The application of physiological observation methods to emotion research

The application of physiologicalobservation methods to

emotion researchLaura Chamberlain and Amanda J. Broderick

Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer emotions and the social science andobservation measures that can be utilised to capture the emotional experiences of consumers.The paper is not setting out to solve the theoretical debate surrounding emotion research, rather toprovide an assessment of methodological options available to researchers to aid their investigationinto both the structure and content of the consumer emotional experience, acknowledging both theconscious and subconscious elements of that experience.

Design/methodology/approach – A review of a wide range of prior research from the fieldsof marketing, consumer behaviour, psychology and neuroscience are examined to identify thedifferent observation methods available to marketing researchers in the study of consumer emotion.This review also considers the self report measures available to researchers and identifies the maintheoretical debates concerning emotion to provide a comprehensive overview of the issuessurrounding the capture of emotional responses in a marketing context and to highlight the benefitsthat observation methods offer this area of research.

Findings – This paper evaluates three observation methods and four widely used self reportmeasures of emotion used in a marketing context. Whilst it is recognised that marketers have shownpreference for the use of self report measures in prior research, mainly due to ease of implementation, itis posited that the benefits of observation methodology and the wealth of data that can be obtainedusing such methods can compliment prior research. In addition, the use of observation methods cannotonly enhance our understanding of the consumer emotion experience but also enable us to collaboratewith researchers from other fields in order to make progress in understanding emotion.

Originality/value – This paper brings perspectives and methods together to provide an up to dateconsideration of emotion research for marketers. In order to generate valuable research in this areathere is an identified need for discussion and implementation of the observation techniques availableto marketing researchers working in this field. An evaluation of a variety of methods is undertakenas a point to start discussion or consideration of different observation techniques and how they can beutilised.

Keywords Physiological psychology, Consumer behaviour, Research methods

Paper type Research paper

IntroductionThe infrequent use of observation methodology in marketing research is often justifiedby researchers because it is viewed as a time consuming technique, usually using asmall sample, which generates outcomes that are sometimes hard to quantify andproduces findings that are difficult to generalise (Burns and Bush, 2000; Boote andMathews, 1999). Observation, like any methodology, is not without limitations;however, it is arguably dismissed by researchers who have yet to discover the potentialof this method, the wide variety of techniques that can be used aided by technologicaladvances and contexts in which it can be implemented. In general terms, observationtechniques can be used to generate quantitative or qualitative data which can be

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/1352-2752.htm

Physiologicalobservation

methods

199

Qualitative Market Research: AnInternational Journal

Vol. 10 No. 2, 2007pp. 199-216

q Emerald Group Publishing Limited1352-2752

DOI 10.1108/13522750710740853

recorded using machines or humans. Observations can be structured or unstructured,be conducted in a natural or controlled setting with either participatory ornon-participatory observers (Burns and Bush, 2000; Malhotra, 1999). Owing to manyvariations in observation techniques available and an abundance of applications, thispaper will specifically focus on a discussion of how observation methods can beutilised to advance research concerning the emotional experiences of consumers.

Although used infrequently, observation methods have been utilised in marketingresearch, for example, to research purchase behaviour (Wells and Lo Sciuto, 1966),parent and children behaviour in stores (Rust, 1993) and the link between in store musicand shopping behaviour (Milliman, 1982). Indeed, observation is a useful technique forexamining subconscious influences on consumer behaviour and can provide detailedrecords of individuals’ behaviour “in situations where they do not wish to revealtheir behaviour or where they genuinely do not have a ‘conscious’ reason for theirbehaviour” (Boote and Mathews, 1999, p. 19). It is this recording of the subconsciousexperience which is useful for emotion research; observation methods can enhance ourunderstanding of this construct by providing us with detailed objective and subjectivedata regarding the subconscious and conscious emotional experience.

Recent years have seen huge developments in the measurement of emotions, partlydue to the technological advances that have given researchers the ability to generateaccurate data, for example, using neuroimaging techniques. However, much of thisresearch has been conducted in the fields of psychology and neuroscience and has notyet been widely taken up by social science researchers. This has been acknowledged byboth marketers (Lee et al., 2007) and psychologists who have called for a “collaborationamong social, cognitive, developmental and neuroscientists” (Cacioppo and Gardner,1999, p. 192). Such calls for collaboration encompass both the development of theory andmethodologies for the study of emotional phenomena. In the field of psychology andneuroscience, machines, for example, magnetoencephalography, functional magneticresonance imaging and electroencephalography (EEG) are often used to observe thephysiological changes associated with brain activity. In addition, machines to measureelectrodermal activity (EDA) are used to observe changes in skin conductance. Suchtechniques among others have been used in the study of emotion in a wide range ofcontexts, for example, investigating the role of emotions in attention and perception(Niedenthal and Kitayama, 1994); memory (Bradley and Lang, 1995; Cahill et al., 1996);psychological defence (Paulhaus et al., 1997); attitudes and persuasion (Cacioppo et al.,1992); decision making (Forgas, 1995; Schwarz and Clore, 1996); the meaning ofinterpersonal relationships (Reis and Patrick, 1996); cancer progression speech andfacial recognition in computer and robotic software (Murray and Arnott, 1993; Pittamand Scherer, 1993).

