT (n = 88).

Product-Based Salience of Haptic Attributes

Product-based salience of haptic attributes was manipulated and consisted
of three levels: those products where prepurchase touch is most important
(level A), those in which prepurchase touch is moderately important (level
B), and finally, those in which prepurchase touch is less important (level
C). The three levels of product-based salience of haptic properties were
determined by two pretests using self-report measures. In the first pretest,
participants were asked to “list any products, services, and/or consumer
experiences in which touch plays an important role in your decision pro-
cess.” From these results, 11 products were selected and rated in a second
pretest using the question “It is important to touch (product) before decid-
ing whether to purchase” on a 7-point scale (7 = strongly agree). From
these ratings two products were selected for each of the three categories.
The ratings were as follows: Category A—sweater = 6.5 and tennis racquet
= 6.4 (t = .22, p > .05), Category B—calculator = 5.3 and cordless telephone
= 5.6 (t = .68, p > .05), and Category C—cereal = 1.5 and toothpaste = 1.2
(t = 1.78, p > .05). Collapsing the ratings across products indicated that all
were significantly different and in the expected direction (Category A, m =
6.5 > Category B, m = 5.4, t = 4.0, p < .05; Category A, m = 6.5 > Category
C, m = 1.3, t = 29.5, p < .05; and Category B, m = 5.4 > Category C, m =
68 Terry L. Childers and Joann Peck

1.3, t = 16.3, p < .05). Thus, one replicate of products consisted of a tennis
racket (level A), a cordless telephone (level B), and a bag of cereal (level C).
The second replicate consisted of a sweater (level A), a calculator (level B),
and a tube of toothpaste (level C).

Dependent Measures

Behavioral Measures of Salience of Haptic Properties—Time Touching

Behavioral measurement of the salience of haptic properties was based
on the time spent performing haptic EPs. Videotaping was used to assess
the participant’s hand movements as they evaluated the products. An
independent judge, blind to the conditions, viewed a sample of the par-
ticipants (two participants from each of the seven tapes) and recorded the
time evaluating each product, the time touching each product, and the
time each exploratory procedure was performed. Eighty-four percent of
the time, the two judges agreed to within 1 second. Differences were sub-
sequently reconciled prior to the analyses.

Examination for Outliers

In order to examine for outliers, z-scores were calculated for the time each
individual spent touching each of the three products. Seven of the subject’s
times included variables with z-scores greater than 3. The videotapes of seven
of the total participants were then examined and all seven participants were
found to be nonnative English speakers. Their times were higher than the
native English speakers because it appeared the right word or phrase could
not always be found. For this reason, those seven participants were dropped
from further analysis. Alternatively, a log transformation was applied to the
touch time scores. Both the raw scores with the seven cases omitted and the
log transformation scores with the seven cases omitted yielded the same
results, for simplicity of exposition the raw data were reported.

Results

Behavioral Measure of Salience of Haptic Properties

Hypothesis 1 predicted that as the salience of material properties of a

product increased as measured in a self-report measure, more time would
 Informational and Affective Influences of Haptics on Product Evaluation 69

Table 5.1â•… Means and Standard Deviations for EPs

A1 C2
Tennis B1 C1 A2 B2 Tooth
Racket Telephone Cereal Sweater Calculator paste
EPs Time (seconds) 6.14 3.76 0 6.59 5.24 0
(7.24) (4.50) (5.72) (6.60)

be spent performing EPs to extract haptic product information. A limited

number of EPs were found for product categories with the least haptic
attribute salience and thus Category C was excluded from the first analysis
(Table€5.1). Hypothesis 1 was supported by a main effect (F1,164 = 13.76, p <
.05) for product salience with products in Category A eliciting longer times
for EPs than products in Category B (mean of 6.37 vs. 4.49, respectively).

Haptic Extraction and Exploratory Procedures

As previously mentioned, separate haptic exploratory procedures have been
reported to correspond to specific object attributes (Klatzky & Lederman,
1992, 1993; Lederman & Klatzky, 1987). Hypothesis 2 predicted that par-
ticipants would vary in the time in which they performed various EPs
depending on the EP performed and their NFT. Because of their increased
efficiency in extracting haptic information, individuals higher in the NFT
are expected to perform the more informational oriented EPs for a shorter
length of time than their low NFT counterparts. The exception to this is
the lateral motion EP since this is used to extract softness, and provides
pleasant sensory feedback.
Table€ 5.2 illustrates the product categories, the types of EPs, and the
times that EPs were performed by high and low NFT individuals. Only
individuals that performed specific EPs during product evaluations were
included in this analysis. As predicted, for the sweater, the lateral motion
EP was performed longer for high versus low NFT individuals (mean of 7.13
vs. 4.99 seconds, t72 = 2.16, p < .05). For all other diagnostic haptic informa-
tional extraction, high NFT individuals performed EPs for less time than
low NFT individuals due to their efficiency at processing this information.

Conclusions and Future Research

Results indicated that the salience of haptic product properties converge

for self-report and behavioral measures of actual time spent touching
products during their evaluation. Results were consistent across the three
70 Terry L. Childers and Joann Peck

Table 5.2â•… Type of Exploratory Procedures Performed by NFT

Time Performing EP (seconds)
Exploratory High Low
Product Procedure (EP) Need-for-Touch Need-for-Touch Significance
Sweater Lateral motion 7.13 4.99 t72 = 2.16, p < .05
(texture)
Unsupported 1.98 3.50 t11 = 2.02, p = .07
holding (weight)
Tennis Unsupported 1.63 4.36 t39 = 3.63, p < .01
racket holding (weight)
Pressure (hardness) 2.24 4.41 t46 = 2.50, p < .05
Telephone Unsupported 2.89 4.51 t20 = 2.08, p < .05
holding (weight)
Pressure (hardness- 3.63 5.01 t36 = 2.61, p < .05
feel of keys)
Calculator Pressure (hardness- 4.99 7.13 t55 = 2.60, p < .05
feel of keys)

product categories differing in haptic attribute salience and for the two
product replicates. Products containing salient haptic properties with
greater stimulus-set discriminability were evaluated longer than those
products lacking in this distinctive haptic type of information.
This study also explored matching specific haptic exploratory proce-
dures or stereotypical hand movements with specific products. When
a particular type of product attribute was assessed (such as texture), a
matching exploratory procedure was observed (such as lateral motion).
These results underscore the importance of haptic information to product
evaluations and the variation between products in the importance of this
haptic information. Results also validate the use of the behaviorally based
EPs in a marketing context. Differential time performing EPs by high and
low NFT individuals was predicted and supported depending on the type
of information extracted. Although persons high in NFT are generally
more efficient at extracting haptic information, they also enjoy the pleas-
ant, sensory feedback more than those low in NFT.
These results also provide insight regarding the underlying drivers
of haptic product evaluation. Recently, Grohmann, Spangenberg, and
Sprott (2007) offered two theoretical explanations; the first related to the
informational nature of haptic product evaluation versus a second, affec-
tive-based explanation. They conclude that haptic product evaluation is
driven by an information-processing mechanism focused on extracting
 Informational and Affective Influences of Haptics on Product Evaluation 71

the diagnostic attributes of a product. Our results demonstrate this con-

clusion to be partially supported. Individuals do assess the informational
haptic qualities of a product, but there seems to be a more affective evalu-
ation at work as well. This also appears to differ based on a greater need
to touch products. The latter evaluate products’ diagnostic attributes to a
greater degree (e.g., weight), but also spend time assessing the more hedo-
nic aspects of products (e.g., the softness of a product’s texture). Thus,
additional examination is needed to better understand the role of haptic
information on product evaluation and how this relates to the material
properties corresponding to the informational attributes of a product.
This needs to be contrasted with the affective nature of haptic evaluation
and the conditions under which the two forms of touch impact product
evaluation. Preliminary results of this study indicate that individual dif-
ferences play an important role in this distinction. As noted, Peck and
Wiggins (2006) found that the influence of affectively oriented positive
haptic information varied by individual differences in NFT. Recently,
Krishna and Morrin (2008) reported there was a negative impact of a
nondiagnostic haptic cue for product evaluations for individuals lower in
NFT. Synthesizing, there may be an asymmetry in the influence of haptic
information on products across individuals, and how this relates to NFT
needs further assessment.
The literature on the role of touch in marketing continues to mount
toward supporting the importance of this sensory related cue in under-
standing how individuals assess products for their purchase. Our next
challenge will be to pursue the conditions and mechanisms operating in
haptic product evaluation and integrate these issues with the role of touch
in relation to all of our basic sensory systems.

References

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ory, and the recall-judgment link: The case of information overload. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 1129–1146.
Bettman, J. R., & Park, C. W. (1980). Implications of a constructive view of choice
for analysis of protocol data: A coding scheme for elements of choice pro-
cesses. In J. C. Olson (Ed.), Advances in consumer research (vol. 7, pp. 148–
153). Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research.
Biehal, G. J., & Chakravarti, D. (1982). Experiences with the Bettman-Park verbal
protocol coding scheme. Journal of Consumer Research, 8, 442–448.
72 Terry L. Childers and Joann Peck

Bushnell, E. W., & Boudreau, J. P. (1991). The development of haptic perception

during infancy. In M. A. Heller & W. Schiff (Eds.), The psychology of touch
(pp. 139–161). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Essick, G. A., James, A., & McGlone, F. P. (1999). Psychophysical assessment
of the affective components of non-painful touch. Neuroreport, 10(10),
2083–2087.
Grohmann, B., Spangenberg, E. R., & Sprott, D. E. (2007). The influence of tactile
input on the evaluation of retail product offerings. Journal of Retailing, 83(2),
237–245.
Jones, S. E., & Brown, B. C. (1996). Touch attitudes and behaviors, recollections
of early childhood touch, and social self-confidence. Journal of Non-Verbal
Behavior, 20(3), 147–163.
Klatzky, R. L., & Lederman, S. J. (1992). Stages of manual exploration in haptic
object identification. Perception and Psychophysics, 52(6), 661–670.
Klatzky, R. L., & Lederman, S. J. (1993). Toward a computational model of con-
straint-driven exploration and haptic object identification. Perception, 22,
597–621.
Klatzky, R. L., Lederman, S. J., & Reed, C. (1987). There’s more to touch than meets
the eye: the salience of object attributes for haptics with and without vision.
Journal of Experimental Psychology General, 116, 356–369.
Krishna, A., & Morrin, M. (2008). Does touch affect taste? The perceptual trans-
fer of product container haptic cues. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(6),
807–818.
Lederman, S. J., & Klatzky, R. L. (1987). Hand movements: A window into haptic
object recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 19, 342–368.
McCabe, D. B., & Nowlis, S. M. (2003). The effect of examining actual products
or product descriptions on consumer preference. Journal of Consumer
Psychology, 13(4), 431–439.
Peck, J., & Childers, T. L. (2003a, April). To have and to hold: The influence of hap-
tic information on product judgments. Journal of Marketing, 67(2), 35–48.
Peck, J., & Childers, T. L. (2003b). Individual differences in haptic information
processing: On the development, validation, and use of the ‘need for touch’
scale. Journal of Consumer Research, 30(3), 430–442.
Peck, J., & Childers, T. L. (2008), “If it tastes, smells, sounds, and feels like a duck,
then it must be a …”: Effects of sensory factors on consumer behaviors. In
C. Haugtvedt, P. Herr, & F. Kardes (Eds.), Handbook of consumer psychology
(pp. 193–219). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum.
Peck, J., & Wiggins, J. (2006). It just feels good: Consumers’ affective response
to touch and its influence on attitudes and behavior. Journal of Marketing,
70(4), 56–69.
Viswanathan, M. (2005). Measurement error and research design. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Section II
Olfaction
6
Scent Marketing
An Overview
Maureen Morrin

Scent has long influenced human behavior, indicating objects that should
either be approached (e.g., food, flowers, potential mates) or avoided (e.g.,
predators, poisons, gas leaks; Axel, 1995). Studies have shown, however,
that individuals generally undervalue their sense of smell (Martin, Apena,
Chaudry, Mulligan, & Nixon, 2001). Although the sense of smell, or olfac-
tion, is generally considered less important to human survival and prog-
ress than are other senses, such as vision and hearing, it nevertheless plays
an important role in day-to-day living.
The sense of smell is critical to the perception of flavors, for example.
Without a sense of smell, Coke and Sprite would taste the same (Herz, 2007,
p. 196). The sense of smell also plays an important role in mate selection.
Young women recently ranked a man’s scent as the most important physi-
cal factor in deciding on a potential lover (Herz, 2007). And losing one’s
sense of smell, a condition known as anosmia (e.g., from brain injury),
is often associated with feelings of depression and a world described as
“dull and colourless” (Douek, 1988, p. xviii). Research shows that anorex-
ics can suffer from an impaired sense of smell, making it even more dif-
ficult for them to savor their food and eat healthfully (Fedoroff, Stoner,
Andersen, Doty, & Rolls, 1995). Interestingly, loss of the sense of smell has
been found to be one of the earliest indicators of the onset of Alzheimer’s
disease (Svoboda, 2007).
In the past decade or so, marketers have become more aware of the
potential role that scent can play in differentiating brands in the market-
place as well as improving consumers’ satisfaction levels and sense of well-
being in marketplace settings. The phrase scent marketing has been used
to describe using scents “to set a mood, promote products or position a

75
76 Maureen Morrin

brand” (Vlahos, 2007, p. 70). This definition hints at the myriad ways that
marketers utilize scents.
Most obviously, marketers can use scents as a primary product attribute,
such as in personal fragrances or room deodorizers. In these instances,
the scent itself is the primary reason a consumer purchases the product.
Marketers probably more often use scents as a secondary product attri-
bute. There are many scent-infused products whose primary attributes
are something other than the smell of the product. The scents associated
with many of these products come to be uniquely associated with specific
brands. For example, most consumers, if blindfolded, could probably cor-
rectly identify the scent of Play-Doh modeling clay or Ivory soap. For such
products, the unique scents are not usually the primary reason for product
purchase. However, use of the scent as a secondary product attribute helps
to distinguish the brand from competitive offerings.
Marketers also use scents as part of advertising and sales promotion
efforts. For example, the California Milk Producer Board recently scented
bus shelters in San Francisco with the scent of chocolate chip cookies in
conjunction with the Got Milk campaign. The scents were removed within
days, however, due to consumer complaints (Gordon, 2006). Another
example consists of a joint promotion between Starbucks and Omni hotels
involving peel-n-sniff patches applied to USA Today newspapers. The
guests at Omni hotels received the papers with the patches smelling of
blueberry muffins to encourage muffin purchases at the Starbucks located
in the hotel lobbies (Elliott, 2007). In other efforts, direct marketers are
adding scents to their direct mail pieces via a microencapsulation process
that activates when the mail is opened (Pfanner, 2007).
Perhaps the greatest growth in scent marketing in recent years has
taken place with regard to the use of ambient scent, that is, emitting scent
into the atmosphere of hotels, retail stores, casinos, or restaurants as an
element of an environment’s atmospherics (Kotler, 1973). Ambient scent
is popularly believed to have the potential to create positive mood states,
which will then translate into more favorable store and product evalua-
tions and eventually into higher sales revenues.
Applications of ambient scenting have been reported by a variety of
retailers such as Bloomingdale’s, Sony, Samsung, and Thomas Pink (Byron,
2007; Mui, 2006), by hotels such as Westin and Omni (Elliott, 2007; Stellin,
2007), by banks such as Credit Suisse (McGregor, 2008), and by real estate
developers such as Toll Brothers (Vlahos, 2007). A small industry has
developed in recent years to meet the demand for such ambient scenting
efforts (e.g., firms such as AirAroma, AromaSys, Prolitec, and ScentAir, as
 Scent Marketing 77

well as a professional association, the Scent Marketing Institute). Unique

combinations of scents are increasingly being sought to create what are
called “signature scents” to serve as potentially competitive differentiators
in a crowded retail marketplace (Davies, Kooijman, & Ward, 2003).
To what extent does empirical research bear out these notions? That is,
does scent really have the capacity to influence consumers in the market-
place? If so, how, and under what conditions? The purpose of this chapter
is to review the empirical results published to date largely by researchers
in marketing on the effects of scent in order to consider what we have
learned and what we still need to know about scent’s capacity to alter con-
sumer behavior.
In terms of a theoretical framework, most of the literature assumes a
simple S-O-R (Stimulus–Organism–Response) model, wherein pleasant
ambient scents (S) should lead to a pleasant [unpleasant] affective response
within the consumer (O), which in turn should lead to approach [avoid-
ance] behavior mediated by the emotional response (R) on the part of the
consumer (such as a positive mood state; Mehrabian & Russell, 1974). In
this way, environmental stimuli, such as scents, serve a functional role in
helping us to survive. In a marketing context, approach behaviors could
manifest as more positive consumer evaluations, more time spent within
the store, intentions to revisit the store, the spending of more money in the
store, and so forth.
Here I explore whether and under what conditions such approach
behaviors do indeed tend to result from scent marketing efforts. First, I
discuss some of the characteristics of the sense of smell and then provide
a summary of the empirical research regarding the effects of scent. I also
discuss the factors that moderate such effects and end by suggesting areas
for future research.

Scent Characteristics

Scents Are Hard to Label but Easy to Recognize

Research has shown that we often find it difficult to attach a verbal or

semantic label to scents, a phenomenon called the “tip-of-the-nose” effect
(Lawless & Engen, 1977). Nevertheless, we are able to distinguish among
many different scents that we have smelled previously. There are over 5
million olfactory neurons in our nasal cavity with which we are able to
detect over 10,000 different scents (Axel, 1995; Buck, 2004).
78 Maureen Morrin

Scent Preferences Are Learned

Studies have shown that our liking or disliking for scents is learned over
time (Engen, 1988; Herz, Beland, & Hellerstein, 2004). Our scent prefer-
ences are thus not innate or hardwired. So, if you experience a particular
scent while a pleasant activity or event occurs, you will likely end up lik-
ing that scent for the rest of your life. Additional evidence for the acquired
nature of scent preferences is seen in the differences among cultures in
scents that are liked or disliked. For example, the scent of cheese, which
is generally liked in Western countries, is often considered putrid in East
Asian countries (Herz, 2007).

Scent Processing Is Slow but Persistent

It takes us a relatively long time to perceive the presence of a scent in our

surroundings. Thus, while it takes only 45 milliseconds (i.e., thousandths
of a second) for humans to detect a visual object, it takes about 450 mil-
liseconds, or 10 times as long, to detect an odor (Herz & Engen, 1996).
Researchers believe the reason for this is because olfactory neurons are
unmyelinated, which means that the information travels from the olfac-
tory neurons to neurons in the brain more slowly (Herz & Engen, 1996).
The sense of smell can also be considered the slow sense in that it takes
twice as long to retrieve an autobiographical memory that is cued with
a scent cue compared to one cued with a visual or verbal cue (Goddard,
Pring, & Felmingham, 2005).
However, we are able to recognize and recall scents we have smelled
long after the encoding episode has passed (Aggleton & Waskett, 1999;
Lawless & Engen, 1977). Information encoded along with scent infor-
mation also appears to be very persistent over time, exhibiting rela-
tively flat forgetting curves over time (Krishna, Lwin, & Morrin, n.d.).

Effects of Scent on Consumer Behavior

Although smell is a relatively underresearched sense in the field of con-

sumer behavior, it has begun to generate increased interest over the past
decade or so. These studies will be summarized below according to the
types of effects scent has had on various aspects of consumer behavior.
 Scent Marketing 79

The review is meant to be representative rather than comprehensive or

exhaustive in nature.

Mood

Although it is commonly assumed that scent, if it has an impact on con-

sumers, probably does so via its ability to alter consumers’ moods, there
is actually little in the way of empirical evidence to support this notion.
Bone and Ellen (1999) reviewed 22 studies on scent that contained 206
tests of olfactory effects. They found that only 16.1% of the tests of the
effect of scent on mood or physiological arousal were statistically sig-
nificant. Similar results have been obtained in scent studies published in
marketing since the publication of the Bone and Ellen review paper (e.g.,
Bosmans, 2006; Morrin & Ratneshwar, 2000, 2003; Spangenberg, Crowley,
& Henderson, 1996). Moreover, where mood or arousal effects have been
found, they have been mixed. Some researchers have found scents to be
physiologically arousing (e.g., Mattila & Wirtz, 2001), whereas others
have found them to be calming (Gould & Martin, 2001). More research is
needed to establish the conditions under which scent has a demonstrable
and reliable effect on mood and arousal levels.
Research has found that emotional states can interact with scents to
have significant effects on memory. For example, Herz (1997) found that
scent as a retrieval cue was more effective if respondents were put into an
anxious (vs. normal) mood at the time of encoding. On the whole, how-
ever, the evidence to date suggests the direct effects of ambient scent on
consumer mood are weak.

Evaluation

The effects of scent on product and store evaluation, on the other hand, are
more robust. Probably the earliest published study to assess the potential
impact of scent on consumer evaluations was that of Laird (1932), who
found that silk stockings, which otherwise emitted a mildly unpleasant
odor, when scented with a floral scent, were evaluated more positively by
housewives in a door-to-door survey.
More recently, the effects of ambient scent on consumer evaluations
were examined by Spangenberg et al. (1996), who found, in a simulated
80 Maureen Morrin

store setting, that ambient scents generally improved both store and prod-
uct evaluations. In this study, over 26 different scents were pretested,
but the authors interestingly found that scent type did not moderate the
results. A later study by Spangenberg, Grohmann, and Sprott (2005) found
that a pleasant ambient scent improved evaluations, but only when it was
seasonally congruent with the background music played in the environ-
ment (e.g., Christmas music paired with a Christmas scent). Bosmans
(2006) similarly investigated the effect of scent and scent congruency on
evaluations. This author also found that pleasant scents generally resulted
in more positive evaluations, largely because consumers tended to mis-
attribute the effects of the liked ambient scent to the products that were
being evaluated.
As an exception to the stream of research that has found generally
positive effects of scent on evaluations, Ellen and Bone (1998) found that
scratch-n-sniff patches attached to print advertisements had no positive
effect on evaluations and actually had negative effects when the scent was
perceived to be incongruent with the product that was advertised. On
the whole, this line of research suggests that pleasant scents will gener-
ally enhance consumer evaluations; however, scent congruency may be
required to elicit such effects.

Spending

Researchers have begun to explore whether a pleasant ambient scent

in purchase settings increases the amount of money spent in the envi-
ronment. The results have generally suggested that yes, under certain
conditions, adding a pleasant scent can increase revenues. Spangenberg,
Sprott, Grohmann, and Tracy (2006) found that shoppers spent more in
a store selling clothing when the scent that was emitted in a particular
department was congruent with the type of clothing being sold (i.e., a
feminine [masculine] scent emitted into the women’s [men’s] depart-
ment). Morrin and Chebat (2005) found that emitting a pleasant scent
into a shopping mall increased expenditures, but only among more con-
templative shoppers or those who did not make unplanned purchases.
The more impulsive shoppers, in contrast, spent more when pleasant
music was playing in the background. Importantly, shoppers spent the
least when both scent and music were present, suggesting marketers
need to be careful not to overstimulate their clientele with too many
environmental stimuli.
 Scent Marketing 81

Memory

It is widely believed that scent has a unique capacity to enhance human

memory, due in part to the famous story about the French author Marcel
Proust. Upon smelling a madelèine cake he had not eaten since childhood,
Proust was flooded with memories that formed the basis of his famous
writings. Empirical evidence regarding the ability of scent to enhance
memory is only beginning to emerge, however. Herz (1998, 2000) has
found that scent cues tend to evoke memories that are more emotional
in nature than those that are evoked by verbal, visual, auditory, or tactile
cues. Other research suggests that information encoded with scents may
be very long lasting (Aggleton & Waskett, 1999). Morrin and Ratneshwar
(2000, 2003) found that consumers look longer at product packaging on
a computer screen when there is a pleasant scent in the room, which later
manifests in superior brand recall and recognition. Other research shows
that scent improves memory performance, especially after a time delay
(Krishna et al., n.d.). Thus, there would appear to be emerging evidence in
favor of the notion that scent can indeed enhance consumer memory.

Lingering

In a field study, Gueguen and Petr (2006) found that the scent of lavender
(but not lemon) increased actual time spent in a pizzeria by about 15%
compared to an unscented control condition. Mitchell, Kahn, and Knasko
(1995) found that consumers spent more time processing product infor-
mation when there was a congruent versus an incongruent scent in the
environment. Spangenberg et al. (1996) found that a pleasantly scented
environment increased only perceptions of time elapsed, not actual time
spent, in a simulated store environment. Thus, the results regarding the
effects of ambient scent on actual and perceived time spent in an environ-
ment are somewhat mixed. Additional research is called for to explore the
effects of scent on actual and perceived time durations.

Moderators

Congruency
Beyond the main effects of scent on the various dependent measures
discussed above, potential moderators have been explored. By far, the
82 Maureen Morrin

moderator investigated more than any other with regard to the effects of
scent on consumer behavior is congruency. Scent congruency has been
conceptualized and operationalized in many ways. Scent has been concep-
tualized as being congruent with the actual product being purchased (e.g.,
Bosmans, 2006; Mitchell et al., 1995; Morrin & Ratneshwar, 2000, 2003),
with the gender-based type of product being purchased (Spangenberg et
al., 2006), with the arousal level of background music (Matilla & Wirtz,
2001), and with the seasonality of background music (Spangenberg et al.,
2005). As a whole, the studies suggest that evaluations tend to be more
positive under conditions of scent congruency, however defined.

Individual Differences
Individual difference variables such as impulsivity (Morrin & Chebat,
2005) and age (Chebat, Morrin, & Chebat, 2009) have also been found
to have moderating effects. For example, the ability of ambient scent to
enhance consumer expenditures in a shopping mall was found to signifi-
cantly diminish among older shoppers (Chebat et al., 2009). Such a finding
reflects the fact that the acuity of our sense of smell begins to deteriorate as
early as our 20s (Hoffman, Ishii, & MacTurk, 1998).
Other moderating variables should be explored at this point. Interactions
with the other senses would prove a fertile ground for exploration, as
would cross-cultural or subcultural effects. Another possibility would be
the development of a valid scale to measure the individual propensity to
acquire and utilize scents to evaluate and purchase products or services.
Thus, similar to the need for touch (NFT) scale developed by Peck and
Childers (2003), a need for scent scale could be useful. Initial attempts
in this direction have been made (Martin et al., 2001; Wrzesniewski,
McCauley, & Rozin, 1999). However, a fuller, more multidimensional effort
would be worthwhile. It would be interesting to see whether a consumer’s
need for scent is correlated positively or negatively with olfactory func-
tion, which can be tested with existing batteries, such as the University
of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) (Doty, Newhouse, &
Azzalina, 1985).

Suggestions for Future Research

Some intriguing developments in the basic disciplines have emerged that

may have implications for consumer researchers. For example, one recent
study found evidence for the possibility of an olfactory imagery (Bensafi
 Scent Marketing 83

et al., 2003). These researchers note that when we are asked to remember a
scent we have previously smelled, we sniff in more air. Furthermore, if we
are prevented from sniffing while trying to remember a scent (e.g., via a
nose clip), the vividness of the scent memory is reduced. How does olfac-
tory imagery contribute to the accuracy and emotional potency of con-
sumption experiences?
Another intriguing study (Rasch, Buchel, Gais, & Born, 2007) found
that emitting an ambient scent during periods of deep sleep improves
memory performance. This result suggests that scent may play a role in
memory consolidation, even without conscious awareness. In this study,
participants played a memory game involving card pair locations on a
computer screen while a pleasant scent was (or was not) emitted into the
room. Later, during periods of deep sleep, the same scent was emitted (or
not). The next day, those who had the scent present at both learning and
during sleep showed improved recall accuracy (85.8% vs. 97.2%). Do con-
sumers remember more about their consumption experiences when they
take place repeatedly in scented environments?
Beyond incorporating the latest findings from the basic disciplines, the
area of scent marketing can make additional progress by moving beyond
mood-mediated theoretical frameworks. Interesting questions that do not
necessarily implicate mood include the ability of scent to prime a pro-
motion or prevention focus among consumers. Would a pleasant ambient
scent prime a promotion focus and an unpleasant scent prime a preven-
tion focus?
Researchers should also explore moderators other than scent con-
gruency. Cross-cultural differences might be interesting to explore.
Construction of a need for scent scale might also be of use, as mentioned
previously. The interactive effects of other senses on the effects of scent
would be interesting to explore. For example, can inhibiting the sense of
smell reduce the pleasure associated with taste sensations and thus obe-
sity? Can enhancing or restoring an individual’s sense of smell alleviate
depression? Researchers have many potentially fruitful avenues to investi-
gate given the relatively unexplored terrain of scent marketing.

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7
The Emotional, Cognitive, and
Biological Basics of Olfaction
Implications and Considerations
for Scent Marketing
Rachel S. Herz

Olfaction is our phylogenetically oldest and most primitive sense, yet it is

highly involved in every aspect of our lives. In particular, the sense of smell
influences our emotions, memories, and motivations with singular inten-
sity. This chapter presents a scientific overview of the emotional, cognitive,
and biological basics of olfaction. How odors come to be liked or disliked,
acquire meaning, influence moods, elicit memories, and motivate behav-
ior will be explained through a comprehensive review of the literature. The
most recent data and theories in the psychobiology of olfaction and the
neuroanatomical and evolutionary basis for the connection between scent
and emotion will be elucidated. In the final section of this chapter, how the
unique associative, emotional, and motivational properties of olfaction
can be useful for scent marketing will be explored with special attention
to several cognitive, physiological, and logistical factors that are critical
considerations for manipulations involving the sense of smell.

Olfactory Preferences

Hedonic perception is an affective evaluation that centers on liking. The

most immediate and basic response we have to a scent is not analytical
(What is it?), but hedonic, whether we like the scent or not. Pleasantness,
familiarity, and intensity are the three factors most often evaluated when
examining odor hedonic perception. Pleasantness and familiarity are pos-
itively correlated in odor preference perception (Moskowitz, Dravnieks,
87
88 Rachel S. Herz

& Klarman, 1976). Familiar odors tend to be better liked than unfamiliar
odors, and pleasant odors are frequently perceived as familiar. Intensity
has a more complex relationship to odor liking and either shows an
inverted-U or linear function. For example, a lilac scent may be evalu-
ated as more positive with increasing intensity, up to a point; where the
function reverses, and as the scent becomes stronger, it is judged to be
more disagreeable. By contrast, a weak fishy odor may be acceptable; but
as intensity increases, its hedonic value becomes steadily more negative. It
is also the case that genetic individual differences in the number and type
of olfactory receptors expressed may influence one’s sensitivity to a par-
ticular odorant and hence the predisposition to experience specific odors
along a pleasantness continuum (Menashe, Man, Lancet, & Gilad, 2003).
A long-standing debate in olfactory perception is whether hedonic
responses to odors are innate or learned. The innate view of odor prefer-
ence claims that we are born with a predisposition to like or dislike vari-
ous smells; that rose is inherently a good smell and skunk is inherently a
bad smell. Though widely believed, this view has not been empirically val-
idated in humans and is largely due to extrapolations from taste percep-
tion, which is predominantly hardwired. A drop of quinine on a newborn’s
tongue will instantly elicit a grimace and a drop of sucrose will trigger a
smile. By contrast, the learned view states that we are born merely with
a predisposition to learn to like or dislike smells, and whether we have a
preference for a certain odor or not is due to our acquired emotional asso-
ciations to that scent (Engen, 1991; Herz, Beland, & Hellerstein, 2004).

Associative Learning and Odor Hedonic Perception

Associative learning is the basis of the learned view of odor hedonic per-
ception. Associative learning is the process by which one event or item
comes to be linked to another as a function of an individual’s past experi-
ences (Wasserman & Miller, 1997). Imagine there is a stimulus called “A.”
Your response to A is A+. Imagine there is another stimulus called “B.”
Your response to B, however, is nothing. Next A and B are paired together
and the following occurs. When you are presented with A again your
response to it is still A+. However, when you are presented with B again,
your response to it is now A+ as well. That is, through association, B, which
was formerly meaningless, has taken on the properties of A. Associative
learning is responsible for a large part of human cognition and behavior
and is also the basis of classical conditioning.1
 The Emotional, Cognitive, and Biological Basics of Olfaction 89

The associative learning theory of odor hedonic perception states that

an odor is the meaningless B stimulus and an emotion is the A stimulus.
Therefore, as a function of associative learning, an odor can: (a) elicit an
emotional state connected with prior exposure and have a general impact
on mood, and (b) attach to the odor itself and imbue it with hedonic mean-
ing (through the emotional response evoked by the odor), thus determin-
ing odor hedonic perception.
Developmental and cross-cultural research provides strong evidence
that associative learning with emotion as the mediating variable governs
odor hedonic perception. Mennella and Beauchamp (1991) found that
infants of mothers who consumed distinctive smelling volatiles (e.g., gar-
lic, alcohol, cigarette smoke) during pregnancy or lactation showed pref-
erences for these smells compared to infants who had not been exposed
to these scents. It has further been shown that early learned odor prefer-
ences influence food and flavor preferences in later childhood (Mennella
& Garcia, 2000) and adulthood (Haller, Rummel, Henneberg, Pollmer, &
Koster, 1999).2 In a study of infant formula acceptance, it was found that
if neonates were exposed to an “offensive” formula flavor, they not only
accepted this flavor in later childhood, but showed preferences for it com-
pared to the standard more “pleasant” formula (Mennella & Beauchamp,
2002). Similarly, infants who had been fed a vanilla-flavored formula pre-
ferred vanilla-adulterated ketchup to traditional ketchup when tested as
adults more than 20 years later (Haller et al., 1999).
Feeding, in addition to providing nutrition, is an opportunity for close
physical contact and emotional bonding. Thus feeding is a perfect situa-
tion for emotional associations to odors to develop. Association through
affectionate cuddling also induces preferences for specific (yet arbi-
trary) scents, such as cherry oil or mother’s perfume (Lott, Sullivan, &
McPherson, 1989).
In contrast, when there has been no prior learning, the responses of
young children to unfamiliar odors either do not adhere to adult norms,
for instance liking the odors of sweat and feces (Stein, Ottenberg, & Roulet,
1958), or are nondiscriminative, for example showing the same response
to butyric acid (found in rancid foods) and to amyl acetate (banana-like
scent) (Engen, 1988). Only one published study has reported that young
children (3-year-olds) had adultlike responses to certain odors (Schmidt &
Beauchamp, 1988). However, this experiment has been criticized on meth-
odological grounds (Engen & Engen, 1997). In sum, the developmental lit-
erature demonstrates both the lack of a priori hedonic responses to odors,
as well as the readiness of the olfactory system to learn the significance of
90 Rachel S. Herz

odors or flavors based on associative learning and the emotional valence

of the associated experience.
Cross-cultural data provide further evidence that associative learn-
ing, rather than hardwired responses, dictates olfactory preferences. No
empirical data have shown cross-cultural consensus in odor evaluations
for either common “everyday” odors (Schleidt, Hold, & Attila, 1981) or
even “offensive” scents. Indeed, in a study undertaken by the U.S. mili-
tary to create a “stink bomb” it was impossible to find an odor (includ-
ing “U.S. army issue latrine” scent) that was unanimously considered
unpleasant across various ethnic groups (Dilks, Dalton, & Beauchamp,
1999). The following example illustrates how associated emotion is at the
root of these effects.
In the mid-1960s, in Britain, Moncrieff (1966) asked adult respon-
dents to provide hedonic ratings to a battery of common odors. A simi-
lar study was conducted in the United States in the late 1970s (Cain &
Johnson, 1978). Included in both studies was the odor methyl salicylate
(wintergreen). Notably, in the British study, wintergreen was given one
of the lowest pleasantness ratings, whereas, in the U.S. study it was given
the highest pleasantness rating. The reason for this difference can be
explained by history. In Britain, the smell of wintergreen is associated
with medicine and, particularly for the participants in the 1966 study,
with analgesics that were popular during World War II, a time that these
individuals would not remember fondly. Conversely, in the United States,
the smell of wintergreen is exclusively a candy mint smell and one that
has sweet and positive connotations. Thus, the key to olfactory associa-
tive learning is the experience that occurs when the odor is first perceived
and in particular the emotional connotation of that experience (Engen,
1982; Herz et al., 2004).

Odor, Emotion, and the Brain

Neuroanatomy explains the unique emotional and associative potency

of odor stimuli. Only two synapses separate the olfactory nerve from the
amygdala, a structure critical for the expression and experience of emo-
tion (Aggleton & Mishkin, 1986) and human emotional memory (Cahill,
Babinsky, Markowilsch, & McGaugh, 1995); and only three synapses sepa-
rate the olfactory nerve from the hippocampus, involved in the selection
and transmission of information in working memory, short-term and
long-term memory transfer, and in various declarative memory functions
 The Emotional, Cognitive, and Biological Basics of Olfaction 91

(Eichenbaum, 2001). Moreover, olfactory information is not mediated

through the thalamus (a principal integration locus for sensory information)
as all other sensory information is, but rather is directly and immediately
relayed to the amygdala-hippocampal complex. Classical conditioning of
specific cues to emotion is also mediated by the amygdala (LeDoux, 1998),
and the olfactory cortex and amygdala have been shown to play a major
role in stimulus reinforcement association learning (Rolls, 1999). None of
our other senses have this direct and intimate connection with the areas of
the brain that process emotion, associative learning, and memory.
In addition to the distinctive neuroanatomical connection between
olfaction and emotion, olfaction and emotion are deeply connected by
neuroevolution. The structures of the limbic system (e.g., the amygdala
and hippocampus) evolved out of tissue that was originally olfactory cor-
tex. That is, the emotional and associative learning substrates of the brain
grew out of tissue that was first dedicated to processing the sense of smell.
Something to ponder is whether or how we would experience emotion if
we did not have a sense of smell. Furthermore, the informational signifi-
cance of emotion and olfaction is functionally the same. The most imme-
diate responses we have to an odor are simple binary opposites: like or
dislike, approach or avoid. Emotions convey the same message: approach
what is good, joyful, loving; avoid what is bad, fearsome, or liable to cause
grief. Thus emotions and olfaction are functionally analogous. Both enable
the organism to react appropriately to its environment, maximizing its
chances for basic survival and reproductive success. It is my opinion that
the human emotional system may be a highly evolved, cognitive version
of the basic behavioral motivations instigated by the olfactory system in
animals (Herz, 2000, 2007).

Experimental Evidence for Odor-Associative

Learning in Preference Formation

Indirect evidence supporting the central role of emotion in odor-associa-

tive learning has been shown in several studies. For example, in an experi-
ment assessing autonomic emotional responses to odors it was found that
eugenol (“clove” odor used in dental cement) was rated as very unpleasant
and elicited autonomic reactions indicative of fear among patients who
were afraid of dental procedures. While, by contrast, participants who did
not have a history of negative dentistry experiences evaluated eugenol pos-
92 Rachel S. Herz

itively and showed neutral autonomic responses (Robin, Alaoui-Ismaili,

Dittmar, & Vernet-Mauri, 1998).
To more powerfully and directly assess the learned view of odor hedo-
nic perception, my laboratory recently conducted two experiments to test
whether odor hedonic responses could be changed by association with
specific emotional states (Herz et al., 2004). The experiments varied with
regard to whether a novel “target” odor was preexperimentally pleasant or
unpleasant and the emotion that was linked to it was negative or positive.
In each experiment, participants were randomly assigned to an experi-
mental group (odor + emotional association) or various control groups.
Evaluations of the target odor and several “anchor odors” that were not
explicitly part of the association procedures were made several times
throughout the study: at baseline prior to the manipulation; postmanipu-
lation; 24 hours after the manipulation; and 1 week from the first session.
The results from both experiments showed that evaluation of the
target odor by all participants was comparable at the baseline ratings
prior to the manipulations. However, in each experiment, postemotional
manipulation ratings to the target odor were significantly altered in the
experimental group and showed that odor perception had changed in
accord with the emotional valence of the associated experience. When
a “pleasant” target odor was paired with a negative emotional experi-
ence, subsequent evaluations of that odor were more negative, and when
an “unpleasant” target odor was paired with a positive emotional expe-
rience, subsequent evaluations of that odor were more favorable. No
effects were seen in the control groups, and no change in ratings to the
anchor odors was observed. Importantly, changes in odor preferences in
the experimental group remained throughout the week of testing. This
implies that simple manipulations can produce changes in odor prefer-
ence perception that are highly enduring. When a novel odor is paired
with an emotional event, hedonic perception of that odor is altered in
accord with the associated emotion. Odor novelty is important in these
manipulations, because if the odor were familiar it would by necessity
already have acquired associative meaning, and due to the strong proac-
tive interference effects known in olfaction (Lawless & Engen, 1977), it
would be difficult (especially in a laboratory context) to reassociate it to
a new experience. Although our study could not rule out the possibility
of innate responding to odors, when joined with past empirical work
and developmental and cross-cultural data it appears that emotion in
conjunction with odor exposure is a powerful manipulator of odor pref-
erence formation.
 The Emotional, Cognitive, and Biological Basics of Olfaction 93

The Connection Between Odor Perception, Mood, and Behavior

Following from the establishment of odor hedonic responses are the down-
stream consequences of how these responses influence mood. Several
studies have found that pleasant fragrances (e.g., baby powder, perfume)
used in both laboratory and “real life” settings improved mood and even
alleviated some of the symptoms associated with unpleasant physical con-
ditions (Schiffman, Sattely-Miller, Suggs, & Graham, 1995; Villemure,
Slotnick, & Bushnell, 2003). In contrast, participants exposed to unpleas-
ant odors, such as dimethyl disulfide (cabbagelike smell), report being in a
less pleasant mood (Knasko, 1992).
Tracking the sequence of action from perception to mood is the well-
observed finding that mood affects cognition. For example, mood has been
shown to influence creativity with the typical finding that individuals in a
positive mood exhibit higher levels of creativity than individuals in a neg-
ative mood (Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987). Similar cognitive effects
are seen when ambient odor environments are manipulated. Ehrlichman
and Bastone (1992) demonstrated that the presence of a pleasant ambient
odor (muguet or almond) improved creative problem solving relative to
an unpleasant odor condition (thiophene or butyric acid). Similarly, pleas-
ant ambient odors were found to enhance vigilance during a tedious task
(Warm, Dember, & Parasuraman, 1991) and improve performance on
anagram and word completion tests (Baron & Bronfen, 1994).
From the effects of mood on cognition are the ways in which mental
states are translated into observable behaviors. A large body of psycho-
logical literature indicates that mood influences behavior. In general, posi-
tive mood is linked to an increase in productivity and the tendency to
help others (Clark, 1991; Isen, 1984; Wright & Staw, 1999), while nega-
tive mood reduces pro-social behavior (Underwood, Froming, & Moore,
1997). Notably, pro-social behavior and productivity are also enhanced
in the presence of positive ambient odors. For example, people exposed
to pleasant ambient odors in a shopping mall (baking cookies, roasting
coffee) were more inclined to help a stranger than people not exposed to
an odor manipulation (Baron, 1997). Baron (1990) also found that par-
ticipants who worked in the presence of a pleasant ambient odor (air
freshener) reported higher self-efficacy, set higher goals, and were more
likely to employ efficient work strategies than participants who worked in
a no-odor condition. Conversely, Rotton (1983) found that the presence of
a malodor (ethyl mercaptan) reduced participants’ subjective judgments
94 Rachel S. Herz

and lowered their tolerance for frustration. Participants in these studies

also reported concordant mood changes.
The cognitive and behavioral effects reported in the presence of ambi-
ent odors are proposed to be due to the individual’s past history with the
odors in question and can be explained by associative learning mecha-
nisms. Specifically, through prior associative pairing with emotional
events, odors become conditioned stimuli for the emotional events and
consequently exert the same type of cognitive influences and behavioral
outcomes that the emotional events themselves would produce.

Experimental Evidence for Emotional Odor-Associative

Learning Effects on Behavior

In an early study that suggested how emotional odor-associated learning

could produce mood consistent outcomes, it was observed that female
participants who were exposed to low levels of a novel odor while they
worked on a stressful task later reported feeling anxious when exposed to
the same odor in a nonstressful setting (Kirk-Smith, Van Toller, & Dodd,
1983). Based on this finding, my laboratory has tested the idea that odors
can become associated to emotions and then act as conditioned stimuli
for the emotions themselves, consequently altering behavior in accord
with the conditioned (associated) emotion (Epple & Herz, 1999; Herz,
Schankler, & Beland, 2004).
In our first study (Epple & Herz, 1999) we asked 5-year-olds to complete
an “impossible maze” while they were in a room scented with an unfamil-
iar smell. The maze involved trying to move a toy troll around concentric
rings with the goal of getting to the center of the maze without crossing
a line. However, the maze was designed such that this was impossible to
do. The children worked on the maze for 5 minutes and from videotaping
their facial expressions and remarks it was evident that they became very
frustrated by the impossibility of this task. The children were then given a
break in an unscented area and 20 minutes later were brought to a differ-
ent room and given a new task to perform.
The new task involved finding and circling drawings of “puppies miss-
ing their tails” from a sheet containing 120 animal illustrations.3 The key
manipulation was that the room they did this test in was either scented with
the same smell as the room where they had done the maze task, scented
with a different scent, or not scented at all. We found that children who
did the worksheet test in a room scented with the same smell as the maze
 The Emotional, Cognitive, and Biological Basics of Olfaction 95

circled far fewer puppies correctly than children in any other setting. We
changed the odors around and got the same results. No matter what the
ambient aroma was, if it was the same one that had been present during
the impossible maze the children did not do well. In other words, the odor
that was present during the maze task had become linked to the feeling of
frustration, such that later exposure to that scent elicited frustration and
consequently the children behaved in an unmotivated manner and did not
perform well. In addition to the odor-associative effects observed in this
study, this finding has important implications for school environments
and underscores how children’s ability and performance may not be the
same, the latter being strongly influenced by motivational state.
We repeated a version of this experiment with college students and
obtained the same results (Herz et al., 2004). For the college students,
their frustrating emotional experience was to play a computer game that
was rigged to be very annoying and make them “lose” in the end. They
played the computer game in a room that was scented with an unfamiliar
odor. Then, after a short break, the students entered another room that
was either scented with the same smell as the annoying computer game
room, a different smell, or unscented and here they had to work on a series
of difficult word puzzles. An example problem was “log rail” change the
order of the letters to make one word.4 As a measure of odor-emotional
conditioning, we recorded how long the students persisted at solving the
word puzzles before giving up.
We found that students who did the word puzzles in a room that was
scented with the same odor as the computer game gave up more quickly
than the students who did the word puzzles in the presence of a different
odor or no odor. More specifically, they spent significantly less time on
the problems that they ended up skipping and leaving blank than par-
ticipants in the other groups. That is, when confronted with particularly
challenging word problems, the behavior of participants exposed to the
computer game exemplified a lack of motivation. To make sure that the
effects were due to the elicitation of frustration by the ambient odor and
not a nonassociative effect, such as boredom, we tested another group of
students who experienced the same odor present during a neutral waiting
room initial experience and then again at the test task. These data showed
that the group who had prior exposure to the odor under neutral mood
conditions spent the same amount of time trying to solve the problems as
participants in the no-odor or different odor conditions. Only the group
who had the same odor present both times, where it had first been associ-
96 Rachel S. Herz

ated to the frustrating computer game, showed lower persistence on the

problems they ended up leaving blank.
These experiments indicate that after an odor has become associated
to an emotional experience, that odor is able to elicit the associated emo-
tions when later encountered, which can alter thoughts and behavior
accordingly. Our experiments involved negative emotional manipulations
because we were unable to produce sufficiently motivating positive cir-
cumstances in the laboratory. People are generally in relatively positive
mood states, and to make them especially happy is much more difficult
than to make them annoyed. Nevertheless, the theoretical mechanisms
underlying the effects of odor-emotional conditioning should exist for
positive manipulations just as much as for negative ones.

Odor Associations, Memory, and the Brain

Odors elicit liking, mood, and behavioral responses as a function of the

emotional associations that have been made to them. Most of the time
these associations are generalized and cannot be precisely linked to one
past episodic event. However, there are occasions where both liking and
memory events are precisely linked to an odor; a woman once told me
that she hated the scent of roses because the first time she ever smelled a
rose was at her mother’s funeral. Thus, the scent of rose for this woman
was both highly disliked and a specific recollection of a very upsetting
past event.
There have been many anecdotal and literary accounts of the special
resonance of odor-evoked memories. The most famous example is the
one described by Marcel Proust at the start of his seven-volume opus
on memory (The Remembrance of Things Past) where he recounts the
experience of dipping a madelèine biscuit into linden tea and the trig-
gering of a long-forgotten recollection that ensued from the aroma.
From the fame of this description, the common term for these special
smell-evoked memories has become known as the “Proust phenom-
enon.” Proustian memories are characterized as emotionally rich, vivid,
and sudden autobiographical recollections that are triggered by a scent.
Stemming from this conception, odors have also earned the reputation
of being the “best” cues to memory. But what “best memory cues” refers
to is not clear. My laboratory has spent nearly two decades elucidating
this claim.
 The Emotional, Cognitive, and Biological Basics of Olfaction 97

The most comprehensive method for assessing the special character-

istics of odor-evoked memories is with a cross-modal approach, where
memories elicited by stimuli presented in various sensory modalities are
compared. For example, a series of familiar source objects (cues) are pre-
sented to participants in either olfactory, verbal, visual, or tactile form
(e.g., the smell of popcorn, the word “popcorn,” seeing popcorn, or feeling
popcorn) while participants’ view emotionally evocative pictures. In these
experiments, participants are told that we are interested in the effects of
different environmental cues on the perception of pictures. No mention of
memory or memory testing is ever made. Two days later, however, when
participants return to the lab, they are given a surprise cued recall test
for their picture experiences, and the accuracy and emotionality of their
memories are assessed.
In every experiment, we find that memories of the pictures evoked by
the various cue types do not differ in accuracy (the ability to correctly
recall which picture went with which cue or the details of the picture).
However, memories recalled to odors are always experienced as signifi-
cantly more emotional than memories triggered by any other sensory
cue. Across a range of cross-modal experiments designed to elicit both
experimentally constrained and personal autobiographical memories, we
found that memories associated to odors are distinguished by their emo-
tional potency and are also more evocative; people feel more brought back
to the original time and place, compared to memories associated to cues
perceived through other modalities (visual, tactile, verbal, music) (Herz,
1998, 2004; Herz & Cupchik, 1995; Herz, Eliassen, Beland, & Souza, 2003;
Herz & Schooler, 2002). Others have recently replicated these findings
(e.g., Willander & Larsson, 2007).
We have furthered these results using functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) and compared regions of activation during recall trig-
gered by olfactory and visual versions of cues that were connected to a
personally meaningful memory (elicited by a personally selected perfume
for each individual) or a comparable control cue (an unmarketed perfume
that was the same for all participants) (Herz et al., 2003). In this study,
fMRI analyses revealed significantly greater activation in the amygdala
during recall to the odor of the personally significant perfume than to any
other cue, and self-report responses confirmed that emotional responses
were greatest to the personally meaningful odor cue. These findings are
the first neurobiological evidence that the subjective experience of the
emotional potency of odor-evoked memory is specifically correlated with
heightened activation in the amygdala during recall.
98 Rachel S. Herz

Mediating Factors: Context, Expectation, and Visual-Verbal Priming

Several factors mediate odor-associative learning and the subsequent

memories, moods, and behaviors that are elicited. Context, expectation,
and visual-verbal schemas are the most powerful influences. A context
is a state or situation (mental or physical) or environment that induces a
set of preconceptions and expectations and has been shown to be a very
powerful mediator of odor hedonic perception. Visual scenes and physi-
cal context prime expectations for odors, and the effects have been clearly
demonstrated in experiments involving color and odors or flavors. Zellner,
Bartoli, and Eckard (1991) found that flavored water was evaluated differ-
ently depending on the color of the solution. For example, when a lemon-
flavored solution was colored yellow, it received much higher liking scores
than when that exact same solution was colored red. More embarrassingly,
a French panel of trained enologists gave specific red wine descriptions to
a white wine that had been adulterated with red food coloring (Morrot,
Brochet, & Dubourdieu, 2001). This phenomenon is also well known in
the nonalcoholic beverage industry. When the occasional mistake occurs
and the purple colored “grape” drink is accidentally flavored with cherry,
there are almost never any complaints.
My laboratory has further found that verbal expectation effects are so
great that they can cause olfactory illusions (Herz & von Clef, 2001). Using
the definition that an illusion is created when a physical stimulus remains
invariant but its context alters perception, we investigated whether ver-
bal context could produce olfactory illusions. We examined five ambigu-
ous odors:5 violet leaf, patchouli, pine oil, menthol, and a 1:1 mixture of
isovaleric + butyric acid. Participants sniffed each odor at two sessions
separated by 1 week. At each session an odor was given a different verbal
label, either positive or negative (for example, isovaleric + butyric acid was
alternately called “vomit” or “parmesan cheese,” and pine oil was called
“disinfectant” or “Christmas tree”). Participants then gave ratings to the
odors on several hedonic scales and provided motivational and interpreta-
tive responses to them.
Results showed that the label provided could significantly influence the
hedonic perception of all the odors. When the label was positive, each odor
was evaluated as more pleasant and familiar than when that same odor
was given a negative label. Moreover, motivational responses were entirely
different as a function of label. For example, when isovaleric + butyric acid
was called “parmesan cheese,” it inspired participants to say they would
 The Emotional, Cognitive, and Biological Basics of Olfaction 99

like to eat it, while when it was given the negative label (“vomit”), it pro-
voked the wish to escape from it. The effect was so strong for certain odors
that participants would not believe that the same odor had been presented
to them at both sessions. Thus, the connotation of words can have a tre-
mendous impact on how an odor will be liked, independent of how it was
originally learned, which has obvious implications for scent marketing.
Visual and verbal contexts are more influential in olfactory perception
than any other sensory modality because odors are so devoid of informa-
tion in themselves. Moreover, in contrast to other sensory stimuli, odors
are invisible and they cannot be precisely localized in physical space, thus
the drive to seek meaning from external context is especially high (Engen,
1982; Herz, 2003). The shrewd sensory marketer could use these factors to
elicit maximum impact in product labeling and branding.

Considerations for Scent Marketing

From the present review it would seem that there are numerous straight-
forward implications and applications of odor-emotional manipulations
that can be used in scent marketing. Emotional associations to odors
should be able to influence the perception of product value, moods elic-
ited by the product, and purchase behavior. However, there are several
cognitive, physiological, and logistical aspects of olfaction that need to be
taken into account before any implementation of scent marketing meth-
ods should be carried out.

Congruence

With respect to the psychological impact of the odor itself, the most impor-
tant issue is not actually odor liking (hedonics), but rather the degree to
which the odor is perceived to be thematically congruent and embellishing
of the retail product or the retail environment. It has long been established
that humans are positively predisposed to congruency and react negatively
when expectations are violated (Mandler, 1982). This has been directly
shown with odor and flavor experiences. As mentioned earlier, Zellner et
al. (1991) found that when flavors did not match the expected sensation
based on color (e.g., yellow liquid tasted like grape), liking ratings were
much lower than if the sensation matched the color expectation (yellow
liquid tasted like lemon). In the domain of scent marketing several studies
100 Rachel S. Herz

have also shown that when a pleasant scent did not match expectations
based on product theme, lower responses to merchandise were obtained
than when no scent was used at all (Mattila & Wirtz, 2001). This indicates
that there is a real cost to using the wrong scent, which is independent of
simple odor hedonics. Conversely, when the “correct” scent was used in
a specific retail environment, purchase behavior and sales were found to
increase (Spangenberg, Sprott, Grohmann, & Tracy, 2006).
The correct thematically congruent scent is not always obvious and
indeed can be quite difficult to ascertain. For retailers with scent-literal
products (e.g., a coffee shop) the choice of a thematically congruent scent
is easy (coffee), and many coffee shop chains use artificial air-diffused
coffee scents. However, the majority of retailers sell products that do not
have an obviously translatable scent. What is the correct scent of a ski
store? An electronics store? A clothing store? The choice of the “right”
scent is further complicated by store logistics, such as indoor or contained
air flow, size and space, proximity to other scented areas, whether more
than one type of merchandise is sold, and varied customer demographics,
including age, culture, education, socioeconomic status, and gender. For
any success in using scent marketing, retailers need to actually test what
responses their customers, from a range of backgrounds or at least their
preferred target demographic, have to various scent-product matches and
also must be mindful of and address several physical and environment
olfactory issues.

The Physical Behavior of Odors

Olfaction is our slowest sense. The lag time between sniffing and the
brain’s registering a smell varies, averaging approximately 400 millisec-
onds (almost half a second). By contrast, it takes 45 milliseconds for the
visual cortex to register an image presented to the retina. This half-sec-
ond duration for odor registration does not take into account the time
required to react to a scent, which effectively doubles the perceptual time,
making olfaction an especially slow sense. In addition to being slow to
detect, odors are slow to leave. Odors linger for varying lengths of time
depending on ambient air flow and temperature. Odors are also sticky
(hydrophobic molecules). The walls of a store will become impregnated
with whatever scent is being piped in, and the only way to get rid of it will
be to paint the store; the same principle applies to the store furniture, not
to mention the merchandise.
 The Emotional, Cognitive, and Biological Basics of Olfaction 101

Olfaction is also a synthetic sense; when you mix two odors together the
resulting whole is not the same as the sum of the parts. The mixture of choc-
olate and licorice does not smell like “chocolatey licorice,” it would smell like
something new; and that “something new” is unpredictable. Indeed the fact
that it is impossible to predict the perceptual experience of a scent based on
its chemical composition is a major barrier to technological advancements
in the fragrance industry (Turin, 2006). Another concern relates to overo-
dorizing and odor intensity. As previously mentioned, the stronger the scent,
the more unpleasant it becomes. Stores, such as Abercrombie and Fitch, that
overwhelm the senses of their customers have very limited viability beyond
the sensation-seeking teenage demographic. Further, exposure to an odor,
regardless of intensity, produces the physiological fact of adaption.
Odor adaptation can be likened to too much of a good thing. For exam-
ple, you walk into your favorite delicatessen and smell the smoked meat, the
pickles, and all the condiments, and your mouth begins to water. To your
dismay, however, you discover that once your sandwich finally arrives, you
can barely smell the heaping hot corned beef slathered in mustard on the
plate in front of you. This phenomenon is due to receptor adaptation.
The precise length of time for receptor adaptation to occur varies as a
function of both the individual (Dalton, Doolittle, & Breslin, 2002) and
the odor (Pierce, Wysocki, Aronow, Webb, & Boden, 1996). On average
it takes about 15 to 20 minutes of continuous exposure to an odor for
the molecules to stop eliciting an olfactory response, but adaptation can
also occur in less than a minute. Fortunately, receptor adaptation can be
undone relatively quickly. Adaptation occurs when odor molecules bind
to their corresponding receptors. The receptors are then internalized
into their cell bodies and are no longer physically available to respond
to an aroma (Firestein, 2001). Inside the cell body the receptors become
unbound from the odor and are then recycled through the cell and emerge
again. Stepping outside the deli for a few minutes gives unbound olfactory
receptors a chance to accumulate on the cell surface, so that when you
walk back in you can enjoy the appetizing scents once more.
One way to prolong the effect of smelling a scent before adaptation
kicks in is to dispense an odor intermittently rather than continuously.
The magnitude of adaptation is also affected by odor intensity (Kadohisa
& Wilson, 2006). The higher the intensity, the longer it takes us to adapt.
For example, it will take longer to adapt in an Abercrombie and Fitch store
than in a Sony Style store.
It is also the case that exposure to one odor can raise the odor detection
threshold for a second, completely different odor. You have probably noted
102 Rachel S. Herz

that when sniffing perfumes in a department store you become fairly use-
less at differentiating them after several samples. This phenomenon is
due to cross-adaptation, and it is presumed to occur when the odors in
question rely on similar sets of olfactory receptors. However, this simple
explanation is complicated by the fact that most cross-adaptation relation-
ships are nonreciprocal. For example, smelling pentanol (a chemical used
in some paints) has a strong cross-adapting effect on subsequently smell-
ing propanol (used as an antiseptic and solvent), whereas smelling propa-
nol first has only a small cross-adapting effect on then smelling pentanol
(Cain & Engen, 1969). Furthermore, exposure to the first odor can some-
times enhance sensitivity to the second odor.
Adaptation and cross-adaption have clear consequences for scent mar-
keting. First, if a customer lingers in your store for more than 15 minutes,
any intended effects of the ambient scent will disappear. When one can-
not perceive an odor, it will not have any psychological effect. There is no
subliminal odor perception. Unlike in vision, where a millisecond flash of
a Camel cigarette package can cause “unexplained” interest in smoking
Camel’s cigarettes, when an odor is below the level of perceptual detec-
tion it cannot have any behavioral or psychological consequences. Fear
of unknown odor manipulations is therefore groundless. Note, however,
that this is different from the case where a customer is unaware that the
presence of a detectable odor has increased his or her impression that the
store’s clothing is of particularly high quality. When odors are above their
detection threshold, one often has to attend to them in order to “smell”
them. Lack of attention to odors actually decreases odor detection ability
(Plailly, Howard, Gitelman, & Gottfried, 2008; Zelano et al., 2005).

Summary

Substantial evidence indicates that through association with emotional

experiences the hedonic perception of odors can be formed and changed.
Odors also elicit more emotional and evocative memories than any other
sensory cues, and through association with emotional experiences odors
can trigger specific emotions that have a direct impact on mood and
behavior. Further, there is a privileged and unique connection between
the neural substrates of emotion and the sense of smell. I have developed
a model to illustrate these relationships and their effects (Figure€ 7.1).
Emotion and a novel odor are experienced together; through amygdala-
hippocampal mediation the odor becomes associated to the emotion,
 The Emotional, Cognitive, and Biological Basics of Olfaction 103

Associative
Learning

ODOR EMOTION

Amygdala-Hippocampal
Activation

PERCEPTION
and MOOD
MEMORIES

BEHAVIOR

Figure 7.1â•… Emotion and a novel odor are experienced together. Through
amygdala-hippocampal mediation the odor becomes associated to the emotion
which produces the hedonic responses and memories that are elicited by the odor.
As a function of the acquired hedonic valence and emotional associations, subse-
quent exposure to that odor impacts mood and concordantly influences behavior.

which produces the hedonic responses and memories that are elicited by
the odor; as a function of the acquired hedonic valence and emotional
associations, subsequent exposure to that odor impacts mood and con-
cordantly influences behavior.
An ambient fragrance that is emotionally and thematically associated
to a product should be able to alter perception, cognition, and behavior
with positive consequences for revenue. However, caveat venditor, there
are many practical, physiological, and psychological factors that need to
be considered.
104 Rachel S. Herz

Notes
1. Pavlov’s dogs inherently salivated to meat, but a bell meant nothing to them.
After a bell had been paired with the presentation of meat several times, the
bell alone was sufficient to make the dogs salivate.
2. Flavor is primarily produced by odor; taste contributes only the sensations of
salt, sour, sweet, bitter, and savory (umami).
3. There were 20 puppies missing tails, and 20 puppies with tails.
4. Answer is gorilla.
5. Ambiguous odors are those with minimally fixed sources and thus can be
interpreted with various hedonic connotations.

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8
Do Scents Evoke the Same
Feelings Across Cultures?
Exploring the Role of Emotions
May O. Lwin and Mindawati Wijaya

Introduction

Scent has been a part of human civilization since the beginning of time.
Throughout history, the possession of scent, in the forms of perfumes and
incense, had been the mark of distinction, wealth, and affluence. Among
the royal gifts in Ancient Egypt were incense and perfumes, the wealthy
Romans were famous for perfumed bathwater, the Chinese had their
scented joss sticks and red paper, while the Indians prized their sandal-
wood incense and jasmine flowers. In the religious circles, scented oils
of varying origins are used during rites and for anointing the faithful.
As time passed, the methods of dispensing scents have also been refined,
and scents of every possible combination have been captured, bottled, and
used at various occasions by different cultures.

