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The Influence of Anthropomorphism on Choosing Multiple Products from an Assortment ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH Labovitz School of Business & Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth, 11 E. Superior Street, Suite 210, Duluth, MN 55802 The Influence of Anthropomorphism on Choosing Multiple Products From an Assortment Rocky Peng Chen, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Echo Wen Wan, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong This research finds that anthropomorphism (vs. non-anthropomorphism) leads consumers to choose a whole set of products from an assortment, even at the cost of at the cost of including less-preferred options. This effect occurs because anthropomorphism promotes a holistic thinking style, which is good at identifying relationships between objects. [to cite]: Rocky Peng Chen and Echo Wen Wan (2017) ,"The Influence of Anthropomorphism on Choosing Multiple Products From an Assortment", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 45, eds. Ayelet Gneezy, Vladas Griskevicius, and Patti Williams, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 350-355. [url]: http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1023896/volumes/v45/NA-45 [copyright notice]: This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in part, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at http://www.copyright.com/. New Perspectives on Anthropomorphism: Examining the Role of Anthropomorphism in Financial Decision-Making and Consumer Welfare Chair: Eric Levy, University of Cambridge, UK Paper #1: Is Money Worth Saving? Money Anthropomorphism purchase anthropomorphized brands. Drawing on two influential Increases Saving Behavior theories of morality- the expanding circle of moral regard (Singer Lili Wang, Zhejang University, China 1981; Reed and Aquino 2003), and morality as mind perception Sara Kim, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (Gray, Young, and Waytz 2012), this paper finds that higher moral Xinyue Zhou, Zhejiang University, China identifiers assign more humanness to anthropomorphized brands, leading them to be more willing to purchase these brands. Morality Paper #2: Beauty (Value) Is in the Eye of the Beholder: How has strong links to consumer welfare, yet its implications for anthro- Anthropomorphism Affects the Pricing of Used Products pomorphism have been previously unexplored. Junhee Kim, Drexel University, USA The fourth paper by Chen and Wan investigates the influence Marina Puzakova, Lehigh University, USA of anthropomorphism on choosing multiple products from an assort- Hyokjin Kwak, Drexel University, USA ment. Building on prior studies on anthropomorphism and person Haeyoung Jeong, Drexel University, USA perception (Nisbett, Peng, Choi, and Norenzayan 2001), this research Paper #3: Moral Identity and Brand Anthropomorphism demonstrates that consumers are more likely to think in a holistic Eric Levy, University of Cambridge, UK manner after thinking about products as anthropomorphized. In turn, Sara Kim, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong holistic thinking leads consumers to choose whole sets of products, Americus Reed II, University of Pennsylvania, USA even when the assortment includes a less-preferred option. This find- Paper #4: The Influence of Anthropomorphism on Choosing ing is relevant for consumer finances and welfare, since consumers Multiple Products from an Assortment may decide to spend more money on, though experience less enjoy- Rocky Peng Chen, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong ment from, the consumption of products that they prefer less. Echo Wen Wan, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong In conclusion, these four papers provide novel theoretical view- points and empirical contexts for examining the relationship between SESSION OVERVIEW anthropomorphism, financial decision-making, and consumer wel- The purpose of this special session is to present research offer- fare. ing fresh theoretical perspectives and novel empirical contexts exam- ining anthropomorphism in consumer behavior. The four papers are Is Money Worth Saving? well-grounded in theory, and related in their focus on implications Money Anthropomorphism Increases Saving Behavior for consumer welfare and financial decision-making more specifi- cally- areas that have been largely overlooked in empirical studies of EXTENDED ABSTRACT anthropomorphism. We believe that this session would be of interest Consumers do not save enough (Kotlikoff, Spivak, and Summers to researchers studying anthropomorphism, financial decision-mak- 1982), particularly in the United States, where credit scores continue ing, and consumer welfare more generally. We think that the session to rise (Camara 2012). It is estimated that over 85% of Americans will stimulate discussion among researchers in