团队

The present research proposes a new perspective to investigate the effect of product anthropomorphism on consumers’ comparative judgment strategy in comparing two anthropomorphized (vs. two nonanthropomorphized) product options in a consideration set. Six experiments show that anthropomorphism increases consumers’ use of an absolute judgment strategy (vs. a dimension-by-dimension strategy) in comparative judgment, leading to increased preference for the option with a more favorable overall evaluation over the option with a greater number of superior dimensions. The effect is mediated by consumers’ perception of each anthropomorphized product alternative as an integrated entity rather than a bundle of separate attributes. The authors find the effect to be robust by directly tracing the process of participants’ information processing using MouseLab software and eye-tracking techniques, and by self-reported preferences and real consumption choices. Moreover, the effect is moderated by the motivation to seek maximized accuracy or ease. These studies have important implications for theories about anthropomorphism and comparative judgment as well as marketing practice.

本研究考察了社会排斥对消费者视觉密度偏好的影响。基于七项实验研究，我们发现认为自己被社会排斥的消费者与不感到被排斥的人相比，对有密集图案产品的评价更正面。之所以会出现这个现象，是因为社会排斥会引发一种心理的空虚感，而密集的图案提供了一种「被填满」的感觉，有助缓解空虚感。当消费者进行填充某些物品的动作或体验到「时间密度」的感觉（即一个排得满满的日程，需于短时间内完成许多工作）时，这种效果会减弱。研究结果揭示了消费者基于社会因素对产品所形成的审美偏好，为营销人员、设计师和政策制定者带来实际参考价值。

New research into consumer buying behaviour shows that endowing products with human-like characteristics increases their appeal to customers when the product has attractive appearance design. By adapting their product designs and packaging in line with these findings, marketers and product developers can gain an edge over the competition and improve the chances that customers will choose their products.