When consumers talk to each other, marketers listen. And when a product is portrayed as having human characteristics, consumers talk about it more favorably, say HKUST Jaideep Sengupta and colleagues. In a study with critical implications for marketers, communicators, and consumers, the authors show that portraying products as having human characteristics—in ... 閱讀更多

Avoiding disease is essential for survival. Throughout history, deadly infections have forced humans to adapt their ways. One important strategy for protecting ourselves from infection, people avoidance , was recently studied by HKUST’s Professor Jaideep Sengupta and a colleague. Their experiments—carried out before the COVID-19 pandemic—reveal how the ... 閱讀更多

Avoiding disease is essential for survival. Throughout history, deadly infections have forced humans to adapt their ways. One important strategy for protecting ourselves from infection, people avoidance , was recently studied by HKUST’s Professor Jaideep Sengupta and a colleague. Their experiments—carried out before the COVID-19 pandemic—reveal how the ... 閱讀更多

Are numbers perceived to have human-like characteristics, such as the ability to feel lonely? A study by HKUST’s Jaideep Sengupta and colleagues suggests that they are—and that consumers’ preferences are influenced by these supposed characteristics. This pioneering study, which for the first time links numerical cognition with consumer behavior, shows that ... 閱讀更多

Are numbers perceived to have human-like characteristics, such as the ability to feel lonely? A study by HKUST’s Jaideep Sengupta and colleagues suggests that they are—and that consumers’ preferences are influenced by these supposed characteristics. This pioneering study, which for the first time links numerical cognition with consumer behavior, shows that ... 閱讀更多

Marketers and other agents use a variety of tactics to influence us. One commonly-used persuasion tactic is flattery. But does flattery really work, or do we see right through it? Professor Jaideep Sengupta draws on his extensive research on persuasion techniques to present insights into this topic. He highlights the unexpected long-term effects of flattery ... 閱讀更多

Marketers are not only keen to get consumers discussing the brands they're promoting, ideally they’d like them to connect and identify with the products on a personal level. But does the mode – written or spoken – consumers use for communicating their thoughts and feelings about a brand, influence how connected they feel to it afterwards? In their recent ... 閱讀更多

當你去本地超市或便利店時，多半會發現你喜愛的產品規格眾多、令人眼花繚亂：可口可樂有200ml、330ml、500ml、1250ml，甚至2500ml等各種包裝。不光食品雜貨如此，化妝品、洗髮水和巧克力也是如此。據說消費者會將包裝規格與品質關聯起來；例如，一位消費者在博客中說，Reese花生醬微型杯裝“遠遠優於”普通杯裝，而大杯裝則被認為是品質最差的。 這表明，包裝規格——消費者最易接觸且易於處理的產品提示之一——可對品質的判斷發生顯著影響。然而，這種影響卻幾乎未得到科學研究的証實，即使存在這種規格與品質效應，箇中原因也不清楚。Dengfeng Yan、石豁達和Robert S. Wyer Jr.著手研究包裝規格與認知品質之間的關係，以及單價認知的解釋作用。 他們用不同規格的盒裝和瓶裝薯條、洗髮水、洗滌劑 ... 閱讀更多

試想一下，在一家服裝店聽到店員對另一位顧客說：“您的時尚品味太好了。”這位顧客聽了這番「奉承話」，料想會很高興，但是單單目擊這番交流對旁觀者也會發生影響：這種交流會引發複雜而矛盾的情感，最終可能會影響他們的購買決定。 Elaine Chan和石豁達在一項研究中得出了上述結論。他們對觀察“真誠奉承”的效應特別感興趣，即購物之後（而非之前）聽到另一位顧客受到奉承所引發的那種效 應。如果是顧客購物前，則可能會認為店員說奉承話是想做成生意。儘管其他研究提出，旁觀者對真誠的奉承會產生正面的反應，但作者不敢苟同。 “旁觀者甚至對無可懷疑的奉承也會產生負面反應，因為看到別人受到奉承會不自覺地引發社會比較，催生嫉妒，進而對奉承者產生負面反應。仔細思考奉承者的真誠應導致更正面的判斷，但最初的負面反應以內隱態度留存下來，”作者說。 ... 閱讀更多

醫療保健是世界上增長最快的行業之一。在大多數發達國家，醫療保健開支在GDP中的占比超過10%。在美國，2016年的醫療保健開支預計達19.6%。人們如何看待其健康風險將會影響到消費者決策，進而影響經濟和公共政策。因此，有必要加深瞭解人們對健康風險的認知。 Dengfeng Yan和石豁達研究了這個問題，他們思考健康風險認知如何受到兩個要素的影響：“自我肯定 – self-positivity”（當發病率或參考值相當高，而症狀等病例資訊低時低估風險）和“自我否定 – self-negativity”（參考值低而病例資訊高時高估風險）。這是將自我否定納入健康風險認知的少數研究之一。 作者開展了六項研究，顯示自我肯定與自我否定如何就參與者對健康風險問題的”心理距離”而產生影響。這裡的”心理距離”按照社會距離 ... 閱讀更多