weinberg impulse buying emotions

8/22/2019 Weinberg Impulse Buying Emotions

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Impulsive Consumer Buying as a Result ofEmotionsPeter Weinberg and Wolfgang Gottwald. I /ni l-ersig c$Pderbortt

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44 Peter Weinberg and !Vol,@atzg GottwaldLinking the existing definitions together [47], we see that impulsivebuying decisions can be defined on the basis of affective, cognitive, and

reactive determinants of consumer behavior:uJkt ive: high activation of the consumer,cognitive: little intellectual control of the buying decision,rractive:largely automatic behavior actuated by a special stimulussituation.Thus impulsive buying decisions are unplanned in the sense ofthoughtless, but not all unplanned purchases are impulsivelydecided. Unplanned purchases may be made absolutely rationally.In order to delineate impulsive decisions, one has to look for variablesthat characterize decision behavior on the three dimensions mentionedabove. Therefore it is necessary to decide at which stage of the decisionprocess impulsive buying decisions occur.A buying process can be dissected into several stages, each of whichmay be characterized by a higher or lesser degree of impulsivity. If one isinterested in the process of impulsive decision making, it appearsfeasible to consider decision and behavior separately. The focus is onactivation and stimulus situation, and the stages in the buying decisionprocess of particular interest are the buying intention and/or thepurchase.It is important to record the activation and the stimulus situation,especially in such buying decisions or buying acts where cognitivecontrol is minimal. This is essential to delineate them from limited andextensive problem solving. Since under the definition applied here,impulsive buying decisions are accompanied by strong emotions, anattempt must be made to determine the direction, intensity, and qualityof the stimulus pattern.Measuring Impulsive Buying BehaviorThe degree of uct ivut iotz can be measured physiologically in a laboratoryand by observation in the field. In the first case, measuring galvanic skinreaction (GSR) is especially appropriate, in the second the observation ofmimic expressions, gestures, and actions. GSR measurements aslaboratory results do not allow assertions about the purchase itself, butrecord the activation that accompanies the buying decision. Obser-vation, on the other hand, may concentrate on the specific mimicexpressions and gestures in the buying situation that characterize theimpulsivity of the buying decision and the spontaneous buying act in thereal situation.


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Impulsive Buying 45According to the definition chosen, impulse purchases are char-

acterized by the fact that cognitive processes have only little influenceupon the result of the decision. As cognitive processes occur con-sciously, the interview is best for the collection of data. The instrumentof interviewing has been employed particularly in empirical inves-tigations to measure unplanned purchases. The target of the interviewswas mostly the planning process. We are concerned with those buyingdecisions where information processing is minimal.

Concentrating on the affective processes involved in impulse buying,we feel it appropriate to inquire into the cognitive self-assessment ofconsumers by asking for the direction, intensity, and quality of theemotions perceived.For the recording of the reactive processes, the combined use ofobservation and interview is possible. Besides inquiring into individual

perception of the stimulus situation, one must observe the extent towhich specific stimuli trigger automatic stimulus reactions. By com-paring the results obtained from interviewing and observation, we candetermine to which stimuli the consumer responds thoughtlessly.

An Empirical StudyAims of the Study The following was attempted:To record the activation that accompanies the buying decision and thepurchase by observation of the minimal expressions (affective process);to ascertain by interview the information processing concerning thebuying decision (cognitive process), as well as the self-perception of theemotions;to create a stimulus situation that causes the test persons to decidespontaneously on a purchase (reactive process).For this purpose an artificial buying situation was created with unknownproducts. This eliminated the problem of having to differentiate betweenunplanned and impulsive purchases. Furthermore, the experiment wasset up in such a way that buying decision and purchase occurred at thesame time. The following questions were to be clarified:Is it possible to ascertain various emotions by interview (self-perception)and to observe them in the test persons mimical expressions (externalperception)?Can impulse buyers be distinguished from nonbuyers in their emotions?What are the relations between self-perception and external perceptionof impulsive decision behavior?