Culture and Perception

Culture influences individuals in many ways, shaping thoughts, values,

and even behaviors, often without conscious realization. The importance
and uniqueness of culture, which varies from society to society, is captured
in its definition as described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific,
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2002): “the set of distinctive spiri-
tual, material, intellectual, and emotional features of society or a social
group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles,
ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs.”
109
110 May O. Lwin and Mindawati Wijaya

According to Hall’s (1976) culture-context theory, people in different

cultures communicate differently, and as a result, see the world differently.
For instance, people from the United States are detailed oriented, meaning
they need detailed background information when they interact with oth-
ers, and they look for explicit messages because they value logic and direct-
ness (Hall & Hall, 1990). Among Asians, on the other hand, information
is transmitted either in the physical context or through implicit means of
which very little is imparted explicitly in the message (Hall, 1976). Hall
further argues that the whole communication process was affected by the
nature of “context,” which helped explain the difference in meanings and
perceptions from culture to culture.
Cultures not only function as a set of norms and a way of life but also help
us make sense of everything that our five senses can recognize—through
sight, touch, hear, taste, and smell—by giving meaning to them. In visual
communication, for example, culture is an important determinant of how
people comprehend and decipher messages. Several past studies have dem-
onstrated that to understand a visual message in an advertisement, the audi-
ence must first deconstruct the signs and symbols embedded in the message
based on their cultural knowledge (Barthes, 1972; Hall, 1976; Fiske, 1989;
Frith & Tsao, 1998). For instance, Hedberg and Brown (2002) showed that in
a classroom setting with students from different cultures, educators needed
to develop Web site interfaces that matched with the students’ cultures in
order to maximize their learning process.
Smell, however, is unique because olfactory responses are generally auto-
nomic, meaning that it influences humans physiologically before actually
influencing cognition. In general, little, if any, cognitive effort is required to
experience scents (Ehrlichman & Bastone, 1992), and scents result in emotion-
ally laden memory associations when recalled. Although research in olfaction
has emerged extensively in areas like services and retailing (e.g., Chebat &
Michon, 2003), few researchers have looked at how cultures shape perceptions
through scents. We therefore address this gap in this chapter by exploring how
people from different cultures associate scents with emotions and meanings.

Literature Review

The Emotional Role of Olfaction

Humans are exposed to many kinds of scents every day from which indi-
vidual human responses are formed. Consumers prefer certain perfumes,
 Do Scents Evoke the Same Feelings Across Cultures? 111

room fragrances for the home, or choose to patronize certain service out-
lets because of the preferred ambient scent. Many of our olfactory prefer-
ences are based purely on emotional associations (Fox, 2008). Meaning,
how humans feel about a particular scent, depends on how they relate the
scent with certain emotions. This primarily has to do with the scent link-
ages within the limbic system of the brain. When coming into contact
with smells, these scents act as inducing agents that stimulate these con-
nections. The limbic system has a role in processing and expressing emo-
tions. Of all the five senses, scent is most closely linked to emotion rather
than “facts” (Herz & Cupchik, 1992).
Scents have personal meaning and a very high propensity to be asso-
ciated with events, surroundings, experiences, objects, and even people
(Kirk-Smith & Booth, 1987). Pleasant scents are associated with those that
are able to elicit some positive emotions, such as being happy or feeling
loved, while unpleasant scents are those which evoke negative emotions,
such as being sad or feeling lonely, and this association serves as a require-
ment for an odor to attract us or warn us (Hummel & Nordin, 2005).
Humans are partial to the smell of good food because it provides the cue
that the food is delicious. People can receive a feeling of satisfaction just
by smelling, and some fragrances are even effective in reducing stress and
creating positive moods for those who smell it (Ehrlichman & Bastone,
1992; Parasuraman, 1984; Warrenburg, 2005). On the other hand, we tend
to avoid garbage smell because of its negative associations. The stronger
the emotional experience when smelling a scent, the greater the potential
for the scent in eliciting associations with things (Herz, 1997).

Culture and Scents

Culture also influences our perceptions of scents. Researchers have found

that babies learn about smells early but are indifferent to scents until they
are about 8 years old. For example, infants like the smell of feces and are
equally indifferent to what adults consider to be positive or negative scents
(Herz, 2007). There is much evidence for what has been termed odor-asso-
ciative learning whereby how one feels when first encountering the scent
determines one’s perception of the scent. Hence, it is the cultural differ-
ences in experiences that establish how a particular individual responds to
an array of olfactory stimuli.
In many cultures scents are clearly defined as having certain qualities,
be they desirable or undesirable. This influences the aesthetic experiences
112 May O. Lwin and Mindawati Wijaya

related to the scent. For example, the Dassantch of Ethiopia find the odor
of cattle (which connotes fertility and social status) attractive and hence
wash their hands with cow urine and smear their bodies with manure
(Classen, Howes, & Synnott, 1997). For the Chinese, certain scents have
corresponding meanings in a comprehensive system of interrelated sen-
sory codes. For example, the burnt smell is related to the element fire, as
well as the bitter taste, the color red, and so on. Other cultures, such as
the Suya Indians of Brazil and the Serer Ndut of Senegal even have their
own scent classifications that enable them to distinguish different scents
and give meaning to each of them. For example, in Suya Indians’ culture,
a bland smell was associated with adult men, small mammals, and birds,
while a strong smell was associated with adult women, children, and car-
nivorous mammals and birds (Seeger, 1981). The Serer Ndut perceived
ducks, camels, and pigs as rotten, while donkeys as acidic (Dupire, 1987).

Research Question: Cross-Cultural Responses

to Contexts in Sensory Perception

Interestingly, there are certainly many areas whereby various cultures have
overlapped the meanings they imbue to certain scents. The concept and the
use of scent can be viewed as both universally similar or indigenous and
dissimilar. For example, the smell of Mom’s home-cooked meal is usually
universally viewed as being inviting. However, when it comes to a more
specific detail of the meal itself, individual associations of the scent come
into play and differ from culture to culture. For example, the smell of salted
fish may represent a delicious home-cooked meal for some, while for others
it can be unappetizing, depending on associations in that particular cul-
ture. This reiterates how emotions influence the meaning given to scents, as
the strength of scent associations is related with the emotional experience
(Herz, 1997). Furthermore, if scent is indeed influenced by emotional expe-
rience, different emotive contexts may therefore elicit different responses.
Would the emotiveness of context influence how culture shapes scent
associations? That is, when scent associations are formed within a cultural
context, whether those experiences were in the context of strong emo-
tion may create differences in how scent associations occur. We sought to
explore scent-attribute association among different cultures and to exam-
ine the universality of scent preferences in different contexts. With this
study, we attempted to answer this specific research question: Does the
emotiveness of contexts play a role in the cultural association of scents?
 Do Scents Evoke the Same Feelings Across Cultures? 113

Method

We conducted eight focus groups, involving 8 to 10 respondents from

eight different cultural backgrounds, which were grouped into four sub-
groups (Indian subcontinent, Chinese, European, and American). These
four groupings were combined to form two main groups of Easterners and
Westerners, respectively. The participants were evenly split between males
and females and age grouped between 20 to 43 years old, with at least a
high school education.
During the focus group discussion, we asked participants to think of
situations in two types of experiences: one lower emotive and the other
high emotive. For the low-emotive context, we asked two questions that
we considered were set in neutral situations that did not evoke a high level
of emotions and had commonality across cultures. We felt that a “clean
place” was something everyone would have experienced but would be low
in emotional intensity. Hence our first set of questions revolved around
what was considered a clean or an unclean place. For high-emotive con-
text, we considered situations such as something that was emotive in
nature and commonly experienced across cultures. We felt that a joyful
celebration was something everyone would have experienced but would be
higher in emotional intensity. Hence our second set of questions revolved
around what was considered a happy or sad occasion.

Results

In analyzing the results, we were interested in scent associations and

the recall of experiences that were related to the scent. Findings will be
explained comprehensively in each context and then summarized in
Table€8.1.

Low-Emotive Context

What smells would you associate with a clean place?

All groups had a few participants who named citrus scents such as lime
being associated with a clean place/house. These participants noted smells
like “lime, lemon, grapefruit, orange” as denoting cleanliness. Some of
these scents were further associated with brands. A female German
participant commented “I know a place is clean when it has the freshly
 114
Table 8.1â•… Cultural Associations of Scents in Low and High Emotive Contexts
Chinese Singaporeans,
Chinese, Chinese
Context Germans/U.K./French U.S. Pakistanis and Indians Malaysians
Low emotive: lemon, mint, VIM, freshly pine, chlorides, detergents Citrus, airy, meadows and lemon, lime, lavender, floral,
Clean Place washed clean sheets, like TIDE and CHEER, mountains, lemon and DETTOL, TIDE, sunned,
mountain smell, Alps, fresh air, lemon, lime; orange; sunny citrus; mint, lime, woody,

May O. Lwin and Mindawati Wijaya

ventilated, freshly cooked strawberry, orange, grape smell, VIM, TIDE running water, Alpine
food, GLADE fruit, mountain breeze, detergent, paint, flowers mountains, air freshener,
ocean breeze fresh paint, fresh paint,
detergent, KIWI, GOOD
MAID, air fresheners
Low emotive: garbage, old food, musty, garbage, spoiled food, garbage, stale, spoilt food garbage, salted fish, smoke,
Not Clean Place stale air, dirty clothes sewage, stuffy, stale sour, burnt, still, dust,
rotten food, stuffy
High emotive: Christmas smell, forest, pie, ham, Christmas tree, curry, spices, sweet smell, fresh notes, Chinese
Happy/Celebratory candles, beer, wine, pine, cake, candles, cake, herbs, oil lamps, cookies, barbecue pork,
cookies, Christmas food, turkey, chocolate, eggnog, incense, whisky coconut oil, cake, fried
warm, homely, fireplace, snow, champagne chicken, oranges, money
sausages smell, liquor, carbonated
drinks, fireworks, herbs
High emotive: church smell, flowers, flowers, candle, earth burning, Bhopal leaves, joss stick, floral, ash,
Sad/Funereal stones incense incense, burnt paper,
porridge
Note: n = 76, 19, 18, 19, and 20.
 Do Scents Evoke the Same Feelings Across Cultures? 115

scrubbed lemon detergent smell, like Lemon Vim.” In another group, a

male Chinese Malaysian commented that it was the “lemon soap smell at
my mother’s sink” that he associated with cleanliness.
Again for every group, there was a strong cleanliness association with
“nature smells,” such as what an Indian male described as the “airy smell”
and an American male described as “fresh air.” The Europeans appeared to
share a similar association with air/wind, as a British female talked about
“clean rooms are well ventilated, or have windows where you can feel (and
smell) the breeze.” In particular, participants appeared to conceptualize
mountains like the Alps, what a Chinese Malaysian male described as “the
smell of the mountains in Sound of Music,” and an Indian female described
as “beautiful grassy meadows and high mountains.” The concept of nature
extended further for participants like a female Chinese Singaporean who
said “When you are in a clean place, you can smell natural things like
wood and fresh running streams.” Among Europeans and American par-
ticipants, this concept of air, altitude, and nature was also clearly visual-
ized as they relate cleanliness to “mountain breeze and ocean breeze.”
A number of participants in each group also had associations with
synthetic scents. For example, an American male and a few Chinese
Singaporeans and Chinese participants offered “detergents,” while another
American male associated “chlorides” as being associated with clean.
A Malaysian participant mentioned “fresh paint smell” in this regard.
Participants from all groups also recounted the scent brands that offered
cleaning products as Kiwi and Vim.
In particular, Chinese Malaysian and Chinese Singaporean partici-
pants put the smell of Dettol (an antiseptic typically used in high dosage
in hospitals) as being an ultimate reflector of cleanliness. As one Chinese
Singaporean female commented, “You know it is a clean place when you
can smell Dettol.” Similarly, there appeared to be universal agreement that
the smell of laundry detergent brands (such as Tide and Cheer) and house-
hold cleaning agents (such as Vim) stood for cleanliness. The final set of
clean product associations relates to air fresheners. Again all groups had
participants who presented the smell of air fresheners in a variety of scent
types as connoting a clean place.

What smells would you associate with an unclean place?

When participants were asked about the lack of cleanliness, there were a
large number of participants who mentioned “Garbage!” in unison. The
concept of smells emitting from undesirable items of discard was fore-
most in the minds of participants from every group. A Pakistani female
116 May O. Lwin and Mindawati Wijaya

likened “rubbish bins and anything that is thrown away in the rubbish”
as being unclean. There was also a unison agreement pertaining to smells
from spoiled foods. A Chinese Singaporean felt that “salted fish and
other old food stuff” smells did not seem clean, while an American male
recalled that “sometimes I forget to put my leftovers in the fridge and
the rotten food stinks up my whole kitchen the next day!” In addition,
it was the antithesis smells to what was earlier discussed as cleanliness
that appeared to contribute to unclean association, namely staleness of
air, stuffy rooms, and lack of air movement. Like most, a Dutch partici-
pant felt that something that smells like “musty mildewy room” must
lack cleanliness.

High-Emotive Context

What smells would you associate with a happy celebration?

When participants were asked about smells associated with celebrations,
food appeared to be a primary factor in the scent considerations. However,
the food smells evoked were highly culture specific. In the European group,
a female German participant thought about “Sausages and beer smells,”
while a British male remembered “Christmassy foods and the smells of
candles and fireplace.” The American group also had a number of partici-
pants who associated Christmas smells like pies and Christmas trees, but
many Americans also recalled Thanksgiving smells, “To me, a celebration
is when I smell the turkey in the oven!”
In the Chinese group “barbeque pork” (also known in variants like char
siew and bak qwa) ranked high on smells associated with celebrations,
while Indian/Pakistanis associated “the smells of sweets and spices and
curry.” Liquor smells also appeared to figure strongly in evoking the cel-
ebratory mood; these range from mentions of beer (Europeans) to cham-
pagne (Americans) to hard liquor smells (Asia).
In terms of the nonfood items, for every group, there was a strong festive
association with occasion-specific scents like “oil-lamp smell at Deepavali”
that an Indian male described. Similarly, the Chinese had occasion-related
smells, what many Chinese Malaysians and Chinese Singaporeans called
the “joyous smell of money” or “new notes,” referring to “ang-pows” or
notes stuffed in red packets that are exchanged at almost every celebration
and the Chinese New Year. Some Europeans appeared to have a similar
type of association with snow and mistletoe, as a British female talked about
“The smell of fresh cut mistletoes makes me think of Christmas parties.”
 Do Scents Evoke the Same Feelings Across Cultures? 117

What smells would you associate with a very sad place or occasion?
When this question was asked, most of the participants were reminded of
funerals and such occasions of farewell. For the Indian participants, burn-
ing smells were foremost in their mental imagery of a sad occasion. An
Indian female likened “the smell of burning wood and burning cloth and
burning flesh” to be the most painful and sad smell she could remember.
In this regard, many of the associations were related to funerals, and once
that smell was experienced in this highly emotionally charged context, it
seemed that the participants remembered it vividly. A Chinese Singaporean
female remembered that “My grandmother’s funeral, her body lay in my
house for the wake for three days, and the smell of the flowers from the
wreaths was strong. … I don’t know how to describe it but when I smell
that in a market or anywhere, I start tearing.” For the Asians, there was
a general consensus of the smells of burning, certain types of flowers and
culture-specific items like joss stick and Bhopal leaves as smells associated
with sadness.
For both Europeans and Americans, the smell experiences lie more in
church and cemetery environments. Churches were related to “church
smell” that evoked sad feelings. An American male recalled that “I said
goodbye to my friend at a soggy cemetery which smelled of the earth and
rain, and when it rains and I smell the earth I feel sad.” Many participants
agreed that if one attended a funeral of someone close in that church, the
smells experienced on that sad occasion remained a haunting reminder.

Discussion

Our objective was to explore how higher or lower contexts of emotion

relate with scent perceptions across cultures. The focus group discussions
yielded some interesting findings of how strong scent associations prevail
in different cultures. First, in line with past studies on olfaction, we found
that scents evoke a host of past experiences, regardless of the cultures.
There appeared to be greater descriptions from all participants with “posi-
tive” or “happy” contexts and lesser types of scents being evoked for the
negative situations.
Second, our focus group responses showed that for low emotive con-
text, scent linkages tend to be rather universal. When asked about scent
associations to a clean room, three similar items emerged: (a) citrus
smells, (b) detergent/synthetic air fresheners, and (c) mountain/nature
scents. Almost all groups connected the scent of a clean room with smells
118 May O. Lwin and Mindawati Wijaya

of nature, specifically lemon and lime, and synthetic smell from various
brands of cleaning products, antiseptics, or synthetic air freshener scents.
What was also striking was that almost all groups talked about nature
smells, like the smell of the Alps, the mountains, the rivers, even if they
had not themselves experienced smelling those in real life.
In Kaiser’s (2006) examination of the world geography in relation to
scents, most were classified as tropical, savanna, or desert, and only a
very small percentage of habitats were really considered “high mountain
area” and few habitats in the world would thus be exposed to such smells.
The fact that the city dwellers from Calcutta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur,
and Bangkok mentioned this universal ideal of the clean room implies
that perhaps advertising and media images have successfully influenced
scent associations internationally. When queried, we found that none of
the participants from Asia had visited the Alps or lived in a mountainous
place. Few had been to any mountain above 1,000 feet. This seems to imply
that the concepts of citrus scents or Alpine mountains being associated
with cleanliness were gained from exposures to mass media rather than
cultural experiences, which typically use these themes to market their
household products.
For the unclean house, garbage was mentioned unanimously in all
groups. Although many types of negative scents exist in different cultures
(for example, the smell of pork, which is disliked by Muslims; the smell of
tobacco, disliked by Singaporeans; the smell of rancid cheese, disliked by
the Chinese; the smell of durian, a spiky fruit native to Southeast Asia that
has a distinctive and very strong odor, which is disliked by Westerners),
the universal commonality of “garbage” or “rubbish” smells appears to be
evoked rather than these culture-specific smells. The finding again seems
to suggest that in low emotive context, people need not depend much on
their cultural knowledge to give meaning to the pleasant or unpleasant
scents, but rather through common meaning associated with the context.
Perhaps participants tend to agree with these universal associations of cer-
tain scents, or with what is being communicated in the media, because of
the less involved nature of the context.
On the other hand, our findings clearly showed that highly culture-
specific scent associations are evoked in high emotive contexts, empha-
sizing the importance of cultures in making sense of these scents. Our
participants were clearly brought back to the joyous or the sad experiences
they themselves experienced in the past together with friends and family.
Scents that are associated with happy occasions came mostly from memo-
ries of culturally bound celebrations, such as Christmas and Chinese New
 Do Scents Evoke the Same Feelings Across Cultures? 119

Year. This is in agreement with Roubin’s (2006) argument that fragrances

can take on the role of messenger to herald a festive time and communicate
the festiveness of the season. On the other hand, unhappy occasions are
associated with different rituals in funerals (i.e., flowers for Westerners,
joss stick and Bhopal leaves for Easterners), and these smells were strongly
evoked for our participants. Several studies have recognized that people
from different cultures do associate the smell of a sad occasion with funer-
als. For example, the Kuswar of Nepal believe that certain fragrant plants
can open up communication between the villagers and the world of the
deceased and the divinities (Roubin, 2006). Because the smell of these fra-
grant plants is ubiquitous during the funeral rites, unpleasant feelings are
evoked for the Kuswarese whenever the smell is present. The same cultural
associative explanation goes for the smell of porridge, which is typically
served at the Chinese funeral wakes. The smell of burnt paper may not be
meaningful to Westerners, but to Easterners, especially Chinese, the smell
can evoke a sad feeling when it is reminiscent of (a) the Hungry Ghost
Festival, where souls are believed to revisit the earth and (b) All Souls
Day, when the Chinese visit their ancestral grave sites. For the Indians, the
burning smells connote the sadness of funeral pyres. These are all highly
culture specific.
To conclude, our findings suggest that culture does play an important
role in shaping scent perception, especially in highly emotive contexts.
In the high-emotive contexts, people do associate their past experiences
strongly with the scents involved in them. In the low-emotive contexts,
the meanings of the scent are more universal and appear to be adopted not
just from experiences but from what has been communicated in the mass
media. We note that there is much to be explored in examining culture
and scent. Future research can examine when and how the acculturation
process actually takes place. According to Hirsch (2006), scent prefer-
ences shift from generation to generation even within the same culture.
For example, people born in the 1920s felt that the smell of flowers, grass,
and roses could evoke the feelings of nostalgia, while those born in 1960s
named baby powder, mother’s perfume, and window cleaner as evoking
similar emotions. However, there is a lack of longitudinal data that exam-
ine this phenomenon across cultures. Second, it will be useful to exam-
ine whether scent associations are additive as people get exposed to other
cultural experiences, or if early emotive linkages remain most dominant
throughout one’s life. Third, research can examine how marketers can
create scent attribute associations for their brands or products much like
house cleaning products have done for mountain smells.
120 May O. Lwin and Mindawati Wijaya

Finally, there is scope for research to examine how overall the cul-
tural lens can shape mental approaches to scents. Cognitive psycholo-
gists have argued that Asians tend to view the world through wide-angle
lens, or pay more attention to the environment, and to be more holistic
by understating the context of the problem, whereas Westerners have
tunnel vision and tend to focus on solving specific problems (Nisbett,
2003). Would differences in the two cultures result in differences in the
way they perceive scents, such as Easterners paying attention to “holis-
tic” scents and Westerners paying more attention to “individual” scents?
More interesting avenues lie ahead to study smell cultural universes,
smell consumption classifications, and smell-sensory associations within
cultures.

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9
The Impact of Scent and Music on
Consumer Perceptions of Time Duration
Maureen Morrin, Jean-Charles Chebat,
and Claire Gelinas-Chebat

What impact do ambient scent and background music have on shoppers’

perceptions of how much time has elapsed or how much distance was
traveled during a shopping episode? Retail managers are interested in the
effects of store atmospherics on such perceptions because they can be an
important determinant of customer satisfaction levels.
If a particular customer activity is a pleasant one, for example, if enjoyment
is derived from the act of shopping (Guiry, Magi, & Lutz, 2006), a retailer may
want to increase shoppers’ duration perceptions in order to enhance satisfac-
tion levels. Alternatively, if a customer activity is an unpleasant one, such as
having to wait in line for service, a retailer may instead want to decrease shop-
pers’ perceived durations to avoid causing dissatisfaction (Katz, Larson, &
Larson, 1991). Thus, a clearer understanding of how specific store atmospher-
ics influence perceived time durations is of critical importance to retailers.
Store atmospherics refer to the various background elements found in
retail settings, such as lighting, scent, music, color, and crowding, all of
which can influence shopper perceptions and behaviors (Baker & Cameron,
1996; Donovan & Rossiter, 1982; Kotler, 1973; Turley & Milliman, 2000).
Theoretical frameworks for understanding the effects of store atmospher-
ics are usually based on formulations of Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974)
approach/avoidance model of environmental psychology. This model sug-
gests that affective reactions such as mood or arousal, which are created
by store atmospherics, result in either approach or avoidance behaviors on
the part of consumers. Approach behaviors include lingering longer and
exploring items in the environment, whereas avoidance behaviors include
attempts to exit the environment more rapidly.

123
124 Maureen Morrin, Jean-Charles Chebat, and Claire Gelinas-Chebat

In the current research, we are interested in how the atmospheric ele-

ments of ambient scent and background music influence consumers’ per-
ceptions of time duration and distance traveled in a retail setting. There
are several streams of research that help to explain the effects of environ-
mental variables on duration and distance perceptions. The two areas most
relevant to the current research are a chronobiological approach known
as the internal clock model (e.g., Treisman, 1963), and a memory-based
approach known as the storage-size model (e.g., Ornstein, 1969). We dis-
cuss these streams of research in more detail below and build our hypoth-
eses for the expected effects of scent and music on duration perceptions.

Music and the Internal Clock Model

Kellaris and Kent (1992) examined the effect of music on consumers’

perceptions of the duration of a time period. They found that perceived
duration was longest (shortest) for those exposed to positively (negatively)
valenced music. Thus, in the presence of more liked music, perceived time
durations increased. These researchers employed a retrospective approach
to duration estimates, that is, one in which the participants were not
told ahead of time that they would be asked to estimate how much time
passed during the task, as in the present research. Based on these results,
the authors concluded that time does not necessarily fly when having fun.
Similarly, Hui, Dubè, and Chebat (1997) found that positively valenced
music triggers both a positive emotional response as well as longer per-
ceived wait durations. These results are in accord with chronobiological
models of perceived duration, such as the internal clock model.
The internal clock model of perceived duration (Treisman, 1963) suggests
that feelings of stress, anxiety, or physiological arousal can speed up the
“ticking” of an individual’s internal clock and thus make more time seem to
pass during a given interval. Thus, colors that induce feelings of relaxation
would be expected to slow down the internal clock and reduce perceived
time durations (Gorn, Chattopadhyay, Sengupta, & Tripathi, 2004). This is
indeed what Gorn et al. (2004) found when they manipulated background
colors of Web sites (e.g., blue vs. yellow or red) during downloads.
In the present experimental context, we expect that pleasant back-
ground music will increase consumers’ affective response to the environ-
ment. Considerable evidence exists to suggest that background music can
positively impact consumers’ moods and physiological arousal levels as
well as their overall affective response to the environment (Bruner, 1990).
 The Impact of Scent and Music on Consumer Perceptions of Time Duration 125

If background music does indeed impact consumers’ affective responses

in this way, it could serve to speed up their internal clocks and make it
seem as if more time has passed. Such a result would be in accord with the
results obtained by Kellaris and Kent (1992), as well as with the internal
clock model of perceived duration. The foregoing leads us to expect that
the presence of pleasant background music will increase consumers’ affec-
tive responses as well as their perceptions of perceived time duration:

H1: Background music will increase perceptions of time duration and dis-
tance traveled.

H2: Background music will enhance consumers’ environmental affective

response.

Scent and the Storage-Size Model

One study that specifically measures the effects of ambient scent on perceived
time durations is that of Spangenberg, Crowley, and Henderson (1996). These
authors found that while the presence of pleasant ambient scents did not affect
the actual time spent in a simulated shopping environment, it did reduce the
perception of how much time had passed, from 11.0 minutes when no scent
was present to 9.6 minutes when there was a scent present. Based on this
prior research, we expect to observe a similar effect of ambient scent in the
present research, namely, we expect scent to reduce perceptions of time dura-
tion. Furthermore, we explore whether such a result can be explained using
an alternative model of duration estimation: the storage-size model.
Although prior research has found that pleasant music influences con-
sumers’ affective responses, as discussed above, research does not sug-
gest the same is true of ambient scent (Chebat & Michon, 2003). Instead,
ambient scents have been found to impact responses such as lingering
(Knasko, 1995), attention (Morrin & Ratneshwar, 2000, 2003), variety
seeking (Mitchell, Kahn, & Knasko, 1995), and memory (Herz, 2004). The
evidence is considerably weaker regarding the effects of scent on mood,
arousal, and other types of affective response. Thus, we might not expect
scent to alter consumers’ internal clocks. Chronobiological models of
time duration may be less helpful in understanding the effects of scent on
consumer response in this domain because of the limited evidence that it
impacts consumers’ moods and arousal levels. Instead, a more cognitively
based model such as the storage-size model, which is based on memory
processes, may be more appropriate.
126 Maureen Morrin, Jean-Charles Chebat, and Claire Gelinas-Chebat

The storage-size model (Ornstein, 1969) focuses on the amount of infor-

mation that is stored and later recalled from an elapsed time period. When
asked how long an episode lasted, individuals may try to recall information
from memory related to the episode and use the amount of information
retrieved as a cue for how long the episode lasted. Therefore, if more infor-
mation is processed, stored, and later retrieved, longer duration estimates
will result. If less information is processed, stored, and retrieved, shorter
duration estimates will result. In accord with this line of thought, Mantel
and Kellaris (2003) found that perceived durations of radio ads depended,
in part, on the amount of information recalled. The limited evidence avail-
able regarding the effect of scent on perceived durations suggests that the
presence of ambient scent tends to reduce such perceptions (Spangenberg
et al., 1996). However, no process evidence has been offered to support the
underlying drivers of such a result. Thus, we explore whether scent does
indeed reduce duration and distance estimates. We also explore whether
scent reduces the amount of cognitive processing engaged in by consum-
ers, which could explain reduced duration and distance estimates, if they
are observed. We thus hypothesize:

H3: Pleasant ambient scent will reduce perceptions of time duration and dis-
tance traveled.

H4: Pleasant ambient scent will reduce the depth of cognitive processing.

To summarize, we expect that background music will create an affec-

tive response in consumers such that consumers’ internal clocks will be
sped up, resulting in longer perceived time durations, in accord with the
internal clock model of perceived duration. Ambient scent, on the other
hand, may reduce consumers’ cognitive processing efforts, resulting in
shorter perceived time durations, in accord with the storage-size model of
perceived duration.
A study designed to test these hypotheses is discussed next.

Method

Sample

One hundred sixty graduate students of a major business school volun-

teered to participate in the study in return for course credit. Ages ranged
from 18 to 39 years (mean = 22.5), 46.5% were male.
 The Impact of Scent and Music on Consumer Perceptions of Time Duration 127

Design

The study was a 2 (ambient scent, no ambient scent) × 2 (background

music, no background music) full factorial design. Participants were ran-
domly assigned to one of four treatment groups. For those in the scented
conditions, the scent of geranium was emitted into the room’s atmosphere
with an electric diffuser into which several drops of geranium essential oil
had been placed. This scent has been pretested and successfully used in
prior consumer research (Morrin & Ratneshwar, 2000). The diffuser itself
was hidden from view to minimize the salience of the scent manipulation.
For those in the background music conditions, the music consisted of a
piece of classical music (Mozart’s Allegro for Horn Concerto No. 3 in E
Flat Major), which was played on a music player, also hidden from view.

Procedure

Participants entered the laboratory and were informed that they would
be viewing a videotaped “walk” through a shopping center. They were
informed, “While you are watching this video, we would like you to imag-
ine that you are actually walking around this shopping mall, experiencing
your surroundings, as you normally would, while visiting a real shopping
mall. When the video is finished, we are going to ask you some questions.”
The participants were not informed that the experiment concerned per-
ceptions of time duration or distance traveled, and thus the study consists
of an examination of retrospective estimations of duration. After view-
ing the video, participants were first asked to provide duration estimates,
described in more detail below, and then list their thoughts, completing the
7-item Fisher (1974) scale for environmental quality, the 5-item pleasure
and 4-item arousal dimensions of the PAD (Pleasure Arousal Dominance)
Emotion Scale (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974), as well as manipulation checks
and demographic questions such as age and gender.

Measures

Two questions were used to assess perceived time duration. The first ques-
tion asked was, “How long do you think you were ‘walking around’ in
this mall? That is, how long were you watching this video? Please be as
precise as possible, even if you are not certain.” The open-ended answer
128 Maureen Morrin, Jean-Charles Chebat, and Claire Gelinas-Chebat

stated, “I estimate that I was walking around in this mall for â•…â•…â•… min-
utes and â•…â•…â•… seconds.” This question was modeled on prior research
(Kellaris, Mantel, & Altsech, 1996).
The second measure used to estimate duration was, “How much dis-
tance did you cover, while ‘walking around’ in this mall? Please estimate
how many meters you walked while in this simulated mall experience.”
The open-ended answer stated, “I estimate that I walked â•…â•…â•… meters.”
We included this item as a measure of perceived pace, or “how rapidly the
succession of events within a time interval seems to take place” (Kellaris et
al., 1996). The sequence of events or changes within a time period may be
perceived to take place at a more rapid pace than that at which they actu-
ally happen. Perceived pace will generally be positively correlated with
perceived duration and either may be used as an inference for the other
(Kellaris et al., 1996). Then participants were asked to “Recall all of the
thoughts that were going through your head while the video was playing.”
After completing the closed-ended questions, participants were debriefed
and thanked for their participation.

Results

A series of analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted on the mea-

sures as a function of the two manipulated factors (scent and music)
with covariates for age, gender, liking of the music, and liking of the
scent included for control. Prior research suggests that both age (Yalch &
Spangenberg, 1990) and gender (Kellaris & Mantel, 1994) can influence
perceived duration.

Perceived Time Duration

On average, participants estimated that 504 seconds, or about 8.4 minutes,

had elapsed while watching the video (range = 150 to 2,718 seconds, stan-
dard deviation = 386). The true video duration was 320 seconds, or about
5.3 minutes. Because the seconds’ measure exhibited a long right-tailed
distribution, we transformed this measure via the natural log function.
We conducted an ANOVA on the natural log of perceived time elapsed
as a function of the music and scent conditions, plus the covariates. The
covariate for age (F(1, 151) = 4.61, p < .05) was significant, with older par-
ticipants providing longer time estimates. The only other significant effect
 The Impact of Scent and Music on Consumer Perceptions of Time Duration 129

was that of music (F(1, 151) = 4.33, p < .05). When there was no music pres-
ent, participants estimated that 396 seconds, or about 6.6 minutes, had
elapsed. When music was present, their time estimates increased to 475
seconds, or about 7.9 minutes, about a 20% increase in estimated duration.
This result supports H1.

Perceived Distance Traveled

On average, participants estimated that they had traveled 502 meters while
watching the video (range = 20 to 20,000 meters, standard deviation = 407).
Again, because the meters measure exhibited a long right-tailed distribu-
tion, we transformed this measure with the natural log function. We con-
ducted an ANOVA on the natural log of the estimated number of meters
traveled in the mall as a function of scent, music, and the covariates.
The covariates of age (F(1, 151) = 4.16, p < .05) and liking of the scent
(F(1, 151) = 5.35, p < .05) were significant. Older participants tended to
provide longer distance estimates. Also, those who did not like the scent
tended to provide longer distance estimates. Two main effects were also
significant: both music (F(1, 151) = 4.69, p < .05) and scent (F(1, 151) =
5.38, p < .05). The presence of music increased the perception of distance
traveled, from 300 (no music) to 413 (music) meters, in support of H1. The
presence of scent, on the other hand, decreased the perception of meters
traveled, from 418 (no scent) to 296 (scent) meters, in support of H3.

Affective Responses

Affective response to the environment was measured using Fisher’s (1974)

7-item scale, which measures the degree to which the environment is per-
ceived to be relaxing, comfortable, cheerful, colorful, stimulating, lively,
and bright (coefficient alpha = .88). We conducted an ANOVA on affec-
tive response to the environment as a function of scent and music plus
the covariates. Two of the covariates were significant: the degree to which
the scent was liked (F(1, 151) = 8.35, p < .01) and the degree to which the
music was liked (F(1,151) = 9.32, p < .01). Not surprisingly, the environ-
mental quality of the mall was rated more positively if either the scent or
music was liked. The only other effect that was significant was music con-
dition (F(1, 151) = 5.09, p < .05). Affective response to the environment was
greater when there was music present (M = 4.10) versus absent (M = 3.64).
130 Maureen Morrin, Jean-Charles Chebat, and Claire Gelinas-Chebat

This result supports H2. We also measured respondents’ levels of happi-

ness and arousal using dimensions of the PAD scale, but neither analysis
was significant.

Cognitive Responses

Number of Words
We first simply counted the number of words written in the cognitive
response section as an overall measure of amount of cognitive processing.
We conducted an ANOVA on the number of words as a function of scent,
music, and the covariates. The covariate of age was significant (F(1, 151) =
17.49, p < .0001), with older participants listing more words. Scent also had
a significant effect (F(1, 151) = 8.57, p < .005), with the number of words
falling from 30.5 to 24.4 when scent was present. This result supports H4.
This effect is qualified, however, by a significant interaction between scent
and music (F(1, 151) = 15.55, p < .0001). Inspection of the means shows
that the presence of scent reduces the number of words (from 34.0 in the
no scent/no music condition to 19.7 in the scent only condition), unless
there is also music present (M = 27.2 music only condition, M = 29.1 in
scent and music condition).

Number of Thoughts
We then conducted a more rigorous analysis of the thoughts listed. We
relied on MacInnis and Jaworski’s (1989) typology for categorizing cogni-
tive responses to advertisements according to the attention and process-
ing capacity allocated to the information, as determinants of the depth of
information processing. Six levels of processing are involved:

1. feature analysis,
2. basic categorization,
3. meaning analysis,
4. information integration,
5. role-taking,
6. constructive processes.

In the MacInnis and Jaworski (1989) framework, level 1 typically occurs

when motivation, ability, or opportunity to process is very low. In such
a situation, attention will be focused primarily on feature analysis or
encoding salient features of the environment. At a slightly higher level
 The Impact of Scent and Music on Consumer Perceptions of Time Duration 131

of motivation, ability or opportunity to process, basic categorization will

occur, such as that involving assigning a semantic label to an element of
the environment. Meaning analysis involves interpreting salient cues to
derive some basic understanding; information integration involves syn-
thesizing meanings assigned to several stimuli; and constructive processes
and role-taking involve relating the information to the self (MacInnis &
Jaworski, 1989). The types of responses linked to these processing opera-
tions are then classified as message related (1, 2), execution related (3, 4),
or context related (5, 6).
For the present research, which concerned processing of retail environ-
ments rather than of ads, we interpreted these categories from a linguistic
point of view as follows. According to the respondent’s written cogni-
tive responses, the individual reached one of the six levels of information
processing when he or she (a) recalled contextual elements, (b) evalu-
ated contextual elements, (c) made explicit inferences, (c) made implicit
inferences, (d) made statements of personalization or identification, and
(d) exhibited imaginative constructs. Thus, levels 1 and 2 refer to con-
text, levels 3 and 4 refer to content, and levels 5 and 6 refer to the actor.
After categorizing the thoughts into one of the six categories, we summed
across the first three categories and the second three categories to differ-
entiate between lower order and higher order thoughts. We conducted an
ANOVA on the number of lower order thoughts (categories 1 to 3) as a
function of scent, music, and the covariates, but none of the effects were
significant, except for age, which indicated that older participants listed
more lower order thoughts.
Then we conducted an ANOVA on the number of higher order thoughts
(categories 4 to 6) and found that the covariate of age was significant (F(1,
151) = 4.76, p < .05), with older participants listing more higher level
thoughts. In addition, scent was significant (F(1, 151) = 4.25, p < .04). The
presence of scent reduced the number of higher order thoughts listed by
participants, from 1.74 (no scent) to 1.27 (scent). This result supports H4.

Discussion

In this study we find that music improves shoppers’ affective response to

the environment and increases their perceptions of both elapsed time as
well as distance traveled in the mall. This result is in accord with the find-
ings of Kellaris and Kent (1992) as well as with the affectively based inter-
nal clock model of duration estimation.
132 Maureen Morrin, Jean-Charles Chebat, and Claire Gelinas-Chebat

The presence of ambient scent, on the other hand, had an opposite effect
on perceptions of distance traveled in the mall. When a scent was present,
participants perceived that they had traveled a shorter distance. The pres-
ence of scent also reduced the level of cognitive processing, as evidenced
by fewer words and fewer higher-level thoughts listed. The perceived dis-
tance results are consistent with the duration estimation results reported
by Spangenberg et al. (1996). The results regarding the reduced process-
ing efforts suggest the cognitively based storage-size model of duration
estimation may be a more appropriate framework for understanding the
effects of scent on perceived durations or distances traveled. It should be
noted, however, that the presence of a pleasant ambient scent did not alter
perceptions of time duration, only of distance traveled in the mall. Thus,
the effects of scent on duration and distance perceptions as well as on the
level of cognitive processing require further testing, as the evidence is
more tentative in this regard.
Overall the results indicate that it cannot be concluded that simply add-
ing pleasant atmospheric elements to a retail environment will necessar-
ily result in shorter perceived time durations. That is, retailers should not
simply assume that making their environments more pleasant will make
shoppers perceive they have spent less time in the store or mall. Instead,
the type of effect that a particular atmospheric element will have on con-
sumers’ perceptions of time duration or distance traveled may be a func-
tion of whether it elicits primarily affective or cognitive responses. When
a pleasant atmospheric element elicits a positive affective response, such
as positive environmental affect, physiological arousal, or pleasant mood,
then it may tend to speed up the consumer’s internal clock and make it
seem as if more time has passed and more distance has been traveled. This
may be a desirable effect in instances where the shopping activity is con-
sidered pleasant.
If, on the other hand, a pleasant atmospheric element elicits a cogni-
tive type of response, such as shallower processing, then it may impact
the amount of information that can be recalled about the elapsed time
period and result in the perception that less time has passed. This would
be a desirable effect in instances where the shopping activity is considered
unpleasant, such as waiting for service. Future research is needed not only
to document the effects of other types of atmospheric elements on per-
ceived time durations (e.g., noise, crowding, lighting, humidity, etc.) but
also on whether the element tends to have a greater impact on affective or
cognitive responses of the consumer.
 The Impact of Scent and Music on Consumer Perceptions of Time Duration 133

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Section III
Audition
10
The Sounds of the Marketplace
The Role of Audition in Marketing
Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa G. Bublitz,
and Laura A. Peracchio

Each day we are all exposed to a cacophony of auditory information. A

good part of what we hear comes from the world of marketing operat-
ing around us. Consider a typical scenario. You wake up to the blaring
tune of an ad jingle on your clock radio. As you get ready for work, you
turn on the television to hear the morning’s news and weather forecast.
Your drive to work is punctuated by the percussive sound of jackhammers
and a construction worker alerting you of a traffic detour. Shortly after
entering your office, the familiar Microsoft tones greet you as you boot
up your computer. Later, a sales call from a vendor interrupts your focus.
On your drive home from work, you stop at a store where a salesperson
explains all the must-have features of the latest iPhone. Finally, when you
stop at a grocery store to purchase food for dinner, the store’s continuously
looped advertising messages drone in your ears. How much of your day
is spent listening to marketing-related audio information? If you are like
most people, you probably spend hours being exposed to auditory mate-
rial delivered by marketers aimed at shaping your thoughts, judgments,
and behaviors.
In virtually all consumer domains, marketers use sound to commu-
nicate and attempt to persuade consumers. In some instances, sound
is a crucial aspect of the product experience, as with the pop you hear
when uncorking a bottle of champagne. Retailers have long used sound
to enhance the nature of a venue’s experience. From the cranked up puls-
ing music in teen-targeted stores to the soothing sound of flowing water
at luxurious spas, sound may be a core and valued part of the consump-
tion experience. Advertisers too pay much heed to sounds that may attract

137
138 Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa G. Bublitz, and Laura A. Peracchio

your attention, impact your mood, or help you to remember a brand name
or key information. Yet, despite the important role that sound plays in a
wide range of consumption experiences, researchers have only just begun
to examine how sound influences consumer psychology and marketing.
This chapter highlights a smattering of selected research that sheds light
on how sound influences marketing and the consumption experience.
We begin with a discussion of how sound symbolism and language can
influence consumer perceptions. Next, we examine the multifaceted role
of music in marketing and consumption. We then consider how auditory
stimuli interact with the other four senses. Our hope is that this overview
will stimulate new ideas and directions that help address the fascinating
question of what roles audition may play in marketing and the way that
consumers process information.

Words, Language, and Sound

Words and language represent the primary means by which marketers

engage in auditory communication. In this section, we focus on research
that sheds light on some of the unique ways that words, language, and
sound can influence consumers, thereby illustrating the central role that
such auditory communication plays in marketing.

Sound Symbolism

There is widespread belief that language is inherently arbitrary. That is,

although people may combine sound units or phonemes to form words, no
connection actually exists between the sound of a word and its meaning
(Hockett, 1966). Yet, a significant body of research challenges this assump-
tion, revealing that in many languages, the sound of a phoneme embedded
in a word can indeed contribute to people’s semantic understanding of the
word. This work is important as it builds a case for sound symbolism (see
Nuckolls, 1999, for a review). To illustrate, consider research that investi-
gates the symbolism associated with two vowels sounds on the opposite
end of the speech production spectrum, /i/ and /a/. When you form the /i/
sound, as in kiss, your mouth is closed and the high frequency sound is
formed at the front of your mouth. By contrast, you form the /a/ sound, as
in palm, near the back of your mouth with your mouth open. In an explo-
ration of possible sound symbolism, Sapir (1929) studied nonwords like mil
 The Sounds of the Marketplace 139

and mal, which employ the /i/ and /a/ sounds. Such nonwords were used
to ensure that any inferences people might derive from the stimuli could
only be attributed to their sound, not any preexisting semantic meaning.
When people were asked to choose which word, mil or mal, represented
either a small or a large table, Sapir found that more people associated the
short, front /i/ sound in mil with smaller items, as compared to the open
back /a/ sound in mal. As such, research like this demonstrates that the
sound of a word can influence the specific associations that are triggered
as language is processed.
Several consumer researchers have built on this early sound symbolism
evidence by examining how the sound of a word can influence people’s
product perceptions. Klink (2000) found that the /i/ vowel sound, which
has been connected with diminutive symbolism (Nuckolls, 1999), can
also elicit related notions such as lighter, thinner, and softer. On the other
hand, long, back vowels sounds, such as /a/ in father and /o/ in bought,
are associated with larger items (Newman, 1933; Sapir, 1929). Further, the
symbolic associations triggered by how a word sounds may not be lan-
guage specific. Tanz (1971) examined six different families of languages
and found that the /i/ and /a/ sounds are used fairly consistently in words
that represent temporal distance, with /i/ used to capture the concepts of
here or near, and /a/ associated with there or far. This provides further
evidence of sound symbolism in language.
Sound symbolism seems to play a role in helping consumers infer
product benefits derived from a brand name. Yorkston and Menon (2004)
showed that a brand name with an /ä/ sound, as in chop, versus a shorter /i/
sound, as in kiss, influenced consumers’ perceptions of a fictitious brand of
ice cream. Specifically, consumers rated a Frosh brand of ice cream (using
/ä/) as smoother, creamier, and richer than a Frish (/i/) brand. They also
indicated that they were more likely to choose the former brand for pur-
chase. Klink (2000) also investigated sound symbolism effects on brand
perceptions, but did so for a larger set of phonemes. Table€10.1 summa-
rizes these effects on consumers’ ratings of fictitious brand names across a
variety of product categories and attributes. Again, this work speaks to the
potential for marketers to influence brand associations and perceptions by
strategically choosing brand names with particular sounds.
Lowrey and Shrum (2007) expanded on the preceding work by demon-
strating the widespread effect of sound symbolism on product perceptions
across product categories. These researchers found that brand evalua-
tions were generally positive when the perceptions or features elicited by
a phoneme in a brand name were congruent with the expectations of the
 140
Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa G. Bublitz, and Laura A. Peracchio
Table 10.1â•… Summary of Klink’s 2000 Investigation of Sound Symbolism in Brand Names
Linguistic Property Phonemes Manipulated Product Perceptions
Front vs. Back Front: ē (bee) i (hit) ā (hate) e test Front vowel sound elicit ideas like smaller, lighter (relative to darker), milder,
Vowel Sounds Back: ü (food) ō (home) ö (caught) thinner, softer, faster, colder, more bitter, more feminine, friendlier, weaker,
ә (dusk) ä (father) lighter (relative to heavier), and prettier

Fricatives vs. Stop Fricatives: f, s, v, and z Fricatives elicit ideas such as smaller, faster, lighter (relative to heavier), and
Consonants* Stops: p, t, b, d, g, and k more feminine.

Voiced vs. Voiceless** Voiced Stops: b, d, and g Voiceless stops elicit ideas such as smaller, faster, lighter (relative to heavier),
Stop Consonants Voiceless Stops: p, t, and k sharper, and more feminine.

Voiced vs. Voiceless Voiced Fricatives: v and z Voiceless fricatives elicit ideas such as smaller, softer, and more feminine.
Fricatives Consonants Voiceless Fricatives: f and s
*Fricatives are phonemes where the sound enunciated can continue, compared to stops where the mouth stops the airflow to create the
sound.
**Voiced phonemes are produced by vibrating the vocal cords, while voiceless phonemes are produced by pushing air with the vocal cords
apart.
 The Sounds of the Marketplace 141

evaluated product. Adding to these sound symbolism effects, other aspects

of brand names also can evoke desired attributes or other positive connota-
tions. For example, because FedEx stands for Federal Express, consumers
may associate the abbreviated Ex in the brand name with ideas of speed,
which has positive connotations for this service company. Further, Keller,
Heckler, and Houston (1998) demonstrated that for new products, brand
names that suggest a product’s benefits can conjure up initially advertised
benefit claims that are consistent in meaning with the brand name. All in
all, this line of research implies that the use of sound symbolism and word
associations in brand names can be a valuable way to convey particular
product attributes that consumers desire.
Research suggests that these kinds of perceptions engendered by sound
symbolism are automatic in nature, meaning that they occur without aware-
ness, effort, or intention (Yorkston & Menon, 2004). Further, judgments
based on sound symbolism appear to be updated if consumers encounter
more diagnostic information about the brand (Yorkston & Menon, 2004).
This updating process presumably occurs via the two-stage or dual pro-
cessing model of cognition, which posits that after initial judgments are
formed automatically, they may be subsequently updated based on addi-
tional information acquired from interaction with or prolonged exposure
to the item (Chaiken & Trope, 1999). Thus, the effects of sound symbolism
may be short-lived if the product fails to live up to the expectations cre-
ated by these associations. Returning to Yorkston and Menon’s (2004) ice
cream brands, if consumers buy Frosh ice cream because its brand name
sounds thick and creamy, but upon consuming it find its texture to be
light and inconsistent with their expectations, their initial perceptions
of the brand are likely to be modified. In sum, the research reviewed in
this section suggests that effects spawned by sound symbolism are likely
to emerge automatically, but they may not be enduring. Still, they offer a
useful way to understand consumers’ reactions and their choices that are
often based on the marketing messages encountered every day.

Language

The spoken word typically relays meaning beyond just the symbolism of
the word’s individual sounds or phonemes. That is, the particular words or
language employed in a persuasive message can directly influence prod-
uct perceptions and attitudes. For example, a brand name identified in
a message may act as a summary cue that helps consumers recollect the
142 Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa G. Bublitz, and Laura A. Peracchio

product’s features and persuasive message or infer the product’s benefits. It

also is true that memory for a brand name itself can be influenced by spe-
cific aspects of the language, such as the frequency with which the brand
name word(s) is used in the language and the number of associations elic-
ited by the word(s). Meyers-Levy (1989) demonstrated this, showing that
when brand names were comprised of high frequency words, recall of the
names was greater when the brand name words evoked a small versus a
large set of associations. Yet when brand names were composed of low
frequency words, the number of associations to the words had no effect on
brand name recall.
The manner in which language is used also influences how consum-
ers process and access information. Words or phrases can activate sche-
mas that influence how the presented information is categorized and used
to form judgments. Along these lines, Meyers-Levy and Tybout (1989)
showed that compared to either congruity or extreme incongruity, a mod-
erate level of incongruity between how a product was described and its
claimed product category schema can actually enhance product attitudes.
This occurs because moderate incongruity prompts consumers to elabo-
rate extensively on the product and message with the goal of resolving
the incongruity. Hence, when a consumer hears a message that partially
violates expectations, he or she is challenged to think extensively about
all of the data, which not only can resolve the incongruity but also render
people’s attitudes more extreme in favorableness. Still, not all consumers
appear to respond to moderate incongruity in this way. Studies suggest
that relative novices, those who lack in-depth familiarity with the product
category, show the aforementioned effect. Yet consumers who are category
experts and thereby possess much relevant and elaborate knowledge about
the category may be able to resolve such moderate incongruity without
much elaboration (Peracchio & Tybout, 1996). Thus, experts’ product atti-
tudes may not be enhanced by such moderate incongruity.
Other research suggests that consumers’ attitudes also can be affected
by the magnitude of the cognitive resources that are devoted to versus
required for processing a message. Provided that consumers are fairly
motivated to process a message, studies reveal that they form more favor-
able attitudes toward a target good when the cognitive resources they allo-
cate to processing are commensurate with, rather than either fall short of
or exceed, those that are required to process the message (Meyers-Levy &
Peracchio, 1995; Peracchio & Meyers-Levy, 1997).
To recapitulate, the preceding findings point to a myriad of factors that
can be influenced by the language used in marketing communications, all
 The Sounds of the Marketplace 143

of which affect the success of the communications. These include inherent

aspects of the language such as word frequency and the number of asso-
ciations activated by the chosen words, the extent to which incongruities
are suggested by implicated product categories or terms used in message
language, and the resource demands that are imposed on consumers by
variables that may be linked to language.
At the same time, these as well as other complexities associated with
language confront marketers who enter the global arena. There, the pre-
vailing languages may differ in structure, and consumers are often bicul-
tural or multilingual. Indeed, research suggests that the very structure
of language can impact the extent to which auditory information will be
encoded and remembered. Because of the logographic writing system of
Chinese characters, studies find that Chinese consumers exhibit supe-
rior recall for brand names that are presented visually (Schmitt, Pan,
& Tavassoli, 1994). On the other hand, due to the sound-based writ-
ing system of English, native speakers of English generally display better
recall for brand names that they hear. Similarly, logos or visual elements
elicit stronger branding connections in memory for Chinese-speaking
consumers, while sounds that are linked to brand images produce better
encoding and recall among English-speaking consumers (Tavassoli &
Lee, 2003). The branding of Microsoft provides a compelling example of
how these differences might be manifested in the marketplace. Chinese
consumers are likely to associate the Microsoft brand more strongly
with its multicolored checkered flag. Yet, English speakers should be
more likely to link the brand with the harmonizing tones that air when
booting up a Microsoft program. Of course, other structurally grounded
differences in processing may also exist. Pan and Schmitt (1996) found
that Chinese consumers showed heightened sensitivity to visual ele-
ments such as typeface, but English consumers were more sensitive to
auditory cues like an announcer’s voice. These visual and auditory pro-
cessing differences also may explain why Chinese-speaking consumers
are more greatly disrupted by visual distraction, say Web site graph-
ics, while English-speaking consumers’ processing is more disturbed by
background sounds (Tavassoli & Han, 2001; Tavassoli & Lee, 2003). Such
observations clearly indicate that marketers should be mindful of how
language structure can affect processing as they attempt to tailor their
ads to global targets.
Another body of research provides crucial insights into how bilingual
consumers process information. Bilingual consumers’ processing of
information appears to depend on both characteristics of the consumer
144 Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa G. Bublitz, and Laura A. Peracchio

and the message. Not surprisingly, these individuals’ processing is sensi-

tive to how proficient they are in the nondominant or second language.
Zhang and Schmitt (2004) found that bilingual consumers who are less
proficient in their second language tend to process data presented in
their dominant first language semantically and holistically. However,
they process material in their second language phonologically, piecing
together word meanings to interpret the message. Alternatively, bilin-
guals who are proficient in both languages access semantic as well as
phonological meanings, exhibiting sensitivity to the meaning and the
sound of a message.
Appreciating the unique way that bilingual-bicultural consumers pro-
cess information also may enable marketers to use language strategically
to heighten elaboration or influence the semantic associations that con-
sumers attach to messages. Not only do bicultural audiences speak mul-
tiple languages, but they also tend to possess extensive experience with the
cultural systems associated with those languages. Accordingly, such bicul-
tural consumers are apt to possess different sets of schemas and product
associations for each language and culture (Krishna & Ahluwalia, 2008).
When bicultural consumers hear a brand name in one language, they may
evoke a very different set of associations than they would if the same brand
name were presented in another language (Luna, Ringberg, & Peracchio,
2008). Further, hearing messages in a particular language can cause bicul-
tural consumers to switch cultural frames and align their preferences with
those of the focal cultural system, thereby triggering inferences about cor-
responding values and influencing both consumers’ product perceptions
and choices (Briley, Morris, & Simonson, 2005).
Frequently, advertisers choose to switch cultural frames within a sin-
gle message, employing what is known as code switching. Code switch-
ing aims to induce consumers to elaborate on specific elements within
an ad by presenting a key word or phrase in a second language. Hence,
code switching within an ad can prompt consumers to take particular
note of the code-switched element (Luna & Peracchio, 2001). A broader
goal of code switching could be to activate schemas from another lan-
guage and thereby favorably influence attitudes toward a brand. Luna
and Peracchio (2005) found that if people hold positive attitudes toward
the second language employed in a code-switched phrase, their positive
attitudes can transfer to the brand. Alternatively, if attitudes toward the
second language are negative, directing attention to the code-switched
expression can heighten elaboration of the code-switched language’s
schema, and in this case negative attitudes linked to that schema can be
 The Sounds of the Marketplace 145

transferred to the brand. Appreciation for how language can influence

the perceptions of bicultural or bilingual consumers promises to grow as
international markets continue to expand and more consumers exhibit
intimate knowledge of more than one language and its corresponding
cultural system.
Another challenge confronted by global marketers is that of choos-
ing a brand name and developing advertising for international markets.
Among the pertinent issues here is how the schemas activated by a lan-
guage will influence product perceptions and attitudes. Some languages
such as French and Spanish contain formal gender markers. For exam-
ple, in French, the article the is expressed by either le or la, depending
on the item’s gender. In such languages, gender markers of brand names
have been shown to activate schemas and influence encoding, storage,
and recall of the brand name (Yorkston & De Mello, 2005). Consumers
also use gender markers when deriving meanings for unfamiliar brand
names (Yorkston & De Mello, 2005). Yet even consumers who do not
speak a particular language may hold beliefs or be influenced by cul-
tural stereotypes based on the perceived language of origin of a brand
name. To exemplify, by varying the pronunciation of brand names so
that they sounded either French or English, Leclerc, Schmitt, and Dubé
(1994) were able to alter the cultural stereotypes that were activated,
which in turn affected consumers’ product evaluations. Hence, con-
sumers’ attitudes toward a hedonic product, such as fragrances, were
more positive when the spoken brand name sounded French rather than
English. Such findings demonstrate that the sound of a brand name
associated with a particular country can activate schemas that shape
product perceptions.
In sum, the research in this section demonstrates that selecting a brand
name or designing an ad involves far more than simply choosing words
to impart a message. Marketers also must consider the symbolism and
associations triggered by the sound of the chosen words and the schemas
activated by such words. Further, as marketers set their sights on global
targets, new challenges arise, such as the influence of language structure
on consumers’ processing of information and the potential of using code
switching to strategically foster or highlight desired associations among
bilingual or bicultural consumers. Other important concerns in interna-
tional markets center on the sound of a brand name, the precise mean-
ing of a translated word, and the visual or auditory representation of the
brand name. In short, a broad spectrum of language related variables can
affect the persuasiveness of global communications.
146 Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa G. Bublitz, and Laura A. Peracchio

Music

Although words and language comprise the major auditory devices used
to convey purposeful or central material in marketing communications,
marketers also have long made use of music as an ancillary auditory
device, for it too can exert a potent influence on consumers. When used
in advertising, music may set a mood, invoke particular brand percep-
tions, or influence the favorableness of attitudes and consumption more
generally. Further, in retail environments, music is often used to alter the
ambiance of the shopping experience or even modify the pace of consum-
ers’ behavior. In this section, we focus on some of the alternative ways by
which music can shape persuasion and the consumption experience.

Music in Advertising

Music accompanies much of the radio and television advertising that we

are exposed to each day, and it is increasingly used in Internet advertising
to attract browsers’ attention. Park and Young (1986) suggested that music
may act as a peripheral persuasion cue in advertising, triggering affective
feeling states or moods that can spill over and shape consumers’ ad or brand
attitudes. Indeed, substantial research in marketing can be explained by
the link between music and one’s mood. For example, Gorn (1982) found
that after hearing liked or disliked music while viewing a pen in one of
two different colors, individuals more frequently chose a pen of the color
that was associated with liked music, but they chose the alternative color
pen when the featured pen had been associated with the disliked music.
Although the author attributed these findings to simple classical condi-
tioning, the outcomes also could be explained in terms of music-induced
mood effects. The liked or disliked music may have affected individuals’
mood, which in turn guided their product choices. This sort of influence of
music as a peripheral cue typically occurs when consumers’ involvement
with the target item is low (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983).
Although background music in an ad typically exerts a positive influ-
ence on attitudes, Park and Young (1986) found that sometimes music can
interfere with a consumer’s ability to process a brand’s featured attributes.
Apparently, here, music operates as a distracter, usurping people’s atten-
tion or cognitive resources and thereby undermining the processing of the
ad message. Such interference is unlikely to occur under low involvement
conditions because uninvolved individuals tend to be far more attentive
 The Sounds of the Marketplace 147

to peripheral cues like music rather than message data. Yet, under high
involvement, there is potential for music to interfere with consumers’ nat-
ural inclination to focus on and deeply process the ad message. MacInnis
and Park (1991) suggested music may prompt such interference due to its
propensity to trigger memories of powerful prior emotion-laden experi-
ences associated with the music, and they tested the preceding reasoning.
They found that music actually increased message processing among low
involvement consumers, ostensibly because the highly evocative music
prompted such consumers to devote some incidental attention to the mes-
sage. But, as anticipated, the music interfered with the message process-
ing of high involvement consumers, presumably because these individuals
became so consumed by the music-triggered emotional memories that
they were unable to process the ad message.
The preceding findings suggest that consumers’ involvement with a
message plays an important role in how music affects consumers’ process-
ing of information. Yet some research indicates that music itself can alter
such involvement. Along these lines, MacInnis and Park (1991) found that
music heightened consumers’ involvement with an advertisement, stimu-
lating an increase in both message and nonmessage processing. In most
ads, though, music is intended to serve as an effective accompaniment for
a message that itself is designed to convey pertinent meaning. Music is
rarely chosen in a vacuum, but instead it is often selected to work synergis-
tically with the message by conveying either a similar or complementary
meaning (Scott, 1990). Supporting this goal, research shows that when the
meaning ascribed to ad music is congruent, rather than incongruent, with
the ad message, music benefits message processing, producing enhanced
brand and message recall (Kellaris, Cox, & Cox, 1993).
Although much of the work discussed to this point assumes that music
plays a subservient or ancillary role in promotion, in some instances it
can serve as a rather central element of an ad, perhaps conveying the ad’s
essence. This might be so if an ad message is intricately woven into the
music, as in a signature ad jingle. In this case, consumers may need to
commit sizable cognitive resources to it to understand and encode the
musical material. Indeed, Anand and Sternthal (1990) found that advertis-
ing messages embedded in music’s lyrics were more difficult for consumers
to process compared to ads that employed either music as a backdrop for
a spoken message or no music. In practice, however, advertisers often set
messages to music where the music serves primarily as a memory device
that can facilitate recall of a key benefit or attribute of the advertised prod-
uct. Although, like ad jingles, these messages may require substantial
148 Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa G. Bublitz, and Laura A. Peracchio

resources to process, the musical format may help consumers better toler-
ate ad repetition, enabling the repeated ad to generate positive attitudes
and increase brand recall (Scott, 1990).
Beyond setting a specific mood or providing a structure for messages,
music also can evoke rather general hedonic feelings. These feelings have
been referred to as music’s embodied meaning, for they are independent
of the setting and result simply from the sounds that embody the music,
such as its tempo, rhythm, percussive elements, key, or novelty of sound
(Meyer, 1994; Zhu & Meyers-Levy, 2005). For example, faster tempo ener-
getic music elicits more positive feelings than does sedate music (Stout &
Leckenby, 1988), music performed in either a major versus minor key or a
higher pitch stimulates more favorable feelings (Bruner, 1990), and music
dynamics like increasing rather than decreasing volume or tempo elicit
more optimistic climactic feelings (Bruner, 1990). Notably, regardless
of listeners’ musical training, they reveal substantial agreement in their
interpretations of such embodied meanings (Rigg, 1937).
Coexisting with such purely hedonic embodied meaning, music also
can evoke semantic or designative interpretations, which are referred to as
its referential meaning. Unlike embodied meaning, referential meanings
are learned, context dependent, and arise from the external world’s net-
works of descriptive concepts that music may bring to mind based on past
experience (Meyer, 1960, 1994; Zhu & Meyers-Levy, 2005). To exemplify
such referential meanings, consider how exposure to the tune of a nursery
rhyme can evoke concepts related to childhood, or how hearing an unfa-
miliar yet energetic song may stir up thoughts about mindless carefree fri-
volity, while the same song performed in a sedate manner might conjure
up notions of undisturbed reflection or thoughtful meditation.
Zhu and Meyers-Levy (2005) theorized that it should be more cognitively
demanding to infer the referential rather than the embodied meaning of
fairly muted background music in ads. Hence, they tested this by exposing
motivated ad recipients to a radio ad where the ad’s message format was
varied to alter how resource demanding it was to process the ad message,
and the energetic versus sedate style of the background ad music was also
manipulated. Prior work suggested that messages should be more taxing to
process if they are presented in an interactive drama format versus a mono-
logue-like lecture format. Based on the premise that motivated ad recipients
would first devote their cognitive resources to processing the ad message
and then expend their remaining resources processing the background ad
music, clear predictions were derived. As hypothesized, motivated proces-
sors of the ad discerned and based their assessments of the featured product
 The Sounds of the Marketplace 149

on the music’s embodied meaning when the ad message was presented in a

cognitively taxing drama format. But they inferred and based their assess-
ments on the music’s referential meaning when the ad message was aired in
a less onerous lecture format. As a result, these individuals’ perceptions of
the same product were shown to differ predictably depending on both the
presentation format of the ad message and the style of the ad’s background
music. This research underscores the importance of considering both con-
sumers’ motivation or involvement level as well as the cognitive demands
of the task that consumers will pursue when anticipating how the music
presented in marketing communications will influence responses.

