This dissertation contributes to a better understanding of curiosity resolution. I investigate the premise that the experience of curiosity resolution is influenced both by the fact that curiosity is resolved, as well as how it is resolved. While the outcome associated with curiosity resolution can be positive or negative in nature, the experience of curiosity resolution itself is predicted to be pleasant in nature. Therefore, I propose that the degree to which each of these two resolution facets is salient will influence curiosity-related evaluations. In this dissertation, I investigate pre-resolution expectations as well as post-resolution downstream consequences. Prior to curiosity resolution, I propose that individuals are likely to be focused on the outcome they will obtain. However, when faced with uncertain outcomes, individuals strategically heighten anticipated feelings of disappointment in order to protect against actual disappointment when the outcome is revealed; thus, I predict and demonstrate in four studies that curious consumers will display heightened levels of pre-resolution feelings of anticipated disappointment. After curiosity resolution, I propose that individuals experience not only positive or negative feelings associated with the outcome obtained, but also positive feelings of resolution itself. In four studies, I investigate the power of curiosity resolution to buffer negative responses to relatively undesirable outcomes. Importantly, I also demonstrate that consumers' focus on either the outcome obtained or on the experience of resolution itself can be experimentally shifted, thereby mitigating the previously described effects. / Ph. D. / When people become curious, they are more likely to engage with and explore the object of their curiosity. In a marketing context, this can result in positive outcomes such as increased interest and responsiveness to ads. Thus, marketers may seek to induce consumer curiosity in order to obtain these beneficial responses. However, little is known about what happens when consumers’ curiosity is resolved; individuals may react with a disappointed, ‘big deal’ response, or may experience more positive feelings of relief or reward. In this research, I seek to better understand curiosity resolution. I suggest that consumers may react positively or negatively to curiosity resolution depending on the outcome they receive. However, I also suggest that the experience of curiosity resolution itself, the feeling of finding out what you wanted to know, is positive. I suggest that these distinct sources of negative and positive feelings have different implications for consumers’ expectations of curiosity resolution and for consumers’ postresolution evaluations. Prior to curiosity resolution, individuals are expected to be focused on the nature of the unknown outcome they will obtain. Thus, they engage in an ‘expect the worst’ process in which they anticipate feelings of disappointment in case the unknown outcome they obtain is negative. However, if they shift their focus to the experience of resolution itself, these feelings of disappointment are reduced. After curiosity resolution, feelings associated with the outcome obtained are predicted to be tempered by positive feelings associated with curiosity resolution itself. Thus, consumers who experience curiosity resolution, compared to those who don’t, react less negatively to a relatively undesirable outcome. However, a shift in focus can change this reaction, such that a greater emphasis on the outcome obtained yields a more negative response to a relatively undesirable outcome.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/77529 |
| Date | 26 April 2017 |
| Creators | Rabino, Rebecca |
| Contributors | Marketing, Herr, Paul Michael, Ince, Elise C., Brinberg, David L., Pandelaere, Mario, Rugar, Yael Zemack, Bagchi, Rajesh |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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