The Affect Heuristic In Early Judgments of Product Innovations
Date
2014
Authors
King, Jesse
Slovic, Paul
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Consumer Behaviour
Abstract
According to the affect heuristic, people often rely upon their overall affective impression of a target to form judgments of risk. However, innovation research has largely characterized risk perception as a function of what the consumer knows rather than how they feel. In three studies, this research investigates the use of the affect heuristic in consumer judgments of product innovations. The findings indicate that judgments of risks and benefits associated with product innovations are inversely related and affectively congruent with evaluations of those innovations. Additionally, more affectively extreme evaluations are associated with increasingly disparate judgments of risk and benefit. This research contributes to our theoretical understanding of both consumers’ evaluations of innovations and the affect heuristic. Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
Description
34 pages
Keywords
Decision making, Heuristics, Product innovations, Risk
Citation
King, J., & Slovic, P. (2014). The affect heuristic in early judgments of product innovations. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 13, 411–428. doi: 10.1002/cb.1491