Music in the Consumer Environment

Music also can shape the very behaviors or actions that consumers display,
a finding that clearly follows from the idea that motion may be the most
primal sensorial response to music (Lacher & Mizerski, 1994). Consider
how an up-tempo tune on your iPod can inspire you to pick up the pace
as you walk or run. Adding to this, the symbolism conveyed by musical
lyrics may stimulate corresponding visual imagery (Holbrook & Grayson,
1986). Music also may foster cognitive stimulation if listeners categorize
the music or analyze its technical aspects (Lacher & Mizerski, 1994). In
light of this, it is hardly surprising that music often affects consumers’
actions, decision making, and choices in retail environments. Milliman
(1982) found that background store music with a slow versus fast tempo
altered both the pace of shopping and total sales volume; slower music
prompted more leisurely in-store traffic, which in turn elevated sales vol-
ume. Slow-tempo music also has been found to lead diners to spend more
time at a restaurant. As a result, they ate the same amount as did patrons
in a faster-paced outlet, but they drank more, which heightened their aver-
age expenditure (Milliman, 1986). Also, although music may not shorten
the perceived duration that consumers wait, it can make the waiting more
pleasant, producing more positive evaluations of wait times (Antonides,
Verhoef, & van Aalst, 2002; Kellaris & Kent, 1992).
In conclusion, although the inherently complex and dynamic nature of
music renders it challenging to study, research attests that music can exert
a potent influence on consumers’ perceptions, attitudes, and behavior.
Existing research points to a number of factors that are likely to qualify
the way that music affects us, including our motivation or involvement
level (e.g., the effortfulness of our processing), the demands of the task
150 Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa G. Bublitz, and Laura A. Peracchio

that we perform when hearing the music, and the demands of the market-
ing message itself. Nevertheless, further inquiry is needed to add to our
understanding of how the music we hear can influence when and what we
will buy.

Audition and the Multisensory Experience

Just as music possesses many complex and dynamic elements that operate
in unison to create unique musical experiences, auditory stimuli represent
only one of the many elements that are often used in marketing commu-
nications. Neuroscience and psychology researchers have sought to tease
apart the effect of the auditory stimuli from other sensory modalities,
with research by Eimer (1999) suggesting that a single system may control
people’s visual and auditory attention. If so, individuals may be impeded
from simultaneously directing their attention to visual and auditory stim-
uli in opposite locations. Further, when visual and verbal stimuli compete
for attention, it may be that consumers must divide their attention among
such stimuli (Bonnel & Hafter, 1998).
Consumer researchers have long been interested in the relationship
between visual and verbal elements in persuasive communications. In
an examination of product placements, Russell (2002) found that unless
the placement was integral to the plot of the televised program, viewers
remembered auditory placements better than visual ones. Presumably
when viewers divide their attention between visual images and auditory
stimuli in a television program, priority is given to processing auditory
stimuli because dialogue tends to be critical to understanding the tele-
vision show plots. Still, it seems possible that visual rather than verbal
product placements may be more impactful if visual stimuli are espe-
cially noteworthy, as in, say, travel documentaries. Most of the current
research that has contrasted visual with verbal stimuli has compared print
images with text. Although valuable insights are offered by such research,
it remains unclear to what extent conclusions from these studies apply to
the processing of visual and auditory stimuli. Future research needs to
explore both differences in the processing of such stimuli in persuasive
communications and corresponding synergies.
In many product categories, sound itself may provide important diag-
nostic data, as in the case of, say, stereo speakers. Consumers have been
shown to place substantial weight on their own evaluation of sensory attri-
butes like sound, taste, or touch when these attributes are critical to the
 The Sounds of the Marketplace 151

product experience. Still, rich descriptions of the crucial sensory experi-

ence may compensate for a consumer’s desire for direct sensory experi-
ence (McCabe & Nowlis, 2003). This implies that radio advertisers may
benefit by including rich product descriptions in their messages, for these
descriptions might compensate for the absence of visual data. Also, to the
extent that verbal or auditory stimuli engage the listener in visual imag-
ery, heightened elaboration may promote more successful persuasion
(Unnava, Agarwal, & Haugtvedt, 1996). As consumers consider buying
more product categories online, it is likely to become critically important
that consumers are provided with elaborate descriptions of sensory attri-
butes that the medium simply prevents them from experiencing directly.
Future research is needed that explores the extent to which one sense may
compensate for another in online settings.
Sensory perception frequently involves the integration of complex stim-
uli from multiple senses. Provocative work by Zampini and Spence (2004,
2005) examined how the perception of one sensory attribute, sound, can
influence product perceptions involving a different sensory dimension,
taste. These researchers found that the sound heard when eating or pouring
a food product can influence consumers’ perceptions of the product’s fresh-
ness or taste. Thus, when biting a potato chip, a louder crunch enhanced
perceptions of the product’s crispness and freshness. Similarly, consum-
ers perceived that a beverage was more carbonated when they heard loud
bubbling when the drink was poured into a container. Extending on this,
imagine what your perceptions of Rice Krispies would be if you failed to
hear Snap, Crackle, Pop the next time you poured milk on them? Indeed,
the loud rumble heard when a Harley-Davidson motorcycle passes by was
viewed as so crucial to brand identification that the company attempted to
trademark the low, guttural growl of the motorcycle’s engine and exhaust
system in an effort to prevent competitors from copying the bike’s signa-
ture sound (Wilde, 1995). There is little doubt that sound represents a crit-
ical part of the consumer experience for many products. Future research
must further explore how the senses jointly influence product perceptions
and which product attributes are viewed as diagnostic for particular types
of evaluations.

Conclusions

This chapter provided an overview of some of the intriguing research

in marketing that has investigated the ways in which sound can affect
152 Joan Meyers-Levy, Melissa G. Bublitz, and Laura A. Peracchio

consumers. While important headway has been made in understanding

how sound symbolism, aspects of both language and music, and multi-
sensory experiences that involve sound can influence consumers’ memory,
evaluations, and behaviors, more work is needed. Ironically, although radio
is both a very real and dominant advertising medium that focuses almost
entirely on sound, it has received quite limited research attention. An inter-
esting exception is some work by Chattopadhyay, Dahl, Ritchie, and Shahin
(2003), which showed that faster syllable speed, but not interphrase pausa-
tion, impaired attention to and recall of radio ad messages. The heightened
syllable speed reduced listeners’ motivation to process the radio ad mes-
sage. Forehand and Perkins (2005) also conducted some work that is note-
worthy for its realism, although it was done in the context of television ads.
These researchers found that when audiences were able to identify celebrity
voice-overs in ads, their explicit brand attitudes were negatively influenced
by their attitude to the celebrity. Yet the opposite outcome emerged when
ad recipients were unable to identify the celebrity voice-overs.
Most of the auditory research presented in this chapter investigated
the intentional use of sound by marketers. Yet in today’s media environ-
ment, where much exposure occurs when consumers are out of the home,
ambient or environmental sounds in the broader environment also may
influence how consumers’ process and are persuaded by marketing com-
munications. Research is needed that examines how ambient sound, say a
barking dog or the omnipresent ring of a passerby’s cell phone, might ser-
endipitously affect persuasion. Finally, as investigators explore the role of
sound in consumer behavior, it seems that much more research is needed
that examines information processing from a multisensory perspective.
Such work could shed important light on our understanding of how the
senses work together in influencing persuasion.

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11
Auxiliary Auditory Ambitions
Assessing Ancillary and Ambient Sounds
Eric Yorkston

As far as the role of the five senses in marketing, sound has probably been
given its due notice. However, when sound is examined across the range
of marketing areas in which one would expect it to play a decisive role,
such as product design and development, it quickly becomes apparent
that the literature has too often been quiet. The study of sound in market-
ing has often been relegated to the role of sound in advertising, both in
speech and in music (see Harris, Sturm, Klassen, and Bechtold [1986] for
a review of language in advertising and Oakes [2007] for the role of music
in advertising).
Granted, marketing communications is a natural focus for the study of
sound. To some extent all traditional communication in English involves
sound. All radio advertisements must convey the entirety of their mes-
sages aurally, and sound is a seminal component of almost all television
advertisements. Indirectly, even print ads that involve the English lan-
guage utilize sound; words are “heard” in the mind when read. In order
to process a phonetic written language, read words enter a phontactic loop,
similarly to spoken words, before being encoded in the mind (Pinker,
1994). This phenomenon has been nicely examined in marketing cross-
culturally by comparing languages with phonetic-based writing systems
with logographic-based writing systems (Schmitt, Pan, & Tavassoli, 1994).
Researchers have also documented the interplay of music and language
as embodied in the ever-lilting jingle. This melodious inclusion has been
shown to increase memory, attention, and affect for the brand and com-
mercial message (Scott, 1990; Wallace, 1991).
In all these cases, sound is considered an essential part of the message
and plays a purposeful role in communication. But what about when the

157
158 Eric Yorkston

sounds attached to a product, service, or communication only play an aux-

iliary role? Just because sound may not be a focal aspect of the consumer
decision process does not mean that it does not play a valuable role for
companies or consumers. In fact these auxiliary sounds can exert a strong
influence on the consumer. This chapter focuses on these auxiliary sounds
and the role they play. It proposes a new framework for auxiliary sounds
containing two distinct categories: ancillary sounds and ambient sounds.

Ancillary Sounds

In most products or services, sound in and of itself is not the attribute of

interest to the consumer. However, that does not mean that sound does
not play a pivotal role. Sound often plays an ancillary role by providing a
cue to how a product performs on some desirable dimension. For example,
the slam of a car door is often considered a signal of the quality of the car
(Kuwano, Fastl, Namba, Nakamura, & Uchida, 2006) and the sound of
the horn can reveal information regarding its size and personality. These
ancillary sounds provide essential support to the perceptions of an object’s
attributes and function.
Individuals expect that the sound an object emits will reveal something
about the properties of that object. For example, in animals, it is expected
that volume and pitch correlate to animal size; large dogs should have
loud, low barks and small dogs should have high-pitched, softer, yippy
barks. This natural correlation between sound and size is behind much of
the work on sound symbolism, where the sounds of the word connote the
object it represents (Yorkston & Menon, 2004). But humans have also been
able to notice patterns occurring in man-made objects and in inanimate
objects in the natural world. When hearing unknown sounds, people are
able to recognize features of the source such as shape, material, and hol-
lowness (Rocchesso, Ottaviani, Fontana, & Avanzini, 2003). For example,
Kunkler-Peck and Turvey (2000) found that individuals were able to iden-
tify shape and material properties upon hearing impact sounds. Lederman
(1979) demonstrated that in judging the roughness of a surface, judgments
based on auditory information were almost identical to those based on the
corresponding tactile information.
The converse is also true; individuals are able to predict what sounds an
object will make from its physical properties. If this relationship is violated,
then not only are individuals taken aback, but they negatively transfer
this auditory betrayal to the objects themselves. Ludden and Schifferstein
 Auxiliary Auditory Ambitions 159

(2007) examined what happens when an object’s sound is incongru-

ent with consumers’ expectations. Consumers watched an experimenter
operate a “flimsy” juicer (i.e., it was relatively small, had simple rounded
shapes, and was made out of white and transparent plastic) or a “robust”
juicer (i.e., it was tall, had a vertical main form, was shaped with smooth
curves, and had a silver metallic and black color combination). Sounds
were digitally manipulated to emphasize or attenuate their specific expres-
sive characteristics. If the flimsy (robust) juicer produced robust (flimsy)
sounds, then consumers reported amazement and surprise. Interestingly,
consumers seemed equally surprised both when a product negatively
underperformed and when a product positively over performed. Ludden
and Schifferstein (2007) found similar results when comparing a “tough”
dust buster (i.e., was large, had sharp edges, and silver metallic color) to
a “cute” dust buster (had a round, curved shape and a creamy white and
orange color combination).
When sound does not match our expectations, it not only fails to elicit
surprise, but it can mold our perceptions of the physical characteristics of
the object. Zampini and Spence (2004) demonstrated that a sound’s char-
acteristics can influence the perceived characteristics of the representative
product. In their studies, participants heard real-time manipulated sound
through headphones as they bit into potato chips. The participants’ mas-
tication was recorded and the overall sound level was either amplified or
attenuated and fed back into their headphones. As the overall sound level
increased, so did participants’ perceptions of the crispness and staleness of
the potato chips. Further, Zampini and Spence (2004) demonstrated that it
was the high frequency sounds traditionally associated with the “snap” of
biting into fresh and crisp foods that were driving perceptions. When only
high frequency sounds (in the range of 2 kHz to 20 kHz) were amplified,
the chips once again were perceived to be crisper and fresher. Selectively
amplifying the lower frequency sounds had no discernable effect on judg-
ments of crispness or freshness.
Zampini and colleagues have continued to explore this relationship
across a multitude of product categories and found that manipulating the
overall sound levels and frequencies can make electric toothbrushes less
pleasant or rougher (Zampini, Guest, & Spence, 2003) and sodas more car-
bonated (Zampini & Spence, 2005). Finally, Lageat, Czellar, and Laurent
(2003) investigated how gestalt perceptions of luxury can be produced for
lighters. For a classic flip-open lighter, they found that luxury was associ-
ated with either sounds that were full-bodied, even, and low in pitch, or
with sounds that were clear, resonant, and clicking.
160 Eric Yorkston

Although there has been much talk regarding multisensory experiences,

especially in the hedonic consumption paradigm (Lageat et al., 2003), the
role of sound is often overlooked in favor of the more “exotic” senses of
smell, touch, and taste. The study of ancillary sounds and the processes
by which their influence manifests is still in its infancy and there is great
room for future research.

Ambient Sounds

Of course not all sounds are even indirectly related to an object’s or a

service’s attributes. Atmospheric sounds, which may occur naturally, at
random in a particular environment, or at a particular time, need not
provide information. Instead, these background, or ambient sounds may
set the pervading tone or mood of a place, service, or object. Sounds are
heard continually and continuously and there is almost no time when true
“silence” is experienced. For every event there is an auditory component,
and control of this component can take on great importance.
Work on ambient sounds in marketing has appropriately focused on
a company’s primary point of contact with the consumer: the retail or
service space. Service spaces often intentionally control ambient sounds.
The most common method of control is through the inclusion of music
in the consumption experience, for the retail or service experience often
occurs in its own physical space and under company control. Not surpris-
ingly, background music has been widely studied to see how it can affect
the mood, attitudes, and behavior of the consumer. This research appears
to center around three music dimensions: music tempo, music type, and
music volume.

Music Tempo

Studies have shown that the tempo of music in stores is often correlated
with the pace of shopping (Milliman, 1982, 1986). Consumers who hear
music with a slower tempo complete tasks at a slower pace. Because slower
pace translates into a longer service encounter and time in a store, it is
not surprising that slower music provides consumers with greater con-
sumption opportunities and influences quantity purchased. When music
tempo was manipulated in a supermarket, shoppers spent more time and
money in the slow tempo retail environments and sales correspondingly
 Auxiliary Auditory Ambitions 161

increased by 38% (Milliman, 1982). Similar results have been observed

for music tempo in a restaurant (Milliman, 1986). Customers in the slow
music condition took more time to eat their meals compared to those in
the fast-music condition. And although the pace of music did not change
which foods were ordered or the amount spent on food, the extra time
spent at the table did translate into more drinks being consumed and a
41% increase in beverage revenue.
Not only does music tempo help determine the pace of shopping, but it
also provides greater context and associative information about what sorts
of products, schemas, and ultimately purchases are most appropriate.
These associations can influence consumers by influencing unconscious
thought processes. For example, people do not consciously think that
they should take their time in a store if slow background music is playing.
Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that consumers cannot recall the
properties of the music playing and in many cases report being unaware of
music playing at all (Milliman, 1986; North, Hargreaves, & McKendrick,
1999). Rather, consumers most likely unconsciously associate slow music
with a more relaxed pace. The relaxed tempo can also produce a calming
effect. In a study that examined the effects of ambient music on custom-
ers’ response to bank lines, McDonnell (2007) documented that ambient
music can reduce queue rage.
Just as slow tempo music relaxes consumers, fast tempo music can
create states of arousal in its listeners. Dubé, Chebat, and Morris (1995)
demonstrated that music-induced arousal, independent of pleasure, had
a positive effect on consumers’ affiliation behaviors in a banking context.
The faster tempo music heightened arousal and increased positive con-
sumer attitudes of friendliness toward the bank personnel. Additionally,
consumers exposed to fast tempo music reported greater behavioral inten-
tions to smile, say hello, and chat with the bank employees.

Music Type

Yalch and Spangenberg (1990) conducted research that built on the

Milliman studies regarding music and its effect on perceptions of time.
They manipulated the type of music played. In a department store setting,
they compared the effects of foreground music (Top 40), and background
music (instrumental and easy listening), to a no music control group. In that
study, younger shoppers (under 25) thought that they had spent more time
shopping in the easy listening condition, whereas older shoppers perceived
162 Eric Yorkston

that they had shopped longer when Top 40 music was played. The authors
concluded that encountering atypical environmental factors (e.g., unfamil-
iar music) might adversely influence consumers’ time perceptions.
The specific type of ambient store music not only influences pace and
time perceptions, but it also affects product choice through the associa-
tions generated. In a study involving wine purchases, North et al. (1999)
investigated the extent to which stereotypically French and German music
influenced supermarket customers’ selections of French and German
wines. Music with strong national associations activated customers’
related knowledge and resulted in customers buying wine from the respec-
tive country. Over a 2-week period, French and German music was played
on alternate days in a store that had in-store displays for both French and
German wines. French music led to French wines outselling German ones,
whereas German music led to the opposite effect on sales of French and
German wine. Responses to a questionnaire suggested that customers
were unaware of these effects of music on their product choices. Music
can also generate associations regarding class, status, and price. Another
study found that wine shoppers purchased more expensive wines when
classical music was playing than when the store played Top 40 hits (Areni
& Kim, 1993).
The type of ambient music is often chosen to appeal to the target demo-
graphic’s particular taste and establish connections between a company,
its brand, and its customer. Music’s powerful ability to establish rich, deep
connections is a valuable branding tool, and companies are going further
and further to make this meaningful connection between brand and con-
sumer. Proctor and Gamble, maker of TAG body spray, recently teamed up
with Jermaine Dupri, president of Island Def Jam’s Urban Music division,
to start Tag Records, a new label that will specialize in hip-hop music. It is
hoped that this collaboration will make TAG body spray resonate with its
young target audience (Levine, 2008).
Similarly, retailers have established connections with a target demo-
graphic by playing, promoting, and selling musical genres that appeal to
that target demographic in their stores. In these cases, retailers act as a
music distribution channel or engage in typical cross-promotion strate-
gies. For example, Starbucks, the Seattle coffee chain, sells a range of music
including Alicia Keys, Kenny G, and James Blunt. Starbucks reported sell-
ing 4.4 million compact disks in North America in 2007, up some 22%
from the year before (Leeds, 2008). Although the additional revenue that
the sales provide is an added benefit, Starbucks’ main interest is how the
music selections give them credibility with their audience by promoting
 Auxiliary Auditory Ambitions 163

and introducing new artists. When Starbucks stocked Careless Love, a

compact disk of sophisticated pop-jazz songs by Madeleine Peyroux, who
had attracted only a modest following in the United States, Peyroux soon
found herself at number 81 on the Billboard chart and has since become a
mainstay of jazz (Leeds, 2008).
Music can also be an excellent cross-promotional tool that can link
brands with similar target audiences and strengthen brand identities. For
example, in November 2007, the lingerie and beauty retailer Victoria’s
Secret exclusively released the compact disk version of Spice Girls: Greatest
Hits, which featured 13 of the best-selling British girl-group’s chart-top-
ping smash singles. The two brands share a mutual goal of projecting an
image of sexy and empowered women, and both brands benefit from these
connections. Further cementing the Spice Girls partnership with Victoria’s
Secret, the group made their reunion television debut at Victoria’s Secret’s
annual fashion show.
Of course the type of music chosen does not have to drive sales or even
drive customers to the store. Music type can just as easily drive people
away. The aversive power of music has a long and storied history. In the
U.S. military, loud music is utilized by psyops, or psychological operations,
and is considered a tried and true method to repel, harass, and bring down
the enemy. In 1989, when Manuel Noriega, a noted opera buff who report-
edly hated rock music, was ensconced in the Vatican embassy in Panama
City, U.S. soldiers assailed Noriega’s ears with Guns and Roses and Van
Halen (McFadyen, 2006). He quickly surrendered. Less drastically, empir-
ical evidence also suggests that sound can dissuade individuals not in the
target demographic from actions such as entering retail spaces. For exam-
ple, the use of classical music to alienate youth is widespread. To clear out
undesirables, opera and classical music have been piped into Canadian
parks, Australian railway stations, English seaside shops, 7-Eleven park-
ing lots and, most recently, London Underground stops. For example,
a McDonald’s in Camberwell, England, has used the sonic approach of
playing classical music outside its restaurant to stop youths from gather-
ing there (Morris, 2005).
According to figures released in January 2005 from Transport for
London, the local government agency responsible for the London
Underground, a test of classical music in select London subway stations
showed robberies in the subway down by 33%, assaults on staff down by
25%, and vandalism of trains and stations down by 37% (Morris, 2005).
Additional sources have reported fewer muggings and drug deals. London
authorities now plan to expand the playing of Mozart, Vivaldi, Handel,
164 Eric Yorkston

and opera (sung by Pavarotti) from three subway stations to an additional

40 (Fisher, 2008).

Music Volume

Youths and hooligans are not the only ones to be deterred by music.
Abercrombie and Fitch is famous for dissuading adults from enter-
ing the store through the use of loud music (Thornton, 2007). A recent
television news exposé measured the sound in one Portland, Oregon,
Abercrombie and Fitch store at 90 decibels (peaking out at 98 deci-
bels). This is as loud as a chain saw and right on the threshold of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s permissible occupa-
tional noise exposure for an 8-hour shift (U.S. Department of Labor,
2008). Similar noise levels were observed in Nordstrom’s teen section
(mid-80 dB) and Hollister (90 dB) (Thornton, 2007). Thornton (2007)
reports that audiologists say prolonged exposure to sounds above 85 dB
could cause permanent hearing loss and that everyone working at the
observed Abercrombie and Fitch should be wearing hearing protection.
Employees reported that they were not allowed to turn down the music
due to corporate policy.
Loud music has also been shown to affect the amount of time spent in a
store. Smith and Curnow (1966) found that customers spent significantly
less time in stores when the music was loud compared to when the music
was soft, although there was no significant difference in sales or in the
customers’ reported levels of satisfaction.

Unexpected Effects

To this point we have addressed the intentional application of ancillary and

ambient sounds. Yet auxiliary sounds are not always under the control of
the marketer. Ancillary sounds may be an unintended or uncontrollable
consequence of a product feature. There may also be difficulties caused
by sounds corresponding to correlated attributes. The reassuring thump
of the new Volkswagen Beetle’s door may signal high quality, but it also
identifies the door’s hefty weight, which could lead to concerns regarding
the automobile’s peppiness or fuel efficiency. Ancillary sounds also inter-
act with the environment and the consumption context. The refreshing
“pop” heard when opening a can of Coca-Cola might be desirable in most
 Auxiliary Auditory Ambitions 165

instances, but it is surely unappreciated (and a dead giveaway of imper-

missible behavior) in a quiet library.
Ambient sounds also face these constraints. Atmospherics are not
always under a company’s control, especially with sound’s pesky reluc-
tance to obey property lines. Street noises, construction, and custom-
ers’ themselves are not only sources of competing sounds, they also play
strong roles in determining sound volume decisions. Additionally, the
consumption space may have ambient sounds that are specific to the
consumption experience, and these ambient sounds may interact with
the physical properties or geography of that space. The roar of the crowd
at a ballpark depends on the interaction of these factors, and it is a key
element of the game consumption experience. The complexity of these
interactions of ambient and ancillary sounds provides ample rich areas
for future work.

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12
Understanding the Role of Spokesperson
Voice in Broadcast Advertising
Darren W. Dahl

Worldwide, broadcast advertising is a $69 billion industry. Of that total,

roughly $21 billion is spent on production and airtime for radio ads, with
an additional $48 billion of comparable expenditures in television (Bond,
2008; Radio Advertising Bureau, 2008). When preparing a broadcast
advertisement, a key managerial decision involves selection of the voice
that will be used to convey the information contained in the advertise-
ment. Whether alone or with sound effects as in radio, or combined with
images as in television, the voice in a broadcast advertisement is a key
focal point for the audience. It provides the vehicle by which the product
claims are conveyed, and thereby plays an important role in seizing the
listener’s attention in a world of competing messages.
There is considerable evidence to suggest that the meaning of verbal
communication is conveyed not only by words, but by the way in which
those words are delivered (for examples see Myers, Herndon, & Fryar,
1988; Peterson, Cannito, & Brown, 1995). Apple, Streeter, and Krauss
(1979) refer to the linguistic content of a message as the verbal channel and
the paralinguistic information conveyed by voice characteristics as the
vocal channel. Indeed, under certain circumstances, vocal characteristics
appear to have been more important than verbal content in influencing
listeners’ attitudes and perceptions (e.g., Mehrabian, 1972; Thomas, 1992).
As such, it would seem reasonable to conclude that voice plays an impor-
tant role in the development of attitudes toward the ad and, by extension,
toward the brand that the advertisement seeks to promote.
Theories abound regarding the qualities that are desirable in an adver-
tisement spokesperson’s voice. Yet most of these are based on the indi-
vidual manager’s intuition or on anecdotal evidence from a small number

169
170 Darren W. Dahl

of very successful advertising campaigns. Although there are some voices

and voice types that have been favored by advertisers, little concrete evi-
dence exists to explain (a) whether these voices are truly effective; (b) what
characteristics of these voices make them so, and (c) whether there are any
boundary conditions that limit the effectiveness of a particular voice type.
Despite the apparently important role of voice in determining the effec-
tiveness of a broadcast advertisement, little research has been done in this
area. An examination of the effects of several voice characteristics have
been made in a variety of other settings, such as personal selling, telephone
interviews, and public speaking. This research suggests that fundamental
frequency (voice pitch) and vocal speech rate are two important influenc-
ers of listener response to verbal communication and that they affect per-
sonal perceptions of the speaker. Using these two voice characteristics to
guide this discussion, this chapter provides an overview of voice research
in broadcast advertising and outlines opportunities for future research in
the area.

Fundamental Frequency

Fundamental frequency refers to the vibration rate of the vocal folds in

the throat (larynx), and the perceptual representation of this phenomenon
is known as pitch. Extensive research in psychology (Bond, Welkowitz,
Goldschmidt, & Wattenberg, 1987) and linguistics (Brown, Strong, &
Rencher, 1973) suggests that in general, low-pitched voices are evaluated
more favorably than high-pitched voices. A representative study by Apple
et al. (1979) reported three experiments in which participants were asked
to listen to tape recordings that had been altered such that the fundamental
frequency of the speaker’s voice was either presented at its normal level or
electronically increased or decreased by 20%. Results indicated that speak-
ers with high-pitched voices were judged less truthful, less emphatic, less
potent, and more nervous than speakers with low-pitched voices. Indeed,
Brown et al. (1973) found that increases in fundamental frequency lead
listeners to perceive a speaker as less competent and less benevolent.
Studies of the effects of deception on speech indicate that voice pitch does,
in fact, tend to rise when we are lying (Ekman, Friesen, & Scherer, 1976;
Streeter, Krauss, Geller, Olson, & Apple, 1977). More generally, a higher-
pitched voice has been associated with greater levels of stress, nervousness,
and fright. It is argued that low-pitched voices may therefore be a reason-
able diagnostic indicator that a person is telling the truth. Evidence suggests
 Understanding the Role of Spokesperson Voice in Broadcast Advertising 171

that the increased persuasiveness of deeper voices may also result from a
second, parallel process. Connections have been found between deep voices
and increased message acceptance in low-involvement situations (Gelinas-
Chebat & Chebat, 1992). Moreover, it has been found that low-pitched voices
are considered more appealing and lead to more favorable evaluations of the
personality of the speaker (Zuckerman & Miyake, 1993).
In a marketing context, the limited research that investigates funda-
mental frequency shows mixed results. Research investigating the effec-
tiveness of telephone market research interviewers shows that interviewers
with higher fundamental frequencies (i.e., higher-pitched voices) were
more successful and realized lower refusal rates for consumer participa-
tion (Oksenberg, Coleman, & Cannell, 1986; Sharf & Lehman, 1984). It
is important to note, however, that these two studies use female voices in
their testing. In an advertising context, Chattopadhyay, Dahl, Ritchie, and
Shahin (2003) directly tested fundamental frequency by digitally varying
the vocal pitch of the spokesperson in a radio ad to be either high or low.
The results showed a more favorable reaction to the lower-pitched version
of the radio advertisement; however, this main effect was qualified by the
speech rate of the spokesperson, a vocal characteristic that is examined in
the next section.

Vocal Speech Rate

A convincing body of empirical evidence has linked faster speech rates

with enhanced persuasive power. Several studies have found that listen-
ers attribute greater competence and credibility to individuals who speak
more quickly (for examples see Miller, Maruyama, Beaber, & Valone, 1976;
Pearce & Conklin, 1971; Smith, Brown, Strong, & Rencher, 1975; Stewart &
Ryan, 1982; Zuckerman & Driver, 1989). Fast speech also seems to encour-
age listeners to see speakers as more intelligent, knowledgeable, and objec-
tive (Miller et al., 1976), as well as more truthful, fluent, emphatic, serious,
and persuasive (Apple et al., 1979).
In the marketing context, considerable research attention has been
directed toward vocal speech rate in broadcast advertising. The industry
practice of time compression in both television and radio broadcast adver-
tisements in the 1970s and 1980s garnered a number of investigations cen-
tered on the effects of quickened speech rate on audience’s perceptions
and attitudes. Notably, James MacLachlan and colleagues in a series of
papers (LaBarbera & MacLachlan, 1979; MacLachlan, 1982; MacLachlan
172 Darren W. Dahl

& Siegel, 1980) found that people prefer a vocal speech rate that is mod-
erately faster than normal speed. They suggested that faster speeds are
not only preferred, but they cause listeners to devote greater attention in
processing advertisement information. Their findings showed that listen-
ers had better recall of advertisements and were more favorable to the ad
when time-compression techniques were used. Subsequent work (Lautman
& Dean, 1983; Moore, Hausknecht, & Thamodaran, 1986; Schlinger,
Alwitt, McCarthy, & Green, 1983; Stephens, 1982; but see Vann, Rogers,
& Penrod, 1987 for an alternate outcome) predominately validated the
effect of a more positive response to speech-compressed advertisements,
but refuted the initial claim that listeners realized improved processing
of advertising content. Rather, these papers argue that an increased vocal
speech rate in broadcast advertising gives listeners less time to elaborate
on the advertisement, reducing their opportunity to process the message.
Indeed, listeners may use faster speech as a cue that the processing task
will be difficult and effectively “tune out” from the advertisement (Moore
et al., 1986). It is suggested that when speech rate is faster than normal,
listeners will process the substance of the advertisement less and focus
instead on peripheral cues such as likability of the spokesperson’s voice
in forming their attitudes and judgments. Results from a series of stud-
ies, reported by Moore et al. (1986), suggest that when speech rate is high,
consumers do in fact process advertisement claims less.
As has been pointed out by several authors in linguistics and psy-
chology (e.g., Cotton, 1936; Kelly & Steer, 1949; Lane & Grosjean, 1973),
speech rate is derived by two components: syllable speed and interphrase
pausation. Syllable speed is the speed at which a syllable is articulated,
approximately five per second in normal speech (Grosjean & Lane, 1976).
Interphrase pausation is the gap between successive phrases, typically 0.5
seconds in normal conversation (Grosjean & Lane, 1976). Although pre-
vious research in marketing and speech compression has pointed to this
distinction (Schlinger et al., 1983), investigation of these two aspects of
speech rate was not conducted independently.
Two more recent papers in the advertising context have sought to dis-
entangle the role that syllable speed and pausation each play in cultivat-
ing vocal speech rate effects. Megehee, Dobie, and Grant (2003) used a
radio-advertising context to both compress and expand speech rate
through either changes to pausation or the speed of syllabic articulation.
Their findings indicated that, in general, a faster speech rate resulted in
more affective reactions from listeners and a better attitudinal response
toward the spokesperson. A slower speech rate enabled greater cognitive
 Understanding the Role of Spokesperson Voice in Broadcast Advertising 173

elaboration on the message. These results are consistent with assumptions

expressed in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1979)
and replicate previous findings in the literature. Interestingly, listeners
showed no significant differences in their responses to the two methods of
speech manipulation. However, the authors note that pause-compressed
speech produced directionally more favorable attitudes toward the mes-
sage and increased cognitive responses. The authors further contend that
the lack of meaningful differences across these forms of speech compres-
sion may be an outcome of the narrow range of speech rate used in their
study. They speculate that a broader range of speech rates would likely
affect listeners.
Chattopadhyay et al. (2003) also sought to tease out differential effects
for syllabic speed and interphrase pausation. As noted above, these authors
varied vocal pitch and the two aspects of vocal speech rate in a fully crossed
experimental design. Utilizing a radio advertising context, findings here
indicated no effects for interphrase pausation on ad processing or atti-
tudes. Syllable speed, on the other hand, interacted with the voice pitch
of the spokesperson and produced an influence on consumers’ responses.
When syllabic speed was faster, listeners focused more on the periph-
eral cue of pitch, exhibiting more favorable responses to a low- versus a
high-pitched voice. Specifically, given a faster syllabic speed, more adver-
tisement-directed cognitive responses and more positive ad and brand
attitudes emerged in the low- than the high-vocal-pitched condition. As
the authors clarified, these results both support and extend the findings
of Moore et al. (1986). They show that the effect of increasing speech rate
in broadcast advertising is to disrupt, rather than enhance, consumer pro-
cessing of the advertisement. They also indicate that the peripheral cue of
vocal pitch can have substantial effects on listeners. Finally, the authors
contend that it is motivation, not ability, to process the advertisement that
underlies their findings. This conclusion is derived from the null findings
for pausation. Given that both manipulations reduced the advertisement’s
running time by exactly the same amount, support for a motivational
explanation is implicated.
It is interesting to note that very little research attention in market-
ing has been conducted in spokesperson voice over the past decade. The
brief discussion above is seeded in much earlier work and highlights
initial findings with respect to two vocal characteristics—fundamental
frequency and speech rate—in the broadcast advertising context. This
review brings to light inconsistencies in findings and suggests additional
questions. For example, in the most recent empirical investigations of
174 Darren W. Dahl

interphrase pausation, divergent findings were identified. Megehee et al.

(2003) show parallel influence for reduction in speech rate for pausation
and syllabic length, whereas Chattopadhyay et al. (2003) show no influ-
ence for changes in interphrase pausation. This discrepancy in results and
other unanswered questions pertaining to these vocal characteristics indi-
cate opportunities for future research. In the next section, specific oppor-
tunities for future investigation are highlighted.

Opportunities

Other Characteristics of Speech

A number of opportunities for additional investigation are found in other

defining characteristics of vocal speech. One key characteristic is pitch
contour, whether the fundamental frequency is rising or falling over the
course of an individual’s speech. Previous research indicates that the con-
tour in pitch across a phrase can imbue verbal communication with addi-
tional meaning (Ohala, 1981). For example, a phrase ending on a rising
pitch is often understood to be a question, whereas the same phrase in a
downward pitch may be interpreted as a statement. As such, rising contours
might reflect uncertainty and be related to perceptions of low competency
and credibility. Future research could systematically vary pitch contour to
investigate its impact on the effectiveness of marketing communications.
An initial investigation by Peterson et al. (1995) in a sales context exam-
ined the role of pitch contour. Their results showed that salespeople made
good use of both upward and downward pitch contours, and that use of
a falling contour pattern correlated to better sales performance. These
exploratory findings provide a good starting point for additional research
attention toward this speech variable.
Relatedly, Gelinas-Chebat and Chebat (1992) explored the effects
of voice intonation, the level of variation in an individual’s fundamen-
tal frequency. Working with a sample of 221 participants, the authors
assessed attitudes toward two messages that advertised automated teller
machines and student loans. A professional male spokesperson was used
to produce different voices for the two intonation levels investigated. Their
results showed that when the spokesperson used a low level of intonation
the message was more effective with the audience than when a high level
of intonation was utilized. Importantly, they also showed that this vocal
characteristic is a peripheral cue most influential under low involvement
 Understanding the Role of Spokesperson Voice in Broadcast Advertising 175

situations. Variation in pitch, as a subtle peripheral cue, is a vocal char-

acteristic under the control of the spokesperson and as such enables both
theoretical and substantive implications for future research efforts.
Another potentially important characteristic deserving study is voice
amplitude (i.e., the loudness or intensity of the voice delivery). Although
not typically under the control of the marketing manager in the advertis-
ing context, variability on this dimension can play an important role in
other marketing contexts such as service encounters. Previous research
has shown that dominance, assertiveness, and aggression are characterized
by loud voices (Peterson et al., 1995), whereas submission, deference, and
uncertainty are conveyed by a quieter vocal delivery (Brown & Bradshaw,
1985). Interestingly, the evidence outlining relationships involving ampli-
tude is less extensive than that for other voice characteristics (Peterson et
al., 1995), and this provides a good opportunity for future investigation.
Variability in amplitude and interrelationships with other vocal charac-
teristics are additional research prospects in this area.
It is important to note that technological advances over the past few
years have created a better experimental environment for the study of
voice characteristics. Specifically, the use of digital recordings effectively
manipulated through advanced computer software enables researchers to
independently alter dimensions of vocal speech while holding all other
characteristics constant. Technology provides the ability to manipulate
vocal characteristics in almost any manner, facilitates more control in
developed manipulations, and allows more precision in realizing exact
levels of vocal characteristics targeted by the experimenter. More recent
investigations have made use of this type of technology. For example, the
Chattopdahyay et al. (2003) paper discussed above uses Pro Tools software
(Digidesign, Inc., Daly City, CA) to effectively manipulate fundamental
frequency, pausation, and syllabic speed independent of one another.
When compared to initial research in this area, which utilized actors or
spokespeople attempting to speak with different fundamental frequencies
(e.g., Gelinas-Chebat & Chebat, 1992) or multiple spokespeople represent-
ing different vocal conditions (e.g., Sharf & Lehman, 1984), the advantages
of embracing new methodologies become readily apparent.

Context

A second broad area that demands more research attention is the variation
in context in which broadcast advertising voice is studied. The majority of
176 Darren W. Dahl

research conducted in this area has been in the context of radio advertis-
ing, with very few studies examining the importance of voice in television
advertising. Exceptions to this are investigations into time compression
in television programming (MacLachlan & Siegel, 1980; Stephens, 1982).
This is most likely due to the added complexity of the visual component
found in a television advertisement. Additionally, the use of voice in
Internet advertising, with its variety of execution formats (e.g., pop-ups,
banners, Internet ads, avatars, smart bots), also presents new opportuni-
ties for investigation. Differing broadcast media, such as television, radio,
and Internet, provide unique advertising contexts where voice may have
differing effects.
Beyond the advertising media, the form of the advertisement itself pres-
ents interesting research possibilities. For example, the type of product
or service being advertised might be an important aspect of an ad that
interacts with voice. Or the type of ad appeal (e.g., fear, emotional, infor-
mational) may also be a critical factor. Vann et al. (1987) support this
research direction by indicating that “There are some, as yet unidentified,
aspects of advertisements that interact [with voice]” (p. 18). These authors
note that in their study some advertisements showed voice effects and oth-
ers did not, leading them to conclude that there is no way to currently
make an unambiguous prediction of the effects of voice for any particular
advertisement. They caution that every advertisement must be tested for
voice effects in isolation and conclude that what is needed is the identifica-
tion and classification of the aspects of advertisements that interact with
voice characteristics.
A final opportunity for voice research with respect to the advertisement
context is found in the various executional elements within the ad itself.
Namely, other audio elements within the broadcast ad, including elements
like music and sound effects, could be studied to assess their impact on
voice. Initial research in marketing (Zhu & Meyers-Levy, 2005) has identi-
fied background music in advertising as an executional element within an
ad that can have a significant impact on affective and cognitive responses
of the listener. How would voice effects interact with this executional
variable? Could music be used to offset or augment previously identified
effects for speech rate and fundamental frequency? Studying sound effects
is a further opportunity to be explored as little to no research in mar-
keting has been directed toward this area. Environmental sounds, atten-
tion-grabbing noises, and product sound logos are all commonly used in
advertising in an effort to capture the attention and shape the attitudes of
the listening audience. How these stimuli work with voice is an interesting
 Understanding the Role of Spokesperson Voice in Broadcast Advertising 177

question. Finally, in a television broadcast advertising context, the visual

elements inherent in an advertisement could also be investigated for a
potential interactive effect with voice. An obvious relationship to examine
is the visual image of the spokesperson coupled with voice. However, other
visual elements within an advertisement, ranging from the colors utilized
to the concreteness of the visual images to the actual images within the ad,
could each be investigated for potential relationships with speech effects.

Gender

Whereas the majority of research on voice in linguistics and psychology

has been conducted using male voices, there is evidence that female voices
differ in systematic ways (Karlsson, 1991, 1992). Indeed, a good deal of
the research that has sought to identify desirable voice qualities has either
theorized (Apple et al., 1979) or demonstrated (Cox & Cooper, 1981) the
existence of gender differences. That is to say, some of the features that are
appealing in a man’s voice are not necessarily so appealing in a woman’s
voice. Some studies have concluded that no gender effect exists, but these
tend to be the exception rather than the rule.
There is evidence to suggest that a high-pitched voice is desirable for
women (Oksenberg et al., 1986; Sharf & Lehman, 1984), while a low-
pitched voice is preferable for men (Apple et al., 1979; Oguchi & Kikuchi,
1997). Recall that work in a sales context, discussed previously (Oksenberg
et al., 1986; Sharf & Lehman, 1984), indicated a positive response for high-
pitched female voices. Characteristics such as breathiness and sex appeal
also seem to play a prominent role in determining voice attractiveness in
women, but not in men, making analysis of the female voice more com-
plex. In the marketing context, little attention has been devoted to the
female voice. Herein lies an excellent opportunity for future study, as the
female voice is widely used in advertising and has specific applicability for
certain product classes and delivered services. Gender differences do exist
in voice effects, and a better understanding of these differences would pro-
vide both theoretical and substantive benefits.

Attributions Resulting From Voice

Previous research has established that a spokesperson’s voice affects lis-

teners’ reactions to radio advertisements (Chattopadhyay et al., 2003;
178 Darren W. Dahl

Megehee et al., 2003). Less clear is whether these effects are due solely to
listeners’ response to the voice per se or whether they are also reacting to
the person who they imagine is speaking. Are the effects of voice mediated
by listeners’ inferences about characteristics of the spokesperson? How do
listeners interpret voice when attributing vocal characteristics to the indi-
vidual speaking?
Research in psychology and linguistics again provides some guidance
in addressing these questions. There is evidence that individuals do in fact
make inferences about a spokesperson when exposed to voice. These attri-
butions can be classified into two broad categories of physical attributes
(e.g., age, physical attractiveness, weight, and height) and personality
characteristics (e.g., honesty, intelligence, friendliness, spontaneity, and
masculinity). Seminal work by Allport and Cantril (1934) found that voice
conveys correct information concerning outer and inner characteristics of
personality. Further, they indicate that more highly organized and deep-
seated traits and dispositions are judged more consistently and correctly
than the more specific features of physique and appearance. Aronovitch
(1976) builds on this work, showing that both male and female voices are
stereotyped in personality judgments. In another representative study,
Krauss, Freyberg, and Morsella (2002) show that listeners are able to make
accurate physical inferences about speakers from the nonlinguistic con-
tent of their speech. In one of their experiments they show that after lis-
tening to a speaker, participants were able to choose the right photo of the
speaker 76.5% of the time. In a second study, participants heard either
a test voice or examined a photo of the speaker and then estimated the
speaker’s age and height. Pooled judgments showed estimates made from
photos are not uniformly superior to those made from voices. Finally,
Addington (1968) examined specific voice characteristics such as breathi-
ness, nasality, and throatiness and linked these vocal traits to specific per-
sonality perceptions. His findings show that specific vocal characteristics
raise attributions across gender lines with consistent judgments within
gender. For example, a breathy voice for males was rated to be younger and
more artistic, whereas females with this quality were seen to be shallow,
petite, and prettier. In another example, a voice with orotundity projected
males to be more energetic, healthy, and sophisticated, whereas females
were perceived more gregarious and lively.
In the marketing literature, there has been specific investigation linking
voice to targeted personality characteristics such as knowledge, credibility,
and competence (Megehee et al., 2003; Moore et al., 1986; Oksenberg et al.,
1986). However, these findings have typically been secondary analyses or
 Understanding the Role of Spokesperson Voice in Broadcast Advertising 179

personality characteristics specific to the marketing phenomenon inves-

tigated (e.g., credibility to salesperson effectiveness). The more general
linking of voice characteristics in broadcast advertising to spokesperson
personality has been relatively unaddressed. This is surprising given the
importance of impression formation and touch point effectiveness in most
marketing contexts. A specific area deserving research interest would be
the linking of voice and personality attributions to the development of
brand image and identity. Given that vocal characteristics such as speech
rate and pitch can give rise to personality attributions and stereotypes,
what is the effect on the brand represented by the spokesperson in ques-
tion? How can the brand identity that an organization wishes to foster be
facilitated by effective spokesperson voice choices? Linking voice charac-
teristics, audience perceptions, and the formation of brand impressions
together provides another excellent opportunity for future investigations.

Conclusions

This chapter has sought to provide an overview of previous research in

marketing that has investigated the role of voice characteristics of spokes-
persons in broadcast advertising. Somewhat surprising, there are very few
direct investigations addressing the importance and role of voice char-
acteristics in this context. The limited research that has been centered in
this area has focused on the role of vocal speech rate and fundamental
frequency in cultivating effective advertisements. The chapter discussion
identified some inconsistencies within the reported findings from this
work and also pointed to possible extensions in further examination of
these vocal characteristics. A second major goal of this chapter was to seed
new research directions in this area. Primarily using previous research
in psychology and linguistics as a starting point, the discussion identi-
fied a number of excellent opportunities. First, broadening our under-
standing to other aspects of voice, including pitch contour, intonation,
and amplitude, in broadcast advertising would be useful. Second, better
understanding the role of context, with respect to medium of ad deliv-
ery, product advertised, and internal ad elements, in moderating effec-
tive voice delivery is critical. Third, shifting attention toward female voice
effects and the gender differences that are believed to exist would provide
both substantive and theoretical benefits. Finally, future research would
also be well targeted to deepen our knowledge on the attributions listen-
ers make when hearing specific voices. How these attributions influence
180 Darren W. Dahl

attitudes, purchasing behavior, and the formation of brand impressions is

both interesting academically and important to the manager charged with
making voice talent decisions.

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13
Hear Is the Thing
Auditory Processing of Novel
Nonword Brand Names
Marina Carnevale, Dawn Lerman, and David Luna

The importance of brand names is well established. Research has

shown, for example, that brand names impact recall, recognition, and
preference. The particular effect itself depends on the type of name
(e.g., word versus nonword; Lerman & Garbarino, 2002), brand name
suggestiveness (Keller, Heckler, & Houston, 1998), word frequency
(Meyers-Levy, 1989), phonetic symbolism (Lowrey & Shrum, 2007),
and the use of a whole range of other linguistic devices (Lowrey, Shrum,
& Dubitsky, 2003).
The vast majority of studies on brand naming focus on the visual aspects
of the name. In other words, these studies typically examine consumer
response to names when consumers are exposed to them visually. Even
studies of phonetic symbolism, an area of research concerning sounds and
their associated meanings, typically rely on visual exposure. For example,
respondents participating in Lowrey and Shrum’s (2007) research on pho-
netic symbolism viewed name pairs on a computer screen. Similarly, the
brands names under study in Yorkston and Menon (2004) appeared in a
paragraph read by respondents.
The relationship between the written and spoken letter provides the
opportunity to investigate the effect of sounds following visual exposure.
Given the heavy reliance on visuals in marketing and advertising, expos-
ing respondents visually to brand name stimuli makes both practical and
theoretical sense. Consumers see brand names in magazines, on television,
on billboards, and on store shelves. They also write them on shopping lists.
Yet there are instances when brand name exposure is not visual. In radio
advertising, for example, exposure is entirely auditory. Similarly, consumers

183
184 Marina Carnevale, Dawn Lerman, and David Luna

are regularly exposed to word-of-mouth information, whether brand-spon-

sored (Walker, 2004) or spontaneous, which requires auditory processing.
Since auditory processing requires the consumer to perform different
cognitive tasks than those required for visual processing, our understand-
ing of how brand names are processed is far from complete. For instance,
when consumers hear a brand name, they have to encode and store the
sound in long-term memory for later use. They could potentially encode
only the sound, a visual (e.g., alphabetic) transcription of it, or a combina-
tion of both. But even if consumers do not mentally transcribe the brand
name as they hear it, eventually they will have to guess, or at least recog-
nize, how the brand name they were initially exposed to auditorily is spelled
(visually); otherwise they will not be able to find it in the marketplace.
This chapter seeks to advance our understanding of auditory processing
as it relates to brand names. Although auditory processing may be impor-
tant for all types of brand names, we suggest that understanding auditory
processing is particularly critical for nonword names, relative to brands
whose names are an existing word in a language understood by the con-
sumer. Nonword brand names (e.g., Pepsi) present a particular challenge
because consumers do not have the word in their lexicon, a sort of mental
dictionary. Hence, after consumers are exposed to the auditory nonword
and recognize it as a brand name, they are likely to have difficulty tran-
scribing it into a visual code; that is, spelling it. This chapter introduces
to the marketing literature the notion of mapping sound to spelling, sug-
gesting that ambiguities in word spellings can have significant effects on
consumer responses to brand names presented auditorily.
It is important to note that this chapter focuses on brand names in
alphabetic-based but not logographic-based languages. In alphabetic-based
languages (e.g., English, French, Spanish, etc.), each grapheme (i.e., letter)
represents one or more phonemes (i.e., sounds). In other words, there exists
a grapheme-to-phoneme and a phoneme-to-grapheme correspondence.
In logographic-based languages (e.g., Chinese), characters represent mor-
phemes, the smallest meaningful linguistic elements, and do not neces-
sarily tell the reader how those morphemes should be pronounced. Given
both theoretical interest in logographic processing (e.g., Tavassoli, 1999;
Tavassoli & Han, 2002) and managerial interest in marketing within the
countries where such systems are in place, it would be worth investigat-
ing auditory processing of brand names by speakers of logographic-based
languages. Although doing so is beyond the scope of this chapter, it is our
hope that this review of auditory processing in alphabetic-based languages
inspires similar research focused on nonalphabetic-based languages.
 Hear Is the Thing 185

Auditory Processing and the Mental Lexicon

It is widely accepted that English speakers, and by extension speakers of

other alphabetic-based languages, rely on sound-based coding, whether
acoustic or phonological, for auditorily presented information (Salamé &
Baddeley, 1982; Tyler & Frauenfelder, 1989). That is, upon exposure to an
aurally presented word, listeners search their lexicon for matching sounds.
If they identify a matching sound or combination of sounds, then the word
is recognized. Such recognition may occur before the listener has heard
the word completely, particularly “if the word recognition point corre-
sponds to its uniqueness point, where the word’s initial (sound) sequence
is common to that word and no other” (Harley, 1995, p. 53).
Relying on such sound-based coding, a hearer can perform a variety of
tasks, including word naming and word recognition. In other words, upon
hearing a brand name, consumers can repeat the name they just heard and
recognize it as one that they have heard before. Because consumers pro-
cessed the item auditorily initially, they do not need to be literate. So the
consumer does not need to know how the sounds correspond to particular
letters in the alphabet.
Let us suppose, however, that consumers now want to write this brand
name on a shopping list. In this case, they would have to rely on their
learned set of phoneme-to-grapheme correspondence rules (i.e., sound–
letter associations). Because the acquisition of the sound-to-spelling
relationship is one of the fundamental steps when learning a language
(Ziegler, Stone, & Jacobs, 1997), this should be a relatively easy task. So,
for example, upon hearing an ad for the laundry detergent Dreft, a literate
English speaker would know to spell it as d-r-e-f-t.
A large part of the reason why literate English speakers would know
how to spell Dreft is that the letters d-r-e-f-t are the only letters that would
produce such a sound in English, following the conventions for possible
spellings in that language (Ziegler et al., 1997). Suppose, however, that the
ad were for a different laundry detergent, Gain. In this case, the name con-
ceivably could be spelled g-a-i-n or as g-a-n-e, as both of these spellings
correspond to the same sound. Although both are possible, the consumer
might be more likely to spell the brand name g-a-i-n as this spelling matches
that of a commonly used word. In other cases, a sound might correspond
to more than two letter strings. For example, the phoneme (i.e., sound)
/_@f/ corresponds to the graphemes (i.e., spellings) aff, alf, aph, augh, as in
staff, half, graph, and laugh, respectively. Again, upon hearing one of these
186 Marina Carnevale, Dawn Lerman, and David Luna

words, hearers would rely on their knowledge and experience in an attempt

to spell it correctly.

Consistent Versus Inconsistent Mappings

The lack of a one-to-one relationship between phonemes and graphemes

is a complexity of English and other so-called deep languages. Sound-to-
writing correspondence of a word determines that word’s level of consis-
tency (Ziegler et al., 1997). Specifically, if a sound can be mapped to one
and only one grapheme, then that language is considered to have a con-
sistent mapping; otherwise, it has an inconsistent mapping. Inconsistent
mappings appear in 72% of all English monosyllabic words (Ziegler et
al., 1997). Conversely, some phonemes (e.g., /_@g/) are represented by
only one grapheme, so they have consistent mappings for /ag/ used in
different words (e.g., tag, rag). As one might imagine, consistency of
sound to spelling makes spelling tasks easier and less effortful. In fact,
studies have shown that reading and spelling performance is superior
for words and nonwords that contain consistent mappings compared to
inconsistent mappings (Coltheart & Leahy, 1992; Content, l99l; Ziegler
et al., 1997).
Although consistent mapping aids processing for sound to spelling
tasks, inconsistency impedes processing, but to varying degrees, as not all
inconsistent words (and nonwords) are created equal. The variation is due
to the (ir)regularity of the inconsistent word. The frequency of the pho-
neme-to-grapheme correspondences observed in a given language deter-
mines the degree of word (ir)regularity. For example, the phoneme /āk/
can be transcribed into a variety of graphemes (e.g., ake, ache) that differ
with respect to their frequency of occurrence; that is, how much more often
one spelling of the sound occurs relative to other possible spellings. The
word fake presents an inconsistent yet regular spelling pattern, since ake
is the grapheme that most frequently represents the phoneme /āk/ within
the English lexical system. The same phoneme, however, is represented
by the grapheme ache with a very low frequency. Therefore, a word like
ache is said to have an irregular as well as an inconsistent spelling pattern
(see Ziegler et al. [1997] for a list of frequencies of inconsistent mappings).
In conclusion, both consistency and regularity (the latter is only relevant
to inconsistent phonemes) can make spelling easier. The effect of these
factors would presumably be more acute for nonwords, given the lack of
consumers’ prior knowledge about them.
 Hear Is the Thing 187

The number of possible phoneme–grapheme mappings determines the

process by which sound may be transcribed (i.e., how auditorily presented
words are spelled). Consider, for example, the word neat. Hearers may use
one of two possible processes for transcribing the word’s sound into graph-
emes. They could retrieve the written form in its entirety from their lexi-
con, as the lexicon does contain such information, or they could translate
the individual phonemes (i.e., /’nēt/) into their corresponding graphemes
(i.e., /n/ in n, /ē/ in ea, and /t/ in t). In languages such as Italian, German,
and Spanish, where consistent sound-to-writing correspondences tend
to be the norm, the second approach would most often lead to the cor-
rect output because the individual phonemes are almost always spelled
the same way. However, the nature of English, a language with abundant
inconsistencies, would prevent this method from leading to the canonical
spelling in most cases (Houghton & Zorzi, 2003). In the next section we
explore how individuals access the spelling of a word or a nonword, given
the consistency and regularity issues discussed above.

A Dual-Route Model to Spelling

Psycholinguistic research has highlighted two main routes to spelling:

lexical and sublexical (e.g., Campbell, 1983; Folk, Rapp, & Goldrick, 2002;
Houghton & Zorzi, 2003). These routes are found to be distinct yet interac-
tive. The model of these routes is depicted in Figure€13.1.

Lexical Route

Through the lexical (or direct) route, a top–down process occurs as indi-
viduals access the spelling of a word by retrieving its lexical representation
from long-term memory, the so-called orthographic output lexicon (OOL;
Ellis, 1982). These lexical representations may be accessed both phoneti-
cally (i.e., from the sound of a familiar word) and semantically (i.e., from
its meaning; Barry, 1994; Houghton & Zorzi, 2003). However, while the
sound of a familiar word may provide access to its semantic representation
automatically, the latter is not considered essential for accurate spelling
(Rapcsak, Henry, Teague, Carnahan, & Beeson, 2007). Simply put, indi-
viduals access the spelling of the target word by referring to a represen-
tation in memory of that word or another word that contains the same
pronunciation pattern. Whether the meaning of that word is accessed or
188 Marina Carnevale, Dawn Lerman, and David Luna

Phonological Input
Lexicon
Semantic
System

Orthographic Lexical Route

Output Lexicon

Graphemic
Yes
Phonological Preexisting
lexical Output
Input representation?
No Phonemes-to-
Graphemes
Conversion Sublexical Route

Conversion
Rules Frequencies
of the sound
relationships

Figure 13.1â•… Dual Route Model of Spelling (adapted from Houghton and Zorzi
[2003]).

not is not crucial to the activation of the lexical route. This route typically
applies to frequently encountered words and, in general, to familiar let-
ter strings (Houghton & Zorzi, 2003), regardless of the frequency of the
sound-to-writing relationship. Therefore, the spelling of both regular and
irregular words is accessed through the direct route, provided individuals
have seen the word before and recognize it.

Sublexical Route

When a hearer encounters an unfamiliar word or a nonword, the lexical

route will not produce the intended spelling because, by definition, such
stimuli lack a lexical representation. In these cases, the sublexical (or indi-
rect) route is used; that is, each phoneme is individually transcribed into its
corresponding grapheme in accordance with a bottom–up process. Hence,
although units of the orthographic output lexicon activated through the
direct route are whole words, in the indirect or sublexical route the units
for accessing the spelling are limited to graphemes. It follows then that
when the sublexical route is followed, regularities and consistencies of the
sound-to-writing relationships, as well as phoneme–grapheme conversion
 Hear Is the Thing 189

rules of the English language, will all have a role in enhancing (or imped-
ing) the conversion of phonemes to graphemes.
The consistency of the sound-to-spelling mapping may facilitate the
spelling task by decreasing the number of possible solutions for the spell-
ing of a new nonword brand name. Given multiple possibilities of trans-
lating the phoneme into its corresponding grapheme (i.e., inconsistent
mappings), the frequency of the graphemes will influence the choice of
the final output, that is, the more frequent the grapheme for an unfamil-
iar inconsistent word, the higher the probability that it will be chosen.
For example, the phoneme /āk/ would have a greater chance of being
transcribed into the grapheme ake rather than ache, as the latter has a
lower frequency of occurrence. Similarly, knowledge about contextual and
sound-to-spelling prescription rules (e.g., a soft “c” is always followed by
“i” or “e”) may increase the likelihood of correct transcription.
The indirect route aids sound-to-writing conversions of nonwords as
well as novel words that strictly follow language spelling rules and sound-
to-spelling regularities. In the case of novel words that violate such rules
(i.e., irregular words), however, the indirect route would systematically
lead to the regularization, and thus misspelling, of the word. It follows
that the lexical route always better supports familiar words. Novel words
or nonwords, instead, require the sublexical route. But if the nonword con-
tains an irregular spelling pattern, consumers may attempt to use the lexi-
cal route to guess at its spelling (Houghton & Zorzi, 2003), with varying
degrees of success.

Processing Motivation and Other Practical Considerations

As discussed, a one-to-one sound-to-spelling correspondence

should facilitate the transcription of a novel, nonword brand name.
Transcription of inconsistent (one-to-many correspondence) nonword
names should be aided by frequently occurring, or regular, mappings.
In these cases, we would expect motivation to play a key role in success-
ful spelling. Specifically, we would expect low-motivation individuals
in particular to perform transcriptions aided by such mappings. Since
low-motivation individuals can be expected to dedicate very few cogni-
tive resources to the spelling task, they should be less likely to explore
a variety of potential spellings, consider which of many possible spell-
ings might fit the type of brand at hand, or elaborate on the fit of one
particular spelling with similar brands (e.g., froogle vs. frugal) or with
190 Marina Carnevale, Dawn Lerman, and David Luna

the category at large. It follows that low-motivation consumers, when

confronted with a challenging spelling (especially inconsistent irregular
names), would likely react negatively to the brand name. This should
result in poor brand evaluations.
On the other hand, for high-motivation consumers, we might expect
that successfully spelling the target nonword should generate a higher
level of positively valenced elaboration when a more challenging task is
faced (i.e., nonwords containing inconsistent mappings) as opposed to an
easier task (i.e., nonwords with consistent mappings). Thus, for individuals
under high motivation, brand evaluations could possibly benefit from an
inconsistent phoneme–grapheme mapping. Consumers should feel more
frustrated when failing to perform a task for which there is only one poten-
tial and actual correct solution, rather than one for which there are many
potential correct solutions but only one is appropriate. High-motivation
consumers might even respond more positively upon successfully spelling
inconsistent irregular names than inconsistent regular names.

Moderators

In today’s world the opportunity to practice spelling skills is very lim-

ited, especially given the fairly recent and widespread use of alternative
communication styles. The popularity of text and instant messaging, for
example, has grown, as has the use of nonstandard abbreviations, symbols
(e.g., emoticons), and numbers that make sense only if read phonetically.
“CU2moro” (i.e., see you tomorrow), “URNvited” (i.e., you are invited),
and “Wot u up 2” (i.e., what are you up to?) are only a few examples of
the way traditional conventions in writing and spelling are being com-
monly altered for the benefit of some sort of phonetic spelling that little
fits with the set structures and styles of the English language. Moreover,
spell-checking software products provide a valuable substitute for per-
sonal knowledge. As a result, spelling might be a seldom-performed exer-
cise, thus emphasizing the need to help consumers remember, search for,
and find the novel (nonword) brand name.