In light of the need for collaboration with other research fields to advance consumerbehaviour research in the study of emotion we must acknowledge the complexity of theconstruct itself. This complexity is reflected by many different theories and subsequentdebates generated in the field of psychology. A variety of perspectives have beengenerated by such debates; some researchers conceptualise emotions as categories,some dimensions (bipolar concepts), some presuppose simple structure, some acircumplex, and some a hierarchy (Russell and Barrett, 1999). Laros and Steenkamp(2005) identify that it is not just the structure of emotion that has generated discussionbut also the content of emotion. They state that some researchers view emotions as

QMRIJ10,2

200

broad general factors, for example, pleasure and arousal (Russell, 1980), some aspositive and negative affect (Watson and Tellegen, 1985). This is further complicatedby boundaries and definitions of emotion, which have been described as “blurry”(Russell and Barrett, 1999, p. 805). Given this diversity of perspectives it can besummarised that there is no simple answer to the question “what is an emotion?” It isnot our intention to attempt to “solve” this conceptual and theoretical debate; however,in this paper we will consider how to conceptualise emotion in a consumer behaviourcontext in order to further understand how observation techniques can be implementedto capture emotional experiences.

Emotions are a central component of consumer responses and are generated by awide variety of advertising cues, store atmospherics, service interactions, the use ofspecific products and satisfaction evaluations, to name but a few. Indeed, emotions arekey influences on the behaviour of both consumers and managers alike (Richins, 1997).Although emotions have been identified as an important part of the consumptionexperience and responses to advertising, “[i]n comparison to information processingand behavioural decision research we know much less about the role of emotions inmarketing behaviour” (Bagozzi et al., 1999, p. 184). Thus, in order to further research inthis area it is important to consider the opportunities presented by observationmethods to generate detailed information in this complex area. This is not to say,however, that little research has been conducted concerning emotions in a marketingcontext, to the contrary, for five decades marketing and consumer behaviourresearchers have been investigating the influence of emotion in many areas.

Emotion is a key explanatory construct of consumer behaviour which has beenapproached from a variety of theoretical perspectives, thus generating wide rangingand sometimes contradictory results. Given that prior research is grounded from manydisciplines we will provide an overview of theoretical and methodologicalconsiderations drawing from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, consumerbehaviour and marketing. We aim to examine consumer emotions and the socialscience and observation measures that can be utilised; we are not setting out to solvethe theoretical debate surrounding emotion research, rather to provide as assessmentof methodological options available to researchers to aid their investigation into boththe structure and content of the consumer emotional experience, acknowledgingboth the conscious and subconscious elements of that experience. This paper bringsperspectives and methods together to provide an up to date consideration of emotionresearch for marketers and will outline the key issues for consideration and possibledirections for future research in the area.

Conceptualising emotionBefore we can delve further into the specifics of methodological techniques forcapturing emotion we must consider the construct of emotion in order to identifythe methodological implications for measuring this construct. There are a variety ofdefinitions of emotion and related constructs. In order to consider emotions inmarketing and consumer behaviour contexts it is important to define emotion anddistinguish it from other states (Richins, 1997) as there is “little consistency can befound in the terminology related to emotions” (Bagozzi et al., 1999, p. 184). Indeed,the terms affect, mood and emotion have been used inconsistently in prior research.


methods

201

The definition of emotion, as opposed to affect, mood or feeling, for example, hasbeen widely discussed and several attempts have been made to tighten the construct(Rosenberg, 1998; Russell and Barrett, 1999). Despite the debates regarding theboundary conditions of emotion, however, there is considerable agreement thatemotional responses are relatively brief, phasic events that are accompanied byphysiological processes, often expressed physically (for example, in gestures, posture,facial features) and may result in specific actions to affirm or cope with the emotiondepending on its nature and meaning for the person experiencing the emotion (Bagozziet al., 1999; Lazarus, 1991; Oately, 1992). Although affect is a term often usedinterchangeably with emotion we identify with the distinction made by Bagozzi et al.(1999, p. 185) that it can be seen as an “umbrella” for a set of more specific “processesincluding emotions (and) moods . . . Thus, affect might be considered as a generalcategory . . . rather than a particular psychological process per se.” This is an importantdistinction as it distinguishes between emotions and moods whilst acknowledgingthat these states are not wholly unrelated. Moods are considered to be of longerduration than emotions, lasting from a few hours up to a few days, and have a lowerintensity than emotion (Bagozzi et al., 1999). Moods are usually unintentional andglobal or diffused (Frijda, 1993) whereas emotions are typically intentional, i.e. theyhave an object or referent.