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46 Peter Weinberg and Wol fgang Gottw aldThe focus of the investigation was thus on the emotions of the testpersons that were to be revealed from the mimical expressions and by

interviewing. Measuring motoric indicators such as mimical expressionsis a nonreactive method when the observation remains unnoticed by thetest person. These measuring methods seem noteworthy for marketresearch when verbal or physiological methods cannot be applied (e.g.,when the affective process occurring during the buying process or thetrial of new goods in a store is to be determined).Origin of the Data Sample The present study was conducted at theUniversity of Paderbom in 1979. During four days of June a sale ofself-designed decals took place at special stands inside the universitybuildings. The test persons (buyers/nonbuyers of the decals) weresecretly filmed by a video camera. The point of sale changed daily toavoid repeat purchases as much as possible.After the test persons left the sales stand, they were interviewed with astandardized questionnaire by trained interviewers. They were now toldthat they had been filmed during their purchase/nonpurchase and weregiven the option of granting or refusing their consent for a scientificstudy of the film material together with the interviews. Almost allpersons interviewed granted their consent. Fourty-seven buyers and 154nonbuyers could be recorded.

Fifteen sequences of buyers and 15 sequences of nonbuyers wereselected from the film material and spliced together to a new film. Thecriterion for selection was the quality of the pictures. The length of theindividual sequences varied between 3 and 17 seconds. This film wasthen shown to 35 persons who did not belong to the test persons. Prior tothe presentation they were only informed that the film was about the saleof decals.They did not know which sequence showed a buyer and which anonbuyer. After each sequence the film was stopped and the observerswere asked to enter their impressions in a questionnaire. This part of theinvestigation produced a total of 1020 individual assessments.Psychology of Facial Expressions Mental processes, in particularemotions, can become manifest in various ways (e.g., through changesin skin resistance blood pressure, pulse frequency, and so on). Besidesthese reactions that can be observed only with the aid of annaratuses.directly observable indicators (e.g., mimical expressions and gestures)can be recorded as well. Nonreactive measurements of this kind havebeen tested repeatedly.

Education [22,38] is concerned with these indicators under the aspectof teacher-student interaction, and psychiatry [X] under the aspect ofdiagnosis and therapy. Social psychology [ 19,401 devotes its interests to


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Impulsive Buying 47these indicators with regard to interpersonal communication [4]. Therehas also been basic research on mimical expression and gestures [5,27],and the issue has even been treated in the popular literature [ 16,341.

Since the present investigation examined particularly mimical ex-pression, the following refers exclusively to that aspect of nonverbalcommunication. Other aspects, such as gestures and body posture, mayalso provide information on mental processes, but to date facialexpression has been investigated in most cases, since it is considered aparticularly reliable indicator of emotional processes.The investigation of how the various forms of mimical expressioncome about and what mental processes are hidden behind them has along tradition of research. Based on findings from intercultural studies,Darwin [7] already alleged in 1872 that the mimical expression ofemotions is predominatly genetically determined. Meanwhile we haveconsiderable empirical evidence for the correctness of his statement [9,10,251.

Ekman [lo] assumes that there are genetic programs for emotions thatdetermine emotional expression, including the interplay of facial musclesin specific emotions, and are fairly similar with all people. Culturaldifferences in emotional expression can be attributed to conventionsthat codetermine the degree to which an emotion may be shown orhas to be masked. Similarly, the consequences of emotional expressionsdiffer from culture to culture. These examples show that it is of particularimportance to record acts of emotional expression unobtrusively.Up to now investigations dealt mainly with the question of how manydistinguishable emotions become manifest in facial expression. For thispurpose so-called evaluation or decoding studies were carried out inwhich test persons were presented stimuli (usually potographs in whichactors displayed specific emotions) whose emotional content they wereasked either to describe freely or to classify in preconceived categories.Thus the facial expression represented in the photographs was theindependent variable and the observers reaction to it the dependentvariable.

The partly contradictory results can be attributed, to a large extent, tothe difficulties in the semantic delineation of the various categories. Thesame facial expressions were frequently described by different terms.On the one hand this indicates that the verbal description of facialexpression may have been ambiguous; on the other hand, the observersmight have had different opinions of the semantic content of the giventerms. But despite these and other methodological difficulties andinaccuracies, seven categories of emotion could be distinguished invarious investigations. Research will have to show whether further


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48 Pet er Weinberg and W olfgang Gott w aldcategories can be found. Ekman, Friesen, and Ellsworth [ 131 summarizecategories of emotion and possible synonyms from various studies.Woodworth [50] realized that six different categories were frequentlyconfounded in various ways. He organized his categories on a 6-pointscale according to the frequency of confusion. The two categoriesconfounded the least were happiness and contempt, and theytherefore marked the two extreme points of his scale. The remainingcategories were arranged in accordance with their frequency ofconfusion.

