Sensibility
Psychological Ownership of (Borrowed) Money
Eesha Sharma, Stephanie Tully & Cynthia Cryder
Journal of Marketing Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
The current research introduces the concept of psychological ownership of borrowed money, a construct that represents how much consumers feel that borrowed money is their own. We observe both individual-level and contextual-level variation in the degree to which consumers feel psychological ownership of borrowed money, and variation on this dimension predicts willingness to borrow money for discretionary purchases. At an individual level, psychological ownership of borrowed money is distinct from other individual factors such as debt aversion, financial literacy, income, intertemporal discounting, materialism, propensity to plan, self-control, spare money, and tightwad-spendthrift tendencies, and it predicts willingness to borrow above and beyond these factors. At a contextual level, we document systematic differences in psychological ownership between different debt types. We show that these differences in psychological ownership manifest in consumers' online search behavior and explain consumers' differential interest in borrowing across debt types. Finally, we demonstrate that psychological ownership of borrowed money is malleable, such that framing debt in terms of lower psychological ownership can reduce consumers' propensity to borrow.
Self-Perceptions of Attractiveness and Offending During Adolescence
Thomas Mowen et al.
Crime & Delinquency, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite a well-established body of research demonstrating that others' evaluations of a person's physical attractiveness carry significant meaning, researchers have largely ignored how self-perceptions of physical attractiveness relate to offending behaviors. Applying general strain theory and using eight waves of panel data from the Adolescent Academic Context Study, we explore how self-perceptions of attractiveness relate to offending as youth progress through school. Results demonstrate that youth who perceive themselves as more attractive engage in more - not less - offending. Depression, which is treated as a form of negative affect, does not appear to mediate this relationship. We conclude by raising attention to the possibility that being "good-looking" may actually be a key risk factor for crime.
The Effects of Content Ephemerality on Information Processing
Uri Barnea, Robert Meyer & Gideon Nave
University of Pennsylvania Working Paper, July 2020
Abstract:
Many forms of communication, from verbal conversations to messaging and content sharing via apps such as Snapchat and Telegram, limit the number of times people can examine content. We investigate how this restriction affects information processing. Building on the notion that people strategically allocate cognitive effort, we propose that receivers increase allocation of cognitive resources when processing ephemeral content. Five preregistered studies and exploratory analysis of eye-tracking data (total N = 6,543) demonstrate that making content ephemeral - that is, restricting people to view it once (versus multiple times) - increases top-down attention allocation, prolongs voluntary viewing time, and magnifies focus on relevant information. These effects facilitate more accurate recall (both cued and free recall), improve comprehension, and generate more positive attitudes towards likable content. Taken together, these findings suggest that sharers can communicate information more effectively by merely telling their audience that they could not view it again.
Biased by being there: The persuasive impact of spatial presence on cognitive processing
Priska Breves
Computers in Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Immersive media forms such as virtual reality simulations are considered suitable vehicles for persuasive communication because they enhance the perception of spatial presence and non-mediation. Although the persuasive impact of spatial presence has been confirmed multiple times and immersive media have entered the mainstream market, its influence on individuals' cognitive processing has not yet been analyzed empirically. An experimental study was conducted with a 2 x 2 between-subjects design (N = 129) and varying levels of spatial presence. The quality of persuasive arguments was manipulated to detect the dominant processing mode. In line with the bias hypothesis of the heuristic-systematic model of information processing, the results indicated that individuals who experienced high levels of spatial presence evaluated the content more positively because they used heuristic processing. The positive evaluation consequently led to biased systematic processing, resulting in persuasive effects, even when the arguments were weak. The implications of the results are discussed.
Intertemporal Choices Are Causally Influenced by Fluctuations in Visual Attention
Geoffrey Fisher
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Intertemporal discount rates vary widely across contexts and individuals. We propose that a sizable fraction of this variation results from differences in how visual attention is allocated to different features of the decision, such as earlier versus future rewards, and that fluctuations in attentional patterns alter choices. We first tested this hypothesis in an experiment in which participants chose between receiving smaller-sooner versus larger-later monetary rewards while their attention was recorded with eye tracking. We found that cross-participant variation in the allocation of attention explained between 40% and 53% of the individual differences in discounting and that cross-trial variation explained 16% of the participants' propensity to choose the delayed option. To test causality, multiple additional experiments exogenously manipulated the allocation of visual attention and found that shifting attention to attributes that are relatively more attractive in a larger-later option increased patient decision making and altered purchasing behavior. Together, these results are consistent with the existence of a causal impact of visual attention on intertemporal choice and suggest that manipulating attention can have a sizeable impact for important managerial and public policy choice domains.
Forever yuck: Oculomotor avoidance of disgusting stimuli resists habituation
Edwin Dalmaijer et al.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, forthcoming
Abstract:
Disgust is an adaptation forged under the selective pressure of pathogens. Yet disgust may cause problems in contemporary societies because of its propensity for "false positives" and resistance to corrective information. Here, we investigate whether disgust, as revealed by oculomotor avoidance, might be reduced through the noncognitive process of habituation. In each of three experiments, we repeatedly exposed participants to the same pair of images, one disgusting and one neutral, and recorded gaze. Experiment 1 (N = 104) found no decline in oculomotor avoidance of the disgusting image after 24 prolonged exposures. Experiment 2 (N = 99) replicated this effect and demonstrated its uniqueness to disgust. In Experiment 3 (N = 93), we provided a gaze-contingent reward to ensure perceptual contact with the disgusting image. Participants looked almost exclusively at the disgusting image for 5 min but resumed baseline levels of oculomotor avoidance once the reward ceased. These findings underscore the challenge of reducing disgust.