The Interaction of the Two Routes

How can the ability to correctly spell a novel nonword brand name be
enhanced? A considerable stream of research has shown that the spelling
 Hear Is the Thing 191

of a nonword may be enhanced by the spelling of a word heard immedi-

ately before that contains the same spelling pattern as the target nonword.
For example, in lexical priming a real word that sounds and is spelled like
the nonword is presented before the nonword. In this case, individuals
can relate the nonword to one for which they already have a phonological
representation. In such cases, the direct and indirect route interact to opti-
mize the final choice (Campbell, 1983; Cuetos, 1993; Seymour & Dargie,
1990), as the competition among different graphemes activated at the sub-
lexical level is solved by the graphemes activated at the lexical level (i.e.,
through the semantic/phonological representation of the priming word).
We mentioned earlier that the lexical (direct) and sublexical (indi-
rect) routes are considered to be two distinct systems. Although this is
indeed the case, research suggests that there exist occasions when the two
routes may interact (Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001;
Houghton & Zorzi, 2003; Rapcsak et al., 2007). Evidence of an interaction
is primarily provided by a variety of neuropsychological studies that focus
on individuals with spelling deficiencies, such as surface dysgraphia and
phonological agraphia (e.g., Folk et al., 2002; Hillis & Caramazza, 1991;
Houghton & Zorzi, 2003). Patients affected by surface dysgraphia typi-
cally show a damaged lexical route. This results in the ability to spell non-
words in dictation, as well as words with regular phoneme-to-grapheme
relationships, but a disproportionate difficulty in spelling irregular words.
Generally speaking, these studies suggest that these patients may rely on
both lexical and sublexical routes.
To illustrate, consider the Hillis and Caramazza (1991) case study.
The patient showed a deficiency at the lexical semantic system such that
he was able to read aloud more words than those that he actually com-
prehended or correctly associated with their visual representation. One
would expect to see the same pattern of semantic failures at the spelling
task level. However, a similar pattern did not exist. At the same time, the
patient made an overwhelming number of phonologically plausible errors
(e.g., the spelling of “night” as “n-i-t”) but only for those irregular (i.e.,
low-frequency) words he could not comprehend during the reading task.
This suggests that the semantic representation of the word and, therefore,
the lexical route actually did play a role in the patient’s sound-to-writing
processing. That is, if the patient had relied merely on the direct route for
spelling, then he would have reproduced the semantic mistakes observed
during the reading task. If the sublexical system was the only one acti-
vated, then the phonological plausible errors should have been produced
for all of the low frequency phoneme-to-grapheme correspondences,
192 Marina Carnevale, Dawn Lerman, and David Luna

independently of their semantic representation (Folk et al., 2002; Hillis &

Caramazza, 1991).
While reading, going from visual to sound representations, the interac-
tions between the direct and indirect route result in conflicting outputs
for irregular words as reflected in longer pronunciation times. However, in
the case of spelling, the interaction between the two routes ultimately rein-
forces the written representation of the nonword target (Folk et al., 2002).
Therefore, the interactions are said to be competitive in the case of reading
but cooperative in the case of spelling (Coltheart et al., 2001; Houghton
& Zorzi, 2003; Rapcsak et al., 2007). In the latter case, some authors have
narrowed the main purposes of the joint lexical/sublexical activation to
the reduction of semantic errors (Rapp, Epstein, & Tainturier, 2002). In
this scenario, both systems iteratively communicate until one grapheme is
selected to represent the phoneme. Specifically, while both the direct and
the indirect routes allow for the activation of different potential graph-
emes, the direct route somehow prevails by narrowing the choice to those
graphemes that make more sense at a lexical level (i.e., words that con-
tain them). For example, when attempting to spell the phoneme /’paf/ of
a nonword brand name, among possible solutions, such as p-a-l-f, p-a-f-f,
p-a-p-h, and p-a-u-g-h activated at a sublexical level, p-a-u-g-h may be the
preferred one if a priming word containing the same pronunciation pat-
tern, such as l-a-u-g-h, is aurally introduced immediately before the target
nonword is presented. Moreover, some research would suggest that the
effect of lexical priming should prevail independently of the frequency of
graphemes. In other words, if the most common way of spelling the pho-
neme /af/ is a-l-f (Ziegler et al., 1997), that would be the preferred spelling.
However, it would be overridden if the lexical prime points toward a dif-
ferent direction (i.e., a-u-g-h; Barry & Seymour, 1988; Folk et al., 2002).
When aurally advertising a novel nonword brand name (e.g., via radio),
managers could thus consider the opportunity of exploiting slogans, as
well as jingles, to phonetically prime, and thus facilitate, the correct spell-
ing of the brand name. For instance, the jingle could include a known
word that uses the same intended spelling of the novel brand name; a
rhyme, for example. Recall of a brand name and brand evaluations might
indeed be affected by the ability of consumers to correctly spell the name
because of this rhyming word. This appears applicable to the extent that
the nonword is not constrained to be spelled only one way. From this per-
spective, if the attempt of solving the task stimulates interest and deeper
levels of processing, successful spelling performance might result in posi-
tive affect that transfers to the brand. Consumer research has uncovered
 Hear Is the Thing 193

similar patterns in other contexts. For example, studies suggest that the
use of rhetorical figures in advertising results in positive elaboration as
the ad deviates from expectations and leads to the successful resolution
of a puzzle (McQuarrie & Mick, 1996), thus stimulating deeper levels
of processing (Morgan & Reichert, 1999) and curiosity about the brand
(MacInnis, Moorman, & Jaworski, 1991). In other words, consumers tend
to respond with pleasure to rhetorical figures because of the successful
elaboration (McQuarrie & Mick, 1996). Similarly, we would expect that
successfully solving the challenges of spelling a nonword for which there
are multiple possibilities could bring an advantage to the advertiser by
leading the consumer to make positive inferences about and create posi-
tive associations to the brand. However, we would expect this to be the
case only when consumers have the tools (i.e., cognitive capacity) for the
successful resolution of the task.
Although lexical priming implemented through rhyming words pro-
vides a clear suggestion of the pronunciation pattern to be followed,
another interesting way to address the correct spelling of the target non-
word may take into account the inclusion of a semantic hint in addition
to a phonetic one. In other words, the lexical prime could carry semantic
associations (e.g., to the products or services that the brand represents),
instead of or in addition to the phonetic prime. By lending meaning to
information, semantic associations might enhance capturing individual’s
interest, facilitating recall as well as recognition, and eliciting positive
elaboration. We can conclude, then, that ads for novel, nonword brand
names that contain inconsistent sound-to-writing mappings should lexi-
cally prime the spelling of the brand name.

Visual Processing and Other Moderators

Lexical priming may also be achieved through visual stimuli. To illustrate,

consider some studies that have looked at the relationship between the
shape of the brand logo and sound symbolism (e.g., Klink, 2003). Their
results indicate that front vowels (for which the tongue is positioned as far
forward as possible; e.g., /i/ or /e/) and fricative consonants (produced by
the forcing of breath through a constricted passage; e.g., /f/ or /s/) in brand
names tend to be associated with lighter colors, as well as smaller and
more angular shapes of the logo, relative to back vowels (e.g., /u/ or /o/)
and stop consonants (produced by stopping the air flow in the vocal tract;
e.g., /p/ or /t/), respectively. Thus, the spelling task of a novel, nonword
194 Marina Carnevale, Dawn Lerman, and David Luna

brand name may be facilitated by providing images that are consistent

with the spelling structure of the brand name. Another relatively more
immediate and intuitive way to visually prime the spelling of an unfamil-
iar word might involve the use of images semantically related to the brand
name. For example, the logo itself might contain a specific reference to
the products or services that the brand represents (Houston, Childers, &
Heckler, 1987; Luna, 2005).
Certain elements may moderate the effects discussed thus far. First,
individuals who are more knowledgeable about sound-to-spelling corre-
spondence rules may clearly benefit from their ability to check whether
the spelling output actually graphically reproduces the sound. The same
individuals, however, might have higher expectations about their own
ability to successfully solve the spelling task. Consequently, an unsuc-
cessful performance might lead to higher levels of frustration and disap-
pointment than those perceivable by individuals who have lower levels of
performance expectations. Conversely, those who are not familiar with
spelling rules may be more satisfied by successfully completing a task for
which their expectations are relatively low. In other words, the frustra-
tion that may derive by misspelling the unfamiliar, nonword brand name
on brand evaluations may be moderated by the knowledge that potential
consumers have about spelling rules.
Within this scenario, age could make a difference. For example, teenag-
ers, who intentionally use abbreviations and misspellings of English words
(e.g., to communicate via text and instant messaging) might be used to
making spelling errors or engaging in “creative” spelling and may be less
susceptible to the negative influence of spelling mistakes. Additionally,
we should take into account that a misspelled search inquiry on the Web
is often followed by a spelling suggestion provided by the search engine.
Considering a positive scenario, in which spelling suggestions lead the
online consumer to the actual brand, the frustration derived by failing
the task might be offset by the overall satisfaction of having reached the
target. In addition, successive recommendations by the search engine may
serve as a sort of rehearsal and thus increase memory for the brand. In
a negative scenario, however, in which the suggestions provided by the
search engine do not direct the consumer to the correct Web site, the time
and energy spent trying to find the brand could negatively impact per-
ceptions about that brand. Then again, teenagers, who are heavy users of
the Internet for a variety of purposes (e.g., entertainment), might be more
inclined to find their way to the brand using different search criteria or key
words, increasing elaboration and memory.
 Hear Is the Thing 195

Another element to consider when developing a new nonword brand

name from a sound-to-spelling perspective, aside from the nature and
extent of spelling knowledge, relates to the underlying processes that
might enable the acquisition or use of such knowledge. For instance, need
for cognition (Cacioppo, Petty, & Morris, 1983) might motivate individu-
als in two ways. First, individuals with a higher need for cognition might
be more inclined to retrieve phonemes-to-graphemes correspondence
rules apt to assist the spelling of the novel nonword brand name. Second,
they might enjoy the spelling of ambiguous names (i.e., with inconsistent
sound-to-writing mappings) more than easier ones. In a similar vein, the
effects of successfully spelling the brand name with the aid of a lexical
prime might also vary. Those with a higher need for cognition might pre-
fer to perform the task without the lexical prime. The opposite could be
hypothesized to ensue for individuals with a lower need for cognition.

Conclusions

Although ads and various other brand management tactics assist the devel-
opment of a brand’s image, the sound of the brand name in and of itself
represents a relevant source of information and differentiation, which is
susceptible to consumers’ perceptions. Research on phonetic symbolism
has shown that the mere sound of a nonword, such as a novel brand name,
may affect brand evaluations through the meaning conveyed, for instance,
about attribute dimensions of the product. However, even most phonetic
symbolism research in marketing has used visual (written) stimuli. Very
little research has been done studying auditorily presented brand names
as stimuli. This is surprising given that consumers are exposed to novel
brand names on a regular basis, through word of mouth, radio ads, and
buzz marketing. Building on psycholinguistic research, we explored the
way consumers may process and later use these sounds, providing some
ideas for marketing practitioners and researchers.
There are two main routes to spelling. Through the lexical route, indi-
viduals access the spelling of a word by retrieving its phonological or
semantic representation stored in memory. Through the sublexical route,
each of the phonemes is individually translated in its written form (i.e.,
grapheme). Both the regularity and consistency of sound-to-writing cor-
respondences play important roles in the processes individuals employ to
access the spelling of a word (or a nonword). Thus, the spelling of familiar
words is typically and successfully accessed via the lexical route, regardless
196 Marina Carnevale, Dawn Lerman, and David Luna

of the regularity of the sound-to-writing correspondence. When a non-

word or an unfamiliar word is encountered, however, the lexical system
does not offer any spelling help. Instead, the sublexical system is invoked
and the consistency (vs. inconsistency) of the sound-to-spelling relation-
ship may facilitate the spelling task by decreasing the number of possible
solutions. If the sound-to-spelling mapping is inconsistent, regularity of
the mapping will also make the task more likely to be successful. Irregular
mappings will likely result in failure to spell the brand name as intended.
We propose that successful spelling of a brand name should influence
consumer attitudes toward the brand. Thus, if a consumer can find a brand
name on the Internet or writes the brand on a shopping list and later finds,
at the store, that the brand was correctly spelled, the consumer will be
likely to develop a more positive brand attitude. We discuss several factors
that could help develop novel nonword brand names and provide some
ideas how to present them to consumers (e.g., employing spelling primes).
We also describe how this process may be moderated by factors like pro-
cessing motivation, age of the consumer, or visual elements in the logo.
An important point is that auditorily presented novel brand names are
subject to sensory-specific cognitive processes that may not take place for
visually presented novel brand names. This notion has significant implica-
tions for research methodologies. We suggest utilizing a multisensory pre-
sentation of brand names when engaging in brand development research.
Specifically, we encourage researchers to use aural presentation of stimuli
to explore unique processes that may diverge from visual presentation.
Another area where further research is possible is the comparison across
languages of sound-to-spelling processes. English is a “deep” or “opaque”
language, in which many graphemes are represented by one phoneme,
and vice versa. Spanish, on the other hand, is a “shallow” or “transpar-
ent” language, in which one-to-one relationships between graphemes and
phonemes are more frequent. Would our discussion of the potential effects
of spelling process be mitigated or amplified in such languages? Given
consumers’ frequent exposure to auditorily presented information, it is
surprising how little is known about their responses to brands or advertis-
ing that are heard rather than seen.

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Section IV
Vision
14
Visual Perception
An Overview
Priya Raghubir

There are oft-quoted clichés that state that “Perception is reality” and
“Truth lies in the eye of the beholder.” Not surprisingly, therefore, for more
than a century researchers in psychology, marketing, art, and aesthetics
have examined the manner in which the eye translates visual input into
information that it believes to be veridical. In this chapter I briefly sum-
marize some of the classic and contemporary findings in visual perception
in as much as they pertain to sensory marketing. The goal of the chapter
is not to be comprehensive, but, instead, to provide a simple lens through
which to view the literature in visual perception and apply it to study the
larger area of sensory marketing.
I start with summarizing a typology of visual cues. The goal of this
exercise is to identify areas where relatively little research has been con-
ducted to date, but study of which could lead to rich insights theoretically,
as well as for marketing practice, consumer welfare, and public policy.
I focus on the mediating role of attention (the level and focus of atten-
tion, imagery, and neural activation) that dictates the type of processing
that consumers are engaging in (preconscious, nonconscious, heuristic,
systematic, or hardwired).
There are two sets of moderators that can make the link between visual
properties and attention contingent. The first set pertains to context
(e.g., market norms and regulations, point of view, and task complexity),
whereas the second set focuses on individual differences (e.g., in visual
ability, beliefs, culture, goals, etc.).
I end with proposing a testable model that predicts when the
inputs received from two different sensory systems will be assimilated

201
202 Priya Raghubir

versus contrasted to make a range of consumer judgments. Thus, the

consequences of visual cues include how vision interacts with other sen-
sory stimuli received from the haptic/tactile, olfactory, gustatory, and
auditory systems to make judgments pertaining to touch, smell, taste,
and sound; and in turn how inputs from the other sensory systems affect
visual judgments.

Types of Visual Cues: A Typology

Given the plethora of visual cues, it is necessary to categorize them in

a manner that makes their effects easier to understand and allows for a
listing of their comprehensive features. I propose a set of seven properties
that can be used to categorize visual stimuli: geometric, format, statistical,
temporal, goal, structural, and other. Each of these is described below. The
proposed typology of visual cues is provided in Figure€14.1.

Visual Properties: A typology

1. Geometric: Complexity, Curvature, Congruence, Completeness
2. Statistical: Trend (Direction), Variance, Skewness, Kurtosis, Length of run
3. Temporal: Duration, Movement, Speed, Acceleration, Variance
4. Format: Pictorial, Semantic, Digital, Genre (Narrative, Tableaux, Rhetorical)
5. Goal: Informative, Persuasive, Aesthetic
6. Structural: Juxtaposition, inclusion, combination, fusion, replacement, removal
7. Other: Color (Hue, Black/ White), Tone, Texture, Strength, Size, Light, Valence

Context Individual Difference

1. Market Norms, Regulations 1. Ability: Visual, haptic etc.
2. Position, Amount of Information
Attention Level 2. Schemas, Beliefs
3. Point of View, Frame, Reference Attention Focus 3. Knowledge, Expertise
4. Vividness, Resource availability Visual Imagery 4. Culture, Age, Gender
5. Task complexity Neural Activation 5. Familiarity
6. Architectural Elements 6. Processing Style
7. Free-standing structures 7. Processing Goals

Type of Processing:
Pre-conscious, Non-conscious,
Heuristic, Systematic, Hard-wired

Consumer Judgments
1. Perception: Absolute and relative accuracy and bias
2. Sensation: Touch, Smell, Taste, Sound
3. Affect: Feelings, Moods, Attitudes, Satisfaction
4. Cognition and Judgment: Inferences, Beliefs, Intentions, Meta-cognitions
5. Behavior: Purchase, Consumption, Timing, Word of Mouth

Figure 14.1â•… A model of visual processing.

 Visual Perception 203

Geometric

Greenleaf and Raghubir (2008) categorized geometric properties into

four features: their complexity (including their dimensionality, form,
regularity, and clutter), curvature (including their circularity, angular-
ity, and convergence), congruence (including their symmetry, stability,
and centrality), and completeness (amount of information and the syn-
thesis of this information). One such cue, congruity, encompasses the
extent to which a shape is rotationally symmetric (e.g., a square or a
circle) versus asymmetric (e.g., rectangles or ovals with a length–width
ratio of 1:1.618 or φ), a feature that has been shown to affect consum-
ers’ attitudes to two-dimensional products (Greenleaf & Raghubir, 2008;
Raghubir & Greenleaf, 2006). The typology proposed by Greenleaf and
Raghubir (2008) allows for a listing of a number of visual features of
products, their packages, and their promotional materials that have not
been systematically examined in the literature in advertising, or prod-
uct design. For example, whereas the effect of curvature (e.g., squares
vs. circles) on area perceptions has been examined in the context of the
price people are willing to pay for different products of the same area but
of different shapes, the effect of curvature leading to different inferences
about products is an open area for future research. Such an inquiry could
shed light on whether people associate specific properties with products
of different shapes (e.g., balance with a triangular shape, smoothness or
gentleness with circular shapes, and sharpness with square shapes) that
affect their product evaluations and sensory experience while consum-
ing the product.

Format

Format refers to the modality in which visual information is provided.

McQuarrie (2008) provided a typology of varieties of print advertise-
ments. He categorized them into four levels of differentiation. The first
level includes the relative picture/word ratio: Ads with a higher word con-
tent are called “documentary layout” and have the goal of having con-
sumers read and examine them. On the other hand, ads with a higher
pictorial content are those that consumers are likely to view and glance
at. Peracchio and Meyers-Levy (2005), for example, examine how chang-
ing the stylistic properties of an ad increases its persuasiveness. Beyond
McQuarrie’s categorization of type of information that is pertinent to a
204 Priya Raghubir

print advertising format, the manner in which numerical information

is provided is also relevant. This could be pictorial, semantic, or digital.
A graphical illustration of stock prices has been shown to lead to differ-
ent estimates of their annual return and level of risk than providing the
same information as a set of numbers or as text (Raghubir & Das, 2008).
Pictorial information, itself, in an advertising context, can be categorized
in terms of its genre. McQuarrie (2008) referred to this as the third level of
differentiation and categorized the genre of the ad into a tableaux (which
presents a point in time), a frozen narrative (which presents a point of
time in a story timeline), or a rhetorical figure (which requires inferences
to obtain meaning). Examining differences in the format used to provide
identical information on judgments could inform the literature on adver-
tising and package design.

Statistical

An understudied area in visual perception is how people encode numeri-

cal information presented graphically. Graphs are used to describe or
persuade consumers in a wide variety of contexts, ranging from financial
information about stocks and indices to health risk information about the
odds of death due to different causes. The statistical property of visual
numerical information includes information regarding trend (direction),
variance, skewness, and kurtosis, the first four moments of a range of
numbers. Additionally, run-length, or the number of consecutive upward
or downward movements of a set of prices prior to the direction reversing
itself, can also affect perceptions of the risk of a stock (Raghubir & Das,
forthcoming). Examining the effect of the statistical properties of a set
of numbers on judgments related to the risk and return of stocks, or the
incidence and risk of a disease, would be of interest to not only market-
ers, but also have implications for public policy and consumer welfare.
This is particularly true if the effects of the different moments of a graph
are contingent on the type of graph itself. The types of graphs vary (e.g.,
line charts, area graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, etc.) as do their features
(level of detail of data, length and orientation of X and Y axes, colors,
reference indices, labels, etc.). For example, do people estimate the risk of
cancer more accurately when the information about the number of deaths
by cause is presented using a bar graph versus a pie chart? Do people judge
their investment portfolios as having performed better when their mutual
fund advisor displays fund prices using a line graph for 2 years versus 20
 Visual Perception 205

years, changes the length of the Y axis, or changes the reference indices
against which fund performance is assessed (from the Dow to S&P 500 to
NASDAQ)? Examining the effect of the statistical properties of a graph is
a rich area for future research.

Temporal

Despite the fact that the world is constantly moving, as are all the stimuli
in it, most attention has focused on examining static visual cues. However,
a variety of stimuli are constantly moving, from progress bars that tell you
how long it is before a computer program downloads to real-time graphs
and charts in financial markets. The temporal properties of visual stimuli
include information regarding their duration, movement, speed, accelera-
tion, and variance. For example, do differences in the speed of a down-
load, given that the overall time is the same, affect perceptions of how long
the program took to download? Does acceleration in the speed toward the
end of a download reduce perceptions of duration? Does the implied or
real movement in a static or dynamic object or person contain cues that
affect inferences about the object or person? Temporal aspects of a visual
cue present a large canvas for researchers to examine how changes in static
visual cues are encoded and judged.

Goal

The goal of a visual cue can also vary. McQuarrie’s (2008) second level of
differentiation was the goal of the picture in the ad: whether it was meant
to infer meaning or whether it was meant to provide aesthetic pleasure.
He argued that visual cues that people enjoy looking at are better at pro-
viding aesthetic pleasure, whereas visual cues that people look through
(e.g., a picture frame) are better suited for domains where the advertiser
wants the consumer to infer meaning from the picture. Whereas some
visual cues are merely meant to provide information in a modality or form
that is easier for some consumers to comprehend, others may be present
purely for their aesthetic appeal, and yet others may be present so as to
draw attention to the message. Beyond McQuarrie’s differentiation of
goal into informative and aesthetic, I propose that some visual images are
incorporated due to their persuasive power beyond information about the
intrinsic properties of the product and are orthogonal with their aesthetic
206 Priya Raghubir

appeal. The goal of the visual element in a stimulus could affect the man-
ner in which it is assimilated or contrasted with other sensory stimuli to
make an overall judgment, an issue I discuss later.

Structural

McQuarrie (2008) presented a fourth level of differentiation of visual input

that referred to the types of figurative visual structures that are commonly
seen in print advertising: juxtaposition (where A is beside B), inclusion
(where A is inside B), combination (where A and B combine to form C),
fusion (where A and B combine to form AB), replacement (where A is pro-
vided in place of B), and removal (where A is provided and not B). The
effects of differences in structure on the level and focus of attention, elabo-
ration, and visual imagery, with consequences for recall, inferences, and
behavior, are not well known and proposed as areas of future research.

Other

There are a variety of other visual cues including color, hue, placement, tone,
texture, strength, size, light, and valence. For example, Chattopadhyay,
Gorn, and Darke (see Chapter 15 in this volume) show that people have a
universal preference for the hue of blue irrespective of cultural heritage.
Greenleaf (see Chapter 16 in this volume) explores whether black and
white images have a place in the current color-dominated visual environ-
ment and whether the specific effect of black and white images is based
on the fact that black and white present two ends of the color continuum
(no color and every color), whether they are due to inferences about black
and white images referring to classic, retro, and high-status products, or
whether they could be effective simply because they stand out in a world
of color. Kahn and Deng (see Chapter 17 in this volume) provide a frame-
work to understand the effect of placement of a visual image on a product
package. They argue that visual images placed at the bottom right-hand
side lead to inferences of greater weight, which is a positively evaluated cue
for product categories such as cookies, but a negatively evaluated cue for
product categories such as crackers.
In an exploration of the manner in which visual cues are an input to
the sensory experience, Hoegg and Alba (2007) show that the effect of
the strength of the orange color in an orange juice affects perceptions of
 Visual Perception 207

the quality of the orange juice: An identical formulation with a deeper

color is perceived to taste better, an assimilation effect. The effect of other
cues, such as size of visual cues, on perceptions and inferences remains
to be investigated.
To summarize, the typology of visual cues includes seven different
aspects of visual cues ranging from their geometric properties to their
color that could affect a range of consumer judgments from attitudes to
size perceptions to taste perceptions. The next section briefly lists the
range of consequences of consumer judgments that could be affected by
visual cues.

The Process of Visual Perception: Mediating Constructs

The literature on visual perception suggests that the effect of visual cues
on judgments is via three distinct, but interrelated, constructs: atten-
tion, imagery, and neural activation. Attention is the extent to which the
human eye focuses on an aspect of visual information and the specific
location of this focus. Thus, it involves both the level as well as the focus of
attention. Imagery is the process of visualizing information in the absence
of the visual stimulus, akin to visual elaboration of information. Neural
activation refers to the extent to which neurons in different areas of the
brain light up in the presence of visual and other sensory stimuli, as well
as the specific locations where neural activity occurs. With the advent
of new technology, specifically eye-tracking as a mechanism to examine
level and focus of attention, and functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) brain scans to assess the level and areas of neural activation, direct
physiological measures of process are increasingly becoming available to
researchers to demonstrate convergent evidence for proposed processes.
There is a wealth of knowledge about how people attend to a variety of
visual stimuli in ads and other print media. Based on over three decades of
research on the physiology of visual perception, Pieters and Wedel (2008)
propose that there are six cornerstones of eye-tracking: eye movements
reflect information sampling in time and space, awareness of individual
eye movements is limited, the perceptual field during eye fixations is nar-
row, eye movements are tightly coupled with attention, attention is central
to ad processing, and eye movements reflect ad processing. The key aspect
of eye movements pertinent to the current discussion is that all the infor-
mation in a visual field is not attended to, and people are not necessarily
aware of the aspects of information they attend to and ignore. Their first
208 Priya Raghubir

fixation gives them the gist of the information contained in an ad and is

contingent on the goals of the viewer.
Eye-fixation technology has also been used to examine the effect of in-
store visual cues, such as shelf layouts, package design, pricing displays,
and placement position (Chandon, Hutchinson, Bradlow, & Young, 2008).
Chandon et al. (2008) found that memory-based information regarding
brands and stores was used along with information from the visual cues
in a store, with marketing tactics aimed at increasing attention (such as
price displays) effective at increasing the level of attention, but not always
effective at increasing sales.
Individual differences in visual imagery affect the extent to which an
individual needs to rely on visual stimulus to make a judgment. Those
with a higher ability to visualize need to rely on stimulus-based informa-
tion less than those with a lower ability to visualize. Using this distinc-
tion, Raghubir (2008, Study 1) demonstrated that those with higher visual
imagery ability were less prone to the direct distance bias in distance per-
ception (cf. Raghubir & Krishna, 1996). The same pattern was true for
those who had a preference for processing visual (vs. verbal) information.
Furthermore, people with a visual style of processing were less prone to
the direct distance bias than those with a verbal style of processing when
the task was stimulus based, with the reverse pattern holding when the
task was memory based.
Using this and other empirical evidence on the direct distance bias
(Krishna & Raghubir, 1997), Raghubir (2008) proposed the “hardwired”
model of visual information processing, where processing outcomes
were contingent on awareness of the stimulus, its influence, availability
of cognitive resources, processing motivation, and the controllability of
the influence of stimuli on judgments. When respondents were unaware
of the presence of stimuli, preconscious or preattentive processes, such
as subliminal persuasion and priming effects, would occur, where judg-
ments would be assimilated in the direction of the visual stimuli. All
other processes invoke attention as a precursor to processing information.
These include nonconscious processing, where consumers are unaware of
the influence of the stimuli; heuristic processing, where consumers make
judgments based on easy-to-use cues available in the context given and
do not have the necessary level of motivation or availability of cognitive
resources to examine the visual information in detail and incorporate
it into their judgments; and systematic processing, where consumers do
have levels of motivation, opportunity, and ability to make judgments
based on the content of the visual information they are provided. The
 Visual Perception 209

key difference between the proposed “hardwired” model and the remain-
ing four models is whether the effect of a particular cue on judgments is
controllable or not. When it is controllable, then increasing levels of moti-
vation, or availability of cognitive resources, would lead to veridical judg-
ments. But when the influence of a particular cue is not controllable, then
increasing levels of attention or motivation would increase the biasing
effects of the stimuli on judgments. This is because the additional cogni-
tive resources would be deployed toward the biasing aspect of the stimuli
rather than away from it toward alternate debiasing visual information.
Such a genre of effects would include optical illusions that are difficult to
eliminate. The hardwired model is a simple, unifying framework within
which to understand the effects of visual cues on a range of measures,
starting with attention.
To summarize, attention to stimuli affects whether processing is pre-
conscious or not, with the awareness of the influence of the stimuli and
the ability to control such an influence affecting whether or not effects are
nonconscious or hardwired (given that people have the ability and moti-
vation to engage in processing information to make accurate judgments).
We now turn to the consequences of the manner of processing of different
visual cues on consumer judgments.

Consequences of Visual Perception

The effect of visual cues has been examined for a variety of consumer
responses, including perception, sensation, affect, memory, cognition, and
behavior (Wedel & Pieters, 2008). These are briefly summarized below.

Perception

The most investigated perception in vision research in marketing has been

spatial judgment. In an overview of this area, Krishna (2008) summarized
over a century of research of perception of numerosity, length, distance,
area, and volume, discussing the key biases documented in each of these
spatial judgments, with their implications for consumer actions and man-
agerial decisions. Well-documented biasing effects have been noted for
clutter (the amount of visual information in a stimuli), elongation (the
ratio of the sides of a two- or three-dimensional space), regression to the
mean (whereby smaller quantities are overestimated and larger quantities
210 Priya Raghubir

underestimated, so as to follow a power law psychophysical function with

the value of the exponent less than 1), orientation (such that vertical lines
appear smaller than horizontal lines of the same length), and categoriza-
tion (such that points between areas that are grouped together are perceived
to be smaller than points between areas that belong to different groups).
Such biases can follow through to route, destination, product, and waiting
line choices, perception of variety, estimation of calories, and actual levels
of consumption. They can also affect perception of the amount consumed
that can follow through to postpurchase satisfaction.
The literature in perception has documented two examples of a con-
trast effect between visual inputs and sensory experience. In one of the
first examples of this contrast effect, the size–weight illusion showed that
a more voluminous object of the same weight is perceived to be smaller
(Cross & Rotkin, 1975). This was presumably because the visual input
set up an expectation that was not met by the sensory experience, lead-
ing to a backfire effect. In a novel application of this contrast effect to the
domain of the interaction between vision and consumption, Raghubir
and Krishna (1999) demonstrated that whereas people perceive elongated
containers to contain more, their actual experience contradicts this belief,
leading them to believe that they have consumed more from the less elon-
gated container: the perceived consumption illusion. This perception dur-
ing the sensory consumption process leads to them consuming more from
the container that they believe they have consumed less from—the more
elongated container. Thus, it is the interaction between perceived volume
and perceived consumption that leads to an apparent assimilation effect
of elongation on actual consumption, with the more elongated container
perceived to contain more and thus associated with higher levels of con-
sumption. However, the effect of elongation on actual consumption is
brought about by the contrast effect on perceived consumption, a sensory
input that contradicts the visual expectation at the time of the consumer
experience. Later in this chapter I speculate as to why these two effects are
associated with contrast (judgments in the opposite direction), whereas
other interactions between the senses have been associated with assimila-
tion (judgments in the same direction).
Beyond spatial perceptions, there is scattered literature in the perception
of other visual properties, such as angularity, variance, color, weight, light,
strength, assortment, in short, many of the visual properties summarized
in the top box of Figure€14.1. Investigations in this area could contribute
not only to the growing field of product and package design (see Kahn &
 Visual Perception 211

Deng, Chapter 17 in this volume) and obesity (see Chandon, Chapter 20 in

this volume), but also to the traditional fields of advertising.

Sensation

Individual chapters in this volume summarize the literature on the sensa-

tions of touch (Peck, Chapter 2), smell (Morrin, Chapter 6), taste (Krishna &
Elder, Chapter 18), and sound (Meyers-Levy, Bublitz, & Peracchio, Chapter
10), so they will not be addressed in detail here beyond the question as
to when the senses interact to produce assimilation versus contrast. For
example, the vast majority of the literature in taste perception has shown
that people taste what they expect to taste, an assimilation effect, with
these expectations based on visual cues (such as color or package design)
or memory-based beliefs (such as brand name and country of origin).
However, the size–weight illusion and the perceptual-consumption illu-
sion demonstrate robust contrast effects. The question is then what could
be the potential points of difference between these two sets of judgments?
A prerequisite for a judgment to change is that it must be tensile, that
is, subject to being perceived or sensed in different ways. The literature on
sensory experience has demonstrated, without a doubt, that sensory expe-
riences are tensile and contingent on a range of factors, including visual
cues, contextual cues, and individual differences. Thus, the flexibility of
a judgment is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition to explain why
some judgments lead to assimilation and others lead to contrast.
Based on prior literature on the use of a source of information to make
a judgment, I argue that consumers use a cue as a function of its per-
ceived diagnosticity to make a judgment only when it is a controlled and
conscious source of information, but use the mere accessibility of the cue
as a proxy for its diagnosticity when judgments are automatic (Menon &
Raghubir, 2003). Literature has demonstrated that people are typically
unaware of the influence of a range of visual and sensory cues on their
judgments, and this would suggest that a host of integrative judgments
based on multisensory input belong to the nonconscious or hardwired
genre. The key question that distinguishes these two judgments is whether
the influence of an input is controllable: If it is controllable, then its effect
can be mitigated through debiasing or making people aware of its influ-
ence; whereas if its influence is not controllable, then those same strategies
would lead to the effect being exacerbated (Raghubir, 2008). This leads to
three distinct possibilities:
212 Priya Raghubir

1. Both cues are nonconscious. If both cues are nonconscious and people
are unaware of the influence of the stimuli, then they are likely to be
integrated in an additive manner, leading to assimilation effects that
are attenuated as people become increasing aware of the influence of
the stimuli on their judgments. This could explain why the tensile
aspect of taste perception is contingent on consumers’ experience
and task difficulty and can be attenuated with debriefing (Raghubir,
Tyebjee, & Lin, 2009).
2. Both cues are hardwired. If both cues are hardwired, then people will
be unable to control their influence, and, therefore, they will have no
option but to aggregate the cues in an additive manner, also leading to
an assimilation effect. Such a prediction can be tested in future research,
as evidence builds to identify the range of cues that are hardwired.
3. One cue is nonconscious and one is hardwired. When the influence of a
cue that is difficult to control (a hardwired cue) is integrated with the
influence of a cue that is easier to control (a nonconscious cue), then it is
plausible that the effect of the nonconscious cue will be compared with
that of the hardwired cue in such a way as to make the effect of the non-
conscious cue consistent with the message (or influence) suggested by
the hardwired cue. This recasting of the influence of the nonconscious
cue to be consistent with the hardwired cue would lead to assimilation
if the two cues are consistent in terms of the implications for a judgment
and could lead to contrast when they are inconsistent. That is, if the
visual cue points to a larger object being heavier (and is a hardwired cue)
and the actual sensation is inconsistent with this (and is a nonconscious
cue), then the weight sensation can be recast in a manner to be consis-
tent with the visual cue, and the larger object will feel lighter, producing
the size–weight illusion. By the same analogy, if the visual cue suggests
that elongated containers contain more (and is a hardwired cue) but
the consumption experience (a nonconscious cue) is inconsistent with
this expectation, then the consumption experience will be contrasted
against the difficulty to change visual perception and will lead to lower
perceived consumption from the elongated container, producing the
perceptual-consumption illusion (see Krishna, 2008, for a review).

The argument above suggests that the pattern of the interaction of the
senses is contingent on (a) their tensile nature, that is, whether the percep-
tion or sensation can be recast; (b) their accessibility, that is, their avail-
ability to be used as a source of information; (c) their controllability, that
is, whether people can change the extent to which they are influenced by
the cue; and (d) their cue consistency, that is, whether the information
available in the cues points to the same direction or to opposite directions.
 Visual Perception 213

This is a testable, falsifiable model that can be examined in future research

on the interaction of the senses.

Affect

The effect of visual cues on affect shows that it is a function of whether

the cue is consciously selected, ignored, or merely perceived as a func-
tion of top–down and stimulus-based characteristics (Tavassoli, 2008).
The affect associated with objects that are merely perceived may be pro-
cessed in an automatic manner and misattributed (Cho, Schwarz, & Song,
2008), whereas the affect associated with objects that are consciously
either selected or ignored is directly assimilated into attitude change and
affects consumers’ behavior. Examples of how visual cues that are merely
perceived lead to more favorable attitudes include the research on aes-
thetic judgments based on an object’s geometric properties (Greenleaf &
Raghubir, 2008), on attitudes toward an ad based on its goal (McQuarrie,
2008), and attitudes toward an object based on its hue (Chattopadhyay,
Gorn, & Darke, Chapter 15 in this volume). However, the effect of other
visual cues on affect, feelings, and moods is underinvestigated, with a
range of interesting questions that can inform theory and practice. For
example, does the level of ambient light in an environment affect moods
as would be suggested by conventional wisdom using candlelight and
softer hues rather than bright tube lights in a romantic setting? Would this
affect store browsing and purchase behavior, and if so, would the effects
be contingent on product category or be generalizable? Another example
would be to investigate whether the effects of architectural elements, such
as ceiling height (Meyers-Levy & Zhu, 2007), windows, wall, and floor
composition (Zhu & Meyers-Levy, 2009), contour, and layout, which have
been shown to affect product judgments and creativity (Meyers-Levy &
Zhu, 2008), also affect consumers’ moods and feelings? Beyond the obvi-
ous implications for retail, such research can also inform the theory on
the antecedents of ambient affective cues and their consequences for other
consumer judgments and behavior.

Cognition and Judgment

The effect of visual cues on inferences, beliefs, intentions, and metacogni-

tions is relatively understudied. In a recent examination of the question as
214 Priya Raghubir

to whether visual placement can affect people’s judgments, Raghubir and

Valenzuela (2006) showed that people believe that those who are placed
in the center of a horizontal array are more important, with this belief
based on their prior experience and schemas regarding horizontal layout.
Such a belief leads to people substituting information about the quality of
people in the center for individuating information that could be used as an
alternate cue to make a quality judgment when they have minimal cogni-
tive resources to devote to the task. Using data from the television game
show The Weakest Link, Raghubir and Valenzuela (2006) demonstrated
that players who were randomly assigned to the middle two positions in a
horizontal semicircular array were likely to play more rounds of the eight-
round game, were more likely to make the final dyad, and were more likely
to win the quiz show game. Further, this advantage appeared to be due to
other players (who had a chance to vote them off the game sequentially
over six rounds of elimination) paying less attention to their errors and,
therefore, conferring on them the benefit of the doubt; a process that they
confirmed using follow-up laboratory experiments. This center advantage
was counter-intuitively due to lower levels of attention being paid to those
in the center in a context where the goal was to identify poor quality (i.e.,
attend to errors rather than attend to correct responses), leading to their
being referred to as the “centers of inattention.”
In follow-up investigations as to whether these effects would also mani-
fest in a product shelf-space context, Valenzuela and Raghubir (2009)
demonstrated that shoppers have preexisting schemas for store layouts:
popular products are expected to be placed in the center of an array,
expensive products on higher shelves, cheaper products and slow-mov-
ing products on lower shelves, and promoted products on the horizontal
extremes of an array. This led to their inferring that products that were
placed in the middle were more popular than those on the extremes of a
distribution, which affected their preferences and behavior as a function
of whether their goal was to purchase a popular product, a high-quality
product, or a less-expensive product.
The intrinsic meaning associated with other visual properties, such as
color, shape, light, and so forth, is a fruitful area for further investigation.

Behavior

Studies examining the effect of visual cues on actual behavior have focused
on choice, sales, purchase quantity, and consumption (see Krishna, 2008,
 Visual Perception 215

for a review). However, there is little research on the effect of visual cues
on other behavioral measures such as timing (e.g., purchase delay or accel-
eration), consistency of choices (e.g., brand switching, variety seeking vs.
loyalty), and word of mouth. Examining the final consequences of visual
cues on actual behavior is of clear relevance to marketing practice, con-
sumer welfare, and public policy.

Conclusions

The goal of this chapter was to summarize the classic and contemporary
research on visual information processing to help the theoretician and the
practitioner understand the manner in which visual cues interact with
one another and the other senses. The model presented a typology of
visual cues with their effects on a range of consumer judgments via the
mediating constructs of attention, neural activation, and visual imagery.
It also proposed two sets of moderators for the effects: context and indi-
vidual differences. The large question explored in this chapter was when
and why two cues were assimilated versus contrasted. I presented a con-
jectural, speculative model with falsifiable hypotheses that future research
investigating the manner of the integration of different senses could test
and refine.
Going forward, while there is undoubtedly a large body of research on
visual perception, there are a number of unanswered questions ranging
from the effect of untested visual cues on consumer judgments, and the
effect of moderating factors, to questions regarding how the senses inter-
act and how multisensory experiences are formed (see Krishna [2006] for
an example of touch–vision interaction, and Krishna and Morrin [2008]
for an example touch–taste interaction). The advent of fMRI technology,
which uses as a base the knowledge that different parts of the brain are
activated as a function of different sensory systems, will undoubtedly be
of great use in providing convergent (or contradictory) evidence that will
help us understand how cues from the different senses are integrated.
The next decade is likely to see acceleration in the interest given to
visual and sensory cues as ways for marketers to differentiate their prod-
ucts, packages, and promotional materials. Kahn and Deng (see Chapter
17 in this volume) propose that the coming decade will be the “decade of
design” in the manner that the 1980s was the decade of the “brand.” If
this prediction bears out, as is plausible, then the study of visual elements,
along with sensory stimuli, will be key to inform this inquiry.
216 Priya Raghubir

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15
Differences and Similarities
in Hue Preferences Between
Chinese and Caucasians
Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn,
and Peter Darke

The question of whether color preferences are similar or different across

cultures has intrigued color researchers over the years. The literature
is mixed in providing an answer, finding both similarities and differ-
ences (Adams & Osgood, 1973; Cernovsky, Haggarty, & Kermeen, 1998;
Choungourian, 1969; D’Hondt & Vandewiele, 1983; Kastl & Child, 1968;
Madden, Hewett, & Roth, 2000; Saito, 1981, 1996; Vandewiele, D’Hondt,
Didillon, Iwawaki, & Mwamwenda, 1986; Wiegersma & De Klerck, 1984).
We add to this literature by suggesting the conditions under which a simi-
larity in preferences should be obtained and under these conditions exam-
ine the color preferences of two distinct cultures: Chinese and Caucasian
North American.1 We also examine the mechanism that should under-
lie a similarity in preferences across cultures. In addition, we investigate
one specific context that could result in differences in color preference or
choices, rather than similarities across cultures.

Literature Review

Cross-cultural research on color has investigated a wide variety of

responses to colors (e.g., the meaning of colors) (Jacobs, Keown, Worthley,
& Ghymn, 1991) and the memory for colors (Tavassoli, 2001). In this
research we focus on color preferences and specifically on hue prefer-
ences.2 We next review the cross-cultural research on hue preference. Our
goal in this review is to use the literature to explain the confusion that
219
220 Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter Darke

seems to exist regarding the extent to which color preferences are similar
or different across cultures.

Similarities and Differences in Color Preference Across Cultures

Eysenck (1941) discussed this confusion and contrasted Guilford’s posi-

tion and findings (cf., Walton, Guilford, & Guilford, 1933), supporting
a similarity in hue preferences across cultures with other research (Von
Allesch, 1924) that supports cross-cultural differences in preferences.
Eysenck’s research supported a similarities perspective, which is sup-
ported by other research as well, such as research comparing the hue pref-
erences of Vietnamese and American boys and girls (Kastl & Child, 1968)
and research comparing Arctic Inuit versus other Canadians (Cernovsky
et al., 1998). In marketing, Madden et al. (2000) also found primarily simi-
larities in hue preferences across a number of different cultures.
Much research is in the opposite camp, however, reporting primarily
differences in hue preferences across cultures (Choungourian, 1968; Saito,
1996; Vandewiele et al., 1986). For example, the “blue phenomenon” (a
strong preference for blue), while found in some cultures, is not found in
all cultures (see Wiegersma & Van Der Elst, 1988 for a review). Thus the
confusion in the literature Eysenck noted many years ago seems to still be
continuing to the present day.
Although it is not clear from a reading of the research studies reviewed
as to why some of them found cultural differences and some cultural simi-
larities, it might be expected from looking at the research on the mech-
anism underlying color preference that the literature should have found
greater similarities across cultures. We next outline the mechanism under-
lying color preference and why that would lead us to expect similarities in
color preference across cultures provided certain conditions prevail.

Mechanism Underlying Color Preferences

Hue–Feeling Link

There is considerable evidence to suggest that colors elicit feelings. In early

work, Guilford (1934, 1939, as noted in Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) showed
that variation in hue systematically influenced feelings of pleasure. More
 Hue Preferences Between Chinese and Caucasians 221

recently, Valdez and Mehrabian (1994) also found that variations in hue
led to systematic differences in feelings. They report that short wavelength
hues (e.g., blue) will elicit greater feelings of relaxation compared to longer
wavelength hues (e.g., red). As well, feelings of excitement will be higher
for longer wavelength hues compared to shorter wavelength hues (Antick
& Schandler, 1993; Hardin, 2000). Gorn, Chattopadhyay, Yi, and Dahl
(1997) built on this research and showed that hues in an ad influenced
feelings of relaxation and excitement.

Hue–Feeling Link Across Culture

There are biological reasons why different hues elicit different feelings. Hue
is a perceptual element that is associated with specific physiological struc-
tures.3 Research reported by Hardin (2000) suggests that the classification
of hues as warm/exciting (e.g., reds) or cool/relaxing (e.g., blues) is linked
to the physiological processes involved in color perception. Supporting
evidence also comes from the work of Batra, Urvashi, and Muhar (1998),
which showed that the hue of the surrounding environment in which a sim-
ple experimental task was undertaken affected participants’ galvanic skin
response (GSR). A red environment was found to elicit GSR levels consis-
tent with higher arousal compared to blue environments. Indeed, based on
the physiological evidence linking hue to feelings, Sokolov and Boucsein
(2000) have gone so far as to propose a neurophysiological model of emo-
tion based on color space. Together, this evidence suggests a physiological
basis for the link between hue and feelings, and therefore we should expect
that the effects of hue on feelings would be similar across cultures, since,
notwithstanding cultural differences, we share a common physiology.

Feeling–Liking Link

There is also evidence that suggests that feelings are interpreted in the
same way across cultures and, thus, hue-induced feelings are likely to
lead to hue preferences that are similar across cultures. Evidence for the
similarity of interpretation of emotions comes from work on the under-
lying dimensionality of emotions. In this research, it is widely accepted
that feelings can be represented by two dimensions: arousal and valence
(Herrmann & Raybeck, 1981; Russell, 2003). This two-dimensional view
222 Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter Darke

has been found to capture the variance in emotions across a wide variety
of cultures. For example, using both facial expressions to capture emo-
tions as well as words, Russell, Lewicka, and Niit (1989) have shown that,
across a set of heterogeneous cultures (Estonian, Greek, Polish, Hong
Kong Chinese), the variance in emotions can be captured using the two
dimensions of valence and arousal. This finding has been further repli-
cated using data from China, Croatia, India, Japan, Norway, Spain, and
Vietnam (Herrmann & Raybeck, 1981; Russell, 1983). Importantly, this
research shows that feelings, whether expressed in the form of facial
expressions or words, are classified in the same way across cultures. Thus,
for example, both excitement and relaxation are judged as being positive
in valence across cultures. Furthermore, excitement is judged as high
in arousal, while relaxation is judged as low on arousal across cultures
(Russell et al., 1989). Since the effects of feelings on attitude judgments
are believed to occur through a transfer of the valence associated with the
feeling, it would seem that similar feelings should have a similar impact on
judgments across cultures. Thus, for example, feelings of relaxation should
have a positive effect on attitude judgments, irrespective of culture.

Summary

The research reviewed above suggests that (a) different feelings are likely
to be elicited by different hues, (b) the pattern of effects of hues on feelings
are likely to be cross-culturally similar (e.g., blue should elicit feelings of
relaxation, across cultures), and (c) the effects of feelings on attitude judg-
ments are also likely to be similar across cultures (e.g., feelings of relax-
ation elicited by blue should lead to it being evaluated favorably, across
cultures). This would suggest that hue preferences are likely to be stable
across cultures.

Why Then the Mixed Results in the Literature?

Given this research, why do we find mixed results in the literature on

hue preferences? As already noted, it is difficult to come to a clear under-
standing of the reasons for the differences in results from a reading of the
published literature. One possibility that might account, at least in part,
for the mixed findings relates to the way the various studies were carried
out, specifically, regarding the prominence of the hues. For example, in
 Hue Preferences Between Chinese and Caucasians 223

some studies that found differences (Adams & Osgood, 1973; Vandewiele
et al., 1986; Wiegersma & Van Der Elst, 1988), no colors were shown while
collecting responses, and in Saito’s (1981, 1996) work, small color chips
were used. It is possible that these conditions were not ideal for elicitation
of feelings.

Prominence of Hue

It would appear from the literature, however, that when the colors are more
prominent or salient, they do elicit feelings. For example, when the walls
of a room are painted a relaxing color people in the room have been found
to be less fidgety and less aggressive (Bennett, Hague, & Perkins, 1991;
Profusek & Rainey, 1987; Schauss, 1985). Likewise, the effect of hue on
feelings and preference in Gorn et al. (1997) was found in a context where
the color was the predominant feature of the ad. Gorn, Chattopadhyay,
Sengupta, and Tripathi (2004) also report the effects of hues on feelings,
and in their studies participants were exposed to computer screens of a
particular color.
In the next section we report the results of our study that investigated
similarities across cultures when hues were salient. Although previous
research has looked at both feelings and preferences, to our knowledge
we are the first to examine feelings-based mechanism for preferences by
explicitly testing whether the feelings elicited by different hues play a medi-
ating role in hue preference formation. The study also examines whether
the underlying mechanism is robust across cultures.

Study 1

Method

To make the hue prominent, Study 1 was conducted by projecting colors

onto a screen at the front of the room. Colors on a screen appear more
intense than colors in print because of the additional light source coming
from the projector.4 We also projected large patches of the colors rather
than small ones, to further increase their prominence.
The design was a 2 × 3 mixed design. Hue (blue vs. red) was the within-
subjects factor. We focused on blue and red since they are primary hues
and also the most researched hues in the literature, and they elicit the
224 Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter Darke

highest levels of relaxation and excitement. Culture was the between-par-

ticipants factor, with the following three groups: Caucasian Canadians,
Chinese Canadians, and Hong Kong Chinese.
152 participants who were enrolled in undergraduate courses partic-
ipated in this study for course credit. Subjects were randomly assigned
to conditions. Of the 88 participants from Canada, 45 were classified as
Caucasian Canadians, while 43 were classified as Chinese Canadian. Data
from 64 Chinese participants were collected in Hong Kong.
Participants were shown two slides with a large square patch of the spe-
cific hue in the middle, with a border of white around it. The specific hues
used were Munsell 7.5 PB 4, 24 for blue and Munsell 7.5 R 5, 16 for red. The
two different colors were chosen on the basis of data collected by Gorn et
al. (1997) that showed that these were the most preferred shades of blue
and red. Two different orders of presentation were used. While viewing
each hue, participants rated their liking for the hue (three, 9-point rating
scales anchored by good [+4]–bad [–4], nice–not nice, and like–dislike),
feelings of relaxation (three, 9-point scales for the words relaxed, calm,
and soothed on a scale anchored by not at all [1] and very much so [9]),
and feelings of excitement (two, 9-point scales for the words excited and
active). These scales were adapted from Gorn et al. (1997). Next, partici-
pants responded to questions about the language spoken at home, country
of birth, and a question asking about the purpose of the study.

Results

Preliminary Analyses
Analyses of the data revealed that the items for each hue preference, feel-
ings of relaxation, and feelings of excitement, loaded on separate single fac-
tors when they were subjected to principal components analysis. Further,
all the scales were reliable (α > .79). Thus, the mean score across the items
making up the rating scale measures served as the operational measure in
the analyses reported below.

Feelings of Relaxation and Excitement

Our analyses of feelings investigated whether red and blue would elicit,
respectively, feelings of relaxation and excitement, not just in the Caucasian
group, as has been found in previous research, but also in the two Chinese
groups. Two analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were run: one with feelings
of relaxation as the dependent variable and the other with feelings of
 Hue Preferences Between Chinese and Caucasians 225

excitement as the dependent variable. In each case hue served as a within-

participant factor with two levels (blue and red), and cultural group served
as a between-participants classification variable. Both ANOVAs revealed
a similar pattern of results. In each case, the main effect of hue attained
statistical significance (relaxed: F(1,149) = 236.97, p < .01; η2 = .61; excited:
F(1,149) = 31.43, p <.01; η2 = .17). Blue elicited greater feelings of relaxation
(mean = 5.56) compared to red (mean = 3.18). Red elicited stronger feelings
of excitement (mean = 5.68) compared to blue (mean = 4.68). The main
effect for culture was significant in each case (relaxation: F(2,149) = 16.39,
p < .01, η2 = .18; excitement: F(2,149) = 7.87, p < .01, η2 = .10). The interac-
tion term was statistically significant for feelings of relaxation (F(2,149) =
52.21, p < .01; η2 = .41) but not for feelings of excitement (F(2,149) = 1.49,
p > .10). An examination of the means, as a function of hue, and cultural
group, for feelings of relaxation, reveals that the difference in feelings of
relaxation elicited by blue and red were greatest in the Caucasian group
and smallest in the Hong Kong Chinese. Notwithstanding this difference,
however, in each of the three cultures, blue elicited higher feelings of relax-
ation than did red (mean for blue: Caucasian Canadian = 7.01; Chinese
Canadian = 5.52; Hong Kong Chinese = 4.14; mean for red: Caucasian
Canadians = 2.83; Chinese Canadians = 3.08; and Hong Kong Chinese
= 3.64; p < .05 for all). The combination of a main effect of hue on relax-
ation along with the non-crossover interaction between culture and hue
for relaxation suggests that there is a strong effect of hue on feelings of
relaxation in each culture, although we note some differences in the rela-
tive size of the effects, as exemplified by the interaction.

Hue Preferences
The rating scale measure of hue preference was analyzed next. An ANOVA
with the preference rating measure as the dependent variable revealed a
significant main effect of hue (F(1,149) = 113.59, p < .01; η2 = .43). The
means revealed that blue was preferred (mean = 2.37) to red (mean = 0.46).
We also observed for the feelings measures that the main effect of cultural
group was significant (F(2,149) = 3.98, p < .01; η2 = .05). The Caucasian
Canadians judged all the hues more positively (mean = 1.79) than did the
Chinese Canadians (mean = 1.31), who in turn were more favorable than
the Hong Kong Chinese (mean = 1.15). The interaction between hue and
cultural group was also significant (F(2,149) = 3.34, p < .05; η2 = .04). As
with the measure of feelings of relaxation reported above, an examina-
tion of the cell means revealed that, notwithstanding differences across
culture indicated by the interaction, in all three cultural groups examined
226 Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter Darke

here, blue was significantly (p < .05) more preferred (means: Caucasian
Canadian = 2.96, Chinese Canadian = 2.35, and Hong Kong Chinese =
1.81) over red (means: Caucasian Canadian = .62, Chinese Canadian =
.28, and Hong Kong Chinese = .49). Thus, although blue is preferred to
red in each of the cultures examined, the size of the preference difference
between the two hues differs across the cultures.

Feelings Elicited by Hues Mediate Hue Preference

The results thus far show that hue has systematic effects on both feelings
and general hue preferences, and that the patterns are similar across cul-
tures, with some differences, as noted above.
To examine the role of felt relaxation and excitement in mediating the
effect of hue on liking, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was con-
ducted with liking as the dependent variable, hue and cultural group as
independent factors, and feelings of relaxation and excitement elicited
in response to each hue as covariates. We included both the feelings of
relaxation and excitement as covariates in a single ANCOVA model, as
the two feelings are conceptualized as independent feelings (Apter, 1981,
1982; Thayer, 1986). According to Apter (1981, 1982), there are two dimen-
sions of arousal, one going from boredom to excitement, called feelings
of excitement, and the other from relaxation to tension, called feelings of
relaxation. Further, Apter argues that it is possible to experience feelings
from both these dimensions simultaneously. For example, as elaborated by
Gorn et al. (1997), one may feel relaxed but bored on a Sunday afternoon.
On the other hand, one could feel bored but tense if there is an important
event coming up shortly. One could also be excited but tense, for example,
on the first day at a new job. And, when on a vacation while reading an
exciting novel, one could be both relaxed and excited.
The analysis revealed that the effect of hue on liking was attenuated by
92% (η2 reduced from .36 to .03), although it remained statistically signifi-
cant (F(1,145) = 4.55, p < .05; η2 = .03). As well, all four covariates were sig-
nificant (red excitement: F(1,145) = 10.16, p < .01; blue excitement: F(1,145)
= 21.69, p < .01; red relaxation: F(1,145) = 22.49, p < .01; blue relaxation:
F(1,145) = 4.44, p < .05).

Discussion

The data show that there are differences in the pattern of feelings elicited by
red and blue hues. Moreover, notwithstanding the observed interactions
 Hue Preferences Between Chinese and Caucasians 227

between hue and culture, blue was perceived as more relaxing and was
more preferred compared to red in each of the cultures examined. Further,
feelings of excitement and relaxation mediate the impact of hue on liking.
The small but significant residual effect of hue on liking suggests that there
is additionally either a direct effect of hue on liking, some other mediating
variable(s) not captured in this research, or both. It is also noteworthy that
our results are inconsistent with an oft-noted observation that red is the
most preferred hue in the Chinese culture (e.g., Copeland & Griggs, 1986;
Gunnenrod, 1991; Schmitt & Simonson, 1997).
A question that arises from these results is: Would we observe bigger
differences in responses across cultures in situations where cultural norms
were important? Moreover, would these cultural norms influence the report-
ing of underlying preferences toward color or just change situation-specific
choices? We examine these questions in the next study. Study 2 also consid-
ers all four elementary hues, and not just red and blue, as done in Study 1.

Study 2

Cultural norms sometimes specify particular hues for an occasion or con-

text. For example, green is associated with St. Patrick’s Day everywhere
it is celebrated. The same is true for black and orange during Halloween.
Sometimes there is a hue that is associated with an occasion in one culture
but not another. Red, for example, is associated with Chinese New Year,
whereas the celebration of the Western New Year has no particular hue asso-
ciated with it. Whenever a cultural norm specifies a particular hue for an
occasion, this norm should drive hue choice for that occasion more than any
feelings that might be elicited by the hue for biological reasons. So, if there
is a norm specifying a particular hue as appropriate in one culture but not
another, and if that hue is not the hue that is preferred for biological reasons,
then differences in hue preference for the occasion should emerge between
the two cultures. This prediction of differences seems intuitively reasonable
even under conditions where the hues are displayed prominently, thereby
maximizing their capacity to elicit feelings. When there are no salient norms
for an occasion in the two cultures, however, we would expect choice for the
occasion to reflect general hue preferences. Consistent with Study 1, they
should be similar across cultures, provided that, as in Study 1, the hues are
displayed prominently, which they were in Study 2 as well.
In Study 2, we also examined another question: Does making a cul-
tural occasion that is associated with a specific hue salient influence the
228 Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter Darke

reporting of general hue preferences? Consider when red is made salient

for a Chinese person by asking him or her to make a choice for a New Year’s
occasion. Will that affect the hues he or she says are preferred in general or
will the reporting of underlying preferences remain unaffected?

Method

Study 2 was a 3 × 3 between participants factorial design. Participants

were from three cultural groups: Caucasian Canadian, Chinese Canadian,
and Hong Kong Chinese. Their task was to choose the color they most
preferred as wrapping paper for a gift that was said to be for a friend. The
choice occasions were selected based on pretesting (birthday, New Year’s,
or St. Patrick’s Day), such that cultural norms pertaining to color either
did or did not exist for one, two, or all three cultural groups. Specifically,
there were no cultural color norms for birthdays for any of the three
groups. Thus, in this condition, we expected similarity across cultures in
terms of the hue of the wrapping paper chosen and a similarity between
general hue preference and choice of hue. For New Year’s, the color red
was the cultural norm for both the Hong Kong Chinese and Chinese
Canadians. However, there were no norms for Caucasian Canadians for
the celebration of their New Year’s. Thus, we expected that the Hong Kong
and Canadian Chinese would be influenced by the norm and be more
likely to choose red. We expected the Caucasian Canadians to choose
colors in consonance with their general hue preference. For St. Patrick’s
Day, the cultural norm is green among Canadians. This should apply to
both Caucasian and Chinese Canadians, as the latter, being a minority
community, would have assimilated the values of the dominant cultural
group where they did not have a particular norm of their own. Thus, both
Caucasian and Chinese Canadians are more likely to choose green in this
condition. However, in the absence of norms, we expected the Hong Kong
Chinese to choose in consonance with their general color preference.

Participants

Two hundred and forty-five participants who were enrolled in introduc-

tory business courses at major universities located in Hong Kong and
Canada participated in the study. There were 91 Hong Kong Chinese par-
ticipants, 69 Chinese Canadians, and 85 Caucasian Canadians. Subjects
were randomly assigned to the three choice occasion conditions.
 Hue Preferences Between Chinese and Caucasians 229

Procedure

Each participant received a questionnaire that began with the instruc-

tions for the study. They were told that they had been “invited to dinner
by a friend” and they had bought a gift to take with them. The task before
them was to choose the color of the gift-wrapping paper for their gift. The
instructions indicated that the occasion for the dinner was a birthday,
New Year’s, or St. Patrick’s Day.
A sample of colors was provided on a screen at the front of the room
via a standard computer projection system. These included two samples of
each of the four elementary hues (i.e., blue, green, red, and yellow),5 as well
as single samples of black and white. The selection of specific elemental
hues was based on color preference data collected by Gorn et al. (1997).
The two most preferred shades of each of the elemental hues from that
data were used (blue: Munsell 7.5 PB 4, 24 and 7.5 PB 5, 18; green: Munsell
7.5 G 7, 10 and 2.5 G 7, 12; red: Munsell 7.5 R 5, 16 and 7.5 R 5, 14; and yel-
low: Munsell 2.5 Y 8, 12 and 10 Y 9, 12).
The stimulus set appeared as a series of square boxes that contained the
target colors, labeled from “A” to “J,” for easy reference. Participants were
asked to choose the color sample they most preferred as wrapping paper,
and then circle the matching letter on their questionnaire.
Participants then reported their general hue preference. There were two
measures of preference: participants reported their favorite color from the
set of 10 displayed, without reference to any particular purpose or occasion,
and rated their liking for the four elemental hues on a 9-point scale (like
very much [+4]–dislike very much [–4]), again regardless of any specific
purpose. Additionally, subjects responded to a variety of questions pertain-
ing to demographics. Measures of feelings were not included in this study,
as our focus was not on the mediating mechanisms, as in Study 1, but on the
moderating influence of salient cultural norms on preference and choice.

Results

Hue Choices for Particular Occasions

As might be expected, choice of hue for the gift-wrapping paper made by
members of the three cultural groups was influenced by salient cultural
norms: when New Year’s was specified as the occasion for the gift, the
chi-square test, with the three cultural groups as one factor and the choice
230 Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter Darke

from the six hue categories as the other factor,6 was significant (χ_(8) =
22.57, p < .05).7 In this case, red was chosen in 77% of the cases by the
Hong Kong Chinese, compared to only 33% of the cases by Caucasian
Canadians. The Chinese Canadians fell in between with 55% choosing
red (see Figure€15.1). For St. Patrick’s Day, in accordance with the norm,
Caucasian Canadians and Chinese Canadians were most likely to choose
green (84% and 79%, respectively), while this choice was less likely for the
Hong Kong Chinese (21% chose green; χ_(8) = 33.49, p < .01). Interestingly,
for birthdays, where no cultural norms existed for any of the cultural
groups, the pattern of hue choice was similar across groups (χ_(8) = 6.37,
ns). Blue was the most preferred hue for gift-wrapping paper and red the
second most preferred hue (blue = 36% vs. red = 26%, yellow = 25%, green
= 12%, white = 1%).

General Hue Preferences as a Function of Choice Occasion

A chi-square analysis was conducted for general hue preference as mea-
sured by choice of favorite color from the 10 options presented, as a func-
tion of the occasion primed (birthday, New Year’s, and St. Patrick’s). (The
choice of favorite color was not context specific.) As in the previous analy-
ses, instead of using all 10 choice options, they were recoded to five levels:
red, blue, green, yellow, and white. Black was not a level as no subjects
chose black as their favorite color. The analyses revealed no differences in
general hue preference as a function of choice occasion primed (χ_(8) =
9.32, ns). Blue was chosen as the most preferred hue (51%).
For the second general hue preference measure, which asked subjects
for an evaluation of each of the four elemental hues without reference to
a specific instantiation of the hue, an ANOVA was conducted with the
four elemental hue evaluations as a within-participant factor and the
three choice occasion primes and three cultural groups as between-par-
ticipants factors. The analyses revealed neither a main effect of occasion
(F(1,236) = 1.01, ns) nor an interaction between occasion and general hue
preference (F(6,708) = 1.16, ns). The three-way interaction also failed to
attain significance (F < 1). Thus, the results do not support salient cul-
tural norms for an occasion having an effect on the reporting of general
hue preferences.
To investigate whether hue preferences predict choice when cultural
norms are not salient for the 10 displayed colors, we compared subjects’
choices for wrapping a birthday gift with the hue they preferred in general.
As expected, for a birthday gift, their wrapping paper choice was con-
sistent with their general hue preference (45% chose their favorite color).
 Hue Preferences Between Chinese and Caucasians 231

80%

60%

40%

20%

Other
0%
Green
HK Chinese
Canadian
Chinese Caucasian
Canadian

(a)

80%

60%

40%

20%

Other
0%
Red
HK Chinese
Canadian
Chinese Caucasian
Canadian

(b)

Figure 15.1â•… Hue choices when norms are salient: as a function of cultural
group.
232 Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter Darke

A comparison of the percentage of participants observed as choosing in

consonance with their favorite color to the likelihood that the pattern
might be observed by chance (chance level = 17%) revealed a significant
difference for each of the three cultural groups (binomial test: p < .001).
Further, participants in the three cultural groups did not differ in their
likelihood of choosing wrapping paper for a birthday gift based on their
favorite color (χ2(2) = 1.07, ns). Thus, the data suggest that people choose
on the basis of their favorite color when salient cultural norms do not pre-
scribe a particular hue for the choice occasion.8
As already reported, hue choice is significantly influenced by the choice
occasion, but general hue preference is not. Thus, when asked to choose
in contexts where the occasion activates a hue-specific cultural norm, we
would not expect general hue preference to predict choices. To test for
the likelihood of choosing in line with general preference, we computed
a binomial test for participants from the four groups where the primed
norm suggested a specific hue choice: Hong Kong Chinese and Chinese
Canadians with the New Year’s prime and Canadian Caucasians and
Chinese Canadians with the St. Patrick’s Day prime. The binomial test
was not significant (p > .25), as only 21% of respondents chose in line
with their most preferred hue in general, compared to a chance level of
17%. For the two remaining groups, Caucasian Canadians with a New
Year’s prime and Hong Kong Chinese with a St. Patrick’s Day prime,
conditions where the prime did not suggest a specific hue choice, the
binomial test revealed that these two groups chose a hue consistent with
their general hue preference at a much greater than chance level (p <
.001; 56% choice consistent with general hue preference, compared to
17% by chance).

