Consumidores usam produtos como meios de obtenção de objetivos. Às vezes, entretanto, os consumidores somente compram o produto e não o consomem. Isso ocorre, especialmente, quando os produtos comprados estão associados a objetivos contínuos, isto é, objetivos que requerem tempo e esforço para o seu cumprimento. Esta tese investiga se os consumidores percebem a compra de produtos associados a um objetivo contínuo como um progresso neste, seguindo a lógica desenvolvida por Fishbach e Dhar (2005), a qual propõe que quando os consumidores percebem um avanço na busca de um objetivo, tornam-se mais suscetíveis a adotar escolhas subsequentes inconsistentes com a busca desse objetivo. Ainda, demostra-se que a percepção de progresso no objetivo é contingente da força de associação entre objetivo e produto. Quatro experimentos foram desenhados para testar estes efeitos, o primeiro testa o efeito da compra em relação a um grupo de controle, o segundo testa o efeito da compra em relação a uma ação efetiva na busca do objetivo, o terceiro verifica o impacto da percepção de progresso na motivação e o último apresenta a interação entre a ação (compra vs efetiva) e força de associação do produto no progresso percebido. / Consumers often use products to help them pursue their goals. Sometimes, however, consumers only purchase the products and do not use them. This occurs especially when the purchased products are associated with ongoing goals, i.e., goals that require time and effort toward goal attainment. This dissertation investigates whether consumers perceive the purchase of a product that is related to an ongoing goal as goal progress, based on the rationale developed by Fishbach and Dhar (2005), which proposes that when consumers perceive an action as goal progress, their subsequent actions are more likely to be inconsistent with the focal goal. Furthermore, it is proposed that the perception of goal progress is contingent to the strength of the association between goal and product. Four experiments were designed to test these effects, the first test the effect of purchase compared to a control group, the second test the effect of purchase in relation to an effective action in goal, the third study verifies the impact of perceived progress in motivation and the last study shows the interaction between the action (purchase vs effective) and the strength of association in the inference of goal progress.

Consumidores usam produtos como meios de obtenção de objetivos. Às vezes, entretanto, os consumidores somente compram o produto e não o consomem. Isso ocorre, especialmente, quando os produtos comprados estão associados a objetivos contínuos, isto é, objetivos que requerem tempo e esforço para o seu cumprimento. Esta tese investiga se os consumidores percebem a compra de produtos associados a um objetivo contínuo como um progresso neste, seguindo a lógica desenvolvida por Fishbach e Dhar (2005), a qual propõe que quando os consumidores percebem um avanço na busca de um objetivo, tornam-se mais suscetíveis a adotar escolhas subsequentes inconsistentes com a busca desse objetivo. Ainda, demostra-se que a percepção de progresso no objetivo é contingente da força de associação entre objetivo e produto. Quatro experimentos foram desenhados para testar estes efeitos, o primeiro testa o efeito da compra em relação a um grupo de controle, o segundo testa o efeito da compra em relação a uma ação efetiva na busca do objetivo, o terceiro verifica o impacto da percepção de progresso na motivação e o último apresenta a interação entre a ação (compra vs efetiva) e força de associação do produto no progresso percebido. / Consumers often use products to help them pursue their goals. Sometimes, however, consumers only purchase the products and do not use them. This occurs especially when the purchased products are associated with ongoing goals, i.e., goals that require time and effort toward goal attainment. This dissertation investigates whether consumers perceive the purchase of a product that is related to an ongoing goal as goal progress, based on the rationale developed by Fishbach and Dhar (2005), which proposes that when consumers perceive an action as goal progress, their subsequent actions are more likely to be inconsistent with the focal goal. Furthermore, it is proposed that the perception of goal progress is contingent to the strength of the association between goal and product. Four experiments were designed to test these effects, the first test the effect of purchase compared to a control group, the second test the effect of purchase in relation to an effective action in goal, the third study verifies the impact of perceived progress in motivation and the last study shows the interaction between the action (purchase vs effective) and the strength of association in the inference of goal progress.

