團隊

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.

本研究考察了社會排斥對消費者視覺密度偏好的影響。基於七項實驗研究，我們發現認為自己被社會排斥的消費者與不感到被排斥的人相比，對有密集圖案產品的評價更正面。之所以會出現這個現象，是因為社會排斥會引發一種心理的空虛感，而密集的圖案提供了一種「被填滿」的感覺，有助緩解空虛感。當消費者進行填充某些物品的動作或體驗到「時間密度」的感覺（即一個排得滿滿的日程，需於短時間内完成許多工作）時，這種效果會減弱。研究結果揭示了消費者基於社會因素對產品所形成的審美偏好，為營銷人員、設計師和政策制定者帶來實際參考價值。

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.