Conference Association for Consumer Research Trust in Doubt
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Conference Association for Consumer Research Trust in Doubt October 11-14, 2018 Hilton Anatole - Dallas, Texas THURSDAY, OCTOBER, 11 Conference Check-in/Registration 7:00 am to 6:30 pm East Atrium Registration ACR Doctoral Symposium 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Peacock Terrace SCP Publications Committee Meeting 10:00 to 11:00 am Peridot ACR Board of Directors Meeting 11:00 am to 5:00 pm Dardanelles SCP Executive Committee Meetings 2:00 to 4:20 pm Peridot ACR Fellows Address 5:00 to 6:30 pm Imperial Ballroom Opening Reception 6:30 to 8:30 pm Anatole Park FRIDAY, OCTOBER, 12 Yoga 7:45 to 8:30 am Anatole Park Continental Breakfast 8:00 to 9:00 am East Atrium Conference Check-in/Registration 8:00 am to 6:30 pm East Atrium Registration Journal of Consumer Research Associate Editor Meeting 8:00 to 9:30 am Peridot Keith Hunt Newcomer's Breakfast 8:00 to 9:00 am Wedgwood Ballroom Session 1 9:00 am - 10:15 am 1.1 Eye Candy: Effects of Food Aesthetics on Eating-Related Judgments, Feelings, and Behavior - Special Session, Batik (A) Session Chair: Linda Hagen, University of Southern California, USA In today’s world, overeating and obesity ironically exist alongside undernutrition and food waste (Block et al. 2016; Mayer 1990; Zlatevska, Dubelaar, and Holden 2014). While increasingly complex nutrition information and unregulated health-claims have been widely implicated as potential culprits of these contradictory outcomes (Kozup, Creyer, and Burton 2003; Roe, Levy, and Derby 1999), little research has examined how the visual aesthetics of food can influence choice, consumption, and waste, which is 2 surprising, given that visual presentation of food is often the most obvious and immediate information that consumers receive. In this session, four research teams examine how various manifestations of aesthetics produce sensory, cognitive, and affective reactions that can influence food choice and consumption. Each paper touches on a different underlying process, but all four seek to address an overarching question: How can marketers best leverage the aesthetic presentation of food to promote healthier and more sustainable purchase and consumption behaviors? The first two papers focus on how food aesthetics influence evaluations inherently related to the food in question: the food’s perceived healthiness and the consumer’s satiation. First, Hagen concentrates on food styling and shows that pretty (vs. less pretty) food presentation leads consumers to judge food as healthier across various aspects of healthiness (e.g., nutrient and calorie content). She demonstrates that this effect is not driven by a halo effect, judgment polarization, or motivated reasoning, but rather by people paradoxically perceiving prettier food as more natural. Next, Sample and Haws change gears and examine changes in visual aesthetics of food as a result of consumption, showing that eating in a messy (vs. clean) manner can simultaneously increase satiation and decrease guilt from wasting food. They find that both of these outcomes can be attributed to messy eating rendering the food less appetizing. The next two papers move on to explorations of how food aesthetics impact reactions reaching beyond the food itself: feelings of wrongness associated with the act of consumption and consumers’ self-perception. Wu, Samper, Morales, and Fitzsimons examine the practice of customizing food products with lifelike images of people and reveal that, although popular, personalization involving a higher (vs. lower) resemblance to the depicted individual can actually reduce food consumption. They find that this reluctance to consume is driven by superstitious feelings that it is wrong to destroy someone’s likeness. Finally, Grewal, Hmurovic, Lamberton, and Reczek investigate reasons for consumers’ rejection of ugly produce and show that choosing ugly (vs. pretty) food can undermine people’s positive self-perception. Consequently, the authors discover that interventions that protect would-be customers’ self-esteem boost their willingness to choose and pay for ugly produce. Together, the four papers shine a light on the topic of food aesthetics—a subject that is not only of substantive interest given the pressing societal issues surrounding obesity and food waste, but also provides theoretical insight into the various processes involved in “eating with our eyes first.” We believe this session will appeal to a broad audience, including researchers interested in aesthetics, affect, food-related lay beliefs, health, and sustainability. Pretty Healthy Food: How Prettiness Amplifies Perceived Healthiness Linda Hagen (University of Southern California, USA) Consumers frequently encounter foods styled to look