The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying brand personality consumer attraction: EEG and GSR evidence

Abstract

The “similarity-attraction” mechanism of brand personality exists in a state of controversy because many studies have found that the brand personality favored by consumers is inconsistent with their personality. The psychological reasons underlying this paradoxical situation remain unknown. Therefore, based on the circumplex model of emotion theory in neuroscience, this study uses EEG and GSR to measure physiological responses and self-assessment questionnaires to the display of 5 brand personality images to subjects with different Big Five personality traits. 36 undergraduate students participated in the experiment. The results show that: 1) if the questionnaire survey method is used, the results are approximately consistent with previous studies, which is consistent with the theory of ‘similar personality leads to attraction’. 2) The subjects' physiological indicators were not concordant with the self-report scores. Based on EEG and GSR results, brands with the “competence” personality strongly attracted consumers with strong ‘openness’. Subjects with strong “conscientiousness” avoided the ‘sincerity’ and ‘ruggedness’ brand personality; Based on the “emotion/feeling” theory of neuroscience, this study explains the non-concordant results of physiological indicators and self-assessment questionnaires, and proposes a new solution to the controversial issue of brand personality theory. Our findings have significant practical value for guiding brand personality design and the identification of target consumer groups.