In light of the distinctions made by the definitions outlined above it is necessary tobriefly outline the theoretical debate regarding the conceptualisation of emotions.One psychological perspective is that emotions (for example, happiness, fear, sadness,hostility, guilt, surprise and interest) are discrete entities. That is, emotions areassumed to be unique experiential states that stem from distinct causes and are presentfrom birth (Izard, 1977). The assumption behind this view is that individualsexperience emotion because people have internal mechanisms for a small set ofreactions (typically happiness, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, and interest) that, oncetriggered, can be measured objectively. Emotions such as anger, sadness, and fear aretreated as entities that researchers can make discoveries about and this assumptionshapes the scientific treatment of emotions (Barrett, 2004). For example, it is assumedthat an individuals’ fear mechanism must trigger in order for them to feel fear. It is thatfeeling of fear that subsequently shapes an individuals perception and behaviour.However, this perspective has been criticised on the basis that individuals mayexperience more than one emotion at the same time. This would suggest thatindividuals do not meaningfully separate emotions in conscious experience, indeedindividuals often report that they experience “mixed emotions”.

In line with this perspective researchers have attempted to identify a set of basic orfundamental emotions, although there is no widespread agreement concerning thenumber or the nature of basic emotions. Plutchik (1980, p. 138) used an evolutionaryperspective to identify eight “primary” emotions consisting of fear, anger, joy, sadness,acceptance, disgust, expectancy and surprise. According to Plutchik (1980) these eightemotions have adaptive significance in the struggle for survival and are identifiable insome form at all levels in the animal kingdom. Similarly, Izard (1977) examinedemotions by focussing on the role of facial muscle responses associated with emotion inenhancing survival. Based in part on the identification of emotions that are universallyassociated with and recognisable in, distinctive facial expressions, the ten fundamentalemotions proposed consist of interest, enjoyment, surprise, distress (sadness), anger,

QMRIJ10,2

202

disgust, contempt, fear, shame/shyness, and guilt. Izard’s (1977) Differential EmotionsScale (DES) measures these ten emotions and is available in four forms and accordingto Richins (1997) the DES II has been used most frequently in consumption emotionresearch.

Plutchik (1980) and Izard (1977) have argued that other, more complex emotions arethe result of mixtures of their “basic” emotions. However, the mechanisms by whichlove, hate, envy, relief, pride, and other every day emotions can be identified throughthe use of the DES or Plutchiks’ measure have not been well explained. The reliance onbasic emotions has been criticised by Ortney and Turner (1990, p. 315) who extensivelyreviewed the basic emotions literature and concluded that there is “no coherentnontrivial notion of basic emotions as the elementary psychological primitives in termsof which other emotions can be explained”. This calls into question the fundamentalvalidity of measures founded on the notion of basic emotions.

In light of such criticisms we turn to an alternative psychological perspective thathas generated much research in recent years. This perspective identifies emotion as aglobal feeling construct (Shapiro et al., 2002) where distinct emotional states can bedescribed by their position on two fundamental dimensions: arousal and valence.Valence is defined as pleasantness or hedonic value and arousal as bodily activation(Barrett, 1998, p. 579). Within this perspective there is an element of debate. Someresearchers emphasise either valence or arousal as basic to the experience of emotion(Lazarus, 1991; Ortony et al., 1988; Thayer, 1978; Zajonc, 1980). Other researchers,however, incorporate both dimensions (Lang, 1994; Reisenzein, 1994; Russell, 1980;Schacter and Singer, 1962). This school of thought proposes that each dimension ofarousal and valence may have a different effect on consumer behaviour (Shapiro et al.,2002) and has been widely accepted by many researchers in the field.

Research that has used the dimension perspective has generated interesting resultsand enables a variety of measurement techniques to be utilized to gather detailed datausing both self report and observation measures. For example, language itself andspecifically language used to describe emotion can be characterised in terms of valenceand arousal (Osgood, 1969; Russell, 1991; Wierzbicka, 1992). In addition, objectivemeasures of arousal and valence include, judgments of facial behaviours (Russell,2003), autonomic physiology (Cacioppo et al., 2000), and expressive behaviour(Cacioppo and Gardner, 1999). In light of this compelling evidence, we will continue ourdiscussion of the measurement of emotion using the dimensions perspective andtherefore focusing on arousal and valence and the methodological implications of this.