But Schlosberg [4 I], who continued the investigations and arrived atsimilar results, found out that even the two extreme points of the scalewere often mistaken for each other. From this he concluded [42] that acircular order similar to that of the color disk might exist for qualities ofmimical expression. He arranged the six categories in a circle andintuitively chose two dimensions that, according to him, fit into thisorder. He named the two extremes of one dimension pleasure-listlessness and those of the other dimension devotion-rejection.Based on these dimensions he rated the same photographs that, in 194 1,had led him to assume the circular order. He then compared the results.The correlation thus determined was greater than 0.9. In a later study[43] Schlosberg added a third dimension, which he named sleeptension, or more generally, activity level.In other projects the dimensions were not determined intuitively butby improved methodological approaches. The preferred method in theseexperiments was the semantic differential [ 1, 17, 20, 24, 36, 451. Averying number of dimensions was found, but it became obvious thattwo dimensions predominated: direction (pleasure-listlessness) andstrength (intensity or activity level) of an emotion.When analyzing the qualities of mimical expression by componentand/or encoding studies, the methodological aproach is a different one.The face is no longer regarded as an entity, but is segmented intoindividual components (e.g., forehead, eye, and mouth areas). Theindependent variable is not the facial expression but the emotion of theindividual on which the mimical expression depends. The individualcomponents of the face are then examined to find out to what extentemotions are being expressed and change.Various authors have investigated different types of emotions andcomponents in this way [ 18, 2 I, 32, 33, 461. A particularly promisingapproach stems from Ekman [ 11, 12, 141. Using the FAST technique(Facial Affect Scoring Technique), he subdivides the face into threeindependent components (eyebrows/forehead, eyes/eyelids, and thelower part of the face) each of which is assessed separately by trained


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Impulsive Buying 49observers using comparative photographs. Owing to its systematicapproach, this method seems likely to become an important tool for theinvestigation of facial language in the future.Measurement of the Variables For this empirical study a dimen-sional/categorizing approach was chosen that draws on Reykowski [39]who differentiates between several aspects of emotions:strength (intensity of an emotion),direction (directional symptom of an emotion),quality (content of an emotion).Based on past investigations, we selected items rated on 6-point scaleslabeled from no through less to more and that could bearranged as follows:strength: stimulating, exciting, inspiring enthusiasm,direction: amusing, pleasant, delightful,quality: interest, boredom, surprise, astonishment, curiosity, indif-ference, anger, enthusiasm, joy, glee, doubt.These 17 items were used for self-perception (i.e., buyers of the decalsand nonbuyers were interviewed after leaving the point of purchase) aswell as for external perception (i.e., the evaluation of filmed testpersons mimical expressions by observers). In addition the observers ofthe film sequences were asked to indicate whether or not, in theiropinion, the person shown in the sequence had purchased a decal. Thismade it possible to distinguish between actual und presumed impulsebuyers on the basis of the opinions expressed by the observers.Strength, direction, and quality of the emotions were thus recorded bymeans of verbal and motoric indicators. Consequently, special at-tention could be paid to the validity of the results.

In addition to the external perception and self-perception of theemotions involved in the buying decision, cognitive informationprocessing was recorded. After the buying decision, buyers andnonbuyers were asked what they had thought until they decided to buy ornot to buy the product. The test persons were given the option of severalanswers.Results of the Study The structure of the variables was first exploredby factor analysis. The correlation matrices were factorized separatelyfor adjectival and substantival items for interviews (self-perception), aswell as for film evaluations (external perception). The data weregenerated by varimax rotation, and with one exception only those factorswith an eigenvalue of more than 1 O were taken into consideration.


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50 Peter Weinberg and Wolfkang Gottwald

Table 1: Factor Structure of Adjectival ItemsType ofInvestigation

AmusingStimulatingPleasantExcitingDelightfulInspiringenthusiasmEigenvalue

Self-Perception External PerceptionF-1 F2 Fl F2

-0.02 0.32 0.73 0.380.59 0.12 0.40 0. 760.54 0.31 0. 72 0.470.61 -0.01 0.32 0. 740.40 0. 74 0.87 0.300.55 0.50 0.68 0.421.47 1.01 2.53 1.76

Tables 1 and 2 show the resulting factor structures. Table 3 assignshypothetical names to the dimensions thus obtained and compares themwith those found in the literature. Only variables having factor loadsgreater than .50 are considered.The results of the factor analysis can be summarized as follows (seeTable 3):