General Hue Preferences as a Function of Culture

A chi-square test of consumers’ favorite color across the five hue levels
(no one chose black as their favorite color) as a function of cultural group
revealed an overall similarity in hue preferences between the Hong Kong
Chinese, Chinese Canadians, and the Caucasian Canadians (χ_(8) = 14.89,
ns). These results support what was found in Study 1. Blue was the most
preferred color across the groups, with 51% of respondents reporting it
as their favorite color. The dominance of blue as the favorite hue across
cultural groups is striking. In all three cultural groups, significantly
more participants reported blue to be their favorite color than would be
observed by chance (Hong Kong Chinese: 41.2%, binomial test: p < .001;
Chinese Canadians: 54.4%, binomial test: p < .001; Caucasian Canadian:
 Hue Preferences Between Chinese and Caucasians 233

57.4%, binomial test: p < .001). Further, the proportion of participants for
whom blue was the favorite color did not vary as a function of cultural
group (χ_(2) = .98, ns).
A similar pattern of results was obtained for the rating scale measure of
the four elemental hues. The ANOVA reported earlier, with cultural group
and choice occasion as between-participants factors and the evaluation of
the four elemental hues, red, blue, green, and yellow, as a within-partici-
pant factor, revealed that the main effect of cultural group (F < 1) and the
hue by culture interaction (F(6,718) = 1.98, ns) were not significant. The
effect of hue was the only significant effect in the analyses (F(3, 236) =
64.09, p < .001, η2 = .21). The cell means show that blue was the most liked
hue (mean = 3.02), followed by red (mean = 1.99), followed by green and
yellow, which were virtually equally liked (mean = 1.34 and 1.31, respec-
tively). Follow-up analyses, using a contrast comparing liking of blue to
each of the other three hues, revealed a significant effect in each instance
(blue vs. red: F = 56.23, p < .01; vs. green: F = 165.03, p < .01; vs. yellow: F
= 166.36, p < .01). These results are consistent with the results obtained for
the choice of favorite color reported above. Taken together, they provide
strong evidence that while general preference for hues varies significantly
across hues, this pattern of general preference for hues (i.e., blue is most
preferred, and so on, as above) does not vary across cultures.

Discussion

As might be expected, the findings suggest that hue choice is determined

by relevant and salient cultural norms. Cross-cultural differences in sit-
uation-specific color choices emerge when these norms are salient in one
culture but not another, as was the case with New Year’s for the Chinese
versus the Caucasian participants. When no norms exist, as is the case for
birthdays or St. Patrick’s Day for the Hong Kong Chinese and New Year’s
for Caucasian Canadians, the specific choices for wrapping paper reflect
people’s general hue preferences. This study thus supports the thesis that
where the choice occasion does not have a specific hue prescribed by the
culture, consumer choices are influenced by their general hue preference.
Our findings also suggested that while choice is affected when the choice
occasion has a culturally prescribed hue, general hue preferences are not
affected by making these norms salient. Red is both lucky and important
in Chinese cultures. Despite this and despite our exposing Chinese par-
ticipants to the New Year’s scenario, the general hue preferences of the
234 Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter Darke

Chinese participants were not affected and were similar to those of the
Caucasian participants.

General Discussion

We began this chapter by pointing to the mixed findings in the litera-

ture on hue preferences across cultures. We noted that some of the stud-
ies that found differences did not use actual colors in their studies. In
those that did, it was typically difficult to tell how prominent the hues
were from the description of how the studies were done (Vandewiele et al.,
1986; Wiegersma & De Klerck, 1984; Wiegersma & Van Der Elst, 1988).
Focusing on the mechanism underlying color preferences, we suggested
that similarities in hue preferences should be expected provided that the
hues are displayed prominently. They should be expected because feelings
elicited by a hue are likely to be maximized when such is the case, feelings
that are likely biological in origin and therefore similar across cultures.
Although previous research suggests that feelings and preferences are
different for different hues (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974), to our knowledge
the role feelings play in hue preferences has not been explicitly tested in
previous research. We proposed that under the conditions we ran our stud-
ies, conditions where the hues were made very salient by both using a large
patch of the color and by projecting the color onto a screen, the hues will
elicit feelings and these in turn will have a strong influence on preferences.
The results of Study 1 supported our perspective and found an overall simi-
larity in the hue preferences of the three cultures examined. There was a
general preference for blue across all three cultures. This was true in Study 2
as well. Although it is always difficult to know why previous cross-cultural
research has sometimes supported the “blue phenomenon” and other times
not, our results do seem to suggest that if the hues are made salient, prefer-
ences are likely to be similar. Salient hues are more likely to elicit strong
feelings, and if strong feelings are elicited, they should in turn influence
preferences. Future research might test this idea by examining experimen-
tally the role of feelings in hue preferences as a function of hue salience.
Study 2 examined more hues and, as might be expected, found that even
when hues were displayed prominently, salient cultural norms regarding
an appropriate hue for an occasion dominated hue choice for the occasion.
When there were no such norms, then general hue preferences influenced
hue choices for the occasion. For the norm-free occasions, consistent with
Study 1, hue preferences were similar across cultures.
 Hue Preferences Between Chinese and Caucasians 235

Although norms affected situation-specific choices, general hue prefer-

ences were not affected. Thus, there was no evidence of any biasing effect
of situation-specific choices on the reporting of general hue preferences,
even though the two measures were used back to back. Perhaps the blunt-
ness of the priming of the hue associated with a particular occasion in a
culture accentuated the distinction in a participant’s mind between his or
her preference for that occasion as well as general hue preference, lessen-
ing the likelihood of any biasing effects. Consistent with this possibility,
previous mood research suggests that if a mood state is primed, it will not
affect subsequent attitude judgments when participants are made aware of
the prime before they are asked for their attitude judgments by, for exam-
ple, asking them about their mood state first (Schwarz & Clore, 1983).
Despite the overall similarity in responses between cultures in our
research, we recognize that there are differences as shown by the sig-
nificant interactions we observed. For example, we observed an interac-
tion between hue and culture for feelings of relaxation and preference.
However, these effects do not influence either the ordering of preferences
or the propensity of one hue to elicit greater feelings of excitement com-
pared to relaxation as a function of culture. Moreover, we only studied two
cultures, even though the cultures compared are very different from each
other (Nisbett, 2003). Thus, we recognize that we should offer our per-
spective with caution, emphasizing similarities when hues are displayed
prominently. Future research on other cultures would be needed to deter-
mine the generalizability of our results. In addition, we focused on the
hue dimension in this research. Future research might examine cultural
differences in preferences related to the two other dimensions of color,
chroma, and value.
The results of Study 2 suggest that consumers are likely to choose socially
prescribed hues when norms exist, even if they are not their preferred hues.
Although we only studied norms for particular occasions, other norms
are also likely to have similar effects; for instance, color norms for prod-
uct categories. To the degree this is true, making appropriate color choices
requires understanding the underlying general hue preference of consum-
ers as well as norms that may apply to the specific category, choice occasion,
and the like. Future research could explore whether a broader set of norms
has similar effects. Future research could also examine whether the effects
of norms on the expression of general hue preferences depend on the level
of subtlety with which the norms are made salient. For example, if before
being asked for their general preferences, Chinese people were subtlety
primed with the concept of New Year’s by being asked to read a story about
236 Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter Darke

Chinese New Year or by subliminally priming the concept, would that

increase the likelihood of them reporting a general hue preference for red?

Notes

1. This research was supported by a grant from the Hong Kong government
(HKUST 6149/02H). We use the terms Caucasian North American to refer
to North Americans of European descent. We realize that the term Caucasian
includes non-Europeans, such as Indians, but preferred this term to White
North Americans.
2. Hue (e.g., red, blue) is the color dimension that has been the subject of the
majority of the research and the dimension that has been of most concern to
managers as well. The other two dimensions of color are chroma (saturation)
and value (the lightness-darkness of a color).
3. Human color vision is dependent on three types of cones in the retina (L,
M, and S). Each cone type responds most strongly to light at a specific wave-
length. The maximum excitation is reached for the cones at wavelengths that
correspond to light perceived as blue, red, yellow, and green. Information
from the retinal response travels along the optic nerve to the part of the brain
called the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), which contains four specialized
cells that are responsible for color vision. They respond to retinal excitation
corresponding to red, blue, green, and yellow light (e.g., Abramov, 1997;
Ratliff, 1976).
4. This is true for computer screens as well. Golding and White (1997) sug-
gest that the additional light source from a monitor intensifies contrasts on a
computer screen.
5. These are called elementary hues as there are specialized cells in the lateral
geniculate nucleus (LGN; the part of the brain connected to the optic nerve)
that detect these four hues. All other hues are detected through the simul-
taneous firing of combinations of the four cell types at different intensities.
Thus, these four hues are distinct in that one cannot see any other hues in
them, as they are perceived through the unique activation of a single cell type
in the LGN (e.g., Abramov, 1997; Ratliff, 1976).
6. We collapsed across each of the two shades of a specific elementary hue, thus
the levels for the analysis we report could have had six levels: red, blue, green,
yellow, black, and white. However, since none of the respondents chose black,
we ended up with five levels of this factor in the analysis.
7. The chi square has eight degrees of freedom: four coming from the five levels
of hue and two from the three levels of culture.
8. The rating scale measure of general hue preference was not appropriate for
this analysis, as this measure was concerned with the four elemental hues
and did not map directly on to the choice from the 10 hues presented.
 Hue Preferences Between Chinese and Caucasians 237

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16
Does Everything Look Worse in Black
and White? The Role of Monochrome
Images in Consumer Behavior
Eric A. Greenleaf

Is there still a place for black-and-white images in consumer commu-

nication? Black and white images are becoming scarce for consumers.
Media that once relied on monochrome images have switched partly or
completely to color images. Black-and-white television, the childhood
mainstay of baby boomers, is virtually extinct. Most newspapers include
color ads and photographs, a trend pioneered by USA Today’s heavy use
of color photographs and charts. New types of media, such as iPods, the
Internet, and cell phones, have always used color images since the time
that consumers widely adopted them. Even the photographic images
that consumers create themselves are almost entirely in color, the black-
and-white film photographs taken to commemorate special occasions
having given way to far cheaper digital images taken by the hundreds
for every purpose, casual and serious. While older consumers may recall
a time when many marketing communications were black and white,
younger consumers are familiar with a world of inexpensive and plenti-
ful color images.
Is there still a place for black-and-white images in today’s consumer
world, or are monochrome images destined to become a narrow niche,
appealing only to a small group of nostalgic cinema and photography
enthusiasts? In a marketing world where color dominates, can black and
white ever more be effective than color for consumer communications?
Will black-and-white images survive even in a world dominated by color
images, ranging from the tiny 1-inch screen of an iPod Nano to a 10-foot
flat-screen LCD television? Was black and white only a technological arti-
fact that deserves to be discarded now that advances in image reproduction

241
242 Eric A. Greenleaf

make color cheap and plentiful, or do monochrome images serve a pur-

pose for consumers and marketers that color cannot supplant?
These questions matter to marketers who are looking for ways to create
images that are distinctive from their competitors and can motivate con-
sumers to attend to, and process, information and eventually purchase.
These image decisions could include an ad for a restaurant, a Web site for
a new car launch, the image on a wine label, and even the manual included
with a pair of golf clubs. In each instance, the decision to make an image
black and white or color can affect consumer responses.
The refusal of black-and-white images to yield completely to color gives con-
sumer behavior researchers good reason to investigate why, and under what
conditions, black-and-white images differ from color in their impact on con-
sumer behavior. This behavior includes product perceptions, ability to store
and retrieve product information presented through images, and compari-
sons with competitors who use the same versus different kinds of images.
Most consumer research that examines chromatic characteristics
of products and images has focused exclusively on color. This research
includes how color values affect reactions to ads (Gorn, Chattopadhyay,
Yi, & Dahl, 1997; Lichtle, 2007), affect toward different colors (Adams
& Osgood, 1973), and cross-cultural differences in color preferences for
malls (Chebat & Morrin, 2007) and in product logos (Madden, Hewett, &
Roth, 2000). There has been relatively less work that compares color and
black-and-white images, or that has focused on black and white in partic-
ular. Meyers-Levy and Peracchio (1995) compare the cognitive demands
of processing color versus black-and-white ads and examine the impact
of these ads on attitudes toward the advertised products. Gilchrist (2006)
examines a number of issues in visual perception of black-and-white
images, but does not focus on the consumer behavior domain.
One aspect of black-and-white images that has been examined exten-
sively in the social sciences is the use of monochrome as a vehicle for nos-
talgia, particularly in movies, ads, and magazine covers. For example, in
studies that use movies to examine the impact of nostalgia on consump-
tion preferences and differences in nostalgia preferences among consum-
ers, Holbrook (1993) finds that the age of a movie plays a role in consumers’
perceptual spaces and discusses how this can affect preferences for an
original of a movie versus a colorized version.
In an in-depth treatment of the connection between nostalgia and
monochrome images, Grainge (2002) proposes that a revival in the use
of monochrome in 1990s America was caused not by a “nostalgia mood,”
conveying a sense of loss for a simpler era that used these images or a
 Does Everything Look Worse in Black and White? 243

yearning to return to those times, but rather that monochrome was a

method used by media and marketers to create a “nostalgia mode” that
consumers could indulge in without a sense of loss, adopting nostalgia
as a cultural style rather than a longing for the past. He advances this
theory first with a discussion of these different kinds of nostalgia and then
using specific examples of movies, ads, and magazine covers, along with
a discussion of the controversy over “colorizing” movies. For Grainge, the
nostalgia motivated by commercial interests in the 1990s who capitalized
on monochrome is very different from the nostalgia of earlier eras, which
were primarily motivated by a sense of loss.
Here I propose that there are many reasons why marketers may use
monochrome images in a world dominated by color. These motivations
include a variety of factors with physiological as well as cultural motiva-
tions, which extend beyond nostalgia. I also propose a research agenda to
examine these issues, generally based on a positivist, scientific approach.
I propose that black-and-white images are likely to have distinctive
characteristics that color cannot easily copy. I also argue that these char-
acteristics, which may lead to distinctive uses, stem from two differences
between black-and-white and color images. First, the human eye and
brain process black-and-white images differently from color images. As a
result, the impact of black-and-white images on consumer reactions such
as attention, perception, cognition, recall, emotions, affect, and purchase
intention may differ from the impact of color. We expect that a differ-
ence between black-and-white and color that is rooted in physiological
differences will be relatively durable across consumers and cultures.
Furthermore, we expect that even if several firms use an effect with pri-
marily physiological origins, making the effect relatively common in the
marketplace, consumers will still be influenced.
Second, black and white also has a particular cultural meaning to con-
sumers that sets it apart from color. Most consumers have different expec-
tations and preconceptions of when and why black-and-white images are
used, compared to color. Since these differences depend on a person’s cul-
tural context, they must be expected to vary across individuals according
to culture, age, and perhaps educational background. Marketers need to
be more cautious in capitalizing on these differences, since using black-
and-white images more frequently, or changing the kinds of products and
communications that use them, can change these cultural meanings for
monochrome. For example, if black-and-white ads are culturally associ-
ated with more sophisticated, understated products, and marketers decide
to use monochrome ads for cheaper products, the cultural meaning of
244 Eric A. Greenleaf

these ads might change. Furthermore, if a marketer uses a black-and-

white ad for a product category where monochrome is rarely used, such as
a restaurant, and other restaurants follow suit, the distinctiveness of the
monochrome ads may disappear, due to a “contrast effect” with color ads.
It is possible that some of the culturally based differences between black
and white and color may be inconsistent with physiologically based dif-
ferences. As I discuss later, for example, film noir movies, which usually
had a disturbing emotional backdrop, were filmed in black and white, but
I also speculate that black-and-white images may be more relaxing than
color ones.
In what follows, I describe some potential differences between black
and white and color and discuss their importance for marketers and con-
sumer behavior researchers. For each difference, I propose a research
agenda to investigate both general and particular issues on the role that
black-and-white images can play in consumer culture today. My purpose
is to encourage research in this area, which has been generally overlooked
by consumer behavior researchers.
This chapter is not meant as a comprehensive discussion of the relative
characteristics of black-and-white versus color images and how consum-
ers process them. I focus on a few issues that I feel highlight important
potential differences between the two kinds of images that are most rel-
evant to consumer behavior and marketing practice. I do not claim that
all of these differences have, or will be, supported by positivist research,
but rather that they deserve investigation and have the potential to affect
consumer behavior in important ways.
Lastly, I am not interested in examining a world where images are
entirely black and white or advocating that marketers should attempt to
create one. There is an extremely rare visual disorder, termed monochro-
macy, that results in total color blindness. The visual reactions of people
with this disorder have been studied (Hurvich, 1981), but caution is advised
against generalizing the impact of this condition to a larger population
with easy access to both color and black-and-white images. The interest
here is on examining the role of monochrome images for people who have
a normally functioning visual system, living in a world where they are sur-
rounded by color images, both natural and artificial.
I also do not consider images where some parts are black and white and
others are color, but do want to note that this combination creates intrigu-
ing possibilities for marketers that are worth exploring. Although such
images have not been used often in consumer communications because
they are difficult to produce (but see Meyers-Levy and Peracchio [1995]
 Does Everything Look Worse in Black and White? 245

for an interesting experimental use), digital manipulation has made it eas-

ier to produce marketing communications that combine black and white
and monochrome. Combining the two image types might allow market-
ers to create interesting effects. For example, when a monochrome area
is surrounded by a colored one, the monochrome area is perceived in the
opposite color, an effect known as chromatic induction. The strength of
chromatic induction can depend on both the colors used and their rela-
tive brightness compared to the monochromatic areas (Gordon & Shapley,
2006). Consumers might find chromatic induction effects novel and pleas-
ing, creating a possible method to increase an ad’s efficacy.

How Does Black and White Affect the Cognitive

Demands of Processing Consumer Images?

Consumer behavior researchers and marketers are both interested in the

cognitive demands of processing consumer-oriented stimuli, such as mar-
keting communications. When stimuli are more difficult to process, con-
sumers may have fewer cognitive resources left for higher-order processing
or comparisons. Furthermore, consumers may be less willing to engage in
processing tasks that are more demanding and where they have less flu-
ency. For monochrome images in marketing, there are arguments worth
considering that these images may be more demanding, or less demand-
ing, to process compared to color.
Black-and-white images may be less demanding to process because they
require fewer physiological resources. Since there is no color, the cones in
the retina, which are primarily responsible for processing color informa-
tion, will be less active and send less information to the brain. Color images
contain more information on temperature, color, texture, and location
compared to black-and-white images (Shafer & Maxwell, 2000), and the
design of visual imaging systems for robots has relied on this information.
From this perspective, color may use more cognitive resources than black
and white. Research examining the impact on attitudes when consum-
ers process ad claims from ads in color, black and white, and both color
and black and white also suggests that color consumes greater cognitive
resources than black and white for assessing ad claims (Meyers-Levy &
Peracchio, 1995).
However, in some circumstances, black and white may be more dif-
ficult to process than color. First, since people are used to seeing in color
and not black and white, the latter presents a more novel and challenging
246 Eric A. Greenleaf

experience that may require greater cognitive resources to identify and

decode the scene being viewed and its characteristics. An example is the
plant photographs taken by the English photographer Charles Jones (ca.
1895–1910; Sexton & Johnson, 1998). Familiar vegetables such as peas,
beans, leeks, turnips, onions, celery, cucumber, broccoli, cabbages, and
radishes are transformed in these images into strange and unfamiliar
objects.1 Taken out of their garden context and photographed in mono-
chrome against plain, light-colored studio paper, these subjects take on a
metallic sheen that makes them difficult to identify quickly and sets them
apart from our usual preconception of vegetables.
Another example of how monochrome can make images more dif-
ficult to comprehend is the photographs of Ansel Adams. In an image
such as Aspens of 1958, showing a sunlit aspen grove, the lack of color
reverses the usual relationship between leaves and bark. The green leaves
are now lighter and luminous, while the white bark is darker and at
times disappears into the distant forest. Although beautiful, the scene is
also unusual and more difficult to process cognitively than a color view
would be. It is worth noting that color did play an important indirect
role in many of Adams’s monochrome images. For example, he credits
a dense red filter for darkening the sky and emphasizing the shadows
in his famous image Monolith: Face of Half Dome of 1927 (Adams &
Alinder, 1996).

Research Opportunities

It is likely that the relative cognitive demands of processing monochrome

as opposed to color images depend on a variety of factors that marketers
can identify, and perhaps even manipulate. For example, it is possible that
objects that are popularly associated with a particular color, such as yellow
corn, red tomatoes, green grass, or oranges, become more difficult to pro-
cess when presented in monochrome. Objects whose color varies in most
consumers’ experience, such as clothes and buildings, may be relatively
easy to process in monochrome. Since many natural objects are associated
with a particular color, but fewer man-made objects are, this dichotomy
might also be useful to investigate. In addition to measuring how mono-
chrome images affect the cognitive demands of image processing, it is also
worth examining how monochrome affects willingness to attend to these
images in the first place, the ability to retrieve the images from memory,
and the consequences of this willingness for product affect.
 Does Everything Look Worse in Black and White? 247

Research should also try to identify instances where the higher mental
processing demands of monochrome images can be used to increase the
effectiveness of marketing images. Although increased processing demands
can lead to lower fluency and greater cognitive load, more demanding tasks
can also increase stimulation levels (Steenkamp & Baumgartner, 1992) and
novelty, which can lead to more positive consumer responses and serve as a
point of differentiation from competition. Thus, a monochrome ad for veg-
etables, using photographic images similar to those Charles Jones created
a century ago, might prompt a higher level of stimulation and involvement
from consumers compared to a conventional color ad.
To the extent that color is considered “missing information” by consum-
ers, they may enjoy tasks that require them to fill in the missing informa-
tion. Although the kinds of completions needed for tasks involving shapes
has been studied, such as “local” versus “global” completions (Van Lier
& Wagemans, 1999), more work is needed on the kinds of completions,
involving not only color, but perhaps texture and temperature, people make
when viewing a monochrome image. Furthermore, if a particular product
is rarely presented in monochrome, then a monochrome image may create
a novel situation for the consumer, which can translate into higher lik-
ing. Thus, monochrome images have the potential to let marketers create
images that consumers not only enjoy more, but also process more deeply,
leading to higher affect for a product and greater purchase likelihood.

Can Black and White Influence Emotion and Mood?

Mood and emotion are important influences on consumer behavior. It is

widely accepted that colors can influence emotions and mood. Artists have,
for centuries, used color in attempts to convey certain emotions and moods
in their work. The connection between color and emotion has been a hall-
mark of many “modern” art movements of the late 19th and 20th centuries,
including Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, German Expressionism, Abstract
Expressionism, and Color Field painting. The impact of color on consumer
moods and emotions has also been studied (Gorn et al., 1997). Although less
attention has been given to the impact of black-and-white imagery on emo-
tions and mood, there is evidence that this impact differs from that of color.
One possibility worth considering is that black-and-white imagery
makes people feel more relaxed. People see very little color under low light
conditions, when we see primarily using the rods in the retina, which
are sensitive to light but do not process color, whereas under higher light
248 Eric A. Greenleaf

conditions we also use our retinal cones, which are sensitive to color, and
exist in three types, favoring each of the primary colors, but are less sensi-
tive to light. From this perspective, color may be associated with daylight,
and thus a heightened mental state, whereas monochrome may be associ-
ated with night and a more relaxed state. Thus, a monochrome image may,
from a physiological perspective, be more likely to put a consumer in a
relaxed mood than a color one.
There is also evidence that the release and suppression in the brain of
melatonin, a chemical that is important in regulating daily circadian
rhythms of sleep and wakefulness, depend not only on the intensity, but also
on the color of light. In particular, light with a 460-nanometer wavelength,
which is relatively blue, suppresses melatonin production (thus promoting
wakefulness) more strongly than does a relatively more violet, 420-nano-
meter light (Brainard et al., 2008). Thus, when color is absent, it is possible
that the production or suppression of melatonin may differ compared to
when color is present. Melatonin production and suppression are relatively
slow processes compared to the amount of time that most consumers spend
viewing an ad, but the effect could be significant while watching a television
show or movie that is completely in black and white versus color.
Black and white has also acquired a particular meaning for emotion
and mood in certain cultural contexts. For example, many of the films
noir made in the early 1940s to the late 1950s were filmed in black and
white. Most of these films, such as Fallen Angel, The Maltese Falcon, and
The Postman Always Rings Twice, shared a common focus on tense situ-
ations involving considerable ambiguity, characters down on their luck
or on the way down, betrayal, and sometimes crime mystery, creating an
atmosphere often described as simply “creepy.” These movies were cer-
tainly not intended to induce a mood of relaxation and were the opposite
of the feel-good technicolor musicals being filmed during the same period.
Although many of these films were probably filmed in black and white for
budgetary reasons, this consistent choice has given black-and-white mov-
ies a particular cultural value that still persists. As the generations that
remember film noir are replaced by younger people unfamiliar with these
movies, this cultural significance may disappear.

Research Opportunities

To examine the impact of monochrome images on mood, consumers

could be shown ads that are identical except for their color content, and
 Does Everything Look Worse in Black and White? 249

self-reported or observational measures of moods and emotions could be

collected, along with measures of consequences of these moods, such as
product attitudes and purchase intentions. The impact of more extended
exposures, such as to monochrome movies or television shows, should also
be investigated, since here the impact of monochrome is likely to be larger.
It is also possible that reactions to monochrome images could vary
across the day. If consumers prefer that the qualities of the images they
view match the status of their circadian clock, then there may be a pref-
erence for color images during the day and monochrome ones at night.
This prediction does run opposite to the ubiquitous habits of the 2000s
of watching color television and browsing the full color Web in the eve-
ning, but at present consumers do not have many opportunities for mono-
chrome images in their evening entertainment.
Researchers might also examine whether ads and images are more
effective if there is a confluence between the emotional meaning of the
product and the emotion and mood created by the ad. For example, do
monochrome ads work better for products intended to induce calm and
restfulness, such as meditation lessons or yoga?

When Is Black and White “Highbrow” Versus “Lowbrow”?

One aspect of black and white that is largely, if not entirely, cultural in
nature is whether consumers perceive that monochrome images are inex-
pensive and transient or represent sophisticated reticence. Although these
perceptions can be expected to vary across cultures and time, they are likely
to be well entrenched in consumers’ minds and so are worth studying.
Black-and-white print ads are less expensive than color and are more
typically associated with ephemeral media such as daily newspapers, which
still contain many monochrome ads, despite their recent addition of color
capabilities. Furthermore, many budget movies, up until the 1970s, were
made in black and white. Thus, consumers may perceive monochrome
images as a sign that a firm is financially weak or makes shoddy, transient
products. Older consumers, who remember when most television and all
newspapers were black and white, may also associate monochrome with a
low-tech, cheap image.
However, black and white is sometimes associated with artistic refine-
ment and elegance. The so-called golden age of television was filmed
almost entirely in black and white. Many highly respected movie direc-
tors, such as Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen, made movies in black
250 Eric A. Greenleaf

and white long after color became the norm, and did so for reasons appar-
ently unrelated to cost. In the recent past, major studio releases such as
Good Night and Good Luck and Schindler’s List were made exclusively or
mostly in black and white.
In the 1980s, many older monochrome movies were “colorized,” a pro-
cess where human judgment is used to establish the basic color of objects
in each frame, and then a computer program varies that color in keep-
ing with the density of the gray tones in the original monochrome image.
Perhaps the most enthusiastic user of colorizing was Ted Turner, who had
the process applied to a large library of old movies for which he owned
broadcasting rights. Colorizing quickly prompted a great backlash from
film enthusiasts and arts groups, who felt that the process destroyed the
artistic intent of a film’s creators. Eventually colorizing lost favor and is
no longer popular (see Grainge [2002] for an extensive discussion of the
colorizing controversy). The failure of colorization, political issues aside,
suggests that images that are conceived in black and white may not always
translate successfully to color. Although novel, the colorized images often
were not very naturalistic or convincing.
Black and white can also convey a sense of exclusivity and refinement,
that of a scarce medium enjoyed by a relatively few informed consumers
and not appreciated by the general public. The marketer using a black-and-
white image may want to convey an implicit message that monochrome
was chosen over an alternate color image that, while more appealing to the
masses, would be gaudy and tacky. Thus, the use of monochrome can be
an advantage when a marketer wants to convey a psychographic position-
ing that it is not intended for a large mass market, but rather for a smaller
set of consumers, perhaps those who are more intellectual or simply will-
ing to pay a higher price. As such, monochrome ads may invoke nontarget
market reactions from the segment that the ad is clearly not intended for
as well as target market effects from the intended target segment (Aaker,
Brumbaugh, & Grier, 2000).
In 2008 Sprint Wireless introduced a black-and-white television ad fea-
turing Dan Hesse, the CEO of Sprint Nextel, inviting consumers to drop by a
Sprint store to learn more about how to use all the features of Sprint wireless
phones. Here, Sprint may be using monochrome to give its phones a more
sophisticated image and differentiate it from other cell phone providers.
Another use of monochrome to convey a sophisticated image is the
Web site Blackle (www.blackle.com), a Google-based search engine that
appears in black and white. Its motivation is that when a computer monitor
shows a monochrome image, particularly one with a black background, it
 Does Everything Look Worse in Black and White? 251

saves power compared to a monitor showing a full-color image. The mid-

dle of the Blackle home screen contains a counter, reporting how many
watt-hours of electricity have been saved by Blackle users. In this instance,
Blackle appears to be using monochrome to portray an image of energy
saving, in contrast to the energy wasting excesses of color.

Research Opportunities

Consumer researchers may wish to examine how the particular con-

text in which an image appears, and the product category it represents,
determines whether it is perceived as relatively highbrow or lowbrow. For
example, use of a black-and-white image on network television, which is
rare these days, might be perceived as highbrow, while using these same
images in a newspaper might appear lowbrow, since the image would have
little distinctiveness in that setting.
Consumer researchers might also examine how preexisting attitudes
about the elevated versus lowly status of monochrome are related to con-
sumer characteristics. For example, positive attitudes toward black and
white might increase with education or income levels. As discussed earlier,
researchers should also investigate whether consumers who are not drawn to
black and white are particularly put off by these images, as compared to other
approaches used to make target segments distinct from nontarget segments,
such as implied price levels or targeting toward particular cultural groups.
Monochrome might also be useful for repositioning products and ser-
vices to make them more highbrow. For example, a novel marketed using
black-and-white ads might be perceived as more serious in its literary
intent than one using a color ad. At a more comprehensive level, an apart-
ment pictured in monochrome in a real estate ad might be perceived as
more sophisticated than in a color ad.
Lastly, at a time when consumers are becoming more concerned with con-
serving energy and reducing their carbon footprint, it would be interesting
to know whether monochrome, as in the Blackle example, conveys a more
ascetic image of energy savings and concern for the environment.

How Does Black and White Affect Perceptions of Form?

Form is an important part of product design. Products are often praised

for using basic forms rather than excessive ornamentation and expressing
252 Eric A. Greenleaf

those forms succinctly. The Apple iMac computer, consisting of a white

half-sphere with a rectangular monitor protruding from it, was praised
for its use of basic forms. The Eero Saarinen Womb Chair, considered one
of the classics of 20th-century furniture design, has also been cited as a
sophisticated use of basic, undulating forms. More recently, the Dirt Devil
Kone hand-held vacuum uses a conical form, while each Tea Forté brand
tea bag is contained in its own freestanding pyramidal box. Although
marketers are not always interested in emphasizing basic form in their
marketing communications, many marketers do want to know what kind
of images are most effective at conveying form. In this respect, there is
some contradictory evidence of whether use of black and white or color is
more effective.
A classical regimen of artistic instruction, such as that taught in many
art academies since the Renaissance, begins with young artists learning to
draw in monochrome media such as charcoal, ink, silverpoint, and pencil,
and only advancing to creating colored images once they have mastered
expressing themselves in monochrome. Even highly skilled, mature artists
often prefer to work out the basic forms of a composition using mono-
chrome drawing, or oil painting in monochrome, known as grisaille, a
method favored by Rubens.
This practice raises the question of whether, from a cultural perspective,
monochrome is regarded as superior to color for expressing basic forms.
For example, the drawings of Rembrandt, which are virtually all mono-
chrome, have been praised for their powerful expression of form and emo-
tion. The artist David Hockney has singled out in particular a Rembrandt
image of women teaching a young child to walk as “the single greatest
drawing ever made” (Wullschlager, 2005). The figures, laid out with only
a few strokes, have a weight and balance that might easily be missing from
a colored version. It is also interesting to note that, while Rembrandt used
a variety of methods to make his prints, including etching, drypoint, and
engraving, and often varied the inking of plates to create highly individual
impressions, he always kept to monochrome images for works on paper,
with the exception of a single colored drawing.
Many 20th-century photographers have also chosen monochrome
over color images for expressing basic form, even after color photog-
raphy became more technically accessible and less expensive. The
twisting anthropomorphic form of Edward Weston’s Pepper (1930) is
difficult to imagine if the pepper were presented in its natural green
or red. Weston also felt that each medium had its own special uses for
capturing form: “As in black-and-white one learns to forget color, so
 Does Everything Look Worse in Black and White? 253

in color one must learn to forget the black-and-white forms. … You

find a few subjects that can be expressed in either color or black-and-
white. But you find more that can be said only through one of them”
(Weston, 1953, p. 54). The blocky forms in Ansel Adams’s Saint Francis
Church, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico (ca. 1929) owe much of their
appeal to the black-and-white medium. Color photographs of the same
structure, showing the pastel tones of the stucco, lack the same weight
of Adams’s image.
There are also physiological reasons to believe that black and white may
have advantages over color for perceiving basic forms. Although infants do
have the ability to perceive color, their perception of color is not as advanced
as that of adults (Teller, 1998). This dominance of monochrome in early life
raises the possibility that, early on, we become used to using monochro-
matic information to judge the basic shapes and forms understood by an
infant. If these early experiences also shape adult tendencies, then black
and white might have an advantage over color for conveying form.
However, there is also evidence that color may aid in the perception
of form. Studies of visual processing in macaque monkeys (Johnson,
Hawken, & Shapley, 2001) show that in the primary visual cortex (V1),
some neurons tend to favor color processing while others favor black-and-
white (luminance) processing, while other neurons do both kinds of pro-
cessing. The neurons that favor color processing also are used to analyze
form, such as by identifying boundaries between different areas that com-
pose the form.
Furthermore, color differences can act as a cue to perceptions of form.
Areas of form that are lit more directly, in reference to the viewer, tend
to have warmer colors, such as reds and yellows. Areas that are lit less
directly, from the side or by reflection, tend to have cooler colors, such as
blues or purples. Monochrome images lack this information.

Research Opportunities

Although the above discussion does not yield a clear answer to how mono-
chrome affects perceptions of form, it does suggest that color and mono-
chrome are likely to create different perceptions of form, and that these
differences may be due to both cultural and physiological factors. As a start,
it is worth examining how consumers react to basic forms, such as spheres,
cubes, and pyramids, depending on whether they are presented in mono-
chrome or color. These studies could also include classic product designs
254 Eric A. Greenleaf

that have been praised for their strong forms, such as a Perrier bottle, the
Eero Saarinen Womb Chair, the iMac, and even the Dirt Devil Kone vac-
uum cleaner, as well as artificial products that could be produced using these
basic forms, to control for perceptions and affect of existing products.
Since many basic forms, such as pyramids or cubes, are often associ-
ated with solidity and stability, it is possible that consumers may perceive
products that use these forms and are imaged in monochrome to be more
stable and solid compared to a product imaged in color. Basic forms are
also often perceived as more immutable than complicated forms, in that
they seem more difficult to alter. Here, too, it is possible that products
reproduced in monochrome might seem more durable compared to prod-
ucts reproduced in color, if the products use a basic form, while the reverse
might apply for complicated forms.

Are There Individual Difference in Preferences for Monochrome?

Just as consumer behavior researchers have found that people vary in their
preferences for visual versus verbal stimuli (Holbrook, Chestnut, Oliva, &
Greenleaf, 1984), there is ample evidence that people differ in their pref-
erences for monochrome versus color images. Many Renaissance artists
put most of their efforts into the colorful medium of oil paint or stained
glass, while others, such as Albrecht Durer, produced a considerable out-
put of monochromatic prints, such as etchings, engravings, drypoints,
and woodcuts. Although these prints had the additional advantage that
they could be produced in multiples from a single plate, and thus bring
in a steady source of income (a point not lost on the thrifty Durer), it is
likely that some artists also enjoyed monochromatic media more than
others. Furthermore, while some consumers of these prints were happy
to leave them be, other collectors wanted hand-colored versions, and a
cottage industry grew in response. Even in the 20th century, when color
printing is much cheaper and more sophisticated, some artists, such as
David Hockney, have produced many colored prints, while others, such
as Lucian Freud, have produced very few or none (in Freud’s case, the sole
exception being Lord Goodman in His Yellow Pyjamas of 1987).
This relative appeal of color versus black and white has involved the
greatest artists of the 20th century. Picasso and Matisse admired each oth-
er’s work and were very influenced by the other, but were also very com-
petitive. In this respect, Picasso is said to have commented to Matisse “I
have mastered drawing and am looking for color, you have mastered color
 Does Everything Look Worse in Black and White? 255

and are looking for drawing” (on each artist’s use of color versus mono-
chrome, see also Gilot [1990]). Art collectors also often gravitate toward
color or monochrome. This is particularly so in photography collecting,
where many collectors tend to specialize in one or the other kind of image.
Other collectors specialize in old-master prints, most of which are mono-
chrome (though colored woodcuts are an exception).
Marketers themselves have also segmented consumers based on using
monochrome or color. For example, print ads in the United States for Patek
Phillipe, a Swiss brand of fine watches, use color for women’s watches but
black and white for men’s. Studies of business-to-business print advertis-
ing have found that these ads in France and Venezuela use color more
frequently than those in the United States (Clarke & Honeycutt, 2000).
We should use caution, however, in inferring a preference for black and
white simply because the images or objects from a particular time are not
available in color. For example, since color photography did not become
common until the first decade of the 20th century, there is a tendency to
look at the monochromatic photographs taken before this time and pic-
ture a color-deprived world, even though we know from paintings, prints,
and visual descriptions that these times were as colorful as our own.
Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture is an even more extreme instance
where modern observers have inferred a preference for monochrome
where none existed. For centuries, many art critics, and popular beliefs,
advocated that the unpainted carved stone of these sculptures and build-
ings reflected a preference in these ancient cultures for pure forms and a
bias against color. However, it has been known for some time that build-
ings such as the Parthenon were painted in color. More recently, faint
traces of paint found on many of these sculptures, revealed using ultra-
violet photography and microphotography, show that they were originally
polychromed, often with patterned paint schemes that are not closely
related to the forms underneath, which depict the intricate color patterns
found in ancient Greek and Roman dress (Brinkmann et al., 2007). Only
time and internment have robbed them of their color. When these sculp-
tures are shown with the original colors restored using virtual computer
images, the results can be very surprising to the modern eye.

Research Opportunities

Marketers may find it helpful to segment consumers based on their reaction

to color versus black-and-white images by examining several questions.
256 Eric A. Greenleaf

First, to what extent do these consumer reactions vary, and are these dif-
ferences large enough to warrant creating different communications for
different segments? Second, are there useful segmentation variables that
help predict these consumer reactions, such as a consumer’s age, gender,
education level, or psychographic profile? Third, since, as discussed ear-
lier, some differences may be based on culture and others on differences
in the physiology of the visual system, researchers may wish to examine
how durable these differences are and whether they change with differ-
ent cultural contexts and perhaps different product categories. Lastly, can
marketers intentionally change consumer preferences for black and white
versus color images? For example, could a firm that has decided to posi-
tion its advertising by using only monochrome take steps to increase pref-
erences for monochrome over color in its target segment?

Conclusions

Black-and-white images will never return to the dominant role they once
played in consumer images before color became inexpensive and reli-
able. This chapter has proposed several reasons why monochrome images
retain an appeal that color cannot easily copy. Some of these reasons are
rooted in the human vision system and its different reactions to black and
white versus color, while others depend on cultural norms. Given that
the former are likely to be more stable and ubiquitous than the latter, it
may be difficult to create a cohesive theory for the role of color in con-
sumer images that applies to all situations. Some of the reasons underlying
monochrome’s distinctiveness, such as its impact on moods and emotions,
are likely to depend on both physiological and cultural reasons, making
them even more difficult to examine precisely in a global manner.
However, given that black-and-white consumer images continue to
appear to be used in media when there is no longer any technological rea-
son for using them instead of color, marketers do need to examine rea-
sons for this durability. In the end, it is felt that there is a lasting place for
monochrome images in consumer culture, due in part to the special char-
acteristics discussed here. The place of monochrome in consumer culture
is much like that given it by the great photographer Edward Weston, who
used both monochrome and color, when he wrote in 1953: “But those who
say that color will eventually replace black-and-white are talking non-
sense. The two do not compete with each other. They are different means
to different ends” (Weston, 1953, p. 54).
 Does Everything Look Worse in Black and White? 257

Notes

1. Web links to images referred to in this article, current as of the time of writing, are
posted on the author’s home page (http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~egreenle/).

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17
Effects on Visual Weight Perceptions of
Product Image Locations on Packaging
Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng

Marketers have known for a long time that a majority of consumer purchase
decisions are made in the store where product packaging is the primar-
ily means of marketing communications (Point of Purchase Advertising
Institute, 1995), yet historically, surprisingly little academic research has
focused on consumer inferences constructed as a function of packaging fea-
tures. On the other hand, there is significant research examining how con-
sumer inferences are formed through advertising and pricing (Underwood
& Klein, 2002). Packaging differs from advertising not only because it is
the communication medium at the point of sale, but also because it physi-
cally surrounds the product. As such, extrinsic features of the package are
likely to directly affect consumers’ inferences about intrinsic aspects of
the product. The primary research on the influence of packaging that has
existed in the past has focused on the role packaging plays in attracting
attention (Underwood, Klein, & Burke, 2001), in the literal communication
of product (Underwood & Ozanne, 1998), or on nutritional information
(Moorman, 1996; Russo, Staelin, Nolan, Russell, & Metcalf, 1986).
This has recently changed as more researchers are beginning to study
the role of packaging in the formation of consumer inferences and how
these inferences can affect consumption behavior and judgment. Some of
this new research has focused on how the shape of the package influences
judgment about the volume of the product (Folkes & Matta, 2004; Krishna,
2006; Raghubir & Greenleaf, 2006; Raghubir & Krishna, 1999; Wansink &
Van Ittersum, 2003; Yang & Raghubir, 2005). Other research has studied
how the size of the package or container can influence subsequent con-
sumption behavior (Coelho Do Vale, Pieters, & Zeelenberg, 2008; Scott,
Nowlis, Mandel, & Morales 2008; Wansink, 1996). Underwood and Klein
(2002) have studied how product imagery can affect brand evaluations,
259
260 Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng

again showing that an extrinsic package cue can be used by consumers to

infer intrinsic product attributes.
In this chapter we build on this recent research to study the role of
visual package imagery, specifically layout decisions regarding the use of
a product image on the package. Visual imagery dominates other modali-
ties (e.g., touch; Krishna, 2006) when consumers process packaging cues
(Posner, Nissen, & Klein, 1976). Further, consumers often shop with
“their eyes” (Folkes & Matta, 2004) and ignore package label informa-
tion (Dickson & Sawyer, 1990). The presence of a product image has been
shown to increase the likelihood that a consumer will use it as an extrinsic
cue (Olsen & Jacoby, 1972) and as a surrogate indicator of product quality
(Richardson, 1994). Thus we predict that the presence of a product picture
can encourage the consumer to imagine how a product looks, tastes, feels,
smells, or sounds (Pavio, 1986; Underwood et al., 2001).
We are specifically interested in consumers’ inferences about tactile
features of the product. We discuss how layout decisions, such as the loca-
tion of the product picture on the package, can influence a salient attribute
about how a product feels—its perceived visual heaviness. Perceived visual
heaviness is likely to be a cue for product preference, although whether
heaviness or lightness is preferred will depend on the product category
(Deng & Kahn, forthcoming). Consumer goals may also impact whether
heaviness or lightness is preferred (Deng & Kahn, 2009).
We organize our discussion as follows. We begin with a brief review
as to how graphic design on packaging in general can be used to attract
attention, communicate product information, and build attitudes. We
then review the visual design literature to suggest design factors that have
been used to influence perceived visual weight. We present our spatial/
location framework that suggests how the location and suggested loca-
tion of the product image on the package can influence visual perceived
heaviness. We then discuss how other theories of visual perceptual biases
can lead to testable hypotheses regarding perceived visual heaviness. We
conclude with a general discussion.

Use of Packaging Graphic Design to Influence Product Attitudes

Visual graphic information on a package, such as layout, color combi-

nation, typography, and product photography, is more vivid than infor-
mational text and therefore should be noticed earlier (Underwood et al.,
2001) and attract more attention (McGill & Anand, 1989). The increased
 Product Image Locations on Packaging 261

attention to the product through the graphic information may help break
through competitive clutter and increase the likelihood that a brand is
brought into the consumer’s consideration set. The more attention con-
sumers pay to the graphic elements, the more the likelihood that they will
think about features of the product increases, and that can facilitate the
formation of attitudinal judgments (Kisielius & Sternthal, 1986).
In particular, previous research specifically focusing on the inclusion of
a product image on the package (Underwood & Klein, 2002; Underwood
et al., 2001) has shown that product pictures can elicit imagery processing
(Pavio, 1986) and may serve as a central cue to communicate informa-
tion about intrinsic product characteristics and its sensory features. As
such, the visual picture of the product can set expectations and serve as
an “advance organizer” for the other graphic, verbal, or tactile packaging
information that might be available (Houston, Childers, & Heckler, 1987).
The product picture may also be able to enhance incidental learning about
the product (MacInnis & Price, 1987). Therefore, following Feldman and
Lynch’s (1988) accessibility-diagnosticity framework, since a picture of
the product on a package is accessible (because it attracts the consumer’s
attention) and is diagnostic (because it aids in the expression of sensory
features), it should contribute to the formation of product attitudes.
The predicted effect of these graphic visual elements on attention and
product inferences, though, should be moderated by the familiarity that
the consumer has with the brand (Underwood et al., 2001), the likelihood
the consumer can judge the product based on the intrinsic aspects of the
product itself (Ziethaml, 1988), and whether or not the consumers are
under time pressure (Pieters & Warlop, 1999). If consumers are familiar
with the brand, able to judge quality based on the intrinsic aspects of the
product, or have enough time to evaluate, then visual packaging cues are
less likely to impact product inferences.
Most of the previous research has empirically verified that graphic pack-
age design features can increase attention, increase the likelihood that the
brand is included in a consideration set, and affect aesthetic responses (see
Underwood et al., 2001 for a review). Underwood and Klein (2002) have
shown that product imagery on packages affects consumers’ beliefs about
the brand and their global evaluations of both the brand and the pack-
age. However, no research that we know of has studied the specific ways
that graphic design packaging elements can directly influence specific
perceived product features. To begin this more focused inquiry, we iden-
tify visual package elements that can play a role in creating consumers’
perceptions of the heaviness of the product. Although this has not been
262 Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng

studied in marketing, the art and visual design literatures have devoted
considerable attention to the study of “visual heaviness.”

A Spatial/Location Framework for Visual Weight Perceptions

The literature of art and visual perception has studied the role of visual
design features in communicating visual heaviness, as this is an important
dimension in artistic and structural renderings. In particular, two authors
who have studied this issue in depth are Puffer (1903) and Arnheim (1974).
Puffer (1903) identified several factors that can affect visual weight: size,
depth, movement, and interest. Arnheim (1974) identified the following
properties of visual objects that affect visual weight: location, spatial depth,
size, intrinsic interest, isolation, and shape. We build on both theories to
develop a framework that provides predictions as to how the layout of a
product image on a package can influence consumers’ inferences about
the visual heaviness of a product.
The central premise of our framework is that the location of the product
image on the package facade directly determines its visual weight. Although
there are potentially infinite locations a product image can be placed, we
focus on four dimensions that can characterize the package facade.

Principle One: (Two-Dimensional Space)

The first two dimensions are characterized by the two-dimensional area of

the package: the height and the width. We identify four critical locations
in this two-dimensional space: top versus bottom and left versus right. We
hypothesize based both on the design literature and empirical support
found by Deng and Kahn (forthcoming) that the bottom side and the right
side of the package facade are the heavy locations, and when product images
are placed in those places the product appears visually heavier. The top and
the left side of the package facade are the light locations, and when product
images are placed in those areas, the product appears visually lighter.

Principle Two: (Three-Dimensional Space)

The third dimension conceptualizes the package facade as a three-dimen-

sional cube, and we identify two more critical locations: front versus back
 Product Image Locations on Packaging 263

along a third dimension (depth). Although we have yet to show this empiri-
cally, we hypothesize that a product image located in the foreground makes
the product looks lighter than the same product (controlling for other aspects
including the size of the product image on the package) with a product image
located in the background of a rendering on a package. Also we hypothesize
that a package that shows a vista in its graphics, whether the product image
is depicted in the vista or not, thus allows for the perception of three dimen-
sions and looks heavier than the same package with no vista.

Principle Three: (Fourth Dimension: Time)

Finally, using time as a fourth dimension we allow for change in direction in

location or movement of the product image along any of the three physical
dimensions (height, width, and depth). If we hypothesize that, as above, the
right and bottom sides of the package are visually heaviest, then suggested
movement of the product image going right will make the product look
heavier than the same product depicted as moving left, and suggested move-
ment of the product image to the bottom will make the product look heavier
than the same product moving up; and theories of perspective would predict
that suggested movement of a product toward the front of a vista will make it
look lighter than the same product depicted as moving toward the back.
As we describe in more detail below, the above hypotheses for suggested
movement depend on “reading” the visual field or package from left to right,
which orients the visual fulcrum on the left. In some cases, the design lit-
erature suggests the orientation of the fulcrum of a visual frame to be in the
center. If this is the case, the design literature would suggest that if the direc-
tion of the image is pointed away from the central fulcrum, it will appear
visually heavier; if the direction is pointed inward toward the center, then
the image will appear visually lighter. Similarly, an image depicted as mov-
ing along a “curve in” (concave curve) will look lighter than the same image
depicted as moving along a “curve out” (convex curve).

Further Discussion and Theoretical Support for Our Predictions

Location of Product Image in a Two-Dimensional Package Facade

Arnheim (1974) identifies the heavy locations of a two-dimensional visual

field as the bottom and right sides, and the light locations as the top and left
264 Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng

sides. Bottom heaviness occurs because the laws of gravity in the physical
world are applied to the visual space. Since we live in a world dominated
by gravity, we constantly observe that heavy things (e.g., rock, house) are
on the ground, while light things (e.g., cloud, balloon) are in the air, and
we generalize from this observation that items on the bottom of a visual
space are heavy and items on the top are light. Arnheim speculated about
the right-heaviness principle based on two observations: (a) the principle of
the lever and (b) the left-to-right reading orientation. The principle of the
lever states that the greater the distance from the fulcrum position that an
object is placed on a lever, the heavier the weight that is needed on the other
side to balance the object. The left-to-right reading orientation suggests that
just like we read left to right, we also “read” a picture (or any visual field)
from left to right. This is why the diagonal that runs from bottom left to top
right is seen as ascending and the one from top right to bottom left is seen as
descending (i.e., if “read” from right to left, these two diagonals will then be
seen as descending and ascending, respectively; Wolfflin, 1950). Combining
both observations suggests that since we read a visual field from left to right,
we anchor on the left, which becomes the “visual fulcrum.” Thus, the farther
an object is placed away from the left side (or the fulcrum), the heavier the
perceived weight. Arnheim labels this the “visual lever effect.”
Deng and Kahn (forthcoming) test both of these principles (bottom
heavy and right heavy) of visual weight in the context of product packag-
ing and find support for both (Figure€17.1). Specifically, they show that the
bottom and right sides of a package facade are the heavier sides, and when
product images are placed in those locations, the visual weight of the prod-
uct is perceived to be heavier. They also find that how these perceptions of
heaviness relate to package preference depends on product category and
consumer goals. For products for which heaviness is considered a positive
attribute (e.g., hedonic food categories), packages with the product image
placed at the heavy locations (the bottom, right, and bottom right of the
package facade) are preferred; whereas for products for which heaviness
is negative (e.g., when portability is an asset), packages with the product
image in the light locations (top, left, top left) are preferred. Further, in
the hedonic food category (snacks), a salient health goal, as opposed to
a neutral goal, weakens the preferences for packaging where the product
image is placed in a heavy location, although this moderating effect of goal
is weaker for healthy snacks compared to regular snacks.
Store shelf context is found to be a boundary condition such that the
effects of location on perceived product heaviness and package evaluation
appear in a contrasting context but disappear in an assimilating context.
 Product Image Locations on Packaging 265

Heavy Locations: Bottom and Right Light Locations: Top and Left

Figure 17.1â•… (See color insert.) Two-dimensional space.

Moreover, perceived product heaviness mediates (a) the effect of location

on package evaluation and (b) the moderating role of store shelf context
(i.e., mediated moderation).
In testing Arnheim’s (1974) principles of visual weight, Deng and Kahn
(forthcoming) also identify another explanation for the principle of “right
heaviness”: ocular dominance. Ocular dominance is the preference for the
use of one eye over the other (similar to handedness, only with the use
of eyes). Research shows that 65% of the population are right-eye domi-
nant, 32% left-eye dominant, and 3% ambiocular (Bourassa, McManus,
& Bryden, 1996; Porac & Coren, 1976). Ocular dominance suggests that
visual input from the dominant eye is accentuated and that affects the pro-
cessing of visual information. For example, right-eyed people perceive an
object on the right side of a frame to be larger (Coren & Porac, 1976) and
closer (Scott & Sumner, 1949). When asked to assign a visual balance point
anywhere along the straight line anchored by two objects, people who are
right eyed tend to set the balance point to the right side of the physically
expected balance point, suggesting that the object on the right seems to
weigh more (Mefferd & Wieland, 1969).
Deng and Kahn (forthcoming) propose that, based on ocular domi-
nance, right-eyed people should perceive an object located at the right
visual field to be heavier than the object located at the left visual field.
266 Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng

Because right-eyed people comprise the majority of the population, there

should be a general right-heavy effect. Therefore, they propose and show
that ocular dominance moderates the right-heavy effect. They find that
for right-eyed participants, there is a strong right-heavy effect, but for left-
eyed participants, the effect disappears. Their empirical evidence suggests
that both explanations of right heaviness, visual lever effect and ocular
dominance, play a role. If ocular dominance were the only reason for right
heaviness, then for left-eyed participants, there should be a left-heavy
effect. The lack of such an effect suggests that for this group of people,
the visual lever effect, which leads to a right-heavy effect, and their ocular
dominance, which leads to a left-heavy effect, wash each other out, and we
observe a null effect.

Location of Product Image on the Third Dimension

of a Package Facade: Spatial Depth

There are several ways to add depth to a package’s facade. One way is to
add dimensionality by moving the product image off the flat two-dimen-
sional grid and drawing in the third dimension, using the graphic tools
of perspective. Another way is to layer graphic items on the package so
the product image is in front of or behind text or other graphic elements.
Finally, the third way is to add a vista to the package. Examples of all of
these are presented in Figure€17.2.
Puffer (1903) concluded, based on a series of experiments, that allowing
for spatial depth in a visual frame inherently carried more weight as com-
pared to a flat two-dimensional space. Puffer used the following experi-
mental paradigm to test his visual weight hypotheses. Along the horizontal
axis of a rectangular board he fixed stimulus A and asked his subjects to
assign a location for stimulus B. The subjects moved stimulus B to different
places before they decided on a final position that they found most aes-
thetically pleasing. If the distance between B (whose location was assigned
by the subjects) and the center or fulcrum was shorter than the distance
between A (whose location was fixed by the experimenter) and the center
or fulcrum, then an inference was made that B was perceived to be visually
heavier than A, and vice versa. These inferential conclusions were based
on the principle of mechanical balance, or lever principle, wherein a heavy
object near the center balances a light object farther from the center.
For example, using this experimental paradigm, Puffer compared two
visual objects differing only with respect to the degree to which they
 Product Image Locations on Packaging 267

Product image (cereal bar) is

brought to the foreground by The product image (cereal) is
moving out of the flat 2- in the foreground and the
dimensional plane and adding cartoons are in the
cartoon figures to the background.
background.

The product image (large These milk cartons

tomato) is closer to the create spatial depth
foreground on the left by adding a vista.
and more to the
background on the right
through the use of
layered graphic elements.

Figure 17.2â•… (See color insert.) Examples of spatial depth on packages.

expressed the third dimension of depth. He found that when spatial

depth is present in a visual graphic, that image is perceived to be heavier.
Specifically he used two pictures of a railway tunnel. In one picture the
mouth of the tunnel was closed tightly by a massive door (i.e., shallow
vista). In the other picture, the opening to the tunnel was left open and
trains were shown winding their way to the farther end of the tunnel (i.e.,
deep vista). He fixed the location of one picture on a board and asked the
study participants to assign a location to the other picture to create an
aesthetically pleasing balance. He found that when the shallow vista was
fixed, subjects located the deep vista closer to the fulcrum, suggesting it
was heavier than the shallow vista. Similarly, when the deep vista was put
in a fixed position, subjects located the shallow vista farther from the ful-
crum, suggesting it was lighter.
268 Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng

Based on this finding, we hypothesize that a package that allows for the
third dimension, depth, to be depicted looks heavier than the same pack-
age that only depicts the graphic elements in two dimensions. We fur-
ther theorize that if a product image is shown at different locations along
this third dimension, its visual weight also varies. Since items that are far
away appear smaller than items that are close, if size is held constant, we
hypothesize that the product image in the background will appear larger
and therefore heavier than the same product image in the foreground of a
package facade.
As mentioned before, graphic layering can also express spatial depth
because it also creates foreground and background. Similarly, here we also
hypothesize that the product image in the background should look heavier
than the same-sized product image in the foreground.

Movement or Change of Direction in the

Location of the Product Image

When we talk about movement on a package facade, we mean suggested

movement, or motion that is indicated by a visual object’s form or direc-
tion. Specific movement patterns suggest different changed locations,
which have implications for visual weight (see Figure€17.3 for examples of
movement and direction in package design). In the same way that allow-
ing for depth in a visual image in and of itself creates weight, we sug-
gest that presence of motion or movement in a visual frame may in and
of itself create weight. In other words, we believe that this suggestion of
movement, or the idea that there is more than one location for the specific
graphic element, should convey a kind of weightiness as opposed to the
light, ethereal impression of a static element. Although this hypothesis
was not specifically tested in the visual design literature, Deng and Kahn
(forthcoming) have conducted some preliminary experiments that find
support for this conjecture.
Again, although not specifically tested, Puffer’s (1903) beliefs about
movement in visual space support the conjecture that the suggestion of
movement in and of itself conveys weight. He believed that suggested
movement has essentially the same effect as if the movement has been
already carried out. He suggested that this was consistent with the notion
of “perceptual causality” where people perceive a causal relationship even
in the absence of evidence of physical causality (Michotte, 1963). Thus the
suggestion of movement of an object would cause the perceived visual
 Product Image Locations on Packaging 269

Left: Direction product

Product image image (chili) is to the
(cereal) moves front and left.
out of the facade. Right: Direction product
image (sliced meat) is to
the back and to the right.

Product image (cereal)

Product image (cereal)
moves up.
moves up and to the
right.

Movement of Product
image (pancakes) in and of
itself can add visual weight. Movement of Product
image (cereal) in and
of itself can add visual
weight.

Figure 17.3â•… (See color insert.) Examples of movement and direction on

packaging.
270 Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng

heaviness of that object to be a function of its initial starting position and

the suggested end position. He further proposed that suggested move-
ment implies that the empty space would be filled with the energy of the
suggested movement and is hence not empty anymore, again suggesting
increased visual weight.
Puffer also believed that the direction of the movement was important
in the final estimation of the perceived heaviness of the object. If the end
position was at a “heavier” location, the net result should be that the item
that has movement is visually heavier than the static item at the same start-
ing position. Similarly, if the end position is at a “lighter” location, the net
result should be that the item that has movement is visually lighter than
a similarly initially placed static item. However, Puffer started with the
assumption that the fulcrum of a visual frame was at its center, whereas we
are assuming that the fulcrum of a package facade is at the left. This leads
to different conclusions as to where the heavy locations would be. We first
describe Puffer’s experiments and then hypothesize our conclusions with
regard to package facades.
Puffer (1903) conducted a series of experiments using the same experi-
mental paradigm described above to test the weight properties of the
influences of end locations. In particular, he examined the direction of
a straight line as a whole and the expression of internal energy conveyed
by a curve or part of a line. He found that a straight line pointing inward
was perceived by subjects to be lighter than a line pointing outward. He
speculated that this result was because an inward-pointed line suggests
that the line is moving toward the center, whereas an outward-pointed
line suggests that the line is moving out from the center. According to the
theory of mechanical balance or the principle of the lever, the movement
that is farther from the center “weighs more” than movement toward the
center. Therefore, the former movement would arrive at a position where
the object’s weigh “counts” more according to the mechanical balance.
Further, a line pointing inward would only fill up space in the inner circle
of the visual field, whereas a line pointing outward would fill up space at
the outskirt of the visual field. Again the line pointing outward would be
perceived to weigh more because “filling up” the outer space would give
the perception of weigh more than filling up the inner space.
In another experiment, Puffer fixed a straight line and asked the study
participants to assign a location for a “curve out,” a line convex to the
origin of the perpendicular axes. He then fixed the curve and treated the
straight line as the “variable.” It was found that when the location of the
straight line was fixed, participants assigned a location to the curve that
 Product Image Locations on Packaging 271

was nearer to the center. This suggests that the curve out is “heavier” than
the straight line. Furthermore, the greater curvature of the curve, the
“heavier” it is. When Puffer compared a straight line to a “curve in,” a line
concave to the origin, he found that when the location of the straight line
was fixed, subjects assigned a location to the curve that was farther from
the center, suggesting that the curve was “lighter” than the straight line.
Similarly, the greater curvature of the curve, the “lighter” it was.
Puffer’s experiments related to direction of lines and assumed that the
fulcrum was the center of the visual field. We are interested in the sug-
gested movement of a product image and are assuming that the visual
fulcrum on a package facade is on the left. Using these assumptions, we
hypothesize that if the suggested movement of the product image is to the
lighter locations of the package facade (i.e., the top, left or front), then the
perceived heaviness of that product image would be lighter than a static
image that starts in the same initial position. Similarly, if the movement
is to the heavier locations (i.e., bottom, right or back), then the perceived
heaviness of that product image would be heavier than a static product
image that starts in the same position.

Predictions Based on Previous Visual Perception Research

Our spatial/location framework specifically looks at the effects on per-

ceived visual heaviness of location and suggested location of a product
image on a package facade. However, we also believe that implications for
perceptual visual heaviness principles can be found by building on other
recent research on visual perceptual biases. Recent work has provided
interesting conclusions on (a) perceived area and volume judgments (see
Krishna, 2007 for a review), (b) biases about complex versus simple shapes
(see Krishna, 2007 for a review), and (c) the role of attention in assess-
ing perceived volume judgments (Folkes & Matta, 2004). We believe that
those previous findings could be extended to form hypotheses about the
visual heaviness of product images on package facades.

