Dimensions of Temperament: Affect Intensity and Consumer Lifestyles

Abstract

This article focuses on the relation between affect intensity and 3 fundamental dimensions of temperament—emotionality, sociability, and sensory arousability. The purpose was to show that individual differences in affect intensity as a dimension of temperament can influence not only advertising responses, but also the lifestyles and preferences of consumers. Study 1 confirmed the emotionality dimension in that high affect intensity individuals responded with significantly stronger levels of emotion when exposed to an affectively charged advertising appeal, but not when exposed to a nonemotional appeal. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that the fundamental dimensions of temperament are accompanied by heightened emotional intensity and do predict different preferences for lifestyle activities for high and low affect intensity consumers. A significant Affect Intensity × Gender interaction occurred indicating that both men and women expressed stronger emotions when experiencing activities that were gender‐congruent (e.g., watching sports on TV for men, and smelling perfumes for women). Future research directions are also discussed.