Emotion and Reason in Consumer Behavior (1st ed.)

Citation

Goldsmith, R.E. (2006), "Emotion and Reason in Consumer Behavior (1st ed.)", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 304-305. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760610681691

Consumer psychologists have always viewed their subject as fundamentally a type of decision making; it is the central metaphor underlying the study of consumers. Consequently, one major theme running through the various theories describing consumer decision making has always been the essential rationality of consumers. Derived most likely from the assumptions of economists that the best way to model consumer behavior is subjective expected utility (or similar concepts), all the major theories of consumer decision making place rational decision making at their core, leading to an emphasis on functional, practical benefits as the driving elements of brand selection. Although the discipline has been enriched over the years by the introduction of other perspectives that stress the hedonic, experiential, and social needs of consumers, rational decision making remains the key to understanding how and why consumers behave the way they do.

The task Arjun Chaudhuri has set himself is not simply to again make the case for the importance of emotional elements in consumer decision making, as this hardly needs doing, but to integrate the two perspectives – emotion and reason – into a more complex account of how and why people consume products and services. To begin this process, he takes the position that emotion and reason stand for two ways in which humans interact with and make sense of their world. Why we have these complementary and often competing “systems” is grounded in the biology and evolutionary history of our species. In short, we have evolved a complex brain that gives us “two functionally different ways of knowing” (p. 3). Rather than arguing for the superiority of one over the other, Chaudhuri proposes that both ways of knowing are valid and appropriate. Most of the research described in this book has as its goal the demonstration that both systems operate simultaneously and even interact when consumers view advertising, handle risk, select products, and form relationships with stores and brands.

At the core of Chaudhuri's argument is the concept of the triune brain. This theory depicts the human brain as having three components or levels owing to the long evolutionary history of our species

The first of these structures is the reptilian brain (reticular formation, basal ganglia, and midbrain) that governs such basic behavior as reproduction, aggression, territoriality, etc. The second brain structure is the paleomammalian formation (limbic system) found in mammals, which guides pro‐social behavior for the preservation of the species and also agnostic behavior for the preservation of the individual. The third and most recent structure is the neomammalian formation (neocortex and thalamic structures), and its primary functions are in the realm of higher cognitive processing, including verbal communication, language, ideas, problem solving, complex learning, and memory (p. 11).

Working together, these brain structures blend emotion and reason to shape our understanding and reaction to the world, including how we view promotions, products, brands, and stores.

Thus, the book structured with introductory chapters presenting the background theories explaining and justifying the importance of emotions in human (and consumer) behavior, followed by chapters devoted to illustrating specific applications of this theory to selected aspects of consumer behavior. These chapters cover the topics of attitude formation, involvement, learning, personality, and risk. Each chapter presents one application of his theory as a research study providing empirical evidence in its support. This material is based on the author's published studies in a variety of academic marketing journals.

As one example of using this theory of the importance of emotions in consumer behavior, Chaudhuri describes the development of the Communication Analytic and Syncretic Cognitions (CASC) scale, a self‐report measure of the multidimensional elements of emotional and rational responses to advertising. This new measure promises to reveal new insights into the effects of advertising and should stimulate original research on this topic. Another illustrative example is Chaudhuri's chapter on “Personality and the self,” which seeks to find a relationship between emotional communication and some aspects of the self‐concept. The results are both revealing and intuitively satisfying: “People who do not find happiness in the presence of others tend to be socially inhibited,and people who experience sadness and fear in the presence of others tend to have feeling of inadequacy, helplessness, and lack of control over their environment” (p. 100). Such insights into basic personality and self‐concepts can guide marketing strategies in the branding and promotion areas and deserve further study.

Contemporary neuroscience is far ahead of marketing and consumer research in viewing the importance of and integration of emotion with reason. For example, Damasio (1994, 1999, 2004)is a leader in this movement. His books provide a serious presentation of the philosophical, psychological, and neurological arguments for emotion and reason being twin forces that work together in the human decision process. Greenspan and Shanker (2004) present a similar argument from the perspective of developmental psychology. They go so far as to argue that emotional systems not only come before abstract thinking (reason), they are essential to its development. Thus, the message that both reason and emotion cooperate in decision‐making behavior is nothing new to the world of cognitive neuroscience. Chaudhuri should be commended for stimulating his marketing colleagues to pay attention to this important perspective in behavioral science.

Emotion and Reason in Consumer Behavior is written in a direct and clear style. Its intended audience consists of both graduate and undergraduate students, although the latter might find much of it hard going. One can easily picture it as a supplementary reading in graduate seminars in consumer behavior. Brand managers might find it useful for the overall picture it gives of the twin forces of reason and emotion in consumer behavior, but specific insights of managerial use are largely lacking. Instead, it should stimulate new research into a variety of consumer issues, as the vision it provides is inspirational and thought provoking. It can be recommended to serious scholars seeking new approaches to understanding consumer behavior.