How Good Gets Better and Bad Gets Worse: Understanding the Impact of Affect on Evaluations of Known Brands

Journal of Consumer Research · 2003 · Volume 30 · Issue 3

Abstract

Participants experiencing positive or negative affect judged products described by brand and attribute information. Four studies using parameter-estimation and reaction-time procedures determined whether the impact of affect on brand name was the result of its influence on ( a ) participants' perception of its evaluative implications at the time of encoding or ( b ) the importance they attached to it while integrating it with other information to compute a judgment. Results showed that positive affect increased the extremity of the brand's evaluative implications (i.e., its scale value) rather than the importance (or weight) that participants attached to it. A fifth experiment demonstrated the implications of these findings for product choices made 24 hours after affect was induced.

Keywords

Affect/Emotions/Moods, Assimilation/Contrast, Attitudes, Brand Equity/Extensions, Social Cognition

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