Research Design Connection: Making Choices While Concerned
Galoni, Carpenter and Rao have studied decision-making by people concerned about potentially catching a contagious disease. They report that, “Across four experiments and two large empirical data analyses of the presence of contagious disease on actual consumption behavior, we find that cues of contagious disease [such as hearing a cough] increase both fear and disgust, and these emotions together form a unique behavioral tendency with respect to consumer behavior. Relative to either emotion alone, disgust and fear increase preference for more familiar products asymmetrically over less familiar ones.” Chelsea Galoni, Gregory Carpenter, and Hayagreeva Rao. “Afraid and Disgusted: Consumer Choices Under the Threat of Contagious Disease.” Journal of Consumer Research, in press, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucaa025 Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are …
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