Three experiments examine how prevention-focused and promotion-focused consumers evaluate the comparison brand and what information they anchor on in direct comparative ads framed positively or negatively. Negative (vs. positive) frames lead prevention-focused respondents to exhibit higher evaluations for the advertised brand and lower evaluations for the comparison brand. Under promotion focus, positive (vs. negative) frames lead to more favorable attitudes toward the advertised brand with no difference in attitudes for the comparison brand. Preference for consistency is posited as a possible process explanation. We also find an evaluation order effect: prevention-focused (promotion-focused) individuals evaluate the comparison (advertised) brand first.

The consequences of illness have two crucial types of stakes: for the self and for the family. Therefore, this research examines the effectiveness of health messages that present consequences for the self or for the family, focusing specifically on the dual role of emotions in serving these stakes as a provider of resources and information. The authors theorize that (1) the valence dimension of discrete emotions influences resources, thus fostering or hindering the processing of aversive health information, whereas (2) the self-/other-relatedness dimension of discrete emotions provides information that interacts with the focal referent in the message (self or family) to determine compatibility. In Experiments 1–3, the authors demonstrate that when people are primed with a positive emotion (e.g., happiness, peacefulness), the compatibility between the referent and the discrete emotion fosters the processing of health information. When the primed emotion is negative (e.g., sadness, agitation), however, compatibility hinders processing of the message. In Experiment 4, the authors track emotions before and after exposure to a health message to demonstrate that the observed effect occurs because of an increase in the negative emotional state in compatible situations when people process diseaserelated information. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of the findings for increasing the effectiveness of health related messages.

In this research, we examine the conditions under which outcomes bias judgments, and we provide insights on the processes underlying such bias effects. A series of three studies identified motivated reasoning as a major determinant of when outcomes would bias judgments. The processes underlying outcome bias effects also varied depending on the motivational goal. Accuracy goals minimized outcome bias based on objective elaboration. Defense goals enhanced outcome bias by promoting selective processing of the outcome when it was preference consistent. Finally, impression goals increased the perceived diagnosticity of outcomes and biased the subsequent systematic processing resulting in outcome-biased judgments.

Past research examining the effect of self-construal on persuasion has shown that advertising appeals that are consistent with consumers’ chronically accessible (chronic) self-construal as well as appeals that are consistent with the temporarily accessible (latent) self-construal are both persuasive. In two studies, we identify brand commitment as a moderating variable that determines the effectiveness of appeals consistent with the consumers’ chronic or latent self-construal. Under high commitment, appeals consistent with the chronic self-construal were more effective. In contrast, under low commitment, appeals consistent with the primed (independent or interdependent) self-construal were more effective. These findings were robust across independent and interdependent self-construal contexts.

Terror management theory provides a viable framework to examine the effects of mortality salience (MS) and related coping behaviors.We explore the utility of viewing MS effects from an information processing perspective and discuss the implications for understanding consumer behavior. We suggest that a better understanding of the motivational nature of MS and the underlying processes could provide additional insights on the persuasive impact of MS. We also anticipate effects of MS to differ across cultures and predict some novel outcomes. Finally, we outline several potential avenues for investigating MS effects in consumer domains such as branding and advertising.

This chapter outlines recent developments in the consumer psychology literature examining people’s health-related risk perceptions. We first define risk, and discuss the importance of studying risk perceptions in the health domain. We integrate extant models proposed in social and health psychology and build a theoretical model for examining risk perceptions. We then describe the model in terms of the antecedents of health risk perceptions (e.g., motivational, cognitive, affective, contextual, and individual differences), their consequences (e.g., awareness and interest in the health hazard, trial and adoption of precautions or medical treatments, and subsequent behavior in terms of continued adoption or repetition, and word-of-mouth/recommendations of precautionary steps or treatments), and the factors that moderate the link between these two (e.g., financial, performance, psycho-social, and physiological risk). A primary contribution of our approach is to suggest that eliciting risk perceptions serves a persuasive role besides a measurement role, leading to the provocative question as to whether marketers should knowingly leverage their knowledge of how consumers assess risk to encourage behaviors leading to a healthier lifestyle. Implications for public policy makers, consumer welfare advocates, and commercial marketing companies are also discussed.