The rationalizing effects of cognitive load on emotion-based trade-off avoidance
Consumers often face emotion-laden choices involving conflicting goals of personal importance (e.g., safety). Research suggests that consumers cope with the negative emotion associated with these choices by avoiding certain behaviors, in particular attribute trade-off making. This research investigates a factor that moderates these coping effects. Four experiments show that simple cognitive load can make consumers less averse to making attribute trade-offs. This research demonstrates, counterintuitively, that a reduction of cognitive resources through increased load can result in more normative decision behavior. Load apparently disinhibits tradeoff making by disrupting consumers' abilities to consider relevant self goal information and the negative emotional consequences of trading off something of personal importance, thereby reducing consumers' need to cope.
Duke Scholars
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- Marketing
- 3506 Marketing
- 1701 Psychology
- 1506 Tourism
- 1505 Marketing
Citation
Published In
DOI
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Marketing
- 3506 Marketing
- 1701 Psychology
- 1506 Tourism
- 1505 Marketing