these subjects, and would be in immediate financial difficulty if they lost their jobs or that the four papers will provide new ideas for future research in had to deal with any other crises (Jones 2015). Accordingly, a lot of anthropomorphism and related areas. research has been devoted to developing effective interventions to The first paper by Wang, Kim, and Zhou finds that when mon- help consumers to reach their optimal saving levels (Ersner-Hersh- ey is anthropomorphized, people will save more money rather than field et al. 2011; Soman and Cheema 2011; Soman and Zhao 2011; spend it. This research has important implications for consumer fi- Ulkumen and Cheema 2011). However, previous research on money nancial decision-making and welfare, since it suggests that anthro- saving usually treats money as an object or an instrument. In this pomorphizing money might be an effective way to get people to save research, we focus on a seemingly simple psychological shift in con- more money. Consumers do not save enough money, particularly in struing money—namely, anthropomorphizing money. Specifically, the United States where credit scores and spending continue to rise we examined whether imbuing money with humanlike characteris- (Camara 2012). tics can impact the amount of money consumers are willing to save. The second paper by Kim, Puzakova, Kwak, and Jeong finds The current research suggests that anthropomorphizing money that brand anthropomorphization increases selling prices and de- leads people to perceive money as having the capacity to feel and creases buying prices for used products, due to stronger emotional sense (Gray, Gray and Wegner 2007); thus, anthropomorphized mon- attachment by sellers, and perceptions of relationship-dissolution- ey is perceived to be capable of benefiting from good or suffering stigma by buyers. Different financial valuations of humanized prod- from evil (Gray, Young and Waytz 2012). Consequently, compared ucts by buyers and sellers may lead to a less efficient market for used to objectified money, anthropomorphized money is perceived to be goods, thereby negatively affecting consumer welfare. more sensitive to harm and thus to be more vulnerable (Dijker 2010; While the first two papers focus on anthropomorphism’s effects Gray and Wegner 2009), which activates consumers’ protective ten- on saving, buying, and selling behavior, the latter two papers focus dency. Therefore, we argue that money anthropomorphism would more generally on consumers’ willingness to spend money on an- significantly increase consumers’ saving intention, as consumers will thropomorphized products, while maintaining a focus on consumer attempt to protect anthropomorphized money from potential harm. welfare. We tested this prediction with five studies. The third paper by Levy, Kim, and Reed II examines how a A pilot study examined consumers’ natural tendency to anthro- consumer’s moral identity affects perceptions of and willingness to pomorphize money, their general tendency to anthropomorphize non-human entities and their saving intention. Correlation analy- Advances in Consumer Research 350 Volume 45, ©2017 Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 45) / 351 ses showed that consumers’ natural tendency to anthropomorphize money. The results showed that participants actually kept their sav- money was positively correlated with saving intention, whereas their ing plan and saved more money when they construed money as a general anthropomorphism tendency was not. In the main studies, human rather than as a mere object. we manipulated money anthropomorphism to test its causal effect on saving intention and behaviors; more importantly, we also sought to Beauty (Value) is in the Eye of the Beholder: How understand the psychological process that mediates this causal rela- Anthropomorphism Affects the Pricing of Used Products tionship, as well as some boundary conditions in which this relation- ship does or does not emerge. EXTENDED ABSTRACT In Study 1a, the money anthropomorphism manipulation fol- Marketers often strategically use anthropomorphism (i.e., im- lowed Aggarwal and McGill (2012), in that participants were in- buing nonhuman objects with humanlike characteristics; Aggarwal structed to imagine that money had come to life as a person and to and McGill 2007) as a brand positioning strategy for their products describe the sort of person money would be. Study 1A showed that and services. Overall, prior work in the area has shown the impact of participants were more likely to save a higher percentage of their brand anthropomorphization at different stages of brand relationship income when they anthropomorphized it than when they construed it development and maintenance—on brand evaluations, consumer- as an object or when they anthropomorphized a financial institution brand interactions, and the relationship
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