In Search of Homo Economicus: Cognitive Noise and the Role of Emotion in Preference Consistency

Abstract

Understanding the role of emotion in forming preferences is critical in helping firms choose effective marketing strategies and consumers make appropriate consumption decisions. In five experiments, participants made a set of binary product choices under conditions designed to induce different degrees of emotional decision processing. The results consistently indicate that greater reliance on emotional reactions during decision making is associated with greater preference consistency and less cognitive noise. Additionally, the results of a meta-analytical study based on data from all five experiments further show that products that elicit a stronger emotional response are more likely to yield consistent preferences. The notion of preference consistency lies at the very foundation of understanding, predicting, and influencing consumer behavior. Most marketing activities, such as market research, new product development, marketing communications, and customer relationship management, assume consumers behave in somewhat consistent patterns. For example, if a customer indicates that he or she prefers chocolate to ginger, it is generally assumed that he or she is more likely than not to maintain such a preference in a following purchase occasion. Moreover, even people themselves like to think they are somewhat consistent decision makers (e.g., Bem 1972; Festinger 1957). On a related note, preference consistency is one of the cornerstones of Homo