Table 2: Factor Structure of Substantival ItemsType ofInvestigation

XInterestBoredomSurpriseAstonishmentCuriositpIndifferenceAngerEnthusiasmJoyGleeDoubtEigenvalue

FISelf-Perception External Perception

F2 F3 Fl F2 F30.31 0.17 0.56 0.60 0.27 0.33

-0.04 0.11 -0.36 -0.60 -0.24 -0.080.14 0. 71 0.15 0.15 0.27 0.72

-0.02 0.61 -0.05 -0.01 0.08 0.730.06 0.25 0.32 0.50 0.22 0.47

-0.10 0.01 -0.51 -0.69 -0.21 --0.190.04 0.15 -0.02 -0.41 -0.17 0.210.60 -0.04 0.24 0.37 0.63 0.270. 79 0.13 0.08 0.26 0.82 0.320.30 0.18 0.19 0.24 0. 78 0.240.05 0.17 0.10 -0.32 --0.4 1 0.111.21 1.08 0.94 1.99 2.16 1.71


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Impulsive Buying 51

Table 3: Hypothetical DimensionsHypotheticalDimension

Nomenclaturein literature

VariablesSelf-perception

Variables ExternalPerception

Strength ofemotions

attentiveactivity

excitingstimulatinginspiringenthusiasm(uleasant)

stimulatingexciting

Directionof emotions

Pleasure-listlessness

delightful(inspiringenthusiasm)

delightfulamusingpleasant(inspiringenthusiasm)

Quality ofemotionsjoysurpriseinterest

glee

surpriseinterest

joyenthusiasm

surpriseastonishmentinterestindifference

joygleeenthusiasmastonishmentsurprise-indifference

interest-boredom

curiosity

Identical hypothetical dimensions can be found for external perceptionand self-perception.The nomenclature chosen corresponds to that reported in the literature[131.In self-perception as well as in external perception, a distinction can bemade between the strength and the direction of emotions.The items can be grouped according to three factors indicating thequalities of emotions: joy, surprise, interest. Such items as doubt andanger remain unclear. In view of their negative emotional direction itcould be expected that these categories would remain unoccupied.The results of the factor analysis show that it is possible to recorddifferent emotions by interview and to observe them in the mimicalexpression of the test persons. Apparently, in both tests the results reflectthe same emotional dimensions. It now seems of interest to find outwhether the buyers under examination reflect the characteristics ofimpulse buyers and how they can be distinguished from nonbuyers.Tables 4 and 5 show mean ratings for the 17 items for buyers and


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52 Peter W ei nberg and Wol fgang Gott w ald

Table 4: Mean Ratings Obtained from Self-perception

ItemAmusingStimulatingPleasantExcitingDelightfulInspiring enthusiasmInterestBoredomSurpriseAstonishmentCuriosityIndifferenceAngerEnthusiasmJoyGleeDoubt

fActual Buyers Actual Nonbuyers

(n = 47) (n q 154) Difference 53.74 3.09 +0.65ad1.89 1.66 +0.232.89 2.48 +0.411.45 1.32 +0.133.49 2.89 +0.6OaC2.55 1.75 +0.80bd3.57 2.46 +J.l Jbd0.23 0.49 -0.261.60 1.90 -0.300.89 1.51 -0.62bc2.66 2.91 -0.250.32 0.94 -0.62ad0.00 0.16 -0.16=1.89 0.71 +l.l8bd1.79 0.92 +0.87bd3.28 2.52 +0.76bd0.57 0.79 -0.22

(1 Significant 01 < 0.05b Significant (Y< 0.01 X2-testC Significant OL 0.05 I_testd Significant OL 0.01

nonbuyers for external perception and self perception. T-tests as well aschi-square tests for the self-perception data show that the buyers assessthemselves as significantly more amused, more delighted, and moreenthusiastic than nonbuyers. They perceived the direction and strengthof their emotions more distinctly than did nonbuyers.In addition, buyers experienced significantly more interest, enthu-siasm, joy, and glee, but less astonishment and indifference thannonbuyers. These qualities of emotions thus also allow us to discriminatebetween buyers and nonbuyers on the basis of their self-perception.Comparing these results with the most essential characteristics ofimpulsive decision behavior (here, significant stimulus situation andstrong activation), we may consider the buyers examined to be impulsivebuyers (i.e., such buyers who have impulsively decided to buy). Theself-perception of their emotional behavior differed significantly fromnonbuyers.


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