Predictions Building on Research in Perceived

Area and Volume Judgment Biases

Both Arnheim (1974) and Puffer (1903) believed that larger images were
perceived to be visually heavier than smaller images. This seems obviously
272 Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng

true. Perhaps more interesting, we would hypothesize that the previous

research findings that showed biases in perceptual volume judgment (e.g.,
Raghubir & Krishna, 1999) would also hold for estimations of perceived
heaviness, although they would be operating through perceived area
judgments rather than through volume judgments. Specifically, we would
hypothesize that if the area of a product image was perceived to be larger
than the area of another product image (even if the actual areas were the
same), the image that was perceived to be larger would also be perceived to
be visually heavier. For example, the elongation effect that Raghubir and
Krishna (1999) identified in volume perceptions, but have also been found
in area perceptions (Anderson & Cuneo, 1978), would suggest that rectan-
gular product images would be visually heavier than square images, and
oval images would be visually heavier than circle images, holding actual
areas constant in all cases. We would also predict that the moderators
found in the previous literature (e.g., the relative salience effect; Krider,
Raghuhibr, & Krishna, 2001) would also hold here.

Complex and Novel Shapes Should Be Visually Heavier

Although used in a different context, Krishna (2007) proposed several

models that might be adaptable to explaining why complex or novel images
might seem to be visually heavier. Adapting her analysis we would sug-
gest that in the context of a package facade, an information storage model
(Sadalla & Staplin, 1980) would predict that people judge complex or novel
images to be bigger than simple or common images because people have
to scan and store more information about the complex or novel images.
Further, the analog timing model (Thorndyke, 1981) that Krishna identi-
fies suggests that when a person visually scans an image, an internal clock
is activated that is stopped at the end of the scan. If the scan takes longer
for a complex or novel image than for a simple, common image, then the
suggestion would be that the complex image was visually heavier.
This proposal is supported by experiments that Puffer (1903) performed
on objects that had intrinsic interest, which he defined as novel or changed.
Specifically, he ran an experiment using black-and-white reproductions
of postage stamps from various countries. During the experiment, one
stamp on the board remained unchanged, while the other stamp was
changed for each trial, using the change in stamps to manipulate intrinsic
interest. Using the experimental paradigm described earlier to measure
visual weight, Puffer fixed the location of the unchanged stamp and asked
 Product Image Locations on Packaging 273

subjects to assign a location to the changed stamp (and vice versa). He

found that subjects assigned a location that was closer to the center to the
changed stamp as opposed to the unchanged stamp, suggesting that nov-
elty in and of itself is perceived to be weightier.

Role of Attention as a Mental Contaminant

Folkes and Matta (2004) argue that visual attention is directed toward
objects as a whole rather than to specific areas of interest in a visual field,
following a gestalt theory of attention (e.g., Bloch, 1995). Further, Folkes
and Matta argue that because larger-sized objects command more atten-
tion in general, subjects are “mentally contaminated” to assume that the
reverse is also true: if more attention is given to an object then it is larger.
Through experimental evidence, they show that packages that are per-
ceived as attracting more attention are also perceived to be of greater vol-
ume than packages that attract less attention.
Extending this theory to perceived visual heaviness of product images,
we would propose that product images on a package facade that attract
more attention would be perceived to be visually heavier. Package images
could attract more attention through size (larger is more attention getting
than smaller), color (bright colors attract more attention than dull colors),
whether the product image is shown in isolation or not (isolated objects
command more attention than those surrounded), complexity of shape
(complex shapes command more attention), or objects that have intrinsic
interest or novelty (novel, complex objects command more attention than
routine, simple objects). The concept that the more attention paid to an
object the visually heavier it is, is consistent with Arnheim’s (1974) and
Puffer’s (1903) theories. They argue that attention can be thought of as
a type of psychological force that can be measured similarly to the way
physical force is measured, gauging the magnitude of psychological force
engendered by the consumer’s attention.

Conclusions

The influence of packaging features on consumer inferences about prod-

uct features has received surprisingly little attention in the marketing
literature. We offset this void by studying how the location or suggested
location of a product picture on its package facade can affect consumers’
274 Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng

inferences about the perceived visual weight of the product. Depending

on whether product weight is perceived to be a benefit (i.e., the heavier
the product the better) or a liability (i.e., the lighter the product the bet-
ter), perceived visual heaviness is likely to be a cue for product preference.
Our central hypothesis is that the location of the product image on the
package facade determines its visual weight. In two-dimensional space,
we identify the “heavy” locations of a package facade as the bottom or
right side, and the “light” locations as the top or left side. When product
images are placed in the heavy locations, the products are perceived to be
visually heavier. Empirical support for these two-dimensional proposals
is found in Deng and Kahn (forthcoming), who also found that the effects
are moderated by product category and consumer goals.
If we allow the package facade to have three dimensions, either through
the use of graphic perspective, layering of graphic elements, or the addi-
tion of a vista to the package, then we propose that if the product image is
in the foreground of the space, its visual heaviness is less than if the prod-
uct image is in the background of the space (controlling for other aspects
including the size of the product image on the package). Finally, if we
allow for movement or direction in location, we hypothesize that “mov-
ing” product images are inherently visually heavier than static images,
and further, product images that move to heavier locations (e.g., bottom,
right, or back) are visually heavier than product images that move to light
locations (e.g., top, left, or front). Although these proposals are based on
sound design theory (Arnheim, 1974; Puffer, 1903), they have not been
tested empirically in the realm of package design.
These suggested location effects of product imagery on packaging are
likely to be moderated by several factors. As mentioned above, all of our
hypothesized location effects should be moderated by product category
and consumer goals (Deng & Kahn, forthcoming). Further, as found in
other research on the influence of graphic package design features on
consumer decision making, we would expect these locations effects to be
stronger when the consumer is less familiar with the product category
(Underwood et al., 2001), under time pressure (Pieters & Warlop, 1999),
and less able to judge product quality from intrinsic features of the prod-
uct (Ziethaml, 1988). The location effects should also be attenuated by how
unique the package design is relative to other packages on the shelf. If all
product images on competing packages are in the same locations, then
the specific effects on perceived visual heaviness will be attenuated. If the
product image locations are in contrast with those on competing pack-
 Product Image Locations on Packaging 275

ages, the location effects on visual heaviness will be magnified (Deng &
Kahn, forthcoming).
We also hypothesize that previous marketing research on visual percep-
tual biases will have a natural extension into visual heaviness perceptions.
Specifically, volume and area biases, such as the elongation effect (Raghubir
& Krishna, 1999), should operate similarly in visual heaviness perception.
For example, we would predict that rectangular product images would be
visually heavier than square images, and oval images would be visually
heavier than circle images. We would also predict that complexity in prod-
uct images, either through unusual shapes, intrinsic interest or novelty, or
complex photographic or graphic design, would also increase visual weight,
similar to the findings on perceived volume and size (Krishna, 2007).
Finally, we predict that consumer attention is likely to serve an inter-
esting role with regard to perceived visual weight. Similar to the men-
tal contamination argument suggested by Folkes and Matta (2004), we
hypothesize that the more attention a consumer pays to a product image,
the visually heavier that image will appear to be. This suggests that larger,
more brightly colored, more novel or interesting product images should be
seen as visually heavier than smaller, duller, more routine images. Further,
if the product image is isolated on the package, it should seem visually
heavier than if it is surrounded by many other visual elements that would
detract from the attention paid to the product image itself.
Although these latter proposals seem to follow naturally from previous
research and would be support by design theory (e.g., Arnheim, 1974; Puffer,
1903), they have not been empirically tested. We believe our framework
and subsequent observations based on previous research provides a com-
pelling agenda for future research to empirically test these conjectures.

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Section V
Taste
18
The Gist of Gustation
An Exploration of Taste, Food, and Consumption
Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S. Elder

Consider in detail your last vacation, not the business trip you went on
or the conference you attended, but your last therapeutic, relaxing break
from the world. If you were to recount your trip to a colleague, what would
you begin with? Assuming you didn’t lose your luggage or experience
a 4-hour delay at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, but rather had a generally
positive experience, you might begin with the weather but then quickly
move to the food. Of all the multiple sensory pleasures you experienced
throughout the duration of your trip, the ones that gave you the most joy
and excitement, likely involved food. Indeed, even when planning the trip
our solicitations from friends on what to do primarily revolve around
where to eat and when.
Food, including the taste sensations food gives us, plays a vital role in
our lives, both from a physical, survival perspective as well from a social
and emotional one. Given the importance of food in our lives, it is not
surprising that billions of dollars are spent annually on food marketing.
However, it is quite perplexing that research within consumer behavior
and psychology has largely overlooked this arena. This chapter will lay the
foundation for future research and hopefully spark scholarly interest in
this valuable and fruitful domain.
The gustatory journey we take within this chapter begins with a basic
and physiological perspective of taste. Citing literature in biology, neuro-
science, psychology, and consumer behavior, we show the underpinnings
of how taste perceptions are generated, as well as the impact marketers can
have in the process. We next present timely research on actual and per-
ceived consumption, highlighting the effects of perceptual biases, product
packaging, as well as labels on what we eat as consumers. Finally, we intro-
duce novel ideas for future research, such as the social impact on taste
281
282 Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S. Elder

perceptions and consumption, the ritualized and mythical powers of food,

and the cross-modal interaction of taste with the other senses, including
the unique case of lexical-gustatory synesthesia. Exploring the impact of
marketing on taste perceptions and consumption experiences presents a
promising future for both academics and practitioners alike.

Taste

When we think of taste, most initially localize the sensation to the mouth.
Specifically, we think of the tongue, with its numerous taste receptors
(taste buds) and the variety of taste perceptions these afford. The taste buds
themselves are onion-shaped structures on the tongue and in other parts
of the mouth with 50 to 100 taste cells in each bud. These cells provide
information to the brain (primarily in the insula and operculum) based on
the chemical qualities of the food in the mouth that form the basic sense
of taste.
It is popularly believed that certain areas of the tongue pick up the dif-
ferent tastes of sweet, salty, sour, bitter (and umami, discussed later in this
chapter). In fact, many illustrations have been made of the tongue with
these areas demarcated. However, recent evidence from neuroscientific
studies suggests that this is indeed not true; areas of the tongue are not
specific to certain tastes, but rather the distribution of tastes across the
tongue is rather uniform. This is because the sensory nerve fibers con-
tained in the taste buds capture all of the different tastes (Lindemann,
2001). Thus, the different taste sensations are found in all areas of the
tongue (Huang et al., 2006).
Despite the initial thought of taste stemming from sensations based
solely in the mouth, our intuition and experience tell us that taste is con-
siderably more complex. We next highlight research explicating the fac-
tors that contribute to a full composition of taste perceptions.

Taste Is All Five Senses

This section is based on research done by Elder and Krishna (2010). We

begin with a stimulus used in one of their many experiments:

Emerald Aisle popcorn delivers the smell of a movie theater in your own home.
You’ll see the perfect amount of butter and salt in every handful. With its
 The Gist of Gustation 283

delicious, buttery texture and a crunch that’s music to your ears, Emerald Aisle
popcorn is the perfect choice for all your snacking.

This food ad tries to involve all our senses. Why? As discussed earlier,
humans can merely distinguish between five pure tastes, that is, there are
basically five disparate biochemical and cellular interactions in our bod-
ies related to taste: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. The last, umami,
has recently been discovered by Japanese researchers and its approximate
meaning is “deliciousness” or “savory.” It refers to the taste from monoso-
dium glutamate (MSG), the taste of pure protein. Every single taste from
milk to chocolate to wine to prosciutto is a combination of these five taste
sensations. However, we can distinguish tastes with great sophistication.
How does that come about? All other tastes that humans perceive besides
the basic five are a result of the input from the other senses: from smell
(how the food smells), touch (temperature, fattiness, and other textures
of food, painfulness such as from hot spices), vision (how the food looks,
aesthetic appeal including color), and also audition (e.g., the sound of the
potato chip cracking when you bite it).
Even though we eat regularly, we are not very good at discerning one
taste from another when using only our sense of taste. Thus, when we can-
not smell or see the food, it is difficult to tell a potato apart from an apple,
or red wine apart from coffee (Herz, 2007, p. 187). One reason for this
limited capability is the few distinct tastes that we can detect, only five as
mentioned earlier. As such, what we find “tasty” may have little to do with
the “taste” sense, but may be largely dependent on the other senses and
even other cognitive inputs.

How Do Other Outside Influences Affect Taste Perception?

Research on sensory perception within marketing has largely focused on

the study of vision (see Krishna, 2007 for a review), with the other senses
receiving scattered attention; however, this attention is intensifying (see
Peck & Childers, 2008 for a review). Peck and Childers (2008) claim that
of the 81 sensory studies in consumer behavior focusing on the other four
senses (aside from vision), 28 are from the past 5 years. Clearly, sensory
perception and sensory marketing are growing fields, and there is much
research yet to be done. One factor that makes the research difficult, but
also presents many opportunities for research, is the potential impact of
outside influences on sensory perception. Since sensory perception by its
284 Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S. Elder

very nature is ambiguous or subjective, it is more susceptible to such out-

side influences (Hoch & Ha, 1986). Consistent with this, there is a fair
body of research that examines the effect of various factors on taste per-
ception. We organize this review by the factors that affect taste.

Taste and Smell

Smell is considered to be one of the most important drivers of taste percep-
tion (Small & Prescott, 2005). The combination of smell and taste gener-
ates the concept of flavor. Smell has such an important role in taste largely
because of the nose’s close proximity to the mouth. We smell the food
when it is outside our mouth (orthonasal) and once again when we are
actively chewing on the food (retronasal; Rozin, 1982). This is the reason
why eating something unthinkable, like raisin pie, is suddenly tolerable
when blocking the air passageway by pinching your nose.

Taste and Color

Much of the research on the interaction of vision and taste has looked at
the impact of product color. DuBose, Cardello, and Maller (1980) show that
participants blind to the color of a fruit-flavored drink can accurately iden-
tify only 20% of the flavors compared to 100% when they can see the color
of the drink. Additionally, when the color is deliberately manipulated so
that a cherry drink is colored orange, 40% of the participants identify the
flavor as orange. Although receiving mixed support, the general consensus
is that increasing color intensity also has a strong impact on increasing
taste intensity (DuBose et al., 1980; Johnson & Clydesdale, 1982).
Recently, Hoegg and Alba (2007a) show the impact of several extrin-
sic cues for orange juice, including brand name, price, and region of
origin, on taste discrimination and taste preference. Interestingly, the
authors find that color is used by subjects as the dominant input in taste
discrimination, whereas brand name is used as the determinant of pref-
erences. They also find that brand names have an effect on taste pref-
erence only after a learning phase (when the range of tastes has been
learned by the subjects).

Taste and Sound

Visualize yourself biting into a bright green, refreshingly cold stalk of
celery. What if one important element was missing—the audible crunch?
Undoubtedly this would affect your perceptions of the celery, both in
perceived freshness and in actual perceived taste. Zampini and Spence
(2004) provide empirical support for this process. The authors show that
 The Gist of Gustation 285

changing the loudness and the frequency of the sound a potato chip makes
when bitten impacts how fresh the chip is perceived to be. Participants in
the experiment were in a soundproof booth eating in front of a micro-
phone. The participants also wore headphones so that the sound of biting
the chips was relayed to their headphones, bypassing their natural percep-
tions. This allowed the experimenters to alter the sound frequency and
volume. Interestingly, the louder the sound of the bite, the fresher the par-
ticipants thought the chips were.

Taste and Haptics

Krishna and Morrin (2008) explore the effect of an extrinsic cue, prod-
uct haptics, on taste perception. In a series of experiments, they show
that the haptic quality of glasses from which water and other drinks
are consumed can affect taste perception, such that water from a firm
disposable glass tastes better than water from a flimsy disposable glass.
Interestingly, haptics affect taste for consumers who are high in “autotelic
need for touch” (a need to touch for the sake of touch alone and not for
any functional purpose; see Peck & Childers, 2003) and not people who
are low in need for touch. The authors explain this by suggesting that
people who are high in need for touch, over time, have formed connec-
tions in memory between haptic and other properties of objects, so that
they know instinctively when haptics are diagnostic for a decision or not.
In the case of the taste of water, the haptic properties of the glass or bottle
in which the water is given are clearly not diagnostic and are not taken
much into account.

Taste and Brand Name

Researchers have examined the impact of brand name on perceived beer
characteristics (Allison & Uhl, 1964) and taste preferences and discrimi-
nation for orange juice (Hoegg & Alba 2007a, 2007b). Allison and Uhl
(1964) explore the impact of brand name on subsequent taste preferences.
The authors administer a blind taste test of beers (by removing identify-
ing labels) to experienced beer drinkers and find that participants cannot
correctly discriminate between the beers. However, when the beers are
labeled, the participants rate their favorite beer higher than the others.
Hoegg and Alba (2007b) build on the premise that people minimize dif-
ferences between stimuli within the same category and exaggerate differ-
ences between stimuli in different categories, thus proposing that “labels
might influence perception at the boundaries but not necessarily within a
category” (p. 9). They show experimentally that when subjects do not learn
286 Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S. Elder

the taste range of a stimulus (orange juice), taste trumps brand in dis-
crimination tasks (i.e., subjects can accurately discriminate between taste
of the juices). However, when there is no learning phase, brand trumps
taste (juice pairs of the same brand but different taste are perceived more
similar than juice pairs of different brands but similar taste).

Ads and Taste

In a series of three experiments, Elder and Krishna (2010) show how ads
can also affect taste perception. They demonstrate that ads for food do
not merely affect awareness and intention to purchase, but can also affect
perceived taste. In particular, they show that ads incorporating multiple
versus a single sense can lead to heightened taste perceptions. They sug-
gest that this occurs through the ad’s effect on generating positive sen-
sory thoughts and consequent sensory perception. They also show that
the effect is moderated by cognitive load; when there is a cognitive load,
multiple sense ads have a weaker positive effect. In a typical experiment,
they show consumers either a single sense or a multiple sense ad, balanced
on the number of pieces of information subjects get and also the appeal of
the ad itself. Then subjects taste the food product that the ad was for and
provide taste ratings and other thoughts about the food. They show the
effect to be robust across chewing gum, popcorn, and potato chips.

Ingredients and Taste

Prior studies have also examined the effect of nutritional information on
perceived taste (Raghunathan, Naylor, & Hoyer, 2006; Wansink, Park,
Sonka, & Morganosky, 2000), of fat amount in meat or perceived leanness
and taste of the meat (Levin & Gaeth, 1988), and of beer ingredients on
choice of beer (Lee, Frederick, & Ariely, 2006).
To elaborate on some of these studies, Raghunathan et al. (2006) exam-
ined the effect of labeling a food item as either healthy or unhealthy. The
authors show that consumers implicitly hold an assumption that food cat-
egorized as unhealthy is better tasting than healthy food. Similarly, when
participants are left to infer that the product is healthy due to its ingredi-
ents (i.e., soy), taste perceptions are lowered (Wansink et al., 2000).
Other researchers have examined the impact of nutritional value on
perceived taste. When identical samples of ground beef are labeled 75%
lean versus 25% fat, the former is rated as being leaner and higher quality
than the latter (Levin & Gaeth, 1988).
Addressing a similar issue of “ingredients,” Lee et al. (2006) convinc-
ingly show that such extrinsic cues not only alter taste preferences, but
 The Gist of Gustation 287

actually change one’s taste experience. In a series of three experiments,

consumers at local pubs were asked to participate in short taste tests of
beer. One of the beers was a standard, unaltered beer, while the other
contained an additional ingredient: a small amount of balsamic vinegar,
which makes the beer superficially less appealing but actually enhances
the flavor. By carefully utilizing three experimental conditions—a blind
taste test, where the additional ingredient was not given; a before condi-
tion, where the subject was told the ingredient before the taste test; and
finally, an after condition, where the subject was told the ingredient fol-
lowing the sampling—the authors show that the information of the addi-
tional ingredient does not merely alter preferences, but actually changes
the consumption experience. The results show that the after condition
reports similar preferences as the blind condition, but differed signifi-
cantly from the before condition. Having the additional knowledge of the
balsamic vinegar additive altered the taste experience.
Several researchers have shown the impact of both intrinsic (primarily
sensory) and extrinsic cues on taste perceptions. Others researchers have
focused on the effects at the individual level characteristics such as obesity
(Steinberg & Yalch, 1978), and cognitive states (e.g., level of distraction,
Nowlis & Shiv, 2005; Shiv & Nowlis, 2004). Given taste’s documented sus-
ceptibility to external influences, the study of marketing and taste percep-
tions warrants further attention.
In addition to focusing on the construction of taste perceptions and
the impact that marketing can ultimately have on theses perceptions, we
next choose to focus on consumption. Specifically, we discuss relevant
research addressing perceived versus actual consumption. The results of
this research hold many implications for marketing, public policy, and
general consumer well-being.

Consumption and Perceived Consumption

Standard portions, as defined by the federal government for the Food

Guide Pyramid and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, are consid-
erably smaller than portions typically consumed by the public (Young
& Nestle, 2003). Moreover, there is limited consistency in the range of
portion sizes offered across different food and drink providers. Both the
discrepancy between the standard portion and the typically consumed
portion and the inconsistency in portions sizes across providers contrib-
288 Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S. Elder

ute to people’s uncertainty about the appropriate amount to eat (Young &
Nestle, 1998).
Pierre Chandon, in his chapter in this book, highlights many factors
affecting consumption. Here, we focus on some aspects of consumption
not covered in detail in Chandon’s chapter. We also present findings that
show that what we actually consume and what we think we have con-
sumed can be quite different.

Visual Biases and Consumption

Over 50 years ago, Piaget studied children’s perceptions of volume. In a

typical Piagetian experiment, colored liquid was poured from a tall cyl-
inder into a shorter and wider cylinder. The height of the liquid in the
latter cylinder was lower. Children were then asked whether the volume
of the liquid had remained the same or had reduced. In a series of studies,
Piaget found that primary schoolchildren appeared to only use the height
of the container while making volume judgments; they believed that the
volume had reduced when the liquid was poured into a wider glass (Piaget,
1967, 1968; Piaget, Inhelder, & Szeminska, 1960). The predominant use of
a single dimension—height—to make three-dimensional judgments was
termed the centration hypothesis.
This simple experiment has been replicated many times and the effect
is found to be very robust even among adults and with frequently pur-
chased packaged goods (Raghubir & Krishna, 1999). Many other visual
biases have also been shown over the years, and a summary of the ones
applying to three-dimensional objects is presented in Table€18.1. An over-
view of visual biases as a whole may be found in Krishna’s (2007) work.
As Table€18.1 shows, there is research on volume estimation biases within
a form class (e.g., within cylinders) and volume estimation biases across
form class (e.g., cylinders vs. cuboids of equal volume). Researchers have
further studied how volume perception changes as the size of an object
changes and proposed theories of volume estimation biases. Table€18.1 also
provides a summary of some factors that have been shown to affect actual
and perceived consumption. Thus, quite a few researchers have shown that
people consume more if they have larger package sizes (Folkes, Martin, &
Gupta, 1993; Wansink, 1996; Wansink & Park, 2001) and also if products
are more salient, visible, conveniently packaged, hedonic, or conveniently
located (Chandon & Wansink, 2002; Painter, Wansink, & Hieggelke, 2002;
Wansink & Ray, 1996).
 The Gist of Gustation 289

Table 18.1â•… Volume Perceptions, Choice, Consumption, Satisfaction

Perceived Volume Across Different Shapes Within Form-Class
Centration hypothesis: Use of height to make Piaget et al., 1960
volume judgments
Elongation hypothesis: Use of height/width ratio Frayman & Dawson, 1981; Holmberg,
to make volume judgment 1975

Perceived Volume Due to Different Shapes Across Form-Class

Mixed results:
Cylinders < cuboids (even though taller) Holmberg, 1975
Cylinders and tetrahedrons > spheres and Frayman & Dawson, 1981
cubes; Cubes < spheres
Elongation hypothesis: Use of height/width Frayman & Dawson, 1981; Holmberg,
ratio to make volume judgment 1975

Perceived Volume Due to Increasing Size of the Same Shape

Perceived Size Is an Underestimate
The degree of underestimation increases as the Techtsoonian, 1965
object grows larger and is not contingent on
the shape of the figure, Perceived size = Actual
Sizee , where e < 1
The exponent range of 0.50–1.00 appears fairly Baird, Romer, & Stein, 1970; Frayman
robust across 3D figures: & Dawson, 1981; Moyer et. al., 1978

Theories Proposed for Perceived Volume Shape and Size Biases

Information Selection—people underutilize one Verge & Bogartz, 1978
or more dimensions in their judgments of size
Information Integration—different rules have Anderson & Cuneo, 1978
been suggested for integrating information,
but all dimensions are assumed to be
appropriately utilized
Psychophysical model of area judgment— Krider, Raghubir, & Krishna, 2001
dimensions are used per their salience in a
multiplicative information integration model

Perceived and Actual Consumption

Perceived-size consumption illusion:
A reversal in perceptions of volume pre- versus Raghubir & Krishna, 1999; Wansink &
post-consumption. More elongated containers van Ittersum, 2003
lead to greater (smaller) pre-consumption
(post-consumption) perceived volume, and to
greater actual consumption.
People consume more if they have larger Folkes et al., 1993; Wansink, 1996;
package sizes Wansink & Park, 2001
Continued
290 Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S. Elder

Table 18.1â•… Volume Perceptions, Choice, Consumption, Satisfaction

(Continued)
If products are more salient, visible, Chandon & Wansink, 2002; Painter, et
conveniently packaged, hedonic, or al., 1994; Wansink & Ray, 1996
conveniently located, then they will be
consumed more
Reversal of perceived-size consumption illusion Krishna, 2006
when sight versus touch is used for input

Perceived Size, Actual Consumption, and Perceived Consumption

There is a rich literature on expectancy disconfirmation (see Stangor &

McMillan, 1992 for a review). While the expectancy disconfirmation lit-
erature in social psychology focuses on traits and behaviors of others as
inputs, some expectancy disconfirmation literature in cognitive psychol-
ogy focuses on self-experienced sensory inputs. A highly researched effect
of this genre is the size–weight illusion (SWI). Charpentier (1891) first
demonstrated the SWI, where bigger objects of the same weight were per-
ceived to be lighter. For example, a pound of cotton wool felt lighter than a
pound of lead. A number of explanations have been proposed for the SWI
illusion. The most accepted explanations are based on expectancy theory.
People expect the smaller object to be lighter. However, when they actually
lift the small object, their experience contradicts their expectation, lead-
ing to a contrast effect. The opposite is true of the large object. This results
in the smaller object being perceived to be heavier than the larger object.
Across seven experiments, Raghubir and Krishna (1999) show that sub-
jects expect taller containers to contain more than an equivolume short,
fat container when they see them. However, after subjects drink from the
container, the effect reverses, such that people think they have drunk more
from a short, fat versus from a tall, thin container. The same expectancy
argument applies: People think that the tall (short) container will contain
more (less) but are surprised when they drink from it. They more than
compensate when they judge perceived volume. Based on the perceived
volume results, Raghubir and Krishna (1999) propose and show that actual
volume consumed will be larger from the taller container. Building off
Raghubir and Krishna’s work, Wansink and van Ittersum (2003) show that
children, adults, and even bartenders will pour more into short, fat glasses
versus tall, thin ones, and also consume more from the short, fat glasses.
Krishna (2006) then shows that when only touch is used to judge vol-
ume (and not vision), the short, fat container is perceived to be larger than
 The Gist of Gustation 291

the equivolume tall, thin one. This is because information on diameter

is haptically obtained by the enclosure exploratory procedure (see the
chapter by Roberta Klatzky in this book), which is a natural procedure,
whereas information on height is obtained by contour following along the
outside of the glass, which is less natural.

Labels and Consumption

In the current context of large portion sizes and consumer uncertainty

about appropriate food intake, Aydinoglu and Krishna (2009) propose
that the size labels chosen by vendors can have a major impact on consum-
ers’ purchase and consumption behavior. Additionally, the same portion
size can be called small or medium across vendors, as can be seen with
soft drinks and French fries sold at fast food establishments (e.g., compare
McDonald’s with Wendy’s for soft drinks). They propose that the mental
representation of the size of a product may be construed from a combina-
tion of the actual size of the product and the semantic cue (the size label
and other verbal descriptors) associated with it. Consumers are faced with
the task of integrating these two pieces of information in order to make
their size estimations. Aydinoglu and Krishna then demonstrate that size
labels affect size judgments and also affect actual and perceived consump-
tion. In a series of laboratory studies and one field study, they show that
consumers rely to a large extent on size labels to provide them direction
in estimating the size of food and drink items, such that the same portion
of food labeled small versus medium will result in a perception of smaller
size, greater consumption, but less perceived consumption. Interestingly,
the effect is asymmetric in that larger items labeled smaller are credible,
but the reverse is not true. Aydinoglu and Krishna explain this by con-
sumers’ natural skepticism for marketer intentions: Marketers would want
a small item to appear larger, but not the other way around. Another rea-
son for the asymmetry is that large items being labeled small allow con-
sumers to indulge in guiltless gluttony. An implication of their results is
that consumers can continue to consume large sizes that are labeled as
small and feel that they have not consumed too much. This can clearly
have dire consequences for health reasons. They also show that the impact
of size labels is moderated by people’s nutrition consciousness. Consumers
who are concerned about being accurate about nutrition intake are less
prone to the size label effect. Hence, making consumers more nutrition
conscious may reduce the effect of size labels that marketers adopt.
292 Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S. Elder

Krishna (2005) explores the existence of a multitude of size labels that

exist today (e.g., petite, small, short, medium, tall, large, super-quencher,
extra-large, jumbo) for soft drinks. She tests whether these newly coined
words have somehow managed to get a common understanding across
consumers and finds that they have, leading to consequences in both
actual and perceived consumption.

Package Sizes, Self-Control, and Consumption

Do Vale, Pieters, and Zeelenberg (2008) show that the belief that small
package sizes lead to greater self-control and less consumption may be mis-
founded. They demonstrate that activating self-regulatory concerns has no
impact on consumption when tempting products (e.g., potato chips) come
in small sizes. However, it does when they come in large sizes. They argue
that when chips are in small packages, consumers will not think they need
to exert self-control, whereas when chips come in large packages they will
have to. Small packages may be perceived as an external self-control device
and thus are all right to consume fully. As such, small package sizes will
“fly under the radar” of consumer vigilance. Scott, Nowlis, Mandel, and
Morales (2008) similarly show that restrained eaters consume more calories
from small food in small packages versus unrestrained eaters who consume
more calories from large food in large packages. They found that subjects
who cared most about counting calories (especially chronic dieters) were
the ones who consumed the most calories when packages were smaller. The
small packages seem to undermine the good intentions of dieters, who took
the small packaging and bite-sized sweets to be like diet food.
In contrast to this, Wansink, Geier, and Rozin (2009) show that put-
ting consumption interrupters in boxes will decrease both actual and per-
ceived consumption. In their experiment, they had 59 subjects eat from a
tube of 82 potato chips while watching television. In the experimental chip
boxes, they put red chips after every 7 or 14 chips in the box. They show
that consumers eat more chips without interrupters than with: They eat
45 chips with no interrupters, 24 with interrupters after 14 chips, and 20
with interrupters after 7 chips. In their paper they seem to claim that small
package sizes will also act as consumption interrupters. But, clearly this
was not the case for all consumers, as seen above. Thus, it may be a good
idea to examine the work of Wansink et al. (2009) in conjunction with the
work of Do Vale et al. (2008) and Scott et al. (2008), which also account for
self-control on the part of consumers.
 The Gist of Gustation 293

Emotional Calibration and Consumption

Kidwell, Hardesty, and Childers (2008) point to a completely new direction

for research on consumption, namely, the effect of mood and emotions
on consumption. They show that consumers’ emotional ability (the abil-
ity to interpret their own emotions, realize how they make them feel, and
regulate their emotions; using emotional information to obtain a desired
outcome) and emotional confidence (confidence in their emotional abil-
ity) also affects their food choices in terms of their impulsive eating and
caloric intake; there is immense room for research here. For instance, one
could study the interaction effects of mood and gender, age, or marital
status on consumption, why some people eat more when they are happy
and others when they are depressed, and if specific foods are eaten more
in certain moods.

Food as a Social Activity

Emotions and consumption, as well as emotions and taste perception, pro-

vide intriguing opportunities for future research. One such opportunity is
to explore the impact of a social consumption setting on both the amount
of consumption and the sensory pleasure derived from eating. Relevant
research has shown that the actual amount of consumption can both
increase or decrease with the presence of others (for a thorough review see
Herman, Roth, & Pulivy, 2003). Eating with others increases the duration
of the meal, leading to more consumption; however, if the others we are
eating with are strangers, then we tend to follow normative consumption
rules and eat only as much as or less than the others eat.
Perhaps more interesting than the amount of consumption is the plea-
sure derived from consumption within social settings. To the best of our
knowledge, researchers have not examined the impact of the presence
of others on taste perceptions. Presumably, eating socially would gen-
erate positive mood effects that would then be transferred to the meal.
Therefore, the very act of eating with others would lead to heightened taste
perceptions. Over time, this relationship could become so well learned that
merely portraying a food item as a social product could enhance its taste.
For example, advertisements for food items could show a product typically
consumed in isolation (e.g., frozen foods) in social situations (e.g., a party).
If this image were to remain with the consumer, taste perceptions on a
294 Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S. Elder

subsequent consumption occasion may be altered versus if the product

was advertised in an individualized manner.
Across cultures food is consumed socially, oftentimes in a celebratory
manner or as a reward. Most of our defining events and accomplishments
in life are celebrated with food. Religious and secular holiday traditions
center around meals (e.g., Thanksgiving, Ramadan, Diwali, Christmas,
Fourth of July, Labor Day, and even Valentine’s Day), where family and
friends gather to feast. Yet the reason why food plays such a substantial
role in our celebrations and social events needs further explication. As
such, the social nature of food deserves more scholarly attention from psy-
chology and consumer behavior researchers.

Mythical Powers of Foods

In addition to playing a role in social celebration, certain foods have long

been posited to hold somewhat mythical powers that promote consump-
tion, creating in essence, “yes” foods, while others (primarily animals)
are strictly forbidden, creating taboo or “no” foods. These allowances and
restrictions in diet stem largely from religion but are also derived from
folk legend and popular culture.
Foods are not merely eaten for their taste or nutritional value but are also
consumed to bestow upon the eater certain powers or desired states. For
example, a considerable amount of research has explored the aphrodisiacal
powers of certain foods. Foods such as oysters, bananas, vanilla, and choco-
late have historically been used to increase sexual potency, both because
of perceived active ingredients and phallic representativeness. Among the
listed aphrodisiacs, chocolate has received the most scholarly attention,
although conclusive evidence of its role as an aphrodisiac has proved some-
what illusive. Still, chocolate can cause the release of serotonin, which is a
neurotransmitter contributing to feelings of happiness (Salonia et al., 2006).
Regardless of any actual biological effects from the food on subsequent
physical or cognitive state, the desired state may be actualized due to a pla-
cebo effect (Irmak, Block, Fitzsimons, 2005; Shiv, Carmon, & Ariely, 2005).
This placebo effect possibility, occurring largely below consciousness, intro-
duces many realms for consumer behavior researchers to explore.
Other “yes” foods and drinks fulfill normative, ritualized roles with
their consumption. Champagne accompanies nearly every major celebra-
tion, chicken soup is prescribed for practically all the infirm, and hedoni-
cally rich cakes conclude most parties. In fact, in the United States, some
 The Gist of Gustation 295

foods are so inextricably linked to events and locations that one’s expe-
rience is unfulfilled without their consumption. It is practically a sin to
attend a professional baseball game and not eat a hot dog, your trip to
Chicago lacks completion until a deep-dish pizza is consumed, and all
the rides at the fair will not satisfy you until you have had a funnel cake.
Creating such a strong attachment between an attraction and a food prod-
uct or brand is a goal pursued by many marketers. In the examples above,
marketers would ideally mandate that the champagne has to be Korbel,
the chicken soup Campbell’s, and the cakes from Baskin-Robbins in order
to satisfy normative demands.
Within the current discussion, taboos or “no” foods come largely from
restrictions placed within religion. The vast majority of these restrictions are
in relation to animals, as meat is historically more likely to become unclean
and carry diseases than vegetation (Fessler & Navarrete, 2003). Fessler and
Navarrete (2003) find that meat was nearly five times more likely to be a
tabooed item than all other sources of food combined. This is very interest-
ing to note, as meat is also one of the most sought after sources of food in
nearly every culture. In addition to meat, tabooed foods items include those
that are sacred as well as those that are perceived harmful. Further, some
items are prohibited due to their symbolic nature, particularly in respect to
sexuality and procreation. For example, the Wik-mungkan, an Australian
Aboriginal tribe, has numerous restrictions on who can eat what and from
whom (McKnight, 1973). Children and the aged are allowed to eat practi-
cally anything, as health and strength are of primary concern; however,
adult males are not allowed to receive yams, turtle eggs, or animals killed
by the spear from other males, especially from their son or brother-in-law,
due to their sexual symbolism. Hence, there are numerous reasons that
foods are labeled as “no” foods, most of them not directly linked to the
actual taste of the food. However, discovering the cognitive inhibitions
that lead individuals to avoid certain nontaboo foods presents a promis-
ing avenue for future research. In particular, finding ways to increase con-
sumption of healthy “no” foods (e.g., broccoli, brussels sprouts) would have
several consequential implications for public health.

Taste as a Stimulator for Other Senses

As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, the sense of taste heavily

relies on the other four senses in generating full perceptions. It would be
interesting to determine to what extent the other senses are affected by
296 Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S. Elder

taste. For example, would describing a smell with taste components lead to
a different, more pleasant, olfactory experience? Current advertising seems
to be exploring this possibility. A recent introduction of a men’s fragrance
is intriguingly named “Chocolate.” In the television commercial for the
fragrance, the lead character is a life-sized chocolate man. Throughout the
advertisement, women grab off chunks of the chocolate man and then eat
the chunks. What remains to be seen, however, is how this naming with
a taste perception impacts the sense of smell. Additional exploration of
cross-modal interactions of taste on vision, haptics, and even sound may
also prove valuable.
The interaction of senses is perhaps most perplexing within the con-
cept of synesthesia. Although most of us distinguish clearly among our five
senses, for some people this distinction gets muddled so that two or more
senses get intermingled. For example, some individuals can see colors when
hearing sounds (light colors for high-pitched and dark for low-pitched) and
others can actually “taste” words. The latter is called lexical-gustatory syn-
esthesia. Until recently, the belief was that sounds of words trigger tastes so
that, for instance, the sounds “eh” and “mmmm” tasted of mint and “aye”
tasted of bacon. However, recent findings (Simner & Ward, 2006) indicate
that the connection is not phonetically based but lexically (i.e., meaning)
based. Simner and Ward (2006) showed individuals pictures of uncom-
mon items so that the sound and form of the word were merely on the tip
of the tongue (TOT) but not completely processed, whereas the meaning
was fully present. These gustatory synesthetes actually tasted the concept
of the word and were accurate with the retest of the taste over a year later,
showing that the tastes were not merely constructed on the spot. The con-
cept of synesthesia will continue to receive attention, hopefully furthering
our understanding of the multisensory interactions among the senses and
better explicating the neural structure of sensation.

Conclusions

In this chapter we have identified some exciting new research on taste per-
ception and also on consumption. Taste research is still relatively new to
marketing. On the other hand, with brands no longer having the cache they
once had, food marketers are looking for ways to increase consumer prefer-
ence for their products. One way to do this may be to make the purchase or
consumption experience of food more exciting for the consumer. Although
research has focused on the latter, there is little work on the former.
 The Gist of Gustation 297

While food marketers are trying to make their products more appeal-
ing, public policy officials are trying to reduce obesity among consumers
and restrain consumption. Consumption interrupters like smaller package
sizes and different colored chips in cylinders of chips have been shown to
affect consumption. These are all “physical” interrupters. But what about
verbal interrupters, like “individual serving size”? Perhaps increasing the
salience of the nutritional information would also change consumption by
creating verbal interrupters in memory.
Undoubtedly individuals differ in taste perceptions and consumption
across cultures; however, such cross-cultural differences have not received
much attention. While self-construal theory has typically been applied
for social judgment, recently, Krishna, Zhou, and Zhang (2008) applied
self-construal theory to spatial perception. They showed that individualist
versus collectivist cultures vary greatly in the visual biases they are prone
to, with individualists being more prone to biases that require the context
to be considered, and collectivists being more prone to biases that require
the context to be ignored. It is worth looking into similar work for other
types of sensory perception.
By utilizing cross-disciplinary knowledge and expertise, research on
taste perception and consumption will continue to be an exciting arena
with direct applications to consumer behavior.

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19
Psychology and Sensory Marketing,
With a Focus on Food
Paul Rozin and Julia M. Hormes

The Power of Sensation and the Perception of “Mouth Objects”

One of the hardest reservations to get in the world is for dinner at El Bulli,
in northeast Spain, the world’s most creative restaurant and by many con-
sidered to be the best. The chef, Ferran Adria, essentially the founder of
molecular gastronomy, has added new dimensions to the experience of
food. Largely by changing the physical form of food with high technology,
using foams, gels, and the like, coupled with an exquisite aesthetic sense of
what works for the human palate, Adria has created a panoply of new food
experiences. There were 34 of them in a 6-hour meal one of us (PR) had the
pleasure of consuming a few years ago. This extraordinary sensory experi-
ence does not need to be marketed, since reservations are essentially unat-
tainable. (It is not true that El Bulli is so popular that nobody goes there
anymore!) This new wave in cooking, spreading around the Western world,
gives us an integrated multisensory experience, with a special focus on the
texture of foods and textural contrasts. The smells, tastes, flavors, feels,
sights, and sounds of food provide an enveloping experience. One example
from El Bulli: a glass containing at the bottom a steaming hot, aromatic
extract of pine nuts. The hot liquid sits at the bottom of a glass, the top of
which is coated in a layer of ice. When you sip it, you get all the aroma that
comes from a hot aromatic substance paired with the cold temperature that
normally suppresses aroma: a new and unexpected experience. Molecular
gastronomy sets the stage for a discussion of sensory marketing.
When it comes to senses, much of psychology has been focused on
exploring vision and hearing. Vision and hearing can legitimately be
thought to be our most important senses, as indicated by the devastation

303
304 Paul Rozin and Julia M. Hormes

TABLE 19.1â•… The Human Senses

Distance/
Sense Surface/Internal Valence Comment
Vision Distance Neutral
Hearing Distance Neutral
Haptic* Surface Negative/neutral/positive Incorporative
Smell Distance/internal Negative/positive Dual/incorporative
Taste Internal Negative/positive Incorporative
Visceral Internal Negative
Muscle Internal Negative/neutral
Equilibrium Internal Neutral
*Including touch, irritation, temperature sense, and pain.

caused by blindness and deafness. The eyes and ears—both distance recep-
tors—constitute our principal way of finding out about the world around
us. It is quite easy to generate stimuli in vision and hearing, and the very
fast response time of the system allows for exquisite temporal control of
stimuli, such as flashes of light. In their reasonably “raw” forms, excluding
that very small subset of all visual and auditory experiences that we might
call art and music, light and sound are affectively neutral. They serve prin-
cipally to inform about what is going on in the outside world. The other
senses are often characterized as the “minor” senses (Table€19.1). Three—
taste, smell, and contact/haptic—sensations constitute the core of the food
experience. Since eating is a major activity of humans, the third most time
consuming (including preparation of food), and the single most economi-
cally important activity of humans, the senses that contribute most to the
appeal of food are perhaps not so minor after all, and certainly worthy of
study. Unlike sights and sounds, most tastes, smells, and feels (skin sen-
sations) are positive or negative in valence. Although there is important
participation from sight and sound, the major aspect of eating is mouth
sensations, which are a combination of taste, smell, and a number of hap-
tic modalities, including irritation or pain, contact, and hot or cold. The
mouth is a highly innervated organ, and along with the hands, the only
sense organ that actually manipulates the stimulus. What we perceive is
food objects, a blend of taste, smell, and haptic inputs. Indeed, flavor is a
seamless combination of taste and smell. The distinctive qualities of most
foods are conveyed by odor carried from the mouth to the nose, via the ret-
ronasal route, but the sensation is experienced as coming from the mouth.
Hence, the surprise when people discover that when they have a head cold
that blocks the sense of smell, food loses much of its taste. When we eat,
 Psychology and Sensory Marketing, With a Focus on Food 305

we do not experience modalities, we experience “mouth objects.” These

objects change their properties—textures, temperatures, flavors—as we
chew them, and they produce a dynamic range of sensations in the period
of a few to many seconds that we might describe as a bite, a unit of eating.
The experience of a bite of chocolate may last for minutes: In the first
stages, the sight of the wrapped chocolate, the smell as it is unwrapped,
the feel of the chocolate in the hand; then, the bite itself. The initial firm
impact, the growing aroma as the chocolate warms in the mouth and coats
the inner surfaces, the change in texture from firm to a thick, silky liquid,
the slide down the throat, and the enduring after-flavor. A bite of choco-
late is a minisymphony of experiences.
Individuals differ in their acuity with respect to the various senses
involved in eating, as they do in audition and vision. In particular, there are
many different bitter receptors in the mouth, and at least a few are known
to be absent in some individuals based on the presence or absence of spe-
cific genes. Olfactory acuity varies widely, and the olfactory sense deterio-
rates more with age than many other systems, such as the taste system.
Although it is sort of absurd to ask individuals how important vision or
hearing is for them, it is quite reasonable to ask about the importance of
smell, and we have done this (Wrzesniewski, McCauley, & Rozin, 1999).
For example, inquiring of both Belgian and American college students, we
asked what was the worst thing to lose: the sense of smell, hearing in one
ear, or the big toe on one foot. About half of respondents thought losing
the sense of smell was most threatening. Of course, many did not realize
that food would lose most of its “taste” without a sense of smell. We devel-
oped a measure of the importance of odor to individuals and found wide
variation. Most of it was not attributable to olfactory acuity (also assessed
by self-report), but rather to the value placed on olfactory sensations: food
aromas, perfumes, the smells of the natural world, and so forth.
Gestalt psychology was a major movement in psychology in the middle
of the 20th century. Originating in studies of perception, it emphasized
the importance of context. The role of context cannot be exaggerated, but
it is still often ignored in research in psychology, perhaps because context
makes things complicated. It requires expanding the universe of concern
beyond what laboratory experimenters want to do. It means considering
a sensory experience in terms of its immediate precursors and successors.
The chocolate bite is not captured in a momentary flash of sensation. The
melt-in-the-mouth process is critical. Part of the experience of a bite of an
egg roll is the change in sensation as one bites into different components,
of different crispness and different flavors, each producing a momentary
306 Paul Rozin and Julia M. Hormes

burst of mouth experience. Classic taste research using water solutions of

glucose or sodium chloride bypasses these critical contexts, the contexts
that make eating food such a pleasant, often aesthetic experience. Studies
on the sensory side of eating rarely consider the dynamic unfolding of
mouth experiences over short periods of time (see Hyde and Witherly
[1993] for an extended discussion of this perspective and the papers of
Pangborn et al. [Larson-Powers & Pangborn, 2006; Pangborn, 1980]).
For the case of eating, and by the way also the appreciation of most
other products, such as clothing, the important context extends well
beyond the seconds of actual exposure. This makes it all the more impor-
tant to expand the universe of concern, and all the more difficult to do
rigorous experimentation.
A piece of chocolate may taste delicious until one discovers that it was
harvested with child labor or contained detectable insect residues. A sub-
tly flavored fish paté may be perceived as exquisite at a fine restaurant but
tasteless at a local diner. Wansink, Payne, and North (2007) report that
the same wine is judged to be lower in sensory quality if it has a label
that indicates that it comes from North Dakota as opposed to California.
Some people who claim to love Coke and hate Pepsi cannot tell them apart
in taste tests. Chicken in a sauce flavored with chocolate (one variety of
Mexican mole) may be found distasteful because of the known mixture of
chocolate with a savory food, rather than because of a detached judgment
of the orosensory experience. Many people think bottled water tastes
superior to tap water, when they in fact cannot tell them apart. But it is
important to realize that to the Coke-lover, Pepsi-hater, who cannot tell
them apart, Coca-Cola drunk from a properly labeled bottle does taste
better than Pepsi (if Coca-Cola had realized this, they would not have pro-
duced the new Coke). The taste experience of a food, the liking for the
food, includes the broad context in which it is consumed. It includes the
immediate social context; the reactions of those one is eating with influ-
ence the experience a person has.
Just as it is unreasonable to think that Picasso’s great artistic output is a
result of extraordinary visual acuity he appreciation of food is only weakly
based on matters of acuity. Like all perception, evaluating food (or cloth-
ing, movies, cars or any other product, for that matter) involves a blend
of bottom–up and top–down processes. So far as we know, people who
like the burn of chili pepper and people who do not are getting the same
irritation signal from their mouth. It is their interpretation that changes.
Furthermore, most chili likers do not enjoy the disembodied burn of chili,
 Psychology and Sensory Marketing, With a Focus on Food 307

but want that burn in association with the flavor of the peppers and the
other associated foods.
The context expands further (see Kass [1994] and Rozin [2007a] for dis-
cussions of eating in a cultural context). Food is a basic source of nutrition.
That is its fundamental function. But in human cultural history, by a pro-
cess we describe as cultural preadaptation, the initial purpose of food has
been expanded so that it serves many other functions. The aesthetic func-
tion is obvious. But it also serves a variety of social functions, as with choco-
late gifts in a romantic context, as with meeting a new person over a meal,
as in discussing family issues over the dinner table. Meals are occasions,
sometimes the principal occasions, for social interaction. The much longer
than 1-hour duration of a French dinner is significantly more than the time
it takes to consume the food. It involves savoring the food, discussing it, and
general conviviality. For some minority in Western developed cultures eat-
ing is like refueling, but for most it is an anticipated pleasure. Of course, for
many women in developed Western cultures, it is an ambivalent experience:
enjoying the sensations but feeling bad about taking in calories.
Food also enters into the moral domain, as has clearly happened with
alcohol and tobacco in American culture, and more subtly now with stig-
matization of obesity and high-fat foods. In other cultural contexts, food
in general has moral implications. Within the Hindu caste system, par-
ticular foods, and the social status of the preparers of the food, have strong
moral implications. Appadurai (1981) describes food as a “biomoral” sub-
stance in Hindu India.
The specific powerful influence of culture on the appreciation of food
and the evaluation of its sensory properties can be described under the
generic term “cuisine.” Elisabeth Rozin (1982, 1983) analyzes cuisine, focus-
ing on the actual dishes, in three components: staple foods, preparation
techniques, and flavor principles. Thus, Chinese cuisine focuses on rice as
a principal staple, the stir-fry technique, and a flavor principle made up of
soy sauce, ginger root, and rice wine. The flavor principles, a quintessentially
sensory component, more than any other feature of the food, bestow the
ethnic quality on the food. Potatoes made with Chinese flavor principles
taste Chinese (even though potatoes are rarely used in Chinese cuisine), and
potatoes made with Mexican flavor principles (e.g., chili and tomato) taste
Mexican. In addition to the characteristic sensory combinations, derived
from staples, techniques, and flavor principles that characterize a cuisine,
there are a whole set of additional contexts that are part of the cultural
frame of food consumption. These include table manners, the utensils used,
the social organization of eating, and the order of courses. Howard Schutz
308 Paul Rozin and Julia M. Hormes

(1989) describes many of these traditions with the term “appropriateness.”

Thus, in the United States and many other countries, there are foods par-
ticularly appropriate for breakfast and others for special holidays. There are
combinations of food that are discouraged, such as many mixtures of sweet
and savory substances in most Euro-American cuisines. Whipped cream
and meat are each typically desired foods, but not appropriate (or liked) in
combination. For similar appropriateness reasons, carbonated milk was a
failure on the American market, as was carbonated coffee (coffee soda). So
far as we can tell, many of these rules are the arbitrary results of culinary his-
tory, although some can be argued to be nutritionally adaptive or enhancing
of certain generally appealing aspects of food flavors.
In any particular cuisine, certain foods and flavors find very restricted
uses, and others are widely employed. In Italy, garlic is appropriate on
almost any savory food, as is soy sauce on almost any savory food in
China. Coffee, on the other hand, in almost all cultures that consume it, is
narrowly restricted to a hot beverage context; it is rarely used as a flavoring
and virtually never in savory foods.

Sensory Pleasure as a Particular Type of Pleasure

Most of what we do, and buy, is motivated by either necessity or increas-

ing pleasure. As wealth increases, the importance of maximizing pleasure
grows with respect to meeting basic biological needs. Thus, while food
constitutes about 50% of total expenses in developing world countries, it
falls to below 20% in the developed world. Of course, there is no com-
plementarity between pleasure and necessity. Food is perhaps the major
domain in which the two motivations interact. At least in the developed
Western world, where it has been assessed, flavor (read pleasure) is the
major determinant of food choice (assuming availability and afford-
ability). Depending on the individual and the culture, other prominent
reasons are tradition, convenience, and perceived healthiness. Given the
central role of maximizing pleasure in choice, in food and elsewhere, it is
very appropriate to discuss pleasure in the context of sensory marketing.
Many of the pleasures of food, that is, of eating food, are rather elemental
and raw, and hence can be called sensory pleasures.
According to some frameworks (Rozin, 1999), one can partition plea-
sures into three types: sensory, aesthetic, and mastery. Sensory pleasures
are relatively unadorned, such as the taste of sweet, the aroma of choco-
late, the feel of massage, the sensations associated with sexual arousal and
 Psychology and Sensory Marketing, With a Focus on Food 309

orgasm. These pleasures are context sensitive, but in the usual experience,
where the context is positive and appropriate, they produce a rather simple
enjoyment. Although they show adaptation over short periods, they can
be experienced hundreds or thousands of times over a period of months
to years without declining. A good piece of chocolate is a sensory pleasure
today, tomorrow, and every day of the week for a year. Aesthetic pleasures
typically have a sensory root, but are more cognitively elaborated, and more
likely to be acquired over a period of time (note that Krishna and Elder’s
chapter in this volume suggests that sensory pleasures are also cognitively
elaborated on; thus the distinction between sensory and aesthetic is a mat-
ter of degree and type of elaboration). They are often modality specific, as
with the enjoyment of Picasso or Mozart, but the representations in the
mind/brain that give rise to these pleasures must be many synapses away
from primary sensory cortical representations. In the domain of food,
the appreciation of fine wines and other elaborated foods constitute sen-
sory derived but yet aesthetic pleasures. A third source of pleasure comes
from the sense of mastery, for example, the accomplishment of being able
to perform something challenging (from walking, to riding a bicycle, to
playing the piano). But just as aesthetic and sensory pleasures are linked,
so too are mastery and aesthetic pleasures. Some types of mastery are not
instantiated by skills, but rather by appreciation. As one learns to identify
different grapes and vintages in the process of becoming a wine connois-
seur, there is a sense of aesthetic mastery.
Sensory marketing relates most directly to sensory pleasure. However,
since sensations are at the root of most aesthetic and many mastery plea-
sures, all three types of pleasure have a place in sensory marketing. A sweet
taste may be quite simple and sensory; the experience of chocolate has strong
basic sensory roots, but it can move into the aesthetic domain as one become
sensitive to the subtleties of chocolate aroma and the qualities of the mouth-
melting experience and informed about the sources and nature of process-
ing of particular chocolates. The pleasures of Mozart are almost incidentally
auditory; it is in large part the internal structure, cognitively appreciated,
that provides the pleasure. We will focus principally on sensory pleasures,
primarily in the domain of food, as we adopt a temporal perspective.

The Temporal Domains of Sensory Pleasure

An experience can last for a moment, a few moments, or an hour or

more, for the case of a meal or an opera. A meal is a natural unit of eating
310 Paul Rozin and Julia M. Hormes

(Meiselman, 2000; Pliner & Rozin, 2000). In the food domain, it is prob-
ably at the “basic” unit level, so that we say, for example, “that was a great
meal.” On the other hand, we are unlikely to lump yesterday’s lunch and
dinner into a unit, and hence will rarely assign an affective value to such
a combination. Of course, there are important smaller units in the food
domain, most particularly the bite, the dish, and the course. Any of these
smaller units can and often are given evaluative labels, especially dishes
(“the omelette was delicious”).
Daniel Kahneman, often in collaboration with Barbara Fredrickson
(Fredrickson, 2000; Fredrickson & Kahneman, 1993; Kahneman,
Fredrickson, Schreiber, & Redelmeier, 1993) has provided a powerful frame-
work for understanding pleasure in its temporal domains (Kahneman,
Wakker, & Sarin, 1997). They refer to experienced (E), remembered (R),
and anticipated (A) pleasure. The meanings of these terms are obvious,
once this classification is expressed. Of course, this ERA framework is
contingent on the selection of the reference unit, that is, the definition of
the present. For example, for eating, is it the bite or is it the meal?
Kahneman et al. (1997) have made important claims about the rela-
tions between present and prospect and between present and past. The
most critical claim about present and prospect is that people are quite
poor at anticipating future experienced pleasures. That is, on the basis of
the present, they often make poor predictions about how they will enjoy a
particular experience. In the initial study by Kahneman and Snell (1992),
individuals sampled a flavored yogurt and rated their liking for it and
agreed to eat the same yogurt every day for a week. At the onset, they were
asked to estimate how much they would like the yogurt after 1 week. Then
after 1 week of experience, they rated it again. The predicted and actual
ratings were essentially uncorrelated. A subsequent study (Rozin, Hanko,
& Durlach, 2006) exposed individuals to four new products (two unfa-
miliar East Asian food snacks and an unfamiliar toothpaste and shower
gel). Again, according to the procedure of Kahneman and Snell (1992),
individuals tried and rated their liking for each product, agreed to use
each daily, and estimated what their ratings would be after a week of use.
Again, as with the Kahneman results, people were poor at anticipating the
changes in their preferences. They often were incorrect in even predict-
ing the direction of change. Two other findings of interest emerged from
this study. First, relative accuracy at predicting the change for any one
product did not predict accuracy for predicting changes for other prod-
ucts. Second, the participants in this study were 20 college students and
20 parents (one parent from each of the students). We hypothesized that
 Psychology and Sensory Marketing, With a Focus on Food 311

with age people would have a great deal of experience with their hedonic
trajectories and become better at anticipating hedonic changes. In fact,
there was no improvement at all consequent on more than 20 additional
years of experience with oneself.
The inability to predict the effect of exposure on one’s future sensory
and other preferences is important for marketing, especially since people
are typically unaware of how poorly they perform in this domain. Much
of the inaccuracy comes from overconfidence that the present reaction to
a new entity will be like the future reaction once it has become familiar.
People typically both underestimate adaptation (Loewenstein & Frederick,
1997) and underestimate the positive effects of mere exposure on increas-
ing liking. This causes them, for example, to make long-term commit-
ments to products (such as annual subscriptions to an initially engaging
magazine) on the assumption that present responses will be sustained,
or to fail to give a new product a second chance if the initial response is
mildly negative or neutral.
The study of the relations between experienced and remembered pleasure
by Kahneman and others (Frederickson, 2000; Fredrickson & Kahneman,
1993; Kahneman et al., 1993) has been a particularly fertile area. This
research, based almost entirely on hedonically negative experiences, has
led to three principles that represent major distortions of experience that
occur when the experience is remembered. The hedonic peak (i.e., the
most highly valenced point in the experience) and the hedonic state at the
end point of the experience have a predominant influence on the memory
for the experience (the “peak-end” rule). The peak rule is often apparent,
as when a few seconds of discomfort in the dentist chair completely domi-
nate the hedonic memory of a half hour of more or less painless experi-
ence. The third rule is described as duration neglect: our memory does
not seem to track duration well and tends to remember events and not
their duration. As a result, a continuous or repetitive experience is typi-
cally remembered as a single event. Two or eight sips of an excellent wine
tend to be remembered as the same sipping of the wine and the associated
flavor experience. We have extended this work on remembered pleasure
into the positive domains of enjoyment of meals (Rode, Rozin, & Durlach,
2007), music (Rozin, Guillot, & Rozin, in preparation; Rozin, Rozin, &
Goldberg, 2004), and art exhibits (Rozin & Taylor, in preparation). We
find powerful support for duration neglect; for example, doubling the
size of the portion of the favorite food in a meal, which clearly increases
experienced pleasure, has no effect on remembered pleasure. On the other
hand, we have not found reliable evidence for a peak effect (a particularly
312 Paul Rozin and Julia M. Hormes

strong effect in an overall evaluation from the favorite paintings in an art

exhibit, a favorite musical selection in a “concert,” or a favorite dish in a
meal). Our own experience suggests a strong peak effect, but we have been
unable to find it in controlled laboratory situations. In these studies, we
have found about as much evidence for a primacy as an end effect. We
still do not know the conditions under which peak, end, and onset come
to dominate an experience. We also do not know the conditions that blunt
duration neglect, although it is likely that division of an event into distinct
segments may be one factor that reduces it (Ariely & Zauberman, 2000).
The disparity between experienced and remembered pleasure has major
implications for marketing. At the point of purchase, say in a food store or
restaurant, we consult our memory of the food or dish in question, since
we do not have direct access to our past experience with it. Hence, the rep-
resentation of past experiences in memory is the critical base for under-
standing most current choices. (Obviously, this is not true in cases where
a person is actually sampling the choice of foods available or directly com-
paring items of clothing or pictures.)

Individual and Cultural Differences in ERA Profiles

Individuals vary in the amount of time and importance they devote to

experiencing in the moment, rehearsing memories, and anticipating the
future (Rozin & Hanko, in preparation). A great meal may last 2 hours, but
its memory may be activated for dozens of hours over the following years.
And the second visit to the source of the great meal may engage many
hours of anticipation. When a person chooses to schedule an anticipated
positive event in the near or distant future, he or she is making a choice
about whether to increase anticipation, at the cost of having less time to
“consume” the memory, or reducing anticipation in order to have more
time to remember. People differ in the decisions they make in choices
of this sort. So far as our still unpublished data indicate, their pattern of
favoring anticipation or memory tends not to be general but rather spe-
cific to particular domains (Rozin, Hanko, & Gohar, 2009; Rozin, Remick
& Fischler, 2008). Some people, faced with a platter of three foods (say
the standard meat, potatoes, and vegetable), consistently eat their favor-
ite food first, others eat their favorite food last, and many do neither. But
the people who eat their favorite food first are not more likely to listen to
their favorite music first than those who eat their favorite food last (Rozin,
Hanko, & Gohar, in preparation).
 Psychology and Sensory Marketing, With a Focus on Food 313

It is probably true that cultures differ in the importance they bestow on

memories versus anticipation (perhaps translatable into the past vs. the
future), and it is also likely that the remembered or anticipated balance
shifts with age. Older people have the same potential experience anticipat-
ing a positive event that will occur in the near future, but will have less
opportunity to consume the memory because of a shorter lifespan ahead.
The utility of building memories declines with age, even assuming the
acuity of memory remains intact! The psychology of savoring and remi-
niscing, and their tradeoffs, and the parallel psychology of dreading and
remembering negative events have many implications for marketing and
for optimizing the pleasure of life.

Comforts and Joys

Tibor Scitovsky (1992) draws a distinction between what he calls comforts

and pleasures. (We think joy is a better word to describe his important
contrast, because it implies a shorter time interval, and we use joy to sub-
stitute for pleasure.) In his view, comforts make life easier, they are like
good mattresses and air conditioning, and ice dispensers on refrigerators.
Joys are unique events, such as a meal, a concert, a meeting with friends.
He holds, we think with good reason, that comforts are subject to major
adaptation effects and are almost invisible as part of remembered plea-
sure. Joys, because they are unique events, are well remembered. When
we reflect on whether last year was good or not, we do not cite our air
conditioning, mattress, or automatic garage door opener. We think of the
personal family events, the trips, the plays, movies, concerts, sport events,
and so forth. Americans spend disproportionately on comforts compared
to the French (Rozin et al., 2009) and presumably do not harvest as much
remembered pleasure. This important point relates to duration neglect
and adaptation and the idea that what we remember is events, preferably
events woven into a narrative.
We have instantiated the comfort–joy distinction with its relation-
ship to remembered pleasure in a simple choice paradigm. We ask people
whether, when they go to their favorite restaurant, they order their favor-
ite dish or something new (Rozin et al., 2009). We ask the same question
about hearing their favorite musical group or traveling. If you opt for your
favorite, you will probably have higher anticipation and a better experi-
ence, but you will add little to your memory, since the memory is already
in place. The memory of eating the same foie gras recipe twice is about the
314 Paul Rozin and Julia M. Hormes

same as that of eating it once. But if they opt for the new dish, although the
anticipation will be less certainly positive and the experience will probably
be less positive (thinking in terms of regression to the mean), a new posi-
tive memory will have been created (Rozin, Hanko, & Gohar, in prepara-
tion; Rozin et al., 2009).