Consumidores usam produtos como meios de obtenção de objetivos. Às vezes, entretanto, os consumidores somente compram o produto e não o consomem. Isso ocorre, especialmente, quando os produtos comprados estão associados a objetivos contínuos, isto é, objetivos que requerem tempo e esforço para o seu cumprimento. Esta tese investiga se os consumidores percebem a compra de produtos associados a um objetivo contínuo como um progresso neste, seguindo a lógica desenvolvida por Fishbach e Dhar (2005), a qual propõe que quando os consumidores percebem um avanço na busca de um objetivo, tornam-se mais suscetíveis a adotar escolhas subsequentes inconsistentes com a busca desse objetivo. Ainda, demostra-se que a percepção de progresso no objetivo é contingente da força de associação entre objetivo e produto. Quatro experimentos foram desenhados para testar estes efeitos, o primeiro testa o efeito da compra em relação a um grupo de controle, o segundo testa o efeito da compra em relação a uma ação efetiva na busca do objetivo, o terceiro verifica o impacto da percepção de progresso na motivação e o último apresenta a interação entre a ação (compra vs efetiva) e força de associação do produto no progresso percebido. / Consumers often use products to help them pursue their goals. Sometimes, however, consumers only purchase the products and do not use them. This occurs especially when the purchased products are associated with ongoing goals, i.e., goals that require time and effort toward goal attainment. This dissertation investigates whether consumers perceive the purchase of a product that is related to an ongoing goal as goal progress, based on the rationale developed by Fishbach and Dhar (2005), which proposes that when consumers perceive an action as goal progress, their subsequent actions are more likely to be inconsistent with the focal goal. Furthermore, it is proposed that the perception of goal progress is contingent to the strength of the association between goal and product. Four experiments were designed to test these effects, the first test the effect of purchase compared to a control group, the second test the effect of purchase in relation to an effective action in goal, the third study verifies the impact of perceived progress in motivation and the last study shows the interaction between the action (purchase vs effective) and the strength of association in the inference of goal progress.

There is evidence of a prospective association between wellbeing and health outcomes including disease risk and longevity. The aim of this thesis was firstly to further explore whether wellbeing is a risk factor for specific chronic physical diseases, and secondly, to identify potential mediators and moderators of the association between wellbeing and disease risk or longevity. Chapter 1 provides an overview of research into associations between wellbeing and physical health. In addition, we outline theoretical models of how the experience of high wellbeing might impact physical health. In chapters 2 and 3, we build on research into wellbeing and chronic physical disease risk. In these chapters, we tested whether the association between wellbeing and disease risk was similar across different types of disease, and, whether different theoretical domains of wellbeing varied in their association with disease risk. We found particularly strong associations - that were not explained by demographic or health behaviour differences - between higher wellbeing and lower risk of arthritis, diabetes or chronic lung disease. In chapter 4, we further explore the association between wellbeing and arthritis risk using mediation analysis. Specifically, we tested whether this association was mediated by inflammatory biomarkers. We found that the biomarker C-reactive protein accounted for a small proportion of the association between wellbeing and a reduced risk of arthritis. The focus of the next two chapters was on potential moderators of the association between wellbeing and mortality risk. In chapter 5, we examined whether the association between higher wellbeing and lower mortality risk varied across individualist and collectivist cultures. We found a significant interaction between individualism and wellbeing such that the association between wellbeing and risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease was stronger in more individualistic countries. In chapter 6, we examined how positive affect (a subdomain of wellbeing), interacted with another psychosocial factor, namely subjective stress. Here, we tested Pressman and Cohen's (2005) stress buffering hypothesis that positive affect may be most strongly related with health under stressful conditions. In support of this hypothesis, we found that the association between positive affect and all-cause mortality risk was stronger in people reporting higher stress. In the final chapter, we summarise our findings, discuss the limitations of our approach and make recommendations for future research.