Given the Time and the Money to Think, Consumers will Rely more on Intuition, Sensations, and Emotions, rather than Rationale, to Decide

Francisco J Quevedo

doi:10.21467/ajss.6.1.38-47

Authors

Francisco J Quevedo Lubin School of Business, Pace University, New York

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21467/ajss.6.1.38-47

Abstract

The weight of intuitive, sensory, emotional, and rational criteria in consumer decision making has been debated for ages, we could say. The rational model dominated Marketing all through the 20^th Century, but on the onset of the new millennium, the case has been made, and strongly so, for a more integrated view of consumer behavior, that allows for, if you will, the rationalization of emotional conducts. In this paper, we present the results of an experiment that shows that purchases are not all that rational, and that –indeed– given the time, and the money to think it through, consumers will paradoxically rely more on their intuition, their emotions and sensations, that is, on feelings over rational criteria, to arrive at a purchase decision. This experiment manipulated two variables, time and money, using a convenience sample of undergraduate students in three classes of Pace University, NY, to apply the same situational questionnaire under two different hypothetical scenarios, where one is similar to the students’ current situation.

Keywords:

Rationality, rationalization, intuition, emotion, sensations, feelings, decisions, decision-making, resources, time and money.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Batoni, F. (2015). Jesucristo Psicoanalista. Editoriales Varias, Caracas, Venezuela, ISBN 9789801281498

Bergqvist, A. and Cowan, R. (2018). Evaluative Perception. First edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-878605-4.

Bettman, J., Luce, M. and Payne, J. (1998). “Constructive Consumer Choice Processes”. Journal of Consumer Research, 25 (December).

Block, M., Schultz, D., Breiter, H., Blood, A., Calder, B., Chamberlain, L… Fengqing, Z. (2015). Redefining Neuromarketing. American Academy of Advertising Conference Proceedings. 53-63.

Buck R., Anderson E., Chaudhuri A. and Ray I. (2004). Emotion and reason in persuasion: Applying the ARI model and the CASC Scale, Journal of Business Research, 57, (6), 647-656.

Cian, L., Krishna, A. and Schwarz, N. (2015). Positioning Rationality and Emotion: Rationality Is Up and Emotion Is Down. Journal of Consumer Research, 42(4), 632-651.

Chang, H. H. and Tuan Pham, M. (2013). Affect as a Decision-Making System of the Present. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(1), 42.

Chanutl, V., Guibert, N., Rojot, J., Dubois, P. and Jacques, R. G. (2011). Les Limites de la Rationalité Limitée? Un Essai de Réflexion en Sciences de Gestion. Management & Avenir, (8), 97.

Denes-Raj, V. and Epstein, S. (1994). Conflict between intuitive and rational processing: when people behave against their better judgment. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, (5), 819.

Eser, Z. Isin, F.B. and Tolon, M. (2011). Perceptions of Marketing Academics, Neurologists, and Marketing Professionals about Neuromarketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 27(7-8), 854-868.

Fetterman, A. K. and Robinson, M. D. (2013). Do you use your head or follow your heart? Self-location predicts personality, emotion, decision making, and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105(2), 316-334.

Glaser, M. (1995). Measuring Intuition. Research Technology Management, (2), 43.

Harmon-Jones, C., Bastian, B. and Harmon-Jones, E. (2016). The Discrete Emotions Questionnaire: A new tool for measuring state self-reported emotions. PlosONE, 11(8).

Howard, J. A. and Sheth, J. N. (1969). The theory of buyer behavior. New York, 63.

Kahneman, D. (2003). A perspective on judgment and choice: Mapping bounded rationality. American Psychologist, 58(9), 697-720.

Kavalali, Ege T. (2015). The Mechanisms and Functions of Spontaneous Neurotransmitter Release. Nature Reviews Neuroscience (1) 5.

Krugman, H. E. (1966). The measurement of advertising involvement. Public opinion quarterly, 30(4), 583-596.

Lake, C. J., Carlson, J., Rose, A. and Chlevin-Thiele, C. (2019). Trust in name brand assessments: The case of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 22(2), 91-107.

Lee, L., Lee, M. P., Bertini, M., Zauberman, G. and Ariely, D. (2015). Money, Time, and the Stability of Consumer Preferences. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), 52(2), 184–199.

Lees-Maffei, G. (2019). Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context. Bloomsbury Visual Arts. ISBN 9780857858009

Li, S. (2019). Emotional Appeals in Tourism TV Commercials: A Psycho-Physiological Study. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research.

MacLean, P.D. (1973). A Triune Concept of the Brain and Behavior. published for the Ontario Mental Health Foundation by University of Toronto Press, xii, 165 p. illus. 24 cm. ISBN 0802032990

Morin, C. and Renvoise, P. (2018). The Persuasion Code: How Neuromarketing Can Help You Persuade Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, ISBN 9781119440765.

Nicosia, F. M. (1966). Consumer decision processes; marketing and advertising implications. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall [1966].

McMillan, A. (2014). Mind and Brain: A Critical Appraisal of Cognitive Neuroscience. Journal of the History Of The Behavioral Sciences, 50(1), 112-113.

Mogilner, C. (2010) The pursuit of happiness time, money, and social connection. Psychological Science, 21(9): 1348-1354.

Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T. and Schumann, D. (1983). Central and peripheral routes to advertising effectiveness: The moderating role of involvement. Journal of consumer research, 10(2), 135-146.

Phillips, W. J., Fletcher, J. M., Marks, A. G. and Hine, D. W. (2016). Thinking styles and decision making: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 142(3), 260-290.

Roeser, S. (2010). Intuitions, Emotions and Gut Reactions in Decisions about Risks: Towards a Different Interpretation of 'Neuroethics'. Journal of Risk Research, 13(2), 175.

Rytel, T. (2010). Emotional marketing concept: The new marketing shift in the postmodern era. Verslas: teorija ir praktika, (1), 30-38.

Saini, R. and Monga, A. 2008. How I decide depends on what I spend: use of heuristics is greater for time than for money. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(6): 914-922.

Shelley, M. (2019). The Amygdala Era: Emotion and Experience in Memoir. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/874

Simon, H. A. (1987). Making Management Decisions: The Role of Intuition and Emotion. The Academy of Management Executive (1987-1989), (1). 57.

Srinivasan, T. (1987). An Integrative Approach to Consumer Choice. Advances In Consumer Research, 14(1), 96-100.

Srull, T. K. (1987). Memory, Mood, and Consumer Judgment. Advances in Consumer Research, 14(1), 404-407.

Shugan, S.M. (2006). Are Consumers Rational? Marketing Science. 25(1):1-7; Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

Steven M. (2006). Editorial: Are Consumers Rational? Experimental Evidence. Marketing Science, (1), 1.

Sweldens, S. (2018) Puppets on a String. ERIM Inaugural Address Series Research in Management, May 18th, 2018.

Valente, M. (2012). Evolutionary demand: a model for boundedly rational consumers. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 22(5), 1029.

Zajonc, R.B. and Markus, H. (1982). Affective and Cognitive Factors in Preferences. Journal of Consumer Research, 9(2), 123-131.

Vohs, K. and Faber, R. (2003). Self-Regulation and Impulsive Spending Patterns. Advances in Consumer Research, 30(1), 125–126.

West, P. M., Brockett, P. L. and Golden, L. L. (1997). A comparative analysis of neural networks and statistical methods for predicting consumer choice. Marketing Science, 16(4), 370.