Abstract
The purpose of our research was to investigate the effect of colour on cognitive processing styles in social decision-making situations. The present research investigated the effect of colour on estimating the price of a gift for a social target. Two colours, blue and red, were provided as environmental cues, and the motivation for a decision was manipulated, by varying the target person’s level of attractiveness in a presentation slide during a gift-purchasing simulation. A blue background with low motivation resulted in the anchoring effect, meaning that participants used heuristic processing. However, for a blue background with high motivation and red backgrounds with both high and low motivational levels, participants were not influenced by any anchoring effect. The results indicated that the effect of colour on cognitive style interacted with the motivational level, the attractiveness of the photo target. The theoretical implications, evolutionary explanation, and ideas for further research are also discussed.
Highlights
IntroductionThe postulation that human rationality is limited has been verified repeatedly in multiple social scientific areas such as sociology (Long, 1958), public policy (Schelling, 1971), organizational studies (Cohen, March, & Olsen, 1972), and psychology (Weiner, 1976; Sproull, Weiner, & Wolf, 1978)
Our study extended its contextual point to social consumer decision making, such as buying a gift for the opposite sex, so that we can discuss the simultaneous influence of colour and the attractiveness of the recipient on the participants
We focused on how this joint effect affects the use of a heuristic in consumer decision making
Summary
The postulation that human rationality is limited has been verified repeatedly in multiple social scientific areas such as sociology (Long, 1958), public policy (Schelling, 1971), organizational studies (Cohen, March, & Olsen, 1972), and psychology (Weiner, 1976; Sproull, Weiner, & Wolf, 1978) These studies have shown converging evidence that the behaviour of choice is based on numerous factors. Krishna, Lwin, and Morrin (2010) showed that facial tissues with infused scent helps participants recall the brand Based on these precedents, our research predicted that the colour effect during purchasing would form a romantic mood and have a significant influence on decision making. We focused on how this joint effect affects the use of a heuristic in consumer decision making
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