College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

Fall 11-22-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Joseph A. Mikels, PhD

Second Advisor

Kim Quinn, PhD

Abstract

As the internet becomes more widely used as a marketplace, consumers are increasingly faced with scenarios where they have to customize products by adding features to a base model or delete features from a fully loaded model, a phenomenon known as option framing. People can now customize their vacations, pizzas, personal computers, shoes and cars with the click of a mouse. Recent research has shown consumers will end up with more features and spend more money when they have to remove features from a fully loaded model versus adding features to a base model (Biswas, 2009; Park & Kim, 2012). Emotion may impact these decision processes. People typically use two modes of information processing: fast and intuitive or deliberate and analytical. Past research has shown positive and neutral emotions can lead people to use a fast and intuitive information processing mode while negative emotions can lead people to use a deliberate and analytical approach (Howard & Barry, 1994; Park & Banji, 2000; Samson & Voyer, 2012; Schwarz, 2013; Schwarz & Bless, 1991). This study investigated how the specific emotions of amusement and sadness impact decisions in an option framing scenario of purchasing a car. Participants were induced with either an amusement or sadness emotion by watching a film clip and then added features to a base model car or removed features from a fully loaded car. The results confirmed past findings in that people spent more money and chose more features when presented with a fully loaded model versus a base model. Emotion did not have an effect in the final product configuration.

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