Tag: consumer behavior

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You Might Give a Wrong Answer Just to Demonstrate Your Truthfulness

When research participants were asked to publicly identify words shown on a screen, those whose vision had been blocked nevertheless sometimes disagreed with those who had been able to see the screen–in fact, they disagreed at least 27% of the time, says a team led by Bert H. Hodges of Gordon College and the University of Connecticut. Why did they intentionally make statements that everyone knew to be wrong? Out of a desire to honestly communicate their own ignorance, the researchers say. The findings demonstrate that human interactions aren’t always guided by simplistic parameters such as accuracy or even conformity; sometimes, people make surprising choices in order to convey such internal values as truthfulness.

SOURCE: Speaking From Ignorance: Not Agreeing With Others We Believe Are Correct

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Why You Spend More Hours at Work When Your Relationship Is Going Well

Do people in bad relationships escape to the relative sanctity of the office and devote more time to work, as has been hypothesized? Just the opposite, says a team led by Dana Unger of the University of Mannheim in Germany. People put more time in at work when their intimate relationships are going well, cutting back in order to invest in their relationships when things aren’t smooth at home, the researchers found in a diary study of 154 dual-earner couples. A healthy relationship at home gives people emotional, cognitive, and physical vigor, which allows them to put in more hours at work.

customer
SOURCE: A question of time: Daily time allocation between work and private life

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Customers Are Willing to Pay More When They’re Warm

Shoppers on a popular web portal were about 46% more likely to go to a “To Purchase” page when the daily temperature averaged 25 degrees Celsius (77 Fahrenheit) than when it averaged 20 degrees (68F), say Yonat Zwebner of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Leonard Lee of Columbia, and Jacob Goldenberg of the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel. The researchers also found that people in a warm room were willing to pay more than those in a cool room for 9 of 11 consumer items shown to them, and other participants were willing to pay 36% more for items when holding warm, versus cool, therapeutic pads. Exposure to physical warmth activates the concept of emotional warmth, eliciting positive reactions and increasing product valuation, the researchers say.

SOURCE: The Temperature Premium: Warm Temperatures Increase Product Valuation

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Multiscreening Is Not All About TV in the UK

Multiscreening, or dividing attention between more than one screen, is an established phenomenon amongst consumers, and it’s often considered to be the use of a laptop or smart mobile device while watching TV. Switching between screens is already a distraction for TV watchers, but research from the Internet Advertising Bureau UK indicated that around one-third of multiscreening among UK smartphone owners did not involve the TV at all.

Of the 34% of multiscreening that did not involve the TV, more than half took place between a smartphone and laptop, although this dropped significantly for those 55 and older. Over one-quarter of respondents used a desktop computer while using their smartphone; this was higher for males, at 33%. One-fifth of non-TV multiscreening took place between a smartphone and tablet, which increased to one-quarter amongst parents. With internet TV now becoming more and more prevalent, and video driving ad revenues for digital publishers, users may be watching TV on their laptop, desktop or tablet and then second-screening with a smartphone.

Still, the most popular “connected” device to use simultaneously with TV is neither the smartphone nor the tablet, but the laptop. Deloitte research released in September 2013 suggested that more than nine in 10 UK internet users used a laptop at least weekly while watching TV, compared with 89% and 83% who used a smartphone or tablet, respectively. For daily users, the laptop was still the leader, with nearly six in 10 using such a device as they viewed TV each day.

How to have your own TV Show

Read more at http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Multiscreening-Not-All-About-TV-UK/1010584#C33pXLSGgFZ05P7M.99

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Why It Might Not Be a Good Idea to Tackle Moral Issues in the Afternoon

Le’ts negotiate in the morning folks!

In a series of experiments, Maryam Kouchaki of Harvard and Isaac H. Smith of the University of Utah found that people were 20% to 50% more likely to lie, cheat, or be otherwise dishonest in the afternoon than in the morning. The experience of ordinary activities over the course of the day appears to gradually deplete people’s ability to regulate themselves, an effect that’s most pronounced for those who are the most honest. Organizations might do well to be particularly vigilant in the afternoon about combating customers’ or employees’ unethical behaviors, the researchers say.

negotiation skillsnegotiation skills
SOURCE: The Morning Morality Effect: The Influence of Time of Day on Unethical Behavior

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To Detect a Lie, Don’t Think About It

Research participants who did puzzles for 3 minutes after hearing a series of true and false statements were about 6 times better than other people at figuring out which of the statements had been lies, according to a team led by Marc-André Reinhard of the University of Mannheim in Germany. The finding suggests that unconscious thinking (like the kind you do when you’re working a puzzle) gives people a chance to integrate the rich, complex information needed for accurate lie detection, and it supports a theory that deception judgments are largely driven by intuitions that may be inaccessible to the conscious mind, the researchers say.

liar

SOURCE: Unconscious Processes Improve Lie Detection

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Upward Mobility Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

A study of hundreds of low-income American youths shows that at age 19, those who had been rated as diligent and academically successful were less healthy than peers who had been labeled aggressive, difficult, and isolated, a team led by Gregory E. Miller of Northwestern University writes in The New York Times. Highly motivated people from low-income backgrounds often feel tremendous internal pressure to succeed, but behaving diligently all the time may leave them feeling exhausted and sapped of willpower, and they may let their health fall by the wayside, the researchers say.

SOURCE: Can Upward Mobility Cost You Your Health?

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Exercise Sparks Creative Thinking

Have you ever hit a creative roadblock? Exercise might be the answer to overcoming mental blocks, according to a new study. The findings, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, revealed that people who exercise regularly are better at creative thinking compared to those who do not exercise.

exercise-heart

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Why We Hate to Give the Same Gift to Multiple People

In an experiment, a majority of people with two gift options gave each of two recipients different gifts, even though one of the presents was clearly less appealing than the other and the giftees had no way of comparing them. People persist in giving different gifts to different recipients in an attempt to be thoughtful by treating each person as a unique individual, write Mary Steffel of the University of Cincinnati and Robyn A. LeBoeuf of the University of Florida. The effect was attenuated when givers were encouraged to focus more on what the recipients would really like.

xmas gift

SOURCE: Overindividuation in Gift Giving: Shopping for Multiple Recipients Leads Givers to Choose Unique but Less Preferred Gifts

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Don’t Give Consumers Too Many Visual Choices

Online shoppers love seeing images of products, but when the number of choices is high, visuals become confusing and presentation of the options in text form helps consumers make better decisions, say Claudia Townsend of the University of Miami and Barbara E. Kahn of The Wharton School. A high number of visual options can also prompt consumers to give up trying to choose: Asked to select among 27 types of crackers, participants in an experiment were 5 times more likely to pick “none of the above” if the choices were presented visually rather than in words. Text prompts a slower, more systematic mental-processing style, the researchers say.

buying strategy

SOURCE: The “Visual Preference Heuristic”: The Influence of Visual versus Verbal Depiction on Assortment Processing, Perceived Variety, and Choice Overload