Contemporary Methods in Consumer Goal Pursuit and Emotion Research

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the contemporary methods by which consumer psychologists manipulate and measure goals and emotion. It also provides an overview of consumer goal pursuit, reviewing the means by which researchers can activate goals and measure the presence of consumer goals. The chapter highlights some important methodological considerations that relate to the role of consciousness and whether the consumer is aware or unaware of the goal influencing behavior. A potential downside to subliminal goal activation is that it tends to be a weaker overall manipulation of nonconscious goal activation. However, one important benefit of subliminal goal activation is that, assuming an effect is found on goal-directed behavior, one can be certain that it was truly nonconscious. The chapter discusses some of the primary means by which integral and incidental emotions are elicited, before transitioning to how researchers can measure the presence of different emotional states.