AFFECTGATING DAN KING CHRIS JANISZEWSKI UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Extended Abstract

Affect-Gating

Dan King

Chris Janiszewski

University of Florida

* Dan King ([email protected]) is marketing doctoral student at the Warrington College of Business Administration of University of Florida, and Chris Janiszewski ([email protected]) is the Jack Faricy Professor of Marketing, P.O. Box 117155, Gainesville, FL 32611-1755. Phone: 352-2733286. Fax: 352-8460457. We thank Michel Pham for his insightful comments on this research. This article is based on the first author’s doctoral dissertation.

Extended Abstract

Extant theories of affective networks (e.g., Bower 1981) assume that affect is a unitary construct. This article integrates emerging findings in the neuroscience literature to show that there are, in fact, two major types of affect: state affect and hedonic affect (Barbano and Cador 2007), and that state affect can influence the experience of hedonic affect in surprising ways. First, positive affect can come in the form of positive state affect and positive hedonic affect. Positive state affect is mediated by dopaminergic activation and generates a light, airy feeling that makes people feel upbeat (Sacks et al. 1972). In contrast, positive hedonic affect is mediated by opioidergic activation and generates a pleasurable feeling that causes people to like a specific stimulus (Pecina, Smith, and Berridge 2006). Similarly, negative affect can come in the form of negative state affect and negative hedonic affect. Negative state affect is mediated by corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF), and generates a heavy feeling that makes people feel downcast (Panksepp 1998). In contrast, negative hedonic affect is mediated by inhibition of orbitofrontal cortex firing, and generates a feeling of satiation or even aversion for the stimulus (Rolls 2004, 2005). Because there is significant pathway interaction in the affective circuits for both types of affect, state affect can influence the experience of hedonic affect in surprising ways. Negative state affect, for example, can lead to more intense positive hedonic affect, leading to a result that is surprising from the standpoint of mood-congruent models of affective influence on perception (e.g., Bower 1981; Isen 1989). Likewise, positive state affect can lead to less intense positive hedonic affect.

Animal research in mammals (who share a similar neural architecture with humans in terms of affective circuits) suggests how state affect can influence hedonic affect. Neurological research demonstrates that organisms are more attuned to different sensory channels during different affective states (Martel et al. 1993). In the process of natural selection (Darwin 1859), the relative value of information in different sensory channels changes as a function of the affective state. For example, mammals under negative affect are more attuned to tactile stimulation, because negative affect indicates separation from the mother, and tactile stimulation indicates reunion with the mother (Keverne, Martensz, and Tuite 1989). In contrast, mammals under positive affect are more attuned to visual stimulation, because positive affect indicates self-sufficiency and the organism’s ability to search for rewards (Panksepp 1998). Affective states thus perform a gating function for the sensory-perceptual system (hence “Affect Gating”), in which information from different sensory channels are overweighted or underweighted as a function of the affective state. Marketers who understand the affective gating process will thus benefit from knowing which attributes to focus on for particular product categories and segments. Consumers who are using a product to comfort themselves (e.g., lotions, comfort food) will be more sensitive to tactile information, whereas consumers who are using a product to celebrate will be more sensitive to visual information.

Experiment 1 suggests that consumers are more attuned to tactile attributes of a product during a negative affective state. Consumers under negative affect generated more perceptions of the lotion’s tactile qualities, such as its creaminess and moisturizing properties. In contrast, consumers under positive affect generated more perceptions of the lotion’s visual qualities, such as its blue color. Experiment 2 suggests that consumers under negative affect were more attuned to the product’s tactile qualities, and experienced more hedonic pleasure, than consumers under positive and neutral affect. Mediation analyses suggest that greater attunement to tactile qualities led to hypervaluation of the product (greater willingness-to-pay). Experiment 3 suggests that consumers under negative affect were more sensitive to changes in the veridical tactile quality of the product, whereas consumers under positive and neutral affect could not perceive changes in tactile quality. Experiment 4 aims to show that blocking the visual channel amplifies the information coursing through the tactile channel, hence amplifying the hedonic experience for consumers in negative affect. This may explain the phenomenon of why people close their eyes when they receive a massage. Experiment 5 shows that negative affect induces a physiological response of coldness (to induce organisms to seek social support under negative states), and experiment 6 shows that adding warming agents to lotions amplifies the tactile experience, hence improving the hedonic experience of consumers under negative affect. The article discusses conceptual implications of the “two affects” view and the gating process.

REFERENCES

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