The Origin of Preferences

Often, when a person prefers object X to Y (e.g., a food or music), it is the

sensory properties that determine the choice. They like X more than they
like Y. Likings about food in particular are mostly about sensory matters.
Where do these sensory-based likings come from? We are remarkably
ignorant in this area, about food, music, sports, sport teams, clothing, or
anything else. Psychologists have not been that interested in this area of
life, which is of fundamental daily importance and a core issue for mar-
keters and economists (for general reviews on the origin of food and other
preferences, see Birch, Fisher, and Grimm-Thomas [1996], Booth [1994],
and Rozin [2006a, 2007a]).
In the food domain, as omnivorous animals, humans have a very open-
ended attitude toward foods and principally acquire most of their food
likes and dislikes under the heavy guidance of culture. There appear to be
no innately negative or positive odors (Bartoshuk, 1990), but there is an
innate aversion to irritant or extreme oral temperature sensations, bitter,
and reasonably strong sour or salty tastes. Sweetness is positive, for some,
at any level, and for others up to a high level, at which point it declines as
sweetness continues to rise (Pangborn, 1980). People rarely come to dis-
like sweets through experience, but they frequently come to like innately
negative oral properties, such as ice cold beverages, bitter foods or bever-
ages (e.g., coffee), or irritant foods (e.g., foods seasoned with chili pepper).
Everything we know suggests that this is a hedonic reversal, that is, the sen-
sory input is unchanged, but its valence inverts from negative to positive.
We do not know how this happens, but it is very common (Rozin, 1990).
Three processes have been identified that can change the reaction to a
sensory experience. One is mere exposure, which at modest frequencies,
tends to enhance liking (Zajonc, 1968). A second is evaluative condition-
ing, the pairing of a relatively neutral sensory experience (say a mild odor)
with an already positive (e.g., sweet) or negative (e.g., bitter) experience.
The common phenomenon of acquired taste aversions, in animals and
humans, is a result of evaluative conditioning and is easily demonstrated
 Psychology and Sensory Marketing, With a Focus on Food 315

in the laboratory as well as by questionnaire (Pelchat & Rozin, 1982). This

Pavlovian process has been studied extensively in the laboratory in ani-
mals and clearly produces a change in liking for a taste or flavor stimulus.
For humans, evaluative conditioning has been demonstrated many times
in the laboratory, usually in the framework of increased liking by contin-
ued pairing of a neutral taste or situation with an already positive situation
(De Houwer, Thomas, & Baeyens, 2001; Rozin, Wrzesnieswski, & Byrnes,
1998). Although evaluative conditioning is surely important in real world
situations, it appears to be a rather fragile phenomenon in the laboratory
(Rozin et al., 1998). We do not know why. The third and probably most
powerful force for creating likes and dislikes masquerades under the gen-
eral name of “social influence.” We do not fully understand how it works,
but it is clear that under some conditions, the reactions of respected others
to a food, piece of music, or clothing can change our liking for it (Birch et
al., 1996). Advertisers use all three of these pathways to induce liking for
their products. But like psychologists, they do not know how to create lik-
ings reliably. All three methods can backfire.
There are two special mechanisms that may be involved in the com-
mon conversion of aversions into preferences by humans. These reversals
(referred to above) include, on the sensory side, coming to like very cold
beverages, bitter or very sour or salty tastes, and oral irritants. Going past
the sensory level, these include coming to like the experience of fear (e.g.,
in roller coasters), disgust (e.g., in disgust humor), and sadness (e.g., with
sad music or movies). Since this seems to be a unique human experience,
the explanation might be expected to invoke uniquely human processes.
Mere exposure and evaluative conditioning are clearly present in animals.
Social influence has been demonstrated in animals, but is much more
powerful in humans. So one possibility, for sensory or other reversals, is
the generally powerful effects of elders and peers during development and
in adulthood. Pleasure experienced by others in consumption of some-
thing may, perhaps by a link with evaluative conditioning, induce prefer-
ences, and there are a few demonstrations of this (Baeyens, Kaes, Eelen, &
Silverans, 1996).
The second mechanism, which we have called benign masochism,
results from a unique human enjoyment of a negative experience that
our mind knows is not threatening. It is a matter of mind over body; we
enjoy irritant tastes or disgusting experiences because they are negative,
our body responds as if they are, but we know better than our body, and
this mastery produces pleasure. It is interesting in this regard that we find
that for many chili pepper likers, their favorite level of burn is just below
316 Paul Rozin and Julia M. Hormes

the level they consider too painful (Rozin, 1990, 2007a; Rozin & Schiller,
1980). Humans seem to enjoy pushing the envelope of bearability and get-
ting pleasure out of it.
One can examine sensory likings, as for food, from a developmental per-
spective. Here the question is what are the relative roles of parents, peers, the
media, and particular influential people in establishing likes and dislikes?
Common sense looks primarily to parents who contribute genes, predomi-
nant control over the environment for the first 5 years of life, and substan-
tial influence for the rest of childhood. It is thus sobering to realize that
within cultures, the correlation between the food or music likes of parents
and those of their adult children are very low, usually in the range of .15 to
.30 (Rozin, 1991). Values, such as attitudes to abortion, show higher parent–
child correlations. If the parents aren’t the shaping force, what is? Peers are
the most likely principal source, although one study that directly tested this
for food and music preferences found a surprisingly small role for peers,
either in elementary school or college (Rozin, Riklis, & Margolis, 2004). We
can describe the current situation as the family and the peer paradox.
There is one important finding in this area that comes out of the mar-
keting literature and is not widely known in psychology. Holbrook and
Schindler (1989) have shown, particularly for music, that exposure to
music styles (presumably peer related) during the ages of 15 and 30 is most
influential in creating lifetime preferences. We have gathered supporting
data for this point, for music and to some degree for food. It is notable that
15 to 30 years of age is a period of peak peer influence. Somewhere in our
20s or 30s, most Americans settle down and have families and withdraw
from the intense peer activity and those strong social influences that char-
acterized their adolescence and young adult years. This is a very promising
hint about taste formation.

Some Reflections on Sensory Marketing from

the Psychological Perspective

So far as we can tell, to a considerable degree, marketing is a branch of

psychology, built principally on prior research in social psychology and
the psychology of judgments and decision making. Sensory marketing
brings in another branch of psychology, namely the study of sensation and
perception. The psychology of sensation and perception is probably the
most advanced and “scientific” part of psychology. Historically, it has been
based primarily on the description of basic phenomena and functional
 Psychology and Sensory Marketing, With a Focus on Food 317

relations, such as the dark adaptation curve and the laws of color mixing,
followed by sophisticated theory and experimentation. Social psychology,
in contrast, has accomplished much less than sensation and perception, at
least partly because what it is studying is much more complex and mul-
tidetermined than the subject of sensation and perception. By its nature,
it involves more than one person and often requires the consideration of
context, which, as we have discussed already, can be extremely difficult.
Perhaps because social psychology stands at the less accomplished edge
of psychology, it has the most potential. There is more to find out. But it is
also the most insecure about its natural scientific status and has responded
to this by the development of incredible sophistication in the design of
experiments and the use of sophisticated statistics to analyze the results.
It is focused on the hypothesis-experiment model of science. The art of
sophisticated experiment, including proper controls, careful exploration
and elimination of alternative explanations, and manipulation checks, has
reached a new high in the field. But this has come at a price. Unlike phys-
ics, chemistry, biology, and the psychology of sensation and perception,
social psychology has paid little attention, and assigns little prestige, to the
first stages of science: accurate description of the social world, the identi-
fication of fundamental invariances (either within or between cultures),
and the description of the fundamental functional relations in the social
world (the equivalent of the dark adaptation function, or Boyle’s law in
physics). It has focused on the sophisticated testing of hypotheses without
first identifying the fundamental things that are to be explained. Erving
Goffman, among others, did this, just as Darwin did it for some branches
of biology (Haig, 2005; Rozin, 2001, 2006b, 2007b).
This critique of modern social psychology is not original to us: it was
stated clearly in 1952 by the great social psychologist of the 20th century
Solomon Asch:
Before we inquire into origins and functional relations, it is necessary to know
the thing we are trying to explain. (Asch, 1952, p. 65)

If there must be principles of scientific method, then surely the first to claim our
attention is that one should describe phenomena faithfully and allow them to
guide the choice of problems and procedures. If social psychology is to make a
contribution to human knowledge, if it is to do more than add footnotes to ideas
developed in other fields, it must look freely at its phenomena and examine its
foundations. (Asch, 1952, p. xv)

The result of this focus on hypothesis testing has been great sophistication
in studying the mechanisms of laboratory findings. The findings may or
318 Paul Rozin and Julia M. Hormes

may not have generality within the laboratory (that is, they may be frag-
ile and dependent on a limited selection of parameters), and they may or
may not map onto the real world. The result is that the great majority of
experiments are done on American college students. No doubt their visual
systems work in the same basic way as that of adults around the world. But
their social world, as they enter this peculiar period of life that is a transi-
tion between home and independent life, particularly in the United States,
is very different from most social worlds of other humans (Arnett, 2008;
Rozin, 2001, 2006b). The American college undergraduate is not as good a
model for Homo sapiens as the fruit fly or Escherichia coli is for genetics.
The result is that the premier journal in the field, the Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP), is difficult to read and is about
narrowly defined laboratory phenomena and the mechanisms or causes of
them. It is not about the phenomena of the social world, and it is not about
the domains of life (Rozin, 2007b).
Sadly, in our view, marketing, at least the part that is built on psy-
chology, has adopted the JPSP model, and this can be evidenced in its
premier journals. We are hopeful that by integrating the psychology of
sensation and perception into marketing, sensory marketing will also
turn our attention more to describing the basic phenomena in the world
of marketing, as was true in the history of sensation and perception.
Description, generality, replicability, and documentation of functional
relations should be central in the field. Showing that color matters in food
selection is more than doing an experiment on the fact that color (often
represented by two different colors) influences food choice in college stu-
dents. We have to be very careful not to make the mistake of finding a
repeatable laboratory paradigm, dependent on the selection of a particu-
lar set of parameters from a wide range of possibilities, and analyzing it
to death.
From this perspective, it seems most auspicious that sensory market-
ing brings to bear a great fund of knowledge in sensation and percep-
tion and a set of methodologies that are at once highly sophisticated, often
quantitative, but soundly based on basic empirical relationships. In its his-
tory, sensation and perception went through a period when the Gestalt
model, which privileges context, played a central role. It was out of that
tradition that Solomon Asch wrote what we consider the great book of
the field, Social Psychology (1952), which is still very much worth reading.
Our challenge in marketing and in social psychology is to be as rigorous
as we can be, while at the same time keeping an eye on the real world. We
must carefully consider whether what we are modeling in the laboratory
 Psychology and Sensory Marketing, With a Focus on Food 319

is something that is out there. Simplifying is a powerful tool and the heart
of experimentation. But too simple borders on the meaningless. Studying
human responses to sugar in water has limited value, and studying frozen
moments of human facial expressions, while very important and produc-
tive, leaves out much of what goes on in the world.

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20
Estimating Food Quantity
Biases and Remedies
Pierre Chandon

When thinking about food, consumers focus on qualitative decisions about

what to eat rather than quantitative decisions about how much to eat (Rozin,
Ashmore, & Markwith, 1996). For example, a majority of Americans say
that they finish all the food on their plates, no matter how much food they
find there; and even more think that to lose weight, the kind of food they
eat matters more than how much they eat (Collins, 2006). Thinking of
foods as either good or bad regardless of quantity is also common in the
dieting industry and among policy makers who tend to promote qualitative
remedies of the “eat this, not that” sort. For example, the USDA Dietary
Guidelines for Americans (Thompson & Veneman, 2005) contain dozens
of recommendations on which food groups to encourage and which ones to
avoid, but no guidance on how to better estimate portion or meal sizes.
The prevailing focus on consumer’s qualitative decisions about food
has obscured the importance of their quantitative judgments regarding
how much food they should buy, store, and consume. Understanding how
people estimate food quantity—especially changes in food quantity—is
particularly important given the current twin trends of supersizing and
bulk buying, two of the primary drivers of the obesity epidemic (Ledikwe,
Ello-Martin, & Rolls, 2005). Yet we have no overarching understanding of
how people estimate food quantity, or of the potential sources of bias in
these estimations, or of the interventions that can improve the accuracy of
food quantity estimations.
In this chapter I develop a framework of how people estimate food
quantity, particularly changes in food quantity. Following Arkes (1991),
the framework distinguishes among quantity-based, salience-based,
and association-based biases, and it allows us to make predictions about
the effectiveness of three common remedies: education and motivation,
323
324 Pierre Chandon

increased salience, and piecemeal estimation. I then review empirical and

experimental research that tests the predictions of the framework.

A Framework of How People Estimate Food Quantity

In out-of-home consumption contexts, quantity information is either not

available or hard to obtain, so people have no choice but to estimate food
quantity visually. For packaged food, people can obtain information about
quantity from the label. However, surveys of shoppers have shown that
many people do not read labels and rely instead on memory or visual esti-
mates. In some cases, this is because they think that the size of the package
itself is a valid proxy for the quantity of food it contains (Lennard, Mitchell,
McGoldrick, & Betts, 2001). In others, it is because quantity information is
difficult to process, especially with nonmetric units (Viswanathan, Rosa,
& Harris, 2005). Computing quantity information is even more difficult
when people have to aggregate across different unit sizes, for example,
when estimating the quantity of food in a home pantry or refrigerator.
For all these reasons, food quantity is more often estimated visually than
computed, and food quantity estimations are influenced by three potential
sources of bias: (a) the quantity of the food itself, (b) its visual salience, and
(c) its association with health primes and numeric anchors.

Quantity-Based Bias

Research in psychophysics (Stevens, 1986) and in marketing (Krider,

Raghubir, & Krishna, 2001) has shown that quantity estimates follow an
inelastic power function of actual quantity. This relationship, known as
the power law of sensation, can be expressed mathematically as:

ESTQ = a × (ACTQ)^b (19.1)

where ESTQ is the estimated quantity, ACTQ is the actual quantity, a is

an intercept, and b is the power exponent that captures the elasticity of
the estimation.
In her review of psychophysics research on quantity perception, Krishna
(2007) showed that power exponents b tend to fall between .5 and 1.0, and
thus that estimations are inelastic to the actual change in quantity. This
inelasticity means that people underestimate the magnitude of quantity
 Estimating Food Quantity 325

changes. If the actual quantity is multiplied by a factor of r, the perceived

quantity is multiplied by a factor of (r)^b, which is a smaller number since
b < 1. It also means that quantity estimations are nonlinear and exhibit
marginally decreasing sensitivity. In other words, the subjective impact of
increasing food quantity diminishes as the quantity of food increases. As a
result, underestimation becomes more likely and increases in magnitude as
food quantity increases, even when the magnitude of the underestimation is
measured as the percentage deviation from actual quantity (for mathemati-
cal proof, see Chandon & Wansink, 2007b). Equation (1) implies that small
quantities (below ACTQ* = a^[1/(1 – b)]) are likely to be overestimated,
whereas large quantities (above ACTQ*) are likely to be underestimated.

Salience-Based Bias

Studies have shown that the power exponent measuring the elasticity of
estimations is influenced by the perceptual salience of the different spatial
dimensions of the stimulus. For example, Krider et al. (2001) found that the
power exponent of area estimations for two-dimensional objects is greater
when the salience of secondary dimensions (those which are not used as
anchors) is increased. Building on this idea, I predict that visual salience
will also be influenced by the number of spatial dimensions that change
when food quantity changes. Food marketers can supersize a package by
increasing only one dimension (e.g., its height) or by increasing all three
spatial dimensions (height, width, and length). This hypothesis is sup-
ported by prior research that showed that three-dimensional objects (e.g.,
spheres) appear to grow more slowly than one-dimensional objects (e.g.,
segments), partly because it is visually easier to notice quantity changes
when only one dimension changes (see Krishna, 2007 for a review).
Generalizing these findings, I also predict that the elasticity of quantity
estimation will increase with the perceptual salience of the food quantity
itself (e.g., its visibility at the time of the estimation). For example, estima-
tion should be more sensitive to a change in quantity when food quantity
is highly visible than when it is not.

Association-Based Bias

When estimating food quantity, associations with numeric reference

points or semantic primes can bias estimations through a variety of
326 Pierre Chandon

mechanisms such as selective accessibility, anchoring and adjustment,

or conversational norms (Krishna & Raghubir, 1997; Mussweiler, 2003;
Wansink, Kent, & Hoch, 1998). Association-based bias can therefore have
a major effect on quantity estimation. However, there is no indication that
it interacts with quantity-based bias to influence people’s sensitivity to
changes in quantity.
In the context of food quantity estimation, numeric reference points
can be provided externally. For example, people may have information
about the quantity of other food available at the time of the estimation
(such as the number of calories of other dishes on the menu). Even com-
pletely irrelevant contextual information, such as the quantity of packages
per shipping box, can influence quantity judgments (Wansink et al., 1998).
In the absence of an external reference point, people may generate a refer-
ence point internally, for example, by using the average or usual quantity
of food. Semantic primes can occur in the form of the health positioning
adopted by food and restaurant brands, by the type of food available on
the menu or in the store, or by specific nutritional claims made (e.g., “low-
fat”), which are often erroneously extrapolated (Andrews, Netemeyer, &
Burton, 1998).

Summary

Figure€ 20.1 summarizes the key predictions of the framework. In all

conditions, estimated food quantity follows an inelastic power function
of actual food quantity (ESTQ = a × (ACTQ)^b where a > 0 and b < 1).
Increasing the salience of food quantity makes estimation less inelastic
(i.e., increases b). In contrast, association bias has a main effect (i.e., the
intercept a changes) but does not interact with the effects of the actual
quantity (b remains constant).

Improving the Accuracy of Food Quantity Estimations

This framework allows us to make predictions about the effectiveness of

three common interventions designed to improve the accuracy of food
quantity estimation: (a) consumer education and motivation, (b) increas-
ing the salience of the food quantity, and (c) encouraging people to use a
piecemeal estimation.
 Estimating Food Quantity 327

High salience
a' = a, b' > b
Estimated food quantity (ESTQ)

High association
a' > a, b' = b

Control condition
ESTQ = a*(ACTQ)b
a > 0, b < 1

Actual food quantity (ACTQ)

Figure 20.1â•… Predicted effects of size-, salience-, and association-based biases

on food quantity estimations.

Education and Motivation

Disclosing information about biases and motivating consumers to be more

accurate can help reduce the association-based bias caused by numeric
anchors or by semantic primes. To be really effective, however, the inter-
vention has to do more than alert people to the existence of the bias; it
needs to specifically prompt them to question the validity of the biasing
association. For example, Mussweiler, Strack, and Pfeiffer (2000) show
that asking people to give reasons why an anchor is inappropriate reduces
association-based bias.
Education and motivation, however, cannot reduce psychophysical
biases because the automatic low-level perceptual processes drive the
shape of the psychophysical function (Arkes, 1991; Raghubir, 2007).
Education and motivation can only influence the intercept of the power
function, and hence shift the curve up or down in Figure€20.1, but cannot
328 Pierre Chandon

improve the accuracy with which people notice a change in actual food
quantity.

Salience

A straightforward way to improve the accuracy of food estimation is to

increase the visual salience of the food quantity itself. In contrast to the
educational and motivational strategy, increasing the salience of food
quantity can improve how accurately people perceive changes in food
quantity because it increases the elasticity of quantity estimation. By influ-
encing both the intercept and exponent of the psychophysical functions,
an enhanced salience can improve both the mean food quantity estimate
and people’s responses to changes in food quantity.
To improve the salience of food in pantries or refrigerators, the visual
area or volume taken up by the food must be a good indicator of its actual
quantity. This can be done by storing food visibly, by reducing clutter, and
by avoiding stacking packages at different depths in the pantry shelves.
This can also be done at the single pack level by increasing the correla-
tion between package size and the actual quantity of the contents. For
example, multiple packages of food can be spread and put in a visible place
in the center of the pantry. The shape of the package itself can also be
simplified so that it does not imply more food than it actually contains
(Folkes & Matta, 2004). Finally, when packages or portions are supersized
or downsized, marketers can increase the salience of the quantity change
by changing only one of the dimensions of the package (e.g., its height)
rather than by changing all of its dimensions.

Piecemeal Estimation

Compared to the first two remedies, the piecemeal estimation procedure

does not attempt to correct the level or the shape of the psychophysical
functions but follows Arkes’ recommendation to exploit the level or the
shape of the existing psychophysical function by changing the location of
the options or the location of one’s reference point on the curve. The basic
notion is to avoid significantly underestimating a large quantity by divid-
ing it into multiple smaller portions and by asking people to estimate each
of these smaller portions. The piecemeal estimation therefore replaces a
single estimation of a large quantity located on the flatter portion of the
 Estimating Food Quantity 329

psychophysical curve (e.g., the white circle in Figure€20.1), which is likely

to be significantly underestimated with multiple estimations of smaller
quantities located on the steeper portion of the curve where the slope is
closer to 1 and the curve is close to the 45° line (e.g., the black squares in
Figure€20.1).
Note that, in addition to increasing the sensitivity to changes in
meal size, the piecemeal decomposition strategy also leads to an overall
increase in food quantity estimation because it reduces the likelihood of
forgetting a component of the meal (Srivastava & Raghubir, 2002). It is
unclear, however, whether piecemeal estimation can reduce association-
based bias. In addition, this procedure is only appropriate for the estima-
tion of large quantities, which tends to be underestimated. Conversely,
with very small quantities it is possible that the estimation will exceed the
actual amount; using the piecemeal estimation procedure would com-
pound the overestimation error. In this case, people should be encour-
aged to estimate the amount of food contained in a larger quantity than
the one that they are first estimating (e.g., estimate for two packages and
divide the estimate by 2).
In practice, to estimate a total amount of product inventory, people
can first estimate the amount of food contained in one single package and
then multiply it by the total number of packages. To estimate the amount
of food contained in one meal, people can estimate the quantity of food in
the main dish and the side dish and then add them. To estimate the size of
a single food portion (e.g., the number of calories in a sandwich), people
can mentally cut the sandwich in four portions and then multiply their
estimate by 4.

Summary

At least three strategies are available to help people estimate food quantity
more accurately. Educating consumers and motivating them to be more
accurate is the standard strategy and can help reduce association-based
bias by prompting people to question the validity of the associations.
However, education and motivation alone cannot improve the elasticity
of quantity estimation. In contrast, increasing the visual salience of food
quantity can help reduce all types of bias. Adopting a piecemeal estimation
procedure can also help reduce quantity-based bias and the underestima-
tion of large quantities. Compared to the salience-based approach, it does
not involve actually changing the way the food is packaged or displayed.
330 Pierre Chandon

Unlike the educational approach, it does not require a lot of explaining

and can be easily implemented. However, it needs to be reversed for very
small quantities and may not reduce association-based bias.

Experimental and Empirical Evidence

In this section I review empirical and experimental research (conducted

primarily with Brian Wansink) that tests parts of the framework in three
different contexts: (a) when estimating the amount of calories contained
in restaurant meals, (b) when estimating the amount of food available in
household pantries, and (c) when estimating the size of food portions.
There is a large body of research on how people estimate consumption
intake (Livingstone & Black, 2003). Although some of their findings, such
as the overreporting of small intakes and the significant underreporting
of large intakes, are consistent with the predictions of the framework, they
are not reviewed here because these studies were not designed to test the
predictions of the framework. For that same reason, I do not review the
studies examining the consequences of food quantity estimation biases
(for a recent review, see Krishna, 2007).1

Restaurant Meal Estimation

Brian Wansink and I (Chandon & Wansink, 2007a, 2007b) examined how
people estimate the quantity of calories or food contained in fast-food
meals in a series of field and laboratory studies. In the field studies, we
asked people who had just finished eating a meal at either Subway (which
claims to serve healthy meals) or McDonald’s (which does not make that
claim) to estimate the total number of calories in the meal. We recorded and
confirmed the type and size of the food and drinks from the wrappings left
on the tray and obtained information about the actual number of calories
in the food and beverage from the restaurant’s Web site. To increase the
comparability of McDonald’s and Subway meals, we restricted the analysis
to meals consisting of a sandwich, a soft drink, and a side order.
The first panel of Figure€ 20.2 shows the mean estimated and actual
number of calories for each quartile of the meals ordered at Subway and
McDonald’s. The predicted power curves fitted the quantity estimations
very well for both restaurants, indicating that quantity estimations fol-
lowed an inelastic power function of actual quantity, as expected. The
 Estimating Food Quantity 331

2000
McDonald's (estimates)
Estimated Number of Calories

1500 McDonald's (model predictions)

b = .56 Subway (estimates)

1000

Subway (model predictions)

b = .50
500

Re-analysis of Study 2 from

Journal of Consumer Research,
0 Chandon and Wansink (2007a).
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Actual Number of Calories

(A)
2000
Control (estimations)

Control (predictions)
b = .85
Estimated Number of Calories

1500
Disclosure (estimations)
b = .40

Disclosure (predictions)
1000 b = .38

Piecemeal (estimations)

Piecemeal (predictions)
500
Reprinted with permission from Journal
of Marketing Research, published by the
American Marketing Association,
0 Chandon and Wansink (2007b, p. 90).
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Actual Number of Calories

(B)

Figure 20.2â•… Restaurant meal estimations: effects of health claims (A) and of
two remedies (B).

power exponent was approximately .5 for both restaurants, which meant

that meals twice as large only appeared about 41% bigger (2^.5) and hence
that perceived quantity grew a lot more slowly than actual quantity. As
a result, people were roughly accurate for small meals but significantly
underestimated the number of calories in the large meals ordered from
both Subway and McDonald’s. More importantly, although Subway meals
tended to be smaller (the median meal contained 504 calories at Subway vs.
332 Pierre Chandon

891 at McDonald’s), calorie estimations were higher for McDonald’s meals

than for Subway meals of the same size. For example, the mean predicted
calorie estimation for a 1,000-calorie meal was 744 calories for McDonald’s
but only 585 calories for Subway. In summary, the stronger association of
Subway with healthy meals led people to believe that Subway meals con-
tained fewer calories than same-calorie McDonald’s meals but did not
influence how accurately people responded to changes in meal size.
In a laboratory study, Brian Wansink and I (Chandon & Wansink,
2007b) examined the ability of two remedies to improve the accuracy of
fast-food meal size estimation: increased information and motivation, and
the piecemeal estimation procedure. Participants were first asked to order
the amount of chicken nuggets, fries, and beverage that they wanted.
Participants in the control condition were simply asked to estimate the
total number of calories of the meal that they had ordered. Participants in
the bias disclosure condition were informed about the direction and mag-
nitude of quantity-based biases and given an incentive to provide accu-
rate estimates. Participants in the piecemeal estimation condition were
asked to estimate the number of calories of the nuggets, fries, and bever-
age separately.
As the bottom panel of Figure€20.2 shows, the lab study replicated the
findings of the field study even in a controlled setting in which the type
of food was held constant and only its quantity varied. More importantly,
Figure€20.2B shows that increasing information and motivation led to a
general increase in calorie estimation but did not improve people’s sensi-
tivity to changes in quantity (the exponent remained unchanged). In con-
trast, the piecemeal estimation procedure raised the exponent to a value
that was not statistically different from 1, thereby effectively removing
quantity biases. These results were also replicated in a study of certified
dieticians who, although generally more accurate than the average con-
sumer, provided more elastic, and hence more accurate, estimations when
asked to evaluate each component of a meal separately (for details on this
study, see Chandon & Wansink, 2007b).

Pantry Inventory Estimation

Brian Wansink and I (Chandon & Wansink, 2006) also examined people’s
estimations of the quantity of remaining product inventory by conduct-
ing four studies, two in the lab and two in the field. In one study we asked
people to examine a picture of a pantry containing eight target products.
 Estimating Food Quantity 333

We manipulated food quantity (one, three, seven, or nine units) and the
salience (high or low) of these products. Salient products were located on
the top or middle shelf of the pantry (as opposed to the bottom shelf),
separate from other products (rather than being crowded together with
them), and were given multiple facings when available in more than one
unit (rather than being stacked together in an overlapping fashion). After
evaluating some nontarget brands, the pantry picture was removed and
participants were asked to estimate the number of units of the eight target
products and their home inventory for these products.
Figure€20.3 shows that, as expected, pantry inventory estimations fol-
lowed an inelastic power function of the actual product quantity (average
power exponent b = .42). Second, estimations of low quantity levels were
slightly above the truth, whereas estimations of large quantity levels were
significantly below the truth. The first panel of Figure€20.3 also shows that
the elasticity was lower when salience was low (b = .32) than when it was
high (b = .49). As a result, estimations were more accurate when product
quantity was salient than when it was not. These findings were replicated
in two field studies in which we asked supermarket shoppers to estimate
the home inventory of 23 food products, to rate the visibility of these prod-
ucts in their pantries, and to then check the actual home inventory levels.
These studies also showed that the least elastic—and thus least accurate—
estimations were those of product categories often bought on impulse and
difficult to stockpile.
To test the biasing effects of anchors, we categorized participants into a
low and high internal anchor groups based on their average home inven-
tory level for each product. The second panel of Figure€ 20.3 shows that
quantity estimations were higher among participants with a high (vs. low)
home inventory, but that the power exponent remained unchanged. This
shows that, as predicted by the framework, association-based bias has a
main effect on quantity estimations but does not interact with quantity
effects. Similar reference effects were found in another study that showed
that providing high and low external anchors, by asking people whether
the quantity was above or below nine or one, shifted quantity estimations
but did not change the power exponent.

Food Portion Estimations

Nailya Ordabayeva and I (Chandon & Ordabayeva, forthcoming) stud-

ied people’s estimations of the quantity of product contained in packages
334 Pierre Chandon

10

8
High salience (observed)
7
Estimated inventory (units)

High salience (model)

5.6
6 b = .49 Low salience (observed)
5.2
5 Low salience (model)

4 4.1
3.1 3.7
b = .32
3
2.8

2 2.0

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Actual inventory (units)

(A)
10

8
High internal anchor (observed)
Estimated inventory (units)

6 High internal anchor (model)

b = .42 5.5
4.9
5 Low internal anchor (observed)

4 3.6 4.3
4.2 Low internal anchor (model)
3 b = .40
2.6
2.2
2
Reprinted with permission from Journal
1.9
1 of Marketing, published by the
American Marketing Association,
0 Chandon and Wansink (2006, p. 127).
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Actual inventory (units)

(B)
Figure 20.3â•… Pantry inventory estimations: effects of quantity and salience (A)
and of internal anchors (B).
 Estimating Food Quantity 335

or portions that either increased in all three spatial dimensions (height,

weight, length) or in only one dimension (height only). In the first two
studies we asked people to estimate the weight of six sizes of the same
product that either grew along one spatial dimension (e.g., strands of wool
with increasing length) or along three spatial dimensions (e.g., spherical
balls of wool of increasing diameter). Participants were given the weight
of the smallest size and were supposed to realize that each increasing size
contained twice as much product. Although we did not use food products
in these studies, three other studies show that the effects of dimensionality
apply equally well to food and nonfood products.
As Figure€ 20.4 shows, quantity estimations were highly inelastic in
the three-dimensional condition (b = .68) and almost perfectly elastic
in the one-dimensional condition (b = .93). For example, an eightfold
increase in product quantity gave the appearance of being a fourfold
increase in the three-dimensional condition and a sevenfold increase in
the one-dimensional condition. This study therefore provided additional
evidence of the quantity-based bias predicted by the framework. It also
showed that, as expected, increasing the salience of the product quantity
change (by increasing the physical size of the product along one dimen-
sion only) improved the accuracy of people’s estimations. These findings

36

32
1D condition (observed)
28
1D condition (predicted)
b = .93
Estimated quantity (rescaled)

24 3D condition (observed)

20 3D condition (predicted)

16

12

b = .68
8
Reprinted with permission from Journal
4 of Marketing Research, published by the
American Marketing Association,
Chandon and Ordabayeva (in press).
0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36

Actual quantity (rescaled as multiple of smallest quantity)

Figure 20.4â•… Portion and package estimations: effects of the spatial dimension-
ality of product size change.
336 Pierre Chandon

were replicated in a quantity production task (as opposed to a quantity

estimation task) in which participants had to pour predetermined quanti-
ties of product into or out of cylindrical glasses (in which volume changes
in one dimension) or conical glasses (e.g., martini cocktail glasses, in
which volume changes in three dimensions). Again, changes in quantity
appeared smaller in the three-dimensional condition. When participants
were asked to triple an existing volume of alcohol, they poured roughly the
right amount into cylindrical glasses, but almost four times the amount
into the conical glasses.
In two papers, Brian Wansink and I studied the effect of association-
based bias on portion size estimation by examining the effects of spe-
cific nutritional claims such as “low-fat” (Wansink & Chandon, 2006)
and the health claims of the food brand (Chandon & Wansink, 2007a).
In one study, we showed a ham sandwich and manipulated the health
claim by changing the name of the restaurant (“Good Karma Healthy
Foods” vs. “Jim’s Hearty Sandwiches”) and the other items on the menu.
In the control condition, we asked participants to estimate the number of
calories of the target food. To test the effectiveness of providing debiasing
instructions, participants in the “consider the opposite” condition were
first asked to find arguments supporting the idea that the ham sandwich
was a generic meal that was not typical of the restaurant that served it.
Figure€20.5A shows that in the control condition calorie estimations were
significantly lower for the healthy menu than for the unhealthy menu.
Conversely, in the “consider the opposite” condition calorie estimations
were essentially the same regardless of the health associations. Prompting
people to question the validity of health primes therefore eliminated
association-based bias.
In Wansink and Chandon (2006), we examined the effects of association-
based bias on food quantity estimation and also on actual food consump-
tion. We gave people who were going to watch a movie a bag of granola
that was either labeled “regular” or “low-fat.” In order to test the debiasing
effect of providing information about the actual quantity of product, half
the bags were labeled “Contains one serving,” whereas the other half did
not have any serving size information. At the end of the movie, we asked
people to estimate how much granola they had eaten, and we weighed what
was left in their bags to measure how much they had actually eaten. As
Figure€20.5B shows, “low-fat” labels led to underestimation in all condi-
tions. When serving size information was absent, calorie estimations were
similar in both conditions, even though calorie intake was higher by 51%
in the “low-fat” condition. When serving size information was present,
 Estimating Food Quantity 337

700

622 Unhealthy menu

600

526 Healthy menu

500 477
Estimated calories

409
400

300

200

Reprinted with permission from

100 Journal of Consumer Research,
Chandon and Wansink (2007a).

0
Control condition Consider-the-opposite condition

(A)
300

249
250
229
Actual calorie consumption
205
200
Estimated calorie consumption
165
Calories

150

100
173
148 154 154

50
Re-analysis of Study 3 from
Journal of Marketing Research,
0 Wansink and Chandon (2006).
“Regular” label “Low-fat” label “Regular” label “Low-fat” label
No serving label “Contains 1 serving” label

(B)
Figure 20.5â•… Portions estimations: effects of health claims and remedies on
estimations (A) and on estimations and actual consumption (B).
338 Pierre Chandon

“low-fat” labels actually reduced calorie estimation despite increasing cal-

orie intake by 12%. Overall, these studies provide additional evidence that
health associations bias quantity estimation, and that encouraging people
to question their validity can reduce this type of associative bias, but sim-
ply providing serving size information is not enough.

Conclusions

In the battle against overeating, the current emphasis on what to eat has
obscured the importance of quantitative decisions about how much to eat.
This chapter builds a framework of how people estimate food quantity,
what should be done to improve their accuracy, and what we know about
how people estimate the quantity of food in restaurant meals, pantry
inventory, and portion sizes. Table€20.1 summarizes the key findings.
There still are, of course, a number of important unresolved issues
about the process through which people estimate food quantities. With
the exception of those studies in which quantity was estimated postintake,
all the studies reviewed here focused on visual estimation. Future research
should examine how people integrate different sensory modalities. For
example, Krishna (2006) showed that sensory modality (touch vs. vision)
influences judgments of the size of cylindrical glasses. It would also be
interesting to examine individual differences. For example, Krishna, Zhou,
and Zhang (2008) found that individuals with independent (vs. interde-
pendent) self-construals are more prone to spatial judgment biases.
Finally, it would be interesting to conduct a systematic analysis of the
differences between experienced, remembered, and predicted quantity
estimations. This would allow us to study the dynamics of quantity estima-
tion and hence to examine why so little learning seems to occur over time.
 Estimating Food Quantity 339

TABLE 20.1â•… Key Findings on Food Quantity Estimation Biases

and Remedies
Findings References
Biases in How People Estimate Food Quantities
Food quantity estimations are inelastic to actual (Chandon & Ordabayeva, in
quantity changes (i.e., they change more slowly than press; Chandon & Wansink,
they should). As a result, people accurately estimate 2006; Chandon & Wansink,
small food quantities but strongly underestimate large 2007b; Krider et al., 2001)
quantities.
Estimations are more elastic when a) the secondary (Chandon & Ordabayeva, in
spatial dimension of the product is perceptually press; Chandon & Wansink,
salient, b) the visual area in the pantry is correlated 2006; Krider et al., 2001)
with actual quantity, or c) packages or portions
increase along only one spatial dimension.
Health associations created by a) branding, b) (Chandon & Wansink, 2007a;
nutrition labels or c) reference points bias quantity Chandon & Wansink, 2006;
estimations but do not influence people’s sensitivity to Wansink & Chandon, 2006)
changes in quantity.

How to Improve the Accuracy of Food Quantity Estimations

Providing information about the existence of biases (Chandon & Wansink, 2007a;
and incentives can shift estimations but does not Chandon & Wansink, 2007b).
reduce association-based bias unless consumers are
specifically asked to question the validity of the health
claim
Increasing the salience of food quantity by making it (Chandon & Ordabayeva, in
more visible in the pantry, or by only supersizing press; Chandon & Wansink,
packages and portions along one dimension, 2006; Krider et al., 2001)
improves both the mean accuracy of estimation and
sensitivity to quantity changes.
Piecemeal estimation procedure improves sensitivity to (Chandon & Wansink, 2006;
quantity changes and reduces the underestimation of Chandon & Wansink, 2007b).
large quantities, but is only appropriate for large
quantities and does not reduce association-based bias.

Note

1. Prior research has shown that quantity biases influence consumption inci-
dence and quantity (Folkes & Matta, 2004; Raghubir & Krishna, 1999;
Wansink, 1996, 2004; Wansink & Chandon, 2006; Wansink et al., 1998),
repurchase timing (Chandon & Wansink, 2006), side-dish consumption
(Chandon & Wansink, 2007a), food waste (Chandon & Wansink, 2006), and
the stereotyping of obese people (Chandon & Wansink, 2007b).
340 Pierre Chandon

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21
Do Size Labels Have a Common
Meaning Among Consumers?
Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Aradhna Krishna,
and Brian Wansink

The influence of language on perception and cognition has been

observed for a long time. A number of studies have shown that labels
influence visual perception (Lewis, 1963; O’Hare, 1987), sound recog-
nition (Bartlett, 1977), music perception (Meyer, 1956), tactile simula-
tion (Hoshikawa, 1991), color perception (Roberson, Davies, & Davidoff,
2000), and olfactory perception (Herz, 2003). However, the effects of
labels on perception are relatively untouched within the domain of con-
sumer behavior. In this chapter, we explore the effects of labeling on size
perceptions of consumers.

SuperSize, Value-Size, Double-Gulp

In the past three decades, package sizes and portions have increased two
to five times across a wide range of food and drink categories in the United
States, with the greatest increases occurring for food consumed at fast food
establishments (Goode, 2003; Young & Nestle, 2002). At the same time,
there has been a great proliferation of size labels used by vendors in these
categories in an effort to differentiate themselves. In order to stand out
as having better size value or to discourage size comparisons with other
brands, many firms came up with new size labels. Consider the Whopper
(Burger King), the Big Gulp (7-11), the Super-Quencher (Jack in the Box),
and even the ill-fated Super-Size (McDonald’s). As part of their image-
building activities and to downplay size as a feature, some firms have also
devised their own size labels, such as Venti (Starbucks), Sixteen, Original,

343
344 Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Aradhna Krishna, and Brian Wansink

and Power (Jamba Juice), which are even more difficult to compare with
products of other firms in terms of size.
The question then arises, when there are so many different size labels,
how can they get absorbed into the everyday vocabulary of consumers,
and do they have a common meaning? Thus, is a Super-Quencher drink
considered bigger than a large or a jumbo drink and does this hold for
the majority of the population? Is a big-kid-size food portion consid-
ered bigger or smaller than a small portion? Is a king-size portion larger
than a family-size portion? What connotations do these labels have;
what linguistic characteristics have they come to acquire if any? When
there are a large number of sizes for an item (e.g., soft drinks, food por-
tions), is there a common ranking of sizes perceived across customers?
A second and related question is whether the perception of a size label
is affected by who is offering it—that is, if McDonald’s versus California
Pizza Kitchen offers a large drink, do people have the same perception
of what the size of this large drink is, or is the size perception affected
by the source?
The impact of commercial practices on American literature and lan-
guage has been partly explored by Friedman (1985), where he finds sup-
port for the usage of brand names and generic names as part of everyday
language through his analysis of American literature. Furthermore, with
commercialization, brand names are taking the place of actual product
categories in everyday language, some examples being FedEx, Kleenex,
or Jeep. We examine whether the commercial practice of labeling actu-
ally introduces new words into the common language of the consumer. In
other words, our major objective is to demonstrate whether many of the
commercially invented size labels have come to share common meaning
across customers.

Size Labels as Discriminating Attributes

Judgments are suggestible. Information processing theories assume that

recent and frequently employed knowledge structures are more accessible
in memory and are weighed more heavily in judgment than the infor-
mation that originally generated them (Feldman & Lynch, 1988; Menon,
Raghubir, & Schwarz, 1995). Thus, judgments may be influenced both by
the stimulus itself and by the label given to the stimulus, the latter may
be weighed more heavily in the judgment of the target even though the
former generated the latter.
 Do Size Labels Have a Common Meaning Among Consumers? 345

At the start of the chapter we mentioned that various studies demon-

strate the influence of verbal context on different modes of sensory per-
ception. In these studies, verbal context is seen as a mediator for different
dimensions of cognitive processes such as perceptions of similarity and
the mental organization of objects. For instance, with sound perception,
Bartlett (1977) showed that if a sound is labeled as either cat meow or baby
crying, it will subsequently be recognized in accord with its label. Similar
effects have been found with olfactory perception, where, for example, the
same stimulus was perceived in entirely different ways when it was labeled
Parmesan cheese or vomit (Herz, 2003). Likewise, with taste perception,
labels suggesting food as tasty have been shown to influence perceptions
of taste and also the past recall of taste more than the food itself (Wansink,
Painter, & Van Ittersum, 2001).
These effects draw a close parallel to the categorization literature, which
may help us better understand the potential impact of size labels on con-
sumer perception. Categorization refers to phenomena whereby perceiv-
ers’ interpretations, evaluations, or judgments of different targets depend
on the groups to which the individual targets belong (Jussim, Manis,
Nelson, & Soffin, 1995). Once an object is categorized, category knowl-
edge is utilized in the evaluations of the target (Bagozzi, Gurhan-Canli, &
Priester, 2002). Within consumer research, categorization has been shown
to influence information search, memory, inference, and choice (Alba &
Hutchinson, 1987; Cohen & Basu, 1987; Loken & Ward, 1990; Schmitt &
Zhang, 1998). Murphy and Medin (1985) show that the construction and
retrieval processes in categorization are constrained by internal structures
in people’s minds. One important internal structure is language structure,
where linguistic labels exercise a top–down influence on categorization
and related behavior (Hunt & Agnoli, 1991). Through their effect on per-
ceived similarity, labels act as classifiers and affect judgment and choice.
Once individuals have classified objects into categories based on perceived
similarities, they expect certain attributes to be present and as a result
draw schema-consistent inferences. Thus, categorization can influence
consumer expectations.
Under the categorization perspective, size labels can be seen as repre-
senting categories such that two products, which have the same specific
size label attached to them, will be categorized under the same unique size
class. Thus, if consumers perceive a product to belong to a certain size
category through inferences from its size label, this categorization may
facilitate information processing, evaluations, and decisions (Hollis &
Valentine, 2001). Accordingly, as new labels are learned and become part of
346 Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Aradhna Krishna, and Brian Wansink

a common understanding, they will be influential as discriminating attri-

butes. Gelman and Markman (1987) and Yamauchi and Markman (2000)
found that people should derive inductive perceptions of size relating to dif-
ferent size labels based primarily on that category (i.e., the size label itself),
and these judgments should be invariant across different product sources.
This chapter examines two studies that we conducted to determine if
size labels have a common meaning across customers and if this holds
across different product sources. The results are presented in the next
sections.

Study 1: Do Size Labels Have a Common

Meaning Across Consumers?

Study 1 tests whether size labels have a common meaning across con-
sumers. For purposes of robustness, we chose two categories with differ-
ent connotations of size: soft drinks (size of a glass) and package sizes of
potato chips (size of a plastic bag).

Study 1 Stimuli and Method

Pretest
In a pretest with 42 undergraduate students, we generated size labels for
the two categories mentioned above. For each category, 12 common labels
were provided to participants, and they were asked to add to this list. We
chose the most commonly appearing labels from the participants’ lists, so
that we ended up with 14 labels in each category. The list of labels used for
each category can be found in Figures€21.1 and 21.2. Some of these are tra-
ditionally used size labels (petite, small, medium, large, extra-large), while
others are commercially introduced labels, whose dictionary meanings
are nonexistent or which are used differently from their lexical (diction-
ary) meanings (e.g., super-quencher, big-kids size).

Design
A 2 (category) × 14 (size label) within-subject design was used to assess
people’s understanding of size labels. Given our objective of obtaining
relative size perceptions, we needed estimates for different size labels from
the same person. Thus, “size label” needed to be a manipulated within-
subject factor. Product category was also a manipulated within-subject
 Do Size Labels Have a Common Meaning Among Consumers?
Super-quencher
Value-sized

Extra-large
Medium
Regular

Double

Jumbo
Triple
Single
Petite

Large
Small
Short

Tall
Smaller
1.542

2.513
2.948

3.810

6.419
6.513

7.519
7.565

9.148

9.716

10.239

11.135

12.19
12.584
Larger

Value- Extra- Super-

Petite Short Small Single Medium Regular Tall Double Large Triple sized large Jumbo quencher
Significantly NA *** ** *** * *** *** *
different from
previous label?
Significantly NA NA *** *** *** *** ** ** *** *** * *** *** ***
different from
label 2 to the
left?

Figure 21.1â•… A relative comparison of perceived size differences of soft drinks (Study 1). NA, not available; *, p < .1; **, p < .05;
***, p < .01.

347
 348
Hungry-man-sized

Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Aradhna Krishna, and Brian Wansink

Economy sized
Single serving

Big kids’ size

Family-size
Extra-large
Snack-size
Child-size
Trial-size

King-size
Medium

Biggie
Large
Small
Smaller
1.448

2.390
2.613

3.413
3.542

4.229

6.552

7.742

8.71

9.797

10.539

11.01
11.11

11.445
Larger

Trial- Child- Snack- Single Big kids’- Economy Extra- Family King- Hungry-
size size size serving Small size Medium sized Large Biggie large size size man-sized
Significantly NA *** *** ** *** *** ***
different from
previous label?
Significantly NA NA *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
different from
label 2 to the
left?

Figure 21.2â•… A relative comparison of perceived size differences of potato chips (Study 1). NA, not available; *, p < .1; **, p < .05;
***, p < .01.
 Do Size Labels Have a Common Meaning Among Consumers? 349

factor for greater sample size. Thirty-seven respondents participated in

the experiment for course credit.

Procedure
For each category, participants were given a thermometer scale and were
asked to place the 14 randomly ordered labels on this scale in terms of
their size. They did this by writing the respective number for each label
on the line in a way that indicated their relative size to each other. For
soft drinks, for instance, participants were given the following scenario
and instructions:

What follow are 14 different sizes of fountain drinks that you can get at fast food
restaurants, sit down restaurants, and at convenience stores.

What we would like you to do is to write each of these numbers on the line
below according to their relative size. For each size, simply write the number
on the line. If you think two numbers are the same size you can put the two
numbers at the same point on the line.

←------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- →
Smaller Larger
1. Petite
2. Medium
3. Jumbo

This procedure was repeated for potato chips. Consistent with other
work on magnitude estimation (Choplin & Hummel, 2002), the primary
dependent variable was the relative length (perceived size) of each size
label on the thermometer scale. More specifically, it was the number of
centimeters from the left arrowhead that a size label was placed by the sub-
ject. We did not anchor the scale with the actual number of ounces of soft
drinks or potato chips. If consumers are prone to underestimating actual
sizes, as they often do (Raghubir & Krishna, 1996), they may feel that the
smaller sizes lay to the left of the leftmost point on the scale. Further, we
were interested in relative perceived sizes and not absolute perceived sizes;
so having ounces to anchor the scale was less important.
Seven cases were deleted from each category because of missing data
(perceived size of at least one of the 14 size labels was missing); for analyses
across the two categories, 11 cases were deleted (at least one of the 28 size
labels was missing). We do not compare perceived size to actual size since
that is not the focus of this research.
350 Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Aradhna Krishna, and Brian Wansink

Study 1 Results and Discussion

We used a repeated measures analysis of variance to analyze results.

Perceived size was the dependent variable, and product category and size
label were the two independent variables, both repeated factors. Product
category (F(1,26) = 7.56, p < .05) and size label (F(13,338) = 228.84, p < .01)
were both significant. Simple effect tests show that size label was signifi-
cant within each of the two product categories, soft drinks (F(13,338) =
119.21, p < .01) and potato chips (F(13,338) = 122.39, p < .01). Figures€21.1
and 21.2 show the positions of the size labels on each of the two ther-
mometer scales based on mean perceived size (across subjects for that
product category).
Significant size label effects for each category imply that the variance of
perceived size estimates (for different size labels) among consumers is not
large enough to render them nonsignificant. In other words, consumers
think of size labels similarly enough that mean perceived sizes of different
labels across consumers are significantly different. What is not clear is the
extent to which the actual magnitude-related perceptions of labels differ
from the more conventional magnitudes of small, medium, and large and
from one another. That is, where do the various size labels find a place
on the size continuum? To investigate this, we lined up the size labels per
mean size (see Figures€ 21.1 and 21.2) and conducted contrast tests. The
first set of contrasts compares adjacent (in mean size) size labels; the sec-
ond set of contrasts compares pairs of size labels that are two labels apart.
In addition, we also compare some other pairs of specific interest. Tests
use the complete data for that product category (i.e., using all 14 size labels
for that product category). Thus, the tests are univariate F tests with (1, 30)
degrees of freedom. The p values reported are for two-sided tests. Because
contrasts for adjacent pairs (and also pairs of size labels two labels apart)
are nonorthogonal, we perform appropriate linear transformations of the
dependent variables in order to do these contrasts.
Comprehensive contrast results are reported in Figures€ 21.1 and 21.2.
The figures show, for instance, that for soft drinks, “small” was perceived
as being smaller than a “single” (F(1,30) = 4.47, p < .05). The pairs “large”-
“triple,” “triple”-“value-sized,” and “value-sized”-“extra-large” were con-
sidered to be about equal in size (p > .1). However, “extra-large” was seen as
being smaller than “jumbo” (F(1,30) = 44.08, p < .01), and “super-quencher”
(as offered by Jack in the Box) was perceived as being the biggest of them
all, even (marginally) larger than “jumbo” (F(1,30) = 3.49, p < .1).
 Do Size Labels Have a Common Meaning Among Consumers? 351

For potato chips, we find that “trial-size” was considered smaller than
“child-size” (F(1,30) = 9.51, p < .01), whereas the latter was considered
about the same size as the “snack-size” (p > .4). A notable finding is that
“single-serving” was similar to a “small” (p > .6), but a “big-kid” serving
was perceived to be larger than a “single-serving” or a “small” (F(1,30)
= 4.56, p < .05); this finding calls into question how much food quantity
(and that includes junk food too) we feel is appropriate for our kids. On
the larger end, “biggie” has an established place that is bigger than plain
old “large” (F(1,30) = 20.53, p < .01). Similarly, “family-size” and “hungry-
man” size have established a place in the conventional size continuum so
that “family-size” is considered larger than “biggie” (which is considered
bigger than large), and “hungry-man” size is considered to be larger than
“extra-large” (p < .01 for all).
The results of Study 1 indicate that consumers have a similar under-
standing of new or commercially generated size labels: a “single,” for
example, is considered larger than “small” but smaller than “medium.”
“Single” is also considered larger than another commercially generated
label, “petite.” Our method for showing this rests on the fact that a “com-
mon meaning” for two size labels implies that there are significant differ-
ences between the perceived sizes for these two size labels. This can only
happen if the variance across people in the interpretation of these size
labels is not too large, that is, they have similar perceptions of these size
labels. If the variance was too large, then the differences between perceived
sizes associated with size labels would not be statistically significant. In
devising a method to test where a company’s relatively new size label fits
on the size spectrum and seeing whether it has a common meaning, we
offer companies an approach to test whether their own perceptions of size
are consistent with reality and whether the size label is achieving what it
was intended to achieve.
Thus, Study 1 findings suggest that size labels may connote unique size
“categories”; consumers have a certain knowledge of these size categories
and this knowledge is commonly shared across consumers. They, then, use
this knowledge to draw inferences about the amount of product associated
with a specific size category.
The next question of interest is whether these common meaning per-
ceptions hold across different product sources. In other words, does the
same label have the same meaning irrespective of who is offering the prod-
uct? In this next study, we demonstrate that the effects are not due to the
source, and that label effects are valid over and above source effects.
352 Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Aradhna Krishna, and Brian Wansink

Study 2: Is the Perceived Size of a Size Label

Related to the Source of the Product?

One could argue that a consumer needs to know how a specific manufac-
turer or retailer, such as Café Kopi, labels the different sizes of its coffees
before one can be reasonably certain of how large the sizes are. If this is
the case, perceptions of size labels may vary by the source offering the
product. In contrast, if size labels are well accepted as connoting a specific
size category, then per Menon and colleagues (1995) and Yamauchi and
Markman (2000), people’s inductive perceptions of size should be invari-
ant across different product sources. In Study 2, using names of real coffee
houses, we investigate whether perceptions of size for different size labels
(of coffee cups) vary by the offering source (the coffee house).

Study 2 Stimuli and Method

Design
A 7 (size labels) × 7 (café names) randomized complete block design was
used for Study 2. Seven different size labels were selected on the basis of
being commonly used in practice: medium, petite, tall, large, short, reg-
ular, and small. Similarly, seven different café names were used: Aroma
Café, Espresso Royale, Café Kopi, Green Street Coffee, Coffee Jitters and
Rush, Columbia Street Roastery, and Gloria Jean’s Gourmet. The seven
cafés did not exist in the town where the experiment was conducted but
are in fact the names of actual coffee houses in a distant college town. A
pretest revealed that each of these coffee houses varied on perceived qual-
ity; this is what we wanted, since higher quality stores may conceivably be
perceived to have smaller servings for the same size label.
Consistent with the randomized complete block design, seven different
questionnaires (referred to as seven between-subject conditions) were cre-
ated so that for each subject, each of the seven size labels was linked to one
of the seven cafés only once. However, across subjects, each of the cafés
was linked to each size label. Thirty-seven respondents participated in the
experiment for partial course credit.

Procedure
Participants were given a list of coffees from seven different coffee shops
(e.g., medium coffee from Aroma Café). They were then asked to state how
 Do Size Labels Have a Common Meaning Among Consumers? 353

big they thought the coffee was in ounces. The principal dependent vari-
able of interest was perceived size. A pretest indicated that domestic col-
lege students were familiar with estimating the size of liquids—principally
soda and coffee. In this context, we reasonably believed participants would
have no difficulties with such estimation, and manipulation debriefings
confirmed this.

Study 2 Results and Discussion

We used a repeated-measures analysis of variance to analyze results.

When investigating “perceived size for a size label,” the size label was used
as a within-subject factor and condition was used as a between-subject
factor. We found a significant effect for size label (F(6,162) = 30.62, p < .01),
but not for condition (p > .5) or for the size label by condition interaction
(p > .7). Thus, “perceived size for a specific size label” varied significantly
by size label but not by café name (café name for each size label varied by
condition). The mean perceived sizes are presented in Table€21.1.1
Study 2 supports the same basic finding as in Study 1: people have a
common understanding of size labels. It additionally shows that product
source and implied product quality do not affect these size perceptions.
These results support Yamauchi and Markman’s (2000) proposition that
inductive inference is a fundamental use of categories, that is, when an
object is likely to belong to a category, people tend to derive inductive
judgments about the object based primarily on that category.

Conclusions

The two studies reported in this chapter demonstrate that the many var-
ied size labels being used today in the marketplace have indeed come to
acquire unique meanings and can be distinguished from one another by
consumers. The studies further show that this effect holds across differ-
ent product categories and also is valid over and above the effect of prod-
uct source. This emphasizes the influence of commercial practices on the
English language by showing how commercially induced size labels have
acquired a common understanding across consumers.
Having established that the many size labels used in food and drink cate-
gories today have a shared understanding, the next step should be to explore
their effect on consumer behavior. Additional questions arise that have
 354
Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Aradhna Krishna, and Brian Wansink
TABLE 21.1â•… Within-Subject Magnitude Comparisons of Means Across Contexts (Study 2)
Average Size Aroma Expresso Café Green Street Coffee Jitters Columbia Street Gloria Jean’s
Label Means Café Royale Kopi Coffee and Rush Roastery Gourmet
Petite 6.71 5.25 8.00 7.33 6.88 6.80 6.20 7.00
Small 7.74 8.67 7.25 7.80 7.60 8.20 6.75 8.00
Short 8.02 7.60 7.80 7.50 7.00 8.00 8.67 8.75
Regular 11.06 12.00 9.20 10.40 12.20 9.75 10.00 12.00
Medium 11.09 10.00 12.33 12.00 9.60 10.40 11.40 10.00
Tall 13.29 14.40 10.75 14.00 14.00 15.25 11.40 12.00
Large 14.44 14.00 13.60 13.25 12.00 19.00 14.25 12.00
Store Means 10.33 10.56 9.89 9.87 9.59 12.06 10.24 10.15
 Do Size Labels Have a Common Meaning Among Consumers? 355

important legislative and liability-related implications. For instance, can

size labels create misperceptions about the quantities of food and beverages
involved and lead to unintended overeating? It has been argued in the media
that the use of these labels is an image-building activity and is divorced from
any description of reality (Crossen, 1996). Policy officials have started to
direct legislative attention toward food companies they believe are exploit-
ing labeling laws to make their products more appealing (Day, 2003).
Furthermore, research from psychology on the influence of language on
perception and cognition indicates the pressing need to make further inquiry
into the effect of labels on various sensory processes within the domain of
consumer behavior. The demonstrated impact of labels on visual (Lewis,
1963; O’Hare, 1987), olfactory (Herz, 2003), tactile (Hoshikawa, 1991), audi-
tory (Bartlett, 1977), and taste (Wansink et al., 2001) perception suggests
that there should be further implications of the commercial use of labels on
consumer perception, product evaluations, and actual consumption.

Note

1. Note that the results for size perceptions of specific size labels for this study
are similar to those for Study 1. Differences in Study 1 versus Study 2 in the
mean size order appear only where the mean sizes were not significantly dif-
ferent from one another (small vs. short and medium vs. regular).

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Section VI
The Future
22
A Sense of Things to Come
Future Research Directions in Sensory Marketing
Ryan S. Elder, Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Victor Barger,
Cindy Caldara, HaeEun Chun, Chan Jean Lee,
Gina S. Mohr, and Antonios Stamatogiannakis

The exciting exploration on sensory marketing presented in this book is

just the foundation upon which to build future research. There are myriad
unexplored questions and innumerable directions in which to take this
research. Our goal in this chapter is not to provide an exhaustive array
of these future directions, but rather to stimulate the reader into explor-
ing new ideas. We present possible future directions for each sense indi-
vidually (vision, audition, smell, touch, taste), and conclude with ideas for
future research addressing the interplay among multiple senses within
consumer behavior.

Vision

Although vision to date is the most studied sensory domain within con-
sumer research, there are still numerous future directions to explore. We
present a few directions here, including the impact of vision on sensory
imagery, the impact of color on consumer behavior, as well as the conse-
quences of visual salience.
Imagery is defined as a process by which sensory information is rep-
resented in working memory (MacInnis & Price, 1987). In the consumer
behavior literature, visual imagery has been shown to assist in process-
ing product information and in facilitating memory and persuasion (e.g.,
Alesandrini & Sheikh, 1983; Bone & Ellen, 1992; McGill & Anand, 1989).
Conversely, a lack of imagery-facilitating visual input may have negative
effects on persuasion (Kisielius & Sternthal, 1984; Petrova & Cialdini,
361
362 Elder et al.

2005). For example, when a product or ad is not presented in a visually

vivid way, this impairs the fluency of consumption imagery, or the ease
with which consumers can generate imagery of the consumption experi-
ence, leading to a negative effect of imagery appeals.
Research on imagery in consumer behavior and psychology has pre-
dominantly focused on vision. Prior literature neglects to address how
the different modalities interact to create a more complete image beyond
visual. Supplementing visual cues with other sensory cues may enhance
the influence of consumer imagery on perceptions, attitudes, and behav-
iors. That is, even under conditions where the visual information presented
to consumers is insufficient in generating visual imagery, other sensory
input may enhance the generation of visual imagery. For example, even
when the visual information in a print ad is not vivid enough, coupling the
ad with a touch, smell, or sound element may transfer the richness of one
modality to another (i.e., vision), thereby enhancing one’s imagined visual
experience. Conversely, it is likely that a visual input will contribute to the
ease of generating imagery of other sensory modalities or enhancing the
intensity of experiencing them. The consequences of visual imagery may
be greatly enhanced by the addition of other sensory inputs.
Another underexplored aspect of vision is color. Studies on color have
provided evidence as to how certain colors in ads are more likely to lead to
positive attitudes (e.g., Gorn, Chattopadhyay, Yi, & Dahl, 1997). However,
the explication of the process that leads to such attitudinal changes has
been left largely unexplored. We need to establish boundary conditions
as to when certain colors are more preferred and why. We also need to
investigate how consumers react to combination of colors (e.g., red and
white) and combination of colors and shapes (e.g., red and round vs. red
and rectangle), as the visual cues consumers encounter in the market are
mixtures of multiple aspects. Another interesting question is how visual
cues interact with consumer emotions. Would color or shape preference
change depending on how consumers feel? For example, would some
colors or shapes be more preferred when consumers are happy (vs. sad)?
More broadly, examining emotion as it relates to sensory processing may
serve to explain the vast individual heterogeneity in response to visual and
other sensory cues.
Finally, the role of salience of visual cues has produced exciting results
such as biases in perception of volume (Raghubir & Krishna, 1999; Wansink
& Van Ittersum, 2003), distances (Raghubir & Krishna, 1996), taste (Hoegg
& Alba, 2007), and consequently product evaluations and choices. We expect
selective attention to salient visual cues to be a continuously rich source of
 A Sense of Things to Come 363

research. One aspect of consumer behavior we expect to be particularly

affected is information search. As practitioners recognize the importance
of quick conveyance of information, we see a shift from verbal to visual dis-
plays of information. The consequences of such a strategy should be more
fully explored; some recent research has begun to address these issues. For
example, online product ratings, such as 5-star customer ratings on Amazon.
com, are visual cues through which companies and consumers communi-
cate. If a particular star rating (e.g., 5-star) is more salient than other ratings
(e.g., 1-star), the higher attention to the salient rating could bias how con-
sumers process other star ratings and how consumers make decisions based
on online ratings (Lee & Raghubir, 2008). Understanding how these visual
biases are formed and the confidence with which they are held will allow us
to improve the information search process for consumers.

