Beyond liking: Comparing the measurement of emotional response using EsSense Profile and consumer defined check-all-that-apply methodologies

Abstract

With the rapid proliferation of new products into the marketplace, understanding emotional responses may offer a differential advantage beyond traditional hedonic measures. The objectives of this study were: to determine if emotional data provide discrimination beyond that obtained from hedonic response; to compare the effectiveness of a published predefined lexicon with that generated by the consumer; and, to evaluate the effectiveness of CATA approach compared to intensity scaling as used in EsSense Profile. To this end, the hedonic and emotional response to commercial blackcurrant squash was investigated comparing two different approaches: EsSense Profile™, in which subjects rated a predefined emotion lexicon, and check-all-that-apply (CATA) of a consumer defined (CD) lexicon. Both approaches yielded emotional data that clearly discriminated across the products more effectively than the hedonic scores. Both EsSense and CD-CATA data produced similar emotional spaces and product configurations. In each method, a two dimensional structure (pleasantness vs. engagement/activation) was observed within the product space which corresponded to published circumplex models of emotional response. However, the latter observation was more evident in the CD-CATA approach. The consumer defined lexicon provided a rich and more balanced list of positive and negative emotions specific to the product category although it did lack some terms found to be differentiating on the EsSense lexicon. Also the qualitative nature of the data obtained from CD CATA, limited the extent of the statistical analysis, making it difficult to make the clear inferential conclusions obtained with EsSense Profile. For future emotional studies a hybrid approach, whereby the emotion lexicon is developed combining consumer input and published emotion lists, and is then used to evaluate products using a rate-all-that-apply (RATA) procedure, is proposed.