especially pretty. This research shows that consumers judge prettier food as healthier across various dimensions of healthiness, and that this effect is not driven by a halo effect or judgment polarization, but an increase in perceived naturalness that leads to inferences of healthiness. The Messy Satiation Effect: The Benefits of Eating Like a Pig Kevin L. Sample (University of Georgia, USA); Kelly Haws (Vanderbilt University, USA) Changing the visual appearance of food during consumption increases satiation when a food becomes messy (unattractive) and decreases satiation when a food remains clean (attractive). Additionally, how appetizing a food stays over consumption mediates this effect, and less guilt arises when rejecting unattractive food than rejecting or overeating attractive food. That's Just Plain Creepy: Understanding Consumer Responses to Personalized Food Products That Resemble People Freeman Wu (Vanderbilt University, USA); Adriana Samper (Arizona State University, USA); Andrea Morales (Arizona State University, USA); Gavan Fitzsimons (Duke University, USA) 3 Customized food products depicting lifelike images of newlyweds, friends or family have grown increasingly popular. However, we draw from the sympathetic magical law of similarity to show that people actually avoid consuming food products that bear a close resemblance to the depicted individual, as doing so elicits feelings of wrongness. The Self-Perception Connection: Why Consumers Devalue Unattractive Produce Lauren Grewal (Dartmouth College, USA); Jillian Hmurovic (University of Pittsburgh, USA); Cait Lamberton (University of Pittsburgh, USA); Rebecca Walker Reczek (Ohio State University, USA) We investigate how the aesthetic premium placed on produce contributes to consumers’ rejection of unattractive produce, resulting in financial loss and food waste. We demonstrate that consumers devalue unattractive produce because of altered self-perceptions: merely imagining consuming unattractive produce negatively impacts consumers’ self-perceptions, consequently lowering their willingness-to-purchase and willingness-to-pay. 1.2 Topics in Consumer Financial Decision Making - Competitive Paper Session, Batik (B) Session Chair: Ben Borenstein, University of Miami, USA This session examines an array of influences on consumers' financial choices. Perceptions of Epistemic vs. Aleatory Uncertainty Affect Stock Investment Daniel Walters (INSEAD, France); Gulden Ulkumen (University of Southern California, USA); Carsten Erner (FS Card); David Tannebaum (University of Utah, USA); Craig Fox (University of California Los Angeles, USA) Investors’ perceptions of uncertainty vary along two independent dimensions: (i) epistemic (knowable) uncertainty; and (ii) aleatory (random) uncertainty. The more investors perceive market uncertainty to be epistemic (aleatory), the more sensitive they are to their own level of ignorance (risk preference), and they manage this uncertainty by seeking advice (diversifying). The Effects of Breadth of Product Categories on Budgeting An Tran (University of La Verne); John Lynch (University of Colorado, USA) Individuals plan for the use of their resources daily. We explore how the level of details of one’s budget affects the budget’s predictive power. We find evidence that more detailed budgets predict spending less accurately. This phenomenon is mediated by one’s liking for the products budgeted and perceived financial constraint. "Once? No. Twenty times? Sure!" Uncertainty and precommitment in social dilemmas David Hardisty (University of British Columbia, Canada); Howard Kunreuther (University of Pennsylvania, USA); David Krantz (New York University, USA); Poonam Arora (Manhattan College); Amir Sepehri (Western University, Canada) Many social dilemmas require interdependent players to protect against a large loss that has a low annual probability. Decisions on whether to invest in protection may be made year by year, or precommitted. We found that increasing the time horizon increases the subjective probability and thus (paradoxically) increases investment rates. Anchors as Midpoints: it’s not the Size of the Adjustment that Counts, it’s the Direction Joshua Lewis (University of Pennsylvania, USA); Joseph P. Simmons (University of Pennsylvania, USA) 4 We present “anchors as midpoints” as a new theory of anchoring, which focuses on the direction, rather than the extent, of adjustment from anchors. We find that people are more likely to adjust upwards from high anchors, and downwards from low anchors, than their unanchored estimates would imply. 1.3 Charitable Giving - Competitive Paper Session, Cardinal (A) Session Chair: Aleksandra Kovacheva, University at Albany Effortful but Valuable: How Perceptions of Effort Affect Charitable Gift Choice and Valuations of Charity Haesung Annie Jung (University of Texas