Aroma Of Chocolate Chip Cookies Prompts Splurging On Expensive Sweaters

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Aroma Of Chocolate Chip Cookies Prompts Splurging On Expensive Sweaters

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080108140137.htm

ScienceDaily (Jan. 12, 2008) —

Exposure to something that whets the appetite, such as a picture of a

mouthwatering dessert, can make a person more impulsive with unrelated

purchases, finds a study from the February 2008 issue of the Journal of Consumer

Research. For example, the researchers reveal in one experiment that the aroma

of chocolate chip cookies can prompt women on a tight budget to splurge on a new

item of clothing.

" We found that an appetitive stimulus not only affects behavior in a specific

behavior domain, but also induces a shared state that propels a consumer to

choose smaller--sooner options in unrelated domains, " explains researcher

Xiuping Li (National University of Singapore). " Similarly, the presence of an

attractive woman in the trading room might propel an investor to choose the

investment option providing smaller but sooner rewards. "

In the first experiment, Li asked participants to act as " photo editors of a

magazine " and choose among either appetite stimulating pictures of food or

non-appetite stimulating pictures of nature. A control group was shown no

pictures at all. All were then asked to participate in a lottery that would

either pay them less money sooner or more money later.

Those who had been exposed to the photos of food were almost twenty percentage

points more likely to choose the lottery with the chance of a smaller, more

immediate payoff than those who were exposed to the photos of nature (61 percent

vs. 41.5 percent) and eleven percentage points more likely to choose the

short-term gain than those who had not been exposed to any stimulus (61 percent

vs. 50 percent).

Similarly, another experiment used a cookie-scented candle to further gauge

whether appetitive stimulus affects consumer behavior. Female study participants

in a room with a hidden chocolate-chip cookie scented candle were much more

likely to make an unplanned purchase of a new sweater -- even when told they

were on a tight budget -- than those randomly assigned to a room with a hidden

unscented candle (67 percent vs. 17 percent).

" The scent of the appetitive stimulus led to reduced happiness with remote

gains, which implied that participants in a present-oriented state were less

sensitive to future values, " Li explains. " In addition, [this] experiment showed

that participants were more likely to satisfy their current and spontaneous

desire if they were exposed to the unrelated appetitive stimulus before they

made the decision. "

Li concludes: " If retailers want to push their customers to shop more rather

than stay longer, they should not only maintain a pleasant environment but also

an environment full of temptations and excitement. "

Xiuping Li, " The Effects of Appetitive Stimuli on Out-of-Domain Consumption

Impatience. " Journal of Consumer Research: February 2008.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Chicago Press Journals.

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