Audition

Audition (like smell, but unlike vision, touch, and taste) is a sense that
requires no effort to operate. People have no control over the auditory
stimuli they perceive, although they have some control over which stimulus
they are attending to. This nonvoluntary perception of sounds can make the
fit (congruence) of an auditory stimulus (e.g., music) with either the envi-
ronment (e.g., a store) or other auditory stimuli (e.g., the next music track)
problematic. In large department stores, supermarkets, bars, restaurants,
and other locations, sound incongruence cannot be avoided. If the same
music is played everywhere in the store, there will be some parts of the store
where the music will not fit. If different music is played in different parts,
then the different music themes are very likely to not fit with one another.
Considering that in general, music congruence has been found to have posi-
tive effects for product and ad evaluations (see Peck & Childers, 2008), this
raises three important questions. First, the marketing literature has not yet
addressed the effects (if any) of incongruence between sequential or simul-
taneous auditory stimuli. Second, in cases where incongruence is unavoid-
able, should a store opt for one or the other form of incongruence? Third,
the marketing literature should identify boundary conditions for the posi-
tive effects of sound congruence in the same way it has identified boundary
conditions for desirable properties of visual stimuli, such as symmetry and
unity (Stamatogiannakis, Chattopadhyay, & Gorn, forthcoming).
Another issue that research so far has not resolved is a possible con-
found of music familiarity and pleasantness. The effects of the two have
364 Elder et al.

been found to be very similar: Perceived time duration is longest for posi-
tively valenced music (Kellaris & Kent, 1992), but the same holds for more
familiar music (Yalch & Spangenberg, 2000). Furthermore, the effects of
music on mood and on product evaluation (Gorn, Goldberg, & Basu, 1993)
might be partially explained by music familiarity. We are not aware of any
study that orthogonally manipulates music familiarity and music valence,
although researchers have identified them as two separate moderators of
music effects (Bruner, 1990). Such studies are necessary in order to under-
stand whether well-grounded effects of music valence on mood can be
attributed to valence alone or whether music familiarity can explain part
of the effects. An additional point regarding auditory effects on the percep-
tion of time arises from recent research. When resources required match
resources available, people perceived that more time has passed than when
available and required resources do not match (Mantel & Kellaris, 2003).
Assuming that familiar and pleasant music requires less resources to be
processed, then the results of the studies showing that pleasant and famil-
iar music leads to longer time estimates might not hold in situations when
one has plenty available resources (e.g., in a relaxing dinner).
Another field of research in audition is the sounds that are insepara-
ble from product usage, for example, the sound a car door makes when
it shuts, the sound a DVD player makes when it opens, or even the sound
an electronic device (e.g., an air conditioner or a car alarm) makes when
switched on. It is possible that through phonetic symbolism people infer
product attributes from these sounds, in the same way they do from the
sound of a brand name (Yorkston & Menon, 2004).
A final point that merits attention is if and how speech can create infer-
ences for a product. Chattopadhyay, Dahl, Ritchie, and Shahin (2003) have
shown that when a male speaks, then low pitch and a little fast syllable speed
produce the best responses to the speech. However, more qualitative insights
might be useful: Can the accent (or the pitch or the speed) of the speaker in
an ad (or the origin and the tempo of the music) imply the product’s pos-
session of certain characteristics or act as a quality signal? Additionally, are
consumers cognizant of the sources of these inferences?

Smell

In the early 1990s, Bone and Jantrania (1992) proposed that “the sense
of smell has for the most part been overlooked by market researchers”
(p. 289). However, in the past two decades, researchers across several
 A Sense of Things to Come 365

disciplines have shown a profound interest in the topic of olfaction and

have produced foundational research in the area. We propose here addi-
tional directions to explore in order to more fully understand the role
smell plays in consumer behavior. Specifically, we direct further attention
to the role of scent congruence, the generation of semantic meanings of
scents, the impact of attention, as well as highlight the emergence of new
methodologies to study smell.
The presence of a scent is generally acknowledged as having a positive
impact on consumer attitudes, in both ambient form, such as in stores
and other environments, or in a more direct form, such as those infused
in products. Among the cognitive moderators potentially involved in
these effects, perceived congruence is the most frequently reviewed one.
In general it is defined as a contextual fit between the scent and the prod-
uct category (Bosmans, 2006; Mitchell, Kahn, & Knasko, 1995; Morrin &
Ratneshwar, 2003; Spangenberg, Sprott, Grohmann, & Tracy, 2006). The
effects of congruence are directionally shared among the studies claiming
congruence has a more positive impact on memory and evaluation than
incongruence. However, research should focus on specifying the types of
positive impacts that scents have. For example, do scents result in greater
attachment to the product as more sensory modalities are stimulated, and
how does congruence affect these consequences?
Congruence, as mentioned, plays a significant role in determining the
impact of scent on consumer perceptions and attitudes. However, the rea-
sons why a scent is perceived as congruent are not always clear. It may be
posited that scents hold shared semantic meanings that lead to a percep-
tion of congruence between a smell and an object. Brand and Millot (2001)
argue that the explanation of gender differences in olfaction may be related
to the fact that olfactory stimuli can have a greater meaning for one gen-
der than for the other. The types and relative importance of scent mean-
ings and the way in which individuals learn them should receive more
attention. Cultural or social meanings attributed to scents may be derived
largely from experience, in some form of a conditioning framework. It
would be useful to identify the sources of such conditioning, establish
typologies for them, pay attention to the way they are processed by indi-
viduals, and determine whether there is a way to replicate this learning
process in a consumer context.
Another variable that should be more actively considered is the impact
of attention in processing scents. Recently, Zelano and colleagues (2005)
highlighted the role of different levels of attention on scent perception at
a neural level. One of the main characteristics of a scent is that it can be
366 Elder et al.

processed preattentively (Davies, Kooijman, & Ward, 2003). As such, it

would be useful to determine whether the presence of scents has to be con-
sciously perceived by consumers to positively affect the target variable (e.g.,
store environment perceptions or product evaluation). Indeed, if the pro-
cess occurs largely below consciousness, then a large responsibility of the
marketer is to create the aforementioned semantic associations between
the product and scent in order for the associations to be operative.
The study of individual differences should also constitute a further
step in smell research. Anatomic and physiologic differences (gender, age,
genetics) have been documented (Brand & Millot, 2001), and it is likely
that other individual differences exist that affect scent perceptions. For
example, do individuals differ in their need for smell (similar to the need
for touch; Peck & Childers, 2003a), the centrality of smells in their lives,
or in their emotional reaction to smells? Wrzesniewski, McCauley, and
Rozin (1999) have developed a scale measuring individual differences in
the affective impact of odors on places, objects, and persons, demonstrat-
ing that differences other than biologic ones influence scent perception.
Among others, one promising direction for future research would be to
develop a general scale measuring the susceptibility of an individual to
using scent as an input for decisions and evaluations.
Finally, recent advances in physiological instrumentation provide an
opportunity to capture process beyond self-report measures. Brain imag-
ing (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging; Zelano et al., 2005) and
other psychophysiological measures such as galvanic skin response, heart
rate, and blood pressure all provide levels of sensory stimulation and acti-
vation that should prove useful in more fully understanding the mysteries
of scents within marketing.

Touch

Touch research in marketing is, in many respects, still in its infancy.

Although advances have been made in recent years (see Chapter 2), there
are still numerous avenues for future research. In this section, we outline
three such avenues that hold great promise. First, focus should be given to
ways of motivating consumers to touch. Second, researchers should exam-
ine how consumers interpret stimuli. Finally, researchers can explore
alternatives to direct physical contact that result in similar consequences.
Touch is rarely ambient, meaning that consumers must make an effort
to experience haptic stimuli. As such, marketers need to understand the
 A Sense of Things to Come 367

motivation for touch before they can reap the benefits, benefits that are,
as revealed in Chapter 2 of this book, significant: touch enhances the
purchase experience (Peck & Childers, 2003a), leads to greater confi-
dence in product judgments (Peck & Childers, 2003a), and increases the
amount consumers are willing to pay for products (Peck & Shu, 2009).
Three aspects of the purchase experience determine motivation to
touch: the product, the consumer, and the environment. We know from
prior research (Klatzky & Lederman, 1992, 1993) that objects differ on
material properties, such as texture, softness, and weight, and that touch
enables us to sense these differences more effectively than other senses.
More recently, Peck and Wiggins (2006) showed that material proper-
ties of objects influence whether haptic stimuli are perceived as pleasant
or unpleasant. This link between material properties and hedonic touch
remains relatively unexplored, however. What causes a material property
to be perceived as pleasant? Are there particular textures or shapes that
are universally pleasing? How can marketers leverage the material proper-
ties of products to induce touch?
Of course, material properties alone cannot explain why some consum-
ers touch when others do not. To investigate this, Peck and Childers (2003a)
designed a scale that measures individual preference for touch informa-
tion. The availability of this scale has opened numerous opportunities for
further research on touch. For example, do individuals differ in motiva-
tion to touch by demographics such as gender and age? What impact does
culture have on motivation to touch? How does the ability to differenti-
ate haptic attributes vary across individuals? We do know that sensitiv-
ity to touch declines with age (Stevens & Patterson, 1995; Thornbury &
Mistretta, 1981), but what are the implications for marketing?
Beyond the level of the product and the individual, situational factors
also influence motivation to touch. Changes in the retail environment, for
example, can have a substantial impact on the willingness of consumers
to touch products, as shown by Peck and Childers (2006). Social influence
may also play a role in motivating touch. For example, if a consumer sees
someone touch an object, he or she may view that as a sign that touch-
ing is acceptable. Moreover, the observation may engender curiosity and
encourage firsthand experience. Of course, he or she may also fear prod-
uct contagion (Morales & Fitzsimons, 2007); whether observing another
individual touch a product has a positive or negative effect on consumer
affect and attitudes is open to investigation.
Once a consumer is induced to touch, consideration turns to how he or
she interprets the haptic stimuli. This is likely a complex function of product
368 Elder et al.

attributes, individual characteristics, and situational factors. Consider, for

example, the interaction between the material properties of an object and
ambient temperature. First, the diagnosticity of touch changes with tem-
perature; that is, the same material feels different at different tempera-
tures. Second, the temperature of the object is subject to interpretation. For
instance, warmth in an item of clothing may indicate that the item had just
been tried on, raising concerns of product contagion. Finally, there are indi-
vidual differences in ability to differentiate haptic stimuli. The ramifications
extend to all aspects of marketing, from product design to retail display.
Unfortunately, touch is not feasible in all consumption contexts. The
most notable is online shopping, where consumers must rely entirely on
visual stimuli. It is not surprising, then, that consumers who prefer tactile
input are less likely to purchase online (Citrin, Stem, Spangenberg, & Clark,
2003). The problem is exacerbated in product categories where touch is par-
ticularly diagnostic, such as clothing and bedding. Alternatives to physical
touch are thus of great practical interest. Although verbal descriptions may
help (e.g., inferring softness from thread count), such descriptions do not
satisfy the need for autotelic touch (Peck & Childers, 2003b). One promis-
ing alternative is haptic imagery (Peck & Barger, 2008), which may act as a
surrogate for touch; further research in this area is needed, however.

Taste

As noted in Chapter 18 in this volume, the sense of taste has received sparse
attention within the consumer behavior literature. However, extant litera-
ture addressing taste does provide a solid foundation from which to build
future research. Attention to three specific areas in taste and consumer
behavior may result in substantial progress of this exciting domain. First,
we recommend devoting further attention to the interplay of affect and
cognition in taste experiences. Second, we propose that future research
focus more deeply on the conscious and unconscious determinants of
taste perception, including the perceptual effects of extrinsic and intrin-
sic cues. Finally, research should address individual differences in taste
perceptions, such as food expertise and an individual’s ability to generate
sensory imagery.
Food is an essential component of human existence, with much of our
daily efforts devoted to ensuring that we have sufficient amounts for our
needs. However, beyond this subsistence perspective, food, and more spe-
cifically the sense of taste, provides us with some of our greatest pleasures.
 A Sense of Things to Come 369

Prior literature on the topic of affect and cognition, as it relates to taste,

suggests that many taste experiences are primarily affective, with cogni-
tive or informational components muting enjoyment during consumption
(Nowlis & Shiv, 2005; Shiv & Fedorikhin, 1999; Shiv & Nowlis, 2004). For
example, Nowlis and Shiv (2005) show that reducing attention to informa-
tional components enhances taste perceptions and consumption enjoy-
ment of chocolate and also leads to greater selection of the more affective
option within a choice set.
In general, taste perceptions tend to be affectively driven, with more
attention to sensory cues leading to heightened affective responses.
However, with the current health-conscious focus, particularly within
the United States, the enjoyment of food may have several negative conse-
quences, leading many to believe that “eating is almost as dangerous as not
eating” (Rozin, Fischler, Imada, Sarubin, & Wrzesniewski, 1999, p. 164).
Therefore, an underlying question is to what extent marketers and other
professionals can balance this interplay between affect and cognition to
increase subsequent enjoyment of healthy food items. A similar question
to be addressed is what attributes of the taste experience make the focus
primarily cognitive rather than affective. Finally, as prior literature sug-
gests that affective components function more automatically and cogni-
tive inputs function in a more deliberative manner (Compeau, Grewal, &
Monroe, 1998; Shiv & Fedorikhin, 1999), is there a way to enable cogni-
tive components to be processed more automatically, thereby reducing the
detrimental impact of negative cues?
Within cognitive psychology, several researchers have posited that
most of our lives are driven by automatic processes, outside of our own
consciousness (Bargh, 2002; Bargh & Chartrand, 1999). The environment
and other extrinsic cues outside of consciousness influence perceptions
and even behaviors. Understanding the unconscious and conscious deter-
minants of taste perceptions, including the aforementioned affective and
cognitive inputs as well as intrinsic and extrinsic cues, is a second fruitful
domain to explore.
Intrinsic cues such as appearance, tactile properties, smell, and other
sensory characteristics of the food item may be operative at both the con-
scious and unconscious levels. Therefore, manipulating the level of con-
sciousness devoted to these intrinsic cues may affect subsequent taste
perceptions. Researchers have addressed the impact of additional intrin-
sic cues on taste perceptions such as product color (DuBose, Cardello, &
Maller, 1980; Hoegg & Alba, 2007), product smell (Prescott, Johnstone, &
Francis, 2004), and product texture (Christensen, 1980); however, future
370 Elder et al.

research should determine to what extent these intrinsic cues act auto-
matically and below consciousness or whether they require cognitive
elaboration and consciousness. For instance, does the congruity of the
intrinsic cues with expectations determine whether or not further cogni-
tive resources are expended and consequently affect how sensory charac-
teristics are attended to? Determining when intrinsic product cues have
the most prominent impact on taste perceptions will aid in understanding
the role of extrinsic cues.
Extrinsic cues, such as advertising (Elder & Krishna, 2010), brand name
(Allison & Uhl, 1964; Hoegg & Alba, 2007), product ingredients (Lee,
Frederick, & Ariely, 2006; Raghunathan, Naylor, & Hoyer, 2006), and even
product packaging (Krishna & Morrin, 2008), also operate at conscious and
unconscious levels on taste perceptions. The underlying process with which
these extrinsic cues are operative remains to be fully addressed. One future
area of research could determine to what extent, and at what level of con-
sciousness, expectations influence perceptions. Lee et al. (2006) introduce a
negatively valenced ingredient for beer (balsamic vinegar) both before and
after consumption and show that the introduction of the ingredient before
consumption altered the perceptual experience, whereas the introduction
of the ingredient after consumption had little effect on taste perceptions.
This research shows the power of expectations in affecting the experience
itself, not merely perceptions of the experience, but fails to address the con-
sciousness of such an effect. The general field of sensory marketing, and
in particular taste marketing, will largely benefit from a focus on the con-
scious and subconscious effects of intrinsic and extrinsic cues.
The third and final recommendation for future research within taste
marketing is to focus on individual differences. What characteristics of
individuals make their taste experiences susceptible to marketing actions?
One obvious area for exploration is the individual’s level of expertise within
the food domain. Such differences in expertise have been shown to have a
discernible impact on taste perceptions, particularly in respect to an indi-
vidual’s focus during a consumption experience. Specifically, experts are
more likely to focus on automatic, affective components of the consump-
tion experience rather than the more deliberate, cognitive components
(Nowlis & Shiv, 2005). Therefore, experts may not pay as much attention to
the marketing communications, but rather focus on the sensory experience
of eating. Other individual differences, such as the ability to imagine taste
experiences, could potentially moderate the effect of marketing on taste
perceptions. These individual-level moderators, as well as many more, can
provide insight into when and how marketing affects taste.
 A Sense of Things to Come 371

Multisensory

Much of the literature on consumer sensory processing examines sensory

modalities singularly. Yet, consumers rarely process information in this
way. Rather, we know that information is perceived and processed in mul-
tiple sensory modalities. For example, somebody who is choosing among
sweaters may use both visual (color) and haptic (texture) cues to arrive at
a preference. Moreover, marketers make appeals to consumers in many
sensory modalities in order to attract attention, to give information, or to
accentuate product features (e.g., a visual cue of a lemon to instantiate the
fragrance in a cleaning product). Recognizing the significance of the mul-
tisensory nature of perception and information processing, some market-
ing scholars have begun to direct attention toward the interplay between
the senses. For example, intersensory effects and synergies between vision
and taste (Hoegg & Alba, 2007), vision and touch (Raghubir & Krishna,
1999), touch and taste (Krishna & Morrin, 2008), and sound and taste
(Zampini & Spence, 2004) have begun to be explored. However, consider-
ing the complex nature of such multisensory processing and its significant
effect on consumer perception and behavior, we believe that more system-
atic inquiry is needed to expand our understanding of this complex, yet
natural, way in which consumers interact with their surroundings.
It is important to understand multiple-sensory interactions because
cross-modal cues may facilitate or interfere with one another in how they
affect consumers’ perceptions, attitudes, and preferences. For example,
does the preference for a fragranced product change as a function of the
additional sensory cues that are provided? In studying such joint effects,
attention should be directed toward the different roles played by the differ-
ent modalities of cues and the processes by which they affect outcomes of
interest. Zampini and Spence (2004), for instance, study how the auditory
cues produced during the biting action of potato chips affect the perception
of crispness and staleness of the chips, which is a very important attribute
for the product category. Hoegg and Alba (2007) investigate how color dif-
ferences in orange juice samples affect taste discrimination. Even in these
instances, where such cues might initially be thought of as secondary (i.e.,
auditory for potato chips and visual for orange juice), we see their signifi-
cant role in affecting consumer judgment and consequently preference.
Identification of such specific roles and relationships would shed light on
the processes leading to the desired response from consumers.
Another reason that further investigation into multiple-sensory interac-
tions is important is that cross-modal cues may affect consumer memories
372 Elder et al.

differently. The interactive effects of modality on memory can be investi-

gated at both encoding and retrieval. For example, a consumer watching
an advertisement may encode a brand name with an auditory cue (song)
and a visual cue (logo). However, each cue may differentially facilitate (or
inhibit) the encoding and retrieval of the brand name or brand concept.
This effect may be further moderated by congruity among the cues or
the familiarity of these cues. Existing literature on congruity effects in
other domains of consumer behavior research suggest that incongruent
cues can enhance memory for a product (Lee & Mason, 1999; Unnava,
Agarwal, & Haugtvedt, 1996). However, to our knowledge there has been
little research that examines how these congruity effects extend into mul-
tisensory interactions.
Moreover, studying the interplay between sensory cues should not
be blind to contextual and individual contingencies. There might be
important differences among consumers in their inclination to use a cer-
tain modality in their perceptions and judgments. Krishna and Morrin
(2008), for example, show that different levels of “need for touch” (Peck &
Childers, 2003a) result in different effects within the context of the inter-
play of vision and touch. As mentioned earlier, the development of such
respondent-level scales is another promising venue for research, as it will
enhance our understanding of consumers, giving more weight to certain
modalities while neglecting others, when there is opportunity to use dif-
ferent sensory cues. The same is true for the moderating effects of dif-
ferent contextual variables; Grohmann, Spangenberg, and Sprott (2007),
for instance, show that touch matters more for high-quality products.
Studying these moderating effects would provide more information to the
marketer about the relative importance of different modalities of cues in
designing an offer or in formulating communication.

Conclusions

Although not representing an exhaustive list of possible future directions, it

is our intention that the preceding discussion on sensory marketing research
areas would excite and inspire the reader. This nascent field has much prom-
ise, particularly while garnering the scholarly attention of top researchers.
Hopefully this chapter has given the reader a sense of things to come.
 A Sense of Things to Come 373

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 Author Index

A B
Aaker, J. L., 250 Babinsky, R., 90
Aalst, M., 149 Baeyens, F., 315
Abramov, I., 236 Bagozzi, R. P., 345
Ackerman, D., 17 Baird, J. C., 289
Adams, A., 246 Baker, J., 123
Adams, F. M., 219, 223, 242 Banks, M. S., 42
Addington, D. W., 1878 Barger, V., 24
Aframian, D., 82–83 Barger, V. A., 368
Agarwal, S., 151 Bargh, J. A., 65, 368
Aggleton, J. P., 81, 90 Baron, R. A., 93
Ahluwalia, R., 144 Barry, C., 187, 192
Alaoui-Ismaili, O., 91 Barthes, R., 110
Alba, J., 49 Bartlett, J. C., 343
Alba, J. W., 206, 284, 285, 345, 362, 368, 370, Bartoli, A. M., 98, 99
371 Bartoshuk, I. M., 314
Alesandrini, K., 361 Bastone, L., 93, 111
Alinder, M. S., 246 Basu, K., 345, 364
Allison, R. I., 285, 370 Batra, P., 221
Allport, G., 178 Baumgartner, H., 247
Altsech, M. B., 128 Beaber, R. J., 171
Alwitt, L. F., 172 Beauchamp, G. K., 89, 90
Anand, P., 147, 260, 361 Bechtold, J. I., 157
Anderson, A. E., 75 Beland, S., 94
Anderson, N. H., 271, 289 Beland, S. L., 78, 88, 90, 92, 94, 97
Andrews, J. C., 326 Bennett, C. P., 223
Angyl, A., 52, 53, 58 Bensafi, M., 82–83, 102, 365, 366
Antick, J. R., 221 Bettman, J. R., 66
Antonides, G., 149 Betts, E., 324
Apena, F., 75 Biehal, G. J., 66
Appadurai, A., 307 Birch, L. L., 314, 315
Apple, W., 169, 170, 177 Black, A. E., 333
Apterm M. J., 226 Bloch, P., 271
Areni, C. S., 162 Block, L. G., 294
Argo, J. J., 25, 52, 53, 54, 55 Boden, R. M., 101
Ariely, D., 294, 312, 370 Bogartz, R. S., 289
Arkes, H. R., 323, 327 Bond, P., 169
Arnett, J. J., 318 Bond, R. N., 169, 170
Arnheim, R., 265, 271, 275 Bone, P. E., 79, 80
Aronov, E. V., 101 Bone, P. F., 361, 364
Aronovitch, C. D., 178 Bonnel, A. M., 150
Asch, S., 312 Booth, D. A., 111, 314
Ashmore, M., 323 Born, J., 83
Attila, G., 90 Bosmans, A., 79, 80, 82, 365
Avanzini, F., 158 Boudreau, J. P., 65
Axel, R., 75 Bourassa, D. C., 265
Aydinoglu, N., 291 Bradlow, E. T., 208
Azzalina, J. D., 82 Bradshaw, J. M., 175

377
378 Author Index

Brainerd, G. C., 248 Chestnut, R. W., 254

Brand, G., 365, 366 Child, I. L., 219, 220
Bremmer, E., 82–83, 102 Childers, T. L., 23, 25, 26, 27, 43, 44, 49, 63, 82,
Bremner, E., 365, 366 194, 261, 283, 285, 293, 363, 364, 367,
Breslin, P. A., 101 368, 371
Briley, D., 144 Cho, H., 213
Brinkmann, V., 255 Choungourian, A., 219, 220
Brochet, F., 98 Christensen, C. M., 368
Bronfen, M. I., 93 Cialdini, R. B., 6, 361–362
Brown, B. C., 64 Citrin, A. V., 26, 49, 368
Brown, B. L., 170, 171, 175 Clark, M. J., 26, 49, 368
Brown, I., 110 Clark, M. S., 93
Brown, S. P., 169, 174, 175 Clarke, I., 255
Brumbaugh, A. M., 250 Classen, C., 112
Bruner, G. C., 133, 148 Clore, G. L., 235
Bruner, II, G. C., 364 Clydesdale, F. M., 284
Brydon, M. P., 265 Coehlo Do Vale, R., 259
Buchel, C., 83 Cohen, J. B., 345
Buck, L., 77 Coleman, L., 171, 177, 178
Burke, R. R., 259, 260, 261 Collins, K., 323
Burton, S., 326 Coltheart, M., 186, 191, 192
Bushnell, E. W., 65 Compeau, L. D., 368
Bushnell, M. C., 93 Conklin, F., 171
Byrne, B., 248 Content, A., 186
Byrnes, D., 315 Cooper, M. B., 177
Byron, E., 76 Copeland, L., 227
Coren, S., 265, 275
C Cotton, J. C., 172
Cox, A. C., 177
Cacioppo, J. T., 146, 173, 195 Cox, A. D., 147
Cahill, L., 90 Cox, D., 147
Cain, W. S., 90 Cross, D. V., 210
Cameron, M., 123 Crossen, C., 355
Campbell, R., 187, 191 Crowley, A. E., 79, 81, 132
Cannell, C. E., 171, 177, 178 Cuneo, D. O., 271, 289
Cannito, M. P., 169, 174, 175 Cupchik, G. C., 105, 111
Cantril, H., 178 Curnow, R., 164
Caramazza, A., 191 Czellar, S., 159
Cardello, A. V., 284, 368
Carmon, Z., 294 D
Cernovsky, Z. Z., 219, 220
Chaiken, S., 141 D’Hondt, W., 219, 220, 223
Chakravarti, D., 66 Dahl, D., 25, 171, 173, 174, 175, 177, 221, 224,
Chandon, P., 208, 288, 330, 331, 332, 333, 335, 242, 247, 250, 362
336, 337, 339 Dahl, D. W., 52, 53, 54, 55, 152, 364
Chandrashekar, J., 282 Dalton, P., 90, 101
Chartrand, T. L., 368 Dargie, A., 191
Chattopadhyay, A., 124, 152, 171, 173, 174, 175, Das, S., 204
177, 221, 224, 242, 247, 250, 362, 364 Daubman, K. A., 93
Chaudry, Z., 75 Davidoff, J., 343
Chebat, D. R., 82, 125, 242 Davies, B. J., 77, 364
Chebat, J., 161 Davies, I., 343
Chebat, J. C., 80, 82, 110, 124 Dawson, W. E., 289
Chen, X., 282 Day, S., 355
 Author Index 379

De Houwer, J., 315 Feldman, J. M., 344

De Mello, G. E., 139, 141, 145 Felmingham, N., 78
Dean, K. J., 172 Fessler, D. M. T., 295
Dember, W. N., 93 Firestein, S., 101
Deng, X., 260, 264, 265, 274 Fischler, C., 312
Dickson, P. R., 260 Fisher, J., 127
Didillon, H., 219, 220, 223 Fisher, J. O., 314, 315
Dilks, D. D., 90 Fisher, N., 164
Dittmar, A., 91 Fiske, J., 110
Do Vale, R. C., 292 Fitzsimons, G. J., 25, 56, 57, 58, 59, 294, 367
Dobie, K., 172 Folk, J. R., 187, 191, 192
Donovan, R. I., 123 Folkes, V. S., 49, 259, 260, 271, 288, 327, 339
Dood, G. H., 94 Fontana, F., 158
Doolittle, N., 101 Food Institute, The, 56–57
Doty, R. L., 75, 82 Forehand, M. R., 152
Doueck, E., 75 Fox, K., 111
Dravnicks, A., 87–88 Frauenfelder, U. H., 185
Driver, R., 171 Frayman, B. J., 289
Dube, L., 124, 145, 161 Frederick, S., 286, 311, 370
Dubitsky, T. M., 183 Frederickson, B., 310
DuBose, C. N., 284, 368 Frederickson, B. L., 310
Dubourdieu, D., 98 Freyberg, R., 178
Dupire, M., 120 Friesen, W. V., 170
Durlach, P., 311, 312, 314 Froming, W. J., 93
Fryar, M., 169
E
G
Eckerd, R., 98, 99
Eelen. P., 315 Gaeth, G. J., 286
Ehrlichman, H., 93, 111 Gais, S., 83
Eichenbaum, H., 91 Garbarino, E., 183
Eimer, M., 150 Garcia, P. L., 89
Ekman, P., 170 Gelinas, J., 171, 174, 175
Elder, R. S., 6, 282, 286, 370 Gelinas-Chebat, C., 171, 174, 175
Eliassen, J. C., 97 Geller, V., 170
Ellen, P. S., 79, 80 Gelman, S. A., 346
Elliott, S., 76 Ghymm, K., 219
Ellis, A. W., 187 Gibson, J. J., 18
Ello-Martin, J. A., 323 Gilad, Y., 88
Engen, E. A., 89 Gilchrist, A.242
Engen, T., 78, 88, 89, 90, 92, 99, 102 Gilot, F., 255
Epple, G., 94 Gittelman, D. R., 102
Epstein, C., 192 Glickman, G., 248
Ernst, M. O., 42 Goddard, L., 78
Essick, G. A., 65 Gohar, D., 310, 312, 313, 314
Eysenck, H. J., 220 Goldberg, E., 311, 364
Golding, M., 226
F Goldrick, M., 187, 191, 192
Goldschmidt, H., 169, 170
Fallon, A. E., 52, 58 Goode, E., 343
Fastl, H., 158 Gorang, M., 51–52
Fedorikkhin, A., 368 Gordon, R., 76
Fedoroff, I. C., 75 Gorn, G. J., 124, 146, 221, 224, 242, 247, 250,
Feldman, J., 261 362, 364
380 Author Index

Gottfried, J. A., 102 Herman, C. P., 293

Gould, A., 79 Herndon, R. T., 169
Graham, B. G., 93 Herrmann, D. J., 221, 222
Grainge, P., 242 Herz, R., 8, 125, 282
Grant, J., 172 Herz, R. S., 91, 94, 97, 98, 111, 112, 343, 345
Grayson, M. W., 149 Herz, R. W., 75, 78, 79, 81
Green, I., 172 Herzog, O., 255
Greenleaf, E., 49, 203 Hewett, K., 219, 242
Greenleaf, E. A., 254, 259 HGordon, J., 255
Greeson, J. M., 248 Hieggelke, J. B., 288, 290
Grewal, D., 368 Hillis, A. E., 191
Grier, S. A., 250 Hirsch, A. R., 111
Griggs, L., 227 Hoch, S. J., 284, 326
Grimm-Thomas, K., 314, 315 Hockett, C. E., 138
Grohmann, B., 23, 70, 80, 100, 365 Hoegg, J., 206, 284, 285, 362, 368, 370, 371
Grosjean, F., 172 Hoffman, H. J., 82
Gueguen, N., 81 Holbrook, M. B., 23, 149, 242, 254, 316
Guest, S., 159 Hold, B., 90
Guilford, J. P., 220 Hollis, J., 345
Guillot, L., 311 Holmberg. I., 289
Guiry, M., 123 Honeycutt, E. D., 255
Gunnenrod, P. K., 227 Hoon, M. A., 282
Guo, W., 282 Hornik, J., 25
Gupta, K., 288 Hoshikawa, T., 355
Gurhan,-Canli, Z., 345 Houghton, G., 187, 191, 192
Houston, M. J., 141, 183, 261
H Howard, J. D., 102
Howes, D., 112
Ha, Y. W., 284 Huang, A. L., 282
Hafter, E. R., 150 Hughes, R., 51–52
Haggerty, J., 219, 220 Hui, M. K., 124
Hague, A., 223 Hummel, T., 111
Haidt, J., 52 Hurvich, L. M., 244
Haig, B. D., 317 Hutchinson, J. W., 208, 345
Hall, E. T., 111 Hyde, R. J., 306
Haller, R., 89
Han, J. K., 143, 184 I
Hand, S., 51–52
Hanifin, J. P., 248 Inhelder, B., 288, 289
Hanko, K., 310, 312, 313, 314 Irmak, C., 294
Hardesty, D. M., 293 Isen, A., 93
Hardin, C. L., 221 Ishii, E. K., 82
Hargreaves, D. J., 161, 162 Iwawaki, S., 219, 220, 223
Harley, T. A., 185
Harris, J. E., 324 J
Harris, R. J., 157
Haugtvedt, C. P., 151 Jacobs, A. M., 185, 186, 192
Hausknecht, D., 172, 178 Jacobs, L., 219
Heckler, S. E., 141, 161, 183, 194 Jacoby, J., 260
Hedberg, J. G., 110 James, A., 65
Hellerstein, M., 78 Janiszewski, C., 49
Henderson, P. W., 79, 81, 132 Jantrania, S., 364
Henneberg, S., 89 Jaworski, B. J., 130, 193
Henry, M. L., 187, 191, 192 Johnson, B., 83–83, 102, 365, 366
 Author Index 381

Johnson, F. Jr., 90 Kunkler,-Peck, A. J., 158

Johnson, J. L., 284 Kuwano, S., 158
Johnson, R. F., 246
Jones, S. E., 64 L
Jussim. L., 245
Just, M. A., 40 LaBarbera, P., 171
Lacher, K. T., 149
K Lageat, T., 159
Lancet, D., 88
Kadohisa, M., 101 Lane, H., 172
Kahn, B. E., 82, 124, 365 Langdon, R., 191, 192
Kahn, R., 82–83 Larson, B. M., 123
Kahn. B. E., 260, 264, 265, 274 Larson, R. C., 123
Kahneman, D., 310 Larson-Powers, N., 306
Kaiser, R., 118 Larsson, M., 97
Kalat, J. W., 51 Latane, B., 53, 54
Karlsonn, I., 177 Laurent, G., 159
Kass, L., 306 Lautman, M. R., 172
Kastl, A. J., 219, 220 Lawless, H., 92
Katz, D., 17, 44 Leahy, J., 186
Katz, K. L., 123 Leckenby, J. D., 148
Kellaris, J. J., 124, 126, 128, 131, 147, 364 Leclerc, F., 145
Keller, K. L, 183 Lederman, S. J., 18, 19, 21, 22, 37, 38, 39, 40, 45,
Keller, K. L., 141 65, 69, 158
Kellner, S., 255 Ledikwe, J. H323.
Kelly, J. C., 172 LeDoux, I., 91
Kent, R. J., 124, 131, 326, 364 Lee, L., 286, 370
Keown, C., 219 Lee, Y. H., 143
Kermeen, P., 219, 220 Leeds, J., 162
Kidwell, B., 293 Lehman, M. E., 171, 175, 177
Kikuchi, H., 177 Lennard, D., 324
Kim, D., 162 Lerman, D., 193
Kirk-Smith, M. D., 94, 111 Levin, I. P., 286
Kisielius, J., 261, 361 Levine, R., 162
Klarman, L. A., 87–88 Lewicka, A., 222
Klatsky, R. L., 18, 19, 21, 22, 37, 38, 39, 40, 45, Lewis, M. M., 345
65, 69 Liberman, N., 53
Klein, N. M., 259, 260, 261 Lichtle, M. C., 242
Klein, R. M., 260 Lin, M., 44
Klink, R. R., 139, 140 Lin, Y. C., 211
Knasko, S. C., 82, 93, 125, 365 Lindemann, B., 282
Koch-Brinkmann, U., 255 Livingstone, M. B. E., 333
Kooijman, D., 77, 364 LKlassen. M. I., 157
Koster, E. P., 89 Loken, B., 345
Kotler, P., 76, 123 Loken, L. S., 36
Kottl, J., 255 Lott, I. T., 89
Krauss, R. M., 17–, 169, 177, 178 Lowenstein, G., 311
Krider, R., 271, 289 Lowrey, T. M., 139, 183
Krider, R. E., 324, 339 Ludden, G. D. S., 158–159
Krishna, A., 6, 27, 49, 63, 78, 81, 144, 208, 210, Luna, D., 144, 194
212, 259, 260, 271, 275, 282, 283, Lutz, R., 49
285, 286, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, Lutz, R. J., 125
324, 325, 326, 328, 338, 339, 349, Lwin, M. O., 78, 81
362, 370, 371, 372 Lynch, J., 49
382 Author Index

Lynch, J. G., 344 Mennella, J. A., 89

Lynch, J. Jr., 261 Menon, G., 158, 183, 211, 344, 364
Metzger, V. A., 19, 38
M Meyer, L. B., 148, 343
Meyers-Levy, J., 142, 148, 176, 183, 203, 213,
MacInnis, D. J., 130, 147, 193, 261, 361 242, 245
MacLachlan, J., 171–172, 176 Michon, R., 110, 125
MacTurk, R. H., 82 Michotte, A., 268
Madden, T. J., 219, 242 Mick, D. G., 193
Magi, A. W., 123 Miller, N., 171
Mainland, J., 82–83, 102, 365, 366 Miller, R. R., 88
Maller, O., 284, 368 Milliman, R. E., 123, 149, 160, 161
Man, O., 88 Millman, L., 50, 55, 56
Mandel, N., 292 Millot, J. L., 365, 366
Mandler, G., 99 Mishkin, M., 90
Manis, M., 345 Mitchell, D. J., 82, 125, 365
Mantel, S. P., 126, 128, 364 Mitchell, V.-W., 324
Margolis, L., 316 Miyake, K., 171
Markman, E. M., 346 Mizerski, R., 149
Markowilsch, H. J., 90 Moncreiff, R. W., 90
Markwith, M., 53, 323 Monroe, K., 368
Martin, G. N., 75, 79 Montagu, A., 17
Martin, I. M., 288 Moore, B. S., 93
Maruyama, G., 171 Moore, D. L., 172, 178
Matilla, A. S., 79, 82, 100 Moorman, C., 193, 259
Matta, S., 49, 259, 260, 271, 327, 339 Mooy, S. C., 49
Matula, D. E., 21, 39, 40 Morales, A. C., 25, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59,
Mauss, M., 50 292, 367
Maxwell, B. A., 245 Morgan, S. E., 193
McCabe, D. B., 23, 27, 49, 64, 151 Morganosky, M., 286
McCarthy, K. E., 172 Morrin, M., 27, 71, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 124, 125,
McCauley, C., 52, 53, 82, 305, 366 126, 242, 285, 365, 370, 371, 372
McDonnell, J., 161 Morris, K. J., 195
McFaydn, W., 163 Morris, M. W., 144
McGaugh, J. L., 90 Morris, S., 161, 163
McGill, A. L., 260, 361 Morrot, G., 98
McGlone, F., 36 Morsella, E., 178
McGlone, F. P., 65 Moskowitz, H. R., 87–88
McGoldrick, P., 324 Muhar, I. S., 221
McGregor, J., 76 Mui, Y. Q., 76
McKendrick, J., 161, 162 Mulligan, Z., 75
McKnight, D., 295 Murphy, G. L., 345
McManus, I. C., 265 Mussweiler, T., 326, 327
McMillan, D., 290 Mwamwenda, T., 219, 220, 223
McPherson, D., 89 Myers, V., 169
McQuarrie, E. F., 193, 203, 204, 208, 209
Medin, D. L., 345 N
Mefferd, R. B. Jr., 261
Megehee, C. M., 172 Nakamura, S., 158
Mehrabian, A., 77, 123, 169, 220 Namba, S., 158
Mehrabian, J., 221 Navarette, C. D., 295
Meigs, A. S., 50 Nelson, T. E., 345
Meiselman, H., 310 Nemeroff, C., 50, 55, 56
Menashe. I., 88 Nemeroff, C. J., 50, 55
 Author Index 383

Nestle, M., 287, 288, 343 Perry, C., 191, 192

Netemeyer, R. G., 326 Peterson, R. A., 169, 174, 175
Newhouse, M. G., 82 Petr, C., 81
Newman, S. D., 40, 139 Petrova, P. K., 6, 361–362
Niit, T., 222 Petty, R. E., 146, 173, 195
Nisbett, R. E., 119, 234 Pfanner, E., 76
Nixon, C., 75 Piaget. J., 288, 289
Nordin, S., 111 Pierce, J. D., Jr., 101
North, A. C., 161, 162 Pieters, R., 207, 209, 259, 261, 292
North, J., 306 Pinker, S., 157
Nowicki, G. P., 93 Plailly, J., 102
Nowlis, S. M., 23, 27, 49, 64, 151, 287, 292, 370 Pliner, P., 310
Nuckolls, J. B., 138, 139 Point of Purchase Advertising Institute, 259
Pollmer, U., 89
O Porac, C., 265, 275
Porter, J., 82–83, 102, 365, 366
O’Hare, C. B., 343 Posner, M. I., 26–
O’Reilly, I., 51–52 Pouliot, S., 82–83
Oakes, S., 157 Prescott, J., 284
Oguchi, T., 177 Price, L., 361
Ohala, J., 174 Price, L. L., 261
Oksenberg, L., 171, 177, 178 Priester, J. R., 345
Olausson, H., 36 Pring, L., 78
Olivia, T. A., 254 Profusek. P. J., 223
Olsen, J. C., 260 Proust, M., 92
Olson, C., 170 Puffer, E. D., 266, 268, 270, 271
Ordebayeva, N., 333, 339 Pulivy, J., 293
Ornstein, R. E., 124
Osgood, C. E., 219, 223, 242 R
Otaduy, M., 44
Ottavani, L., 158 Radio Advertising Bureau, 169
Ottenberg, M. D., 89 Raghubir, P., 49, 203, 204, 208, 210, 211, 214,
Ozanne, J. L., 259 259, 271, 288, 289, 290, 324, 326, 327,
339, 344, 349, 362, 371
P Rainey, D. W., 223
Rapp, B., 187, 191, 192
Painter, J., 345 Rapscak. S., 187, 191, 192
Painter, J. E., 288, 290 Rasch, B., 83
Pan, Y., 143, 145, 157 Rastle, C., 191, 192
Pangborn, R. M., 306, 314 Ratliff, E., 236
Parasuraman, R., 93, 111 Ratneshwar, S., 79, 81, 82, 124, 125, 126, 365
Park, C. W., 66, 147 Ray, M. L., 288, 290
Park, S., 286, 288 Raybeck, D., 221, 222
Patterson, M. Q., 367 Reed, C., 38, 39
Pavio, A., 260 Reichert, T., 193
Payne, C. R., 306 Remick. A. R., 312
Pearce, W. B., 171 Rencher, A. C., 170, 171
Peck, J., 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 43, 44, 49, 63, 65, 71, Revesz, G., 18
82, 283, 285, 363, 364, 367, 368, 371 Richardson, P. S., 260
Pelchat, M. L., 315 Rigg, M. G., 148
Penrod. J. P., 172, 176 Riklis, J., 316
Peracchio, L. A., 142, 144, 203, 242, 245 Ringberg, T., 144
Perkins, A., 152 Ritchie, R. J. B., 152, 171, 173, 174, 175, 177, 364
Perkins, C., 223 Robben, H. S. J., 49
384 Author Index

Roberson, D., 343 Scitovsky, T., 313

Robin, O., 91 Scott, L. M., 147, 148, 157
Rocchesso, D., 158 Scott, M. L., 292
Rode, E., 311 Seeger, A., 112
Rogers, R. D., 172, 176 Sengupta, I., 124, 224
Rolls, B. J., 75, 323 Sexton, S., 246
Rolls, E. T., 11, 93 Seymour, P. H. K., 192
Romer, R., 289 Shafer, S. A., 245
Rosa, J. A., 324 Shahin, K. N., 152, 171, 173, 174, 175, 177, 364
Rossano, M. J., 19 Shapley. R., 255
Rossiter, J. R., 123 Sharf, D. J., 171, 175, 177
Roth, D, A, 293 Sheehan, P. W.
Roth, M. S., 219, 242 Sheikh, A., 361
Rotkin, L., 210 Shiv, B., 287, 294, 368, 370
Rotton, J., 93 Shrum, L. J., 139, 183
Roubin, L. A., 119 Shu, S., 24
Roulet, N., 89 Siegel, M. H., 171–172, 176
Rozin, A., 311 Siegel, R. E., 17
Rozin, P., 10, 11, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 58, 82, Simner, J., 296
284, 305, 307, 308, 310, 311, 312, 313, Simonson, A., 227
314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 323, 366 Simonson, I., 144
Rucker, M., 51–52 Sliney, D., 248
Rummel, C., 89 Slotnick, B. M., 93
Russell, C. A., 150 Small, D. M., 284
Russell, J. A., 77, 123, 221, 222 Smith, B. L., 171
Russell, j. A., 220 Smith, P. C., 164
Russo, J. E., 259 Snell, J., 310
Ryan, E. B., 171 Sobel, N., 82–83
Soffin, S., 345
S Song, H., 213
Sonka, S., 286
Saito, M., 219, 224 Souza, T., 97
Salame, P. H. K., 191 Spangenberg, E., 128, 161, 364
Sapir, E., 138 Spangenberg, E. R., 23, 49, 70, 79, 81, 100, 132,
Sattely-Miller, E. A., 93 365, 368
Sawyer, A., 49 Spence, C., 151, 159, 284, 371
Sawyer, A. G., 260 Sprott, D. E., 23, 70, 80, 100, 365
Schandler, S. L., 221 Staelin, R., 259
Schankler, C. 94 Stamatogiannakis, A., 362
Schauss, A. G., 223 Stangor, C., 290
Scherer, K. R., 170 Staplin, L. J., 259
Schifferstein, H. N. J., 158–159 Staw, B. M., 93
Schiffman, S. S., 93 Steenkamp, J. F. M., 247
Schiller, D., 316 Steer, M. D., 172
Schindler, R. M., 316 Stein, M., 89
Schleidt, M., 90 Stein, T., 289
Schlinger, M. R. J., 172 Steinberg. S., 287
Schmidt, H. J., 89 Stellin, S., 76
Schmitt, B., 227 Stem, D. E., 26, 49, 368
Schmitt, B. H., 143, 144, 145, 157, 345 Sternthal, B., 147, 261, 361
Scholler, J. W., 97 Stevens, J. C., 367
Schumann, D., 146 Stevens, S. S., 324
Schutz, H. G., 307, 308 Stewart, M., 171
Schwarz, N., 213, 235, 344 Stone, G. O., 185, 186, 192
 Author Index 385

Stoner, S. A., 75 Unnava, H. R., 151

Stout, P., 148 Urvashi, 221
Streeter, J. A., 17–, 169, 177
Strong, W. J., 170, 171 V
Sturm, R. E., 157
Suggs, M. S., 93 Valbo, A. B., 36
Sullivan, R. M., 89 Valdez, P., 221
Svoboda, E., 75 Valentine, T., 345
Synnott, A., 112 Valenzuela, A., 214
Szeminska, A., 288, 289 Valone, K., 171
Van Der Elst, G., 220, 223
T Van Ittersum, K., 259, 345, 362
van Ittersum, K., 289
Tainturier, M. J., 192 Van Lier, R., 247
Tanz, C., 139 Van Toller, C., 94
Tavassoli, N. T., 143, 145, 157, 184, 213, 219 Vandewiele, M., 219, 220, 223
Taylor, S., 311 Vann, J. W., 172, 176
Teague, S. L., 187, 191, 192 Verge, C. G., 289
Techtsoonian, M., 289 Verhoef, P. C., 149
Thamodarn, K., 172, 178 Vernet-Mauri, E., 91
Thayer, R. E., 226 Villemure, C., 93
Thein, R. D., 65 Viswanathan, M., 63, 324
Thomas, G. P., 169 Vlahos, J., 76
Thomas, S., 315 von Clef, J., 98
Thompson, T. G., 323
Thorndyke, P. W., 271 W
Thronton, A., 164
Tracy, D. L., 80, 100, 365 Wagemans, J., 247
Trankner, D., 282 Walker, R., 184
Treisman, M., 124 Wallace, W. T., 157
Tripathi, S., 124, 224 Wansink, B., 259, 286, 288, 289, 290, 306, 326,
Trope, Y., 53, 141 330, 331, 332, 335, 336, 337, 339,
Turin, L., 101 345, 362
Turley, I. W., 123 Ward, J., 296
Turvey, M. T., 158 Ward, P., 77, 364
Tybout, A. M., 142 Warlop, L., 261
Tyler, L. K., 185 Warm, J. S., 93
Tylor, E. B., 50 Warren, D. H., 19
Tyzoon, T., 211 Warrenburg, S., 111
Waskett, L., 81
U Wasserman, E. A., 88
Wattenberg, S., 169, 170
U. S. Department of Labor: Occupational Webb, J. B., 101
Safety and Health Administration, Weber, E. H., 17
164 Wedel, M., 207, 209
Uchida, H., 158 Weitz, B., 49
Uhl, K. P., 285, 370 Welkowitz, J., 169, 170
Underhill, P., 51, 52 Weson, E., 253
Underwood, B., 93 Wessberg, J., 36
Underwood, R. L., 259, 260, 261 White, D., 226
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Wiegersma, S., 219, 220
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Wieland, B. A., 265
109 Wiggins, J., 23, 24, 63, 65, 71
386 Author Index

Wilde, A. D., 151 Young, L. R., 287, 288, 343

Willander, J., 97 Young, N., 82–83
Williams, J. M., 17 Young, S. H., 208
Wilson, D. D., 101 Young, S. M., 146
Wirtz, J., 79, 82, 100
Witherly, S. A., 306 Z
Wolf, S., 53
Wolfflin, H., 259 Zajonc, R. B., 314
Worthley, R., 219 Zampini, M., 151, 159, 284, 371
Wright, T. A., 93 Zauberman, G., 312
Wrzesniewski, A., 82, 305, 315, 366 Zeelenberg. M., 259, 292
Wunsche, R., 255 Zeithaml, V., 261
Wysocki, C. J., 101 Zelano, C., 82–83, 102, 365, 366
Zellner, D. A., 98, 99
Y Zhang, S., 144, 285, 338, 345
Zhou, R., 285, 338
Yalch, R. F., 128, 161, 287, 364 Zhu, R., 148, 176, 213
Yang, S., 259 Ziegler, J., 185, 186, 191, 192
Yi, T., 221, 224, 242, 247, 250, 362 Zorzi, M., 187, 191, 192
Yorkston, E., 139, 141, 145, 158, 183, 364 Zuckerman, M., 171
 Subject Index

A sound of, 195

spelling issues, 185–186, 187, 189–190,
Adams, Ansel, 253 190–193
Advertising. See also Sensory marketing taste, impact on perceived, 285–286
format of, 203–204 visual element, 183
geometric shapes used in, 203 Branding, sensory signature of, 4–5. See also
monochromatic images in. See Brand names
Monochrome images in advertising
music in. See Music in advertising
perception biases, 209–210 C
presentation of statistics in, 204–205 Code switching, 144–145
spokespersons’ voice. See Voice, human Color
taste, impact on perceived, 286 advertising, use in, 206–207
worldwide broadcast expenditures, 169 art movements, associated with, 247
Ambient sounds, 160. See also Music, case study, hue preferences, 223–226,
background 227–230, 232–234
Analog timing model, 272 cross-cultural preferences, 206–207,
Ancillary sounds 223–226
consumption context, 164–165 excitation, colors linked to, 224–225
incongruence, 159 feelings, link to liking, 221–222
inseparable from product usage, 364 hue, link to feelings, 220–221
pitch, 159 hue, prominence of, 223
predictions made regarding, 158–159 neurophysiological model of emotional
Anosmia, 75 response to, 220
Arousal, sensory, 6 occasion-linked by culture, 227, 229, 230,
Auditory sense 232
mental lexicon, relationship between, relaxation, colors linked to, 224–225
185–186 similarities in color preferences, 220, 221,
multisensory experience, as part of, 222, 235
150–151, 160 taste, relationship between, 284
processing, 8, 151, 184, 185 versus monochrome use in advertising. See
purchase process, during consumer, 21. See Monochrome images in advertising
also Music, background Comfort-joy distinction, 313–314
Auxiliary sounds, 164 Consumer behavior
atmospheric elements, relationship
B between, 132
food-related. See Food
Benign masochism, 315–315 haptic sense, influence of, 366–367
Bilingual marketing, 143–144 incidental touch, 59–60
Brand names language, influence of, 142–143
alphabetic-based, 184 monochrome images in advertising as a
auditory exposure to, 183–184 preference type, 254–255
global marketing factors, 143 packaging, influence of, 259
language used in, 141–142, 145 scent marketing, effect of, 79, 80, 123
logographic processing, 184, 196 smell, impact of, 21, 78–82, 365
mental lexicon, role of in auditory visual perception, influence of, 21–22, 213,
processing, 185–186 362
music, influence of, 146 Consumer contamination, theory of, 52–53. See
nonword names, 192–193, 195 also Contagion, law of

387
388 Subject Index

Contagion, law of pantry inventory estimation, 332–333, 334f

anthropological history, 50–51 piecemeal estimation of quantity, 328–329
consumer contamination, theory of, 52–53 portion sizes, 287–288, 328, 329
disgust, relationship between, 52–54 preferences, origins of, 314–316
overall negative impact of, 51–52 quantity, 323–324
positive effects, 55–56 restaurant meal estimation, 330–332
product evaluation, effect on, 51 sensory pleasure of, 309–312
variations in, 54–55 social aspect to, 293–294
Cultural differences in sensory responses, 8, 11 supersizing phenomenon, 323
bilingual marketing, 143–144 taboo foods, 294, 295
case study, scents, 113, 115–116 visual bias in consumption, 288, 289–290t
code switching, 144–145 visual salience, 328, 329–330
color responses. See Color Force-feedback devices, 45–46
context, role of, 112
definition of culture, 109 G
global branding, 143
high emotive contexts, scents, 114t, Gestalt theory of attention, 273
116–117, 118–119 Grisaille, 252
low emotive contexts, scents, 114t, 117–118
overview, 109 H
pleasure responses, 312–314
scents, impact on perception of, 83, 90, Haptic product evaluation
111–112. See also Scent marketing affective-based, 70–71
drivers, underlying, 70–71
D exploratory procedures, case study, 66–69
exploratory procedures, relationship
Durer, Albrecht, 254 between, 65
informational, 70–71
E NFT scale, relationship between, 65–66
salience of product, 64, 68–69
Exploratory procedures, 19 self-report measures, 63, 64
lateral, 65 Haptic sense, 7
static contact, 65 active exploration, 38
unsupported holding, 65 aesthetics-elicited touch, 43
compulsive, 43
F consumers, impact on, 366–367
cutaneous, 34
Fish spa, 1–2, 6 exploratory procedures, 37–38
Food. See also Taste hedonic touch, 22, 23–25, 43
association-based bias in quantity historical prominence of, 17–18
estimating, 325–326, 327–328, 336 imagery, relationship between, 24–25
caloric intake, 336 importance, 17
consumption, perceived versus actual, incidental touch. See Incidental touch
287–288, 290–291 individual differences in, 25–27
cross-cultural differences, 295, 297 informational touch, 22–23, 42
emotions, relationship between, 293 input to perceptual system, 18
estimating quantity, 324–324, 324–326, instrumental touch, 20–22
328–329, 339t interaction with other senses, 211, 212–213
food portion estimation, 333, 335–336 kinesthetic, 34
health associations, 336, 338 marketing-based definition, 18
individual differences in perception of, 305 motivation to touch, 28f, 367–368
labels, impact on consumption, 291–292 neurophysiological process, 34–36
marketing, 297 nondiagnostic touch-related cues, 27, 29
mythical elements of, 294–295 object perception via, 19
 Subject Index 389

product evaluation, role in. See Haptic Mechnoreceptors, 35

product evaluation Memory, 9
receptors of, 34–36 scent associations, 96–97
simulation, for marketing, 44–46 scent, enhanced by, 81
socially-elicited touch, 43 Monochrome images in advertising
sorting tasks, 41–42 cognitive processing, 245–246
specialization as a sense, 39–41 consumer preferences, 254–255
static contact, 37–38 cultural meaning, 243–244, 248
taste, relationship between, 285 form, influence on perception of, 251–253
taxonomy of touch in consumer behavior, mood, influence on, 242–243, 247–248
20f nostalgia, 241, 242–243
versus other senses, 18–19 overview, 241–242
versus vision, 39–42 perception of, in terms of sophistication,
volume, perception of, 290–291 249–251
Hockney, David, 252 photography, 252–253
reasons for use, 243
I research potential, 246–247, 248–249, 251,
253–254, 255–256
Incidental touch versus color use, 244
consumer behavior, influence on, 59–60 Music in advertising. See also Music,
consumer contagion, 50, 57 background
contagion, law of. See Contagion, law of attention, for attracting consumers’, 146
observational, 49–50 background in ads, 146–147, 148–149
product contagion, 56–57, 58–59 brand perceptions, 146
visual component, 59 congruent, 147
Information storage model, 272 cross-promotional tool, as, 163
incongruent, 147
K jingles, 147–148
mood setting, 148
Komen, Susan G., 5 Music, background
advertising, in. See Music in advertising
L case study, paired with ambient scent,
126–131
Language conception of time, impact on, 124–125
bilingual marketing factors, 143–144 consumer behavior, impact on, 149–150
brand names, 141–142, 145 consumer mood, impact on, 124–125
code-switching, 144–145 crime, impact on, 163–164
consistent mapping, 186, 187 demographics, target, 162–163
consumer processes, influence on, 142–143 familiarity, 363–364
deep, 186 music type, 160–161
global marketing factors, 143 shopping experiences, 146
marketing communications, used in, tempo, 160–161
142–143 volume, 164
meaning, relaying, 141
sound symbolism. See Sound symbolism N
spelling. See Spelling
Need for touch (NFT) scale, 25–26, 44
M haptic product evaluation, 67, 70t
influence on exploratory procedures, 65–66
Marketing, bilingual, 143–144 Neurons, 34–36
Marketing, product, 3–4 Neuroscience
Marketing, scent. See Scent marketing olfactory sense, 90–91
Marketing, sensory. See Sensory marketing psychology, relationship between, 10–11
Matisse, Henri, 254 receptor adaptation, 101
390 Subject Index

receptors, olfactory, 101 spatial depth, conveying, 266–268

receptors, touch. See Receptors, touch Supersizing, 343
three-dimensions, conveying visually,
O 262–263, 274
time, conveying, 262–263
Olfactory sense, 8 two-dimensions, conveying visually, 262,
associative learning theory of, 89–90 263–266
attention, impact on, 365–366 visual weight perceptions, 262–263, 273,
brain synaptical transmission, 90–91 275
cleanliness, scents associated with, 115–116 volume, perceived, 271–272
congruence, 365 weight, conveying, 261–262
consumer behavior, effect on, 78–82, 365 Phonetic symbolism, 8
consumer purchase process, during, 21 Picasso, Pablo, 254
detection threshold, 101–102 Pleasure Arousal Dominance (PAD) Emotional
emotions, impact on, 95–96, 102–103, Scale, 127
110–111 Product evaluation, haptic influence on. See
flavor perception, influence on, 75 Haptic product evaluation
human behavior, influence on, 75, 94 Product marketing, 3–4, 4
illusions, 98–99 Product packaging. See Packaging, product
infants and babies, in, 111 Proust, Marcel, 81, 96
innate preferences, 88
learned preferences, 78, 87–88, 89–90 R
loss of, 75
memory, relationship between, 81, 96–97 Receptor adaptation, 101
mood, impact on, 93–94 Receptors, olfactory, 101
neuroscience of, 90–91 Receptors, touch
odor-associated learning, 91–93, 94–95 adaptation of, 36–37
perception of scents, 78, 93–94 delivery mechanism, as, 36
personal meaning of scents, 111 description, 34–35
receptor adaptation, 101 discontinuities in, 36
recognition, 77 distribution, 36
scent marketing. See Scent marketing fields of, 35–36
slowness of, 100 marketing relevance, 36, 37
synthetic sense, 101 mechanoreceptors, 35
taste, relationship between, 284
S
P
Scent marketing. See also Olfactory sense
Packaging, product advertising and sales promotion efforts, 76
area, perceived, 271–272 ambient scent, 76–77, 80, 123, 126
attention, attracting, 259, 261 case study, ambient scent paired with
balance points, visual, 265–266 background music, 126–131
case study, labels for size, 346, 349, congruent scents, 81–82, 83, 99–100
350–351, 352–353 consumer evaluation, effect on, 79–80
consumer decisions based on, 259 consumer mood, effect on, 79, 123
graphic design, 260–262 consumer spending, influence on, 80
imagery, 259–260, 274 cross-cultural differences, 83
labels, 291–292 impulsivity, impact on, 82
labels, size, 343–346, 352–353 incongruent scents, 81
movement, conveying, 268, 270–271 individual consumer differences, 82
shape, influence on perception, 272–273 odor-associated manipulations, 99
size adjectives, 349, 350–351 overview, 75–77
size of packages, influence on consumption, primary product attributes, 76
292, 343–344 S-O-R theoretical framework, 77
 Subject Index 391

secondary product attributes, 76 Spokespersons’ voice. See Voice, spokesperson

storage-size time model, influence on, 126 Susan G. Komen Foundation, pink ribbon of, 5
time spent in environment, influence on, Synesthesia, 296
81, 123, 125, 126
Sensory marketing. See also specific senses T
development of, 2–4
food. See Food Taste. See also Food
imagery, 6 aversions, 314–315
pleasure, appealing to, 309, 368–369 benign masochism, 315–315
psychology, applying, 316–319 brand name, influence of, 285–286
research difficulties, 11–12 buds, 282
sense, emphasizing a particular, 6 color, relationship between, 284
signature, sensory, 4–5 context, 306–307
versus “no nonsense” marketing, 3 cultural influences on, 307–308
Sensory perception extrinsic cues, 287, 370
comforts, 313–314 haptics, relationship between, 285
multisensory perceptions, 371–372 individual differences, 305, 368–369, 370
overview, 283–284 ingredients’ listings, influence of, 286–287
pleasure, 308–309 intrinsic cues, 287, 369
taste and color, relationship between, 284 precursors to sensation, 305–306
taste and haptics, relationship between, 285 preferences, origins of, 314–316
taste and smell, relationship between, 284 saltiness, 314
taste and sound, relationship between, senses, combination of five, 282–283,
284–285 295–296, 304–305
Sensory, definition of, 1 smell, relationship between, 284
Sensual, definition of, 1 sound, relationship between, 284–285
Social psychology, 317–319 sweetness, 314
Sound Touch. See Haptic sense
ambient. See Ambient sounds Touch, incidental. See Incidental touch
ancillary. See Ancillary sounds
incongruence, 159 V
overview, 138–139, 157
physical properties, relationship between, Vision
158–159 shape sorting, 41
size, relationship between, 157 specialization as a sense, 39–41
symbolism. See Sound symbolism versus touch, 39–42
taste, relationship between, 284–285 Visual perception, 8–9
Sound symbolism attention, 207–208
brand names, analysis of, 139, 140t behavior, relationship between, 214–215
overview, 138–139 color cues, 206–207, 361
product perceptions, relationship between, consumer purchase process, during, 21–22,
139, 141 213, 362
size, correlation to, 158 eye movements and tracking, 207–208
Spatial perception, 9 format cues, 203–204
Spelling geometric cues, 203
brand name issues. See Brand names goals of visual cues, 205–206
consistent mapping, 186, 187 imagery, 207, 361–362
deep languages, 186 inferences, effect on, 213–214
instant messaging, impact of, 190, 194 interaction with other sense, 211, 212–213
lexical, 187–188, 191, 193–194, 195–196 model of, 202f
phoneme-grapheme conversion, 188–189, neural activation, 207, 208–209
191–192 overview, 201–202
sublexical, 188–189, 191–192, 195 salience of visual cues, 362–363
text messaging, impact of, 190, 194 spatial judgment, 209–210
392 Subject Index

statistical cues, 204–205 gender of spokespersons, impact on

stimuli, categorization of, 202 marketing, 177, 178
structural cues, 206 intonation, 174–175
temporal cues, 205 judgments made by others regarding, 170
Voice, human listener reactions to spokespersons, 177–179
advertising, syllable speed recommended persuasiveness of, 170–171
for, 172–173 pitch, 170, 171, 174, 175
context, 175–177 rate of speech, 171–174
energy conveyed with, 178 spokespersons’, 169–170, 173–174
fundamental frequency, 170–171 technological manipulation, 175
 Heavy Locations: Bottom and Right Light Locations: Top and Left

Figure 17.1â•… Two-dimensional space.

 Product image (cereal bar) is
brought to the foreground by The product image (cereal) is
moving out of the flat 2- in the foreground and the
dimensional plane and adding cartoons are in the
cartoon figures to the background.
background.

The product image (large These milk cartons

tomato) is closer to the create spatial depth
foreground on the left by adding a vista.
and more to the
background on the right
through the use of
layered graphic elements.

Figure 17.2â•… Examples of spatial depth on packages.

 Left: Direction product
Product image image (chili) is to the
(cereal) moves front and left.
out of the facade. Right: Direction product
image (sliced meat) is to
the back and to the right.

Product image (cereal)

Product image (cereal)
moves up.
moves up and to the
right.

Movement of Product
image (pancakes) in and of
itself can add visual weight. Movement of Product
image (cereal) in and
of itself can add visual
weight.

Figure 17.3â•… Examples of movement and direction on packaging.