Alternative perspectives of the measurement of emotionAn assessment of prior research suggests that marketing and consumer behaviourresearchers have tended to take an empirical approach to the measurement of emotionsbut to rely on self report measures, for example, either unipolar or bipolar items onquestionnaires. In the typical application, many items cutting across numerous positiveand negative emotions are administered to measure reactions to stimuli, and methodssuch as factor analysis, multi dimensional scaling, or cluster analysis are used to identifythe underlying emotional dimensions (Bagozzi et al., 1999). However, self-reporttechniques are not the only method by which to capture data concerning valence andarousal. An alternative, observation-based approach, may focus on body posture andgestures, facial expressions, physiological responses (such as electrodermal responses,


methods

203

heart rate or brain activity), action tendencies and overt actions as equally validmeasures of emotional responses. In order to assess the methodological optionsavailable to researchers for the measurement of emotion using the dimensions of arousaland valence we must discuss both self report and physiological measures.

Self report measuresIn order to capture emotional states or processes it is necessary to directly measurecognitive activities relate to these states or processes. Self report scales of subjectiveexperiences are the most frequently used procedure in this regard. We have identifiedfour widely used measurement instruments of consumer emotion for discussion:standardised emotional profile (SEP) (Holbrook and Batra, 1987); feelings towardsads (Edell and Burke, 1987); consumption emotions set (Richins, 1997);pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) dimensions of emotions (Mehrabian and Russell,1974). These four scales are all used to measure consumers emotional responses andhighlight the different approaches taken by researchers (Table I).

Edell and Burke (1987) developed a 52 item “Feelings Towards Ads” scale formeasuring emotions towards advertisements and analysed the items in their scalewhich identified three factors: upbeat feelings, negative feelings and warm feelings.Similarly, Holbrook and Batra (1987) developed a 94 item SEP scale, which was laterreduced to 34 items (Batra and Holbrook, 1990). Holbrook and Batra (1987) used factoranalysis, but in a slightly different way. Their 94 items were first generated a priori tomeasure 29 emotional indices. For example, joyful, happy, delighted and pleased werehypothesised to indicate a joy index, and ashamed, embarrassed and humiliated werehypothesised to indicate a shame index. Then, based on factor analyses of the 29indices, a three factor solution for emotions was found: pleasure, arousal anddomination which correspond closely to those discovered by Edell and Burke (1987).Other researchers (Oliver, 1994; Westbrook, 1987), also using factor analysis, havefound emotional items to load on two factors: positive affect and negative affect. Moststudies incorporating multiple instances of both positive and negative emotions findthat the measures load on two factors corresponding to positive and negative emotions(Bagozzi et al., 1998; Oliver, 1994).

Richins (1997) argues that consumption related emotions are more complex than thetwo and three factor solutions observed in studies of reactions to advertisements orconsumer satisfaction. Moreover, because exploratory factor analyses often yield asmall number of factors, a multidimensional scaling procedure was employed inconjunction with examination of clusters based on location and semantic similarity ofemotional descriptors in two-dimensional spaces. About 16 clusters of emotions wereidentified, each measured by 2-8 indicators. This study was based on the conceptualwork of Clore et al. (1987) and Ortony et al. (1988), where emotion is viewed as a“valenced affective reaction to perceptions of situations” (Richins, 1997, p. 127).This view excludes from the domain of emotions descriptors referring to:

. non-valenced cognitions such as interest and surprise;

. bodily states such as sleepy and droopy; and

. subjective evaluations of people such as self-confident or feeling abandoned.

Based on this view the CES was developed to assess a range of emotions mostfrequently experienced in consumption situations.

QMRIJ10,2

204

Au

thor

sH

olb

rook

and

Bat

ra(1

987)

Ed

ell

and

Bu

rke

(198

7)R

ich

ins

(199

7)M

ehra

bia

nan

dR

uss

ell

(197

4)S

cale

titl

eS

tan

dar

dis

edem

otio

nal

pro

file

(SE

P)

Fee

lin

gs

tow

ard

sad

sC

onsu

mp

tion

emot

ion

sse

t(C

ES

)D

imen

sion

sof

emot

ion

s(P

AD

)

Des

crip

tion

Em

otio

nal

resp

onse

sto

pri

nt

adv

erti

sem

ents

are

com

pri

sed

ofth

ed

imen

sion

sof

ple

asu

re,

arou

sal

and

dom

inat

ion

.P

arti

cula

rly

use

ful

inex

plo

rin

gth

eef

fect

sat

trib

uta

ble

ton

onv

erb

alco

mp

onen

tsof

adv

erti

sin

g

Fee

lin

gs

tow

ard

ads

are

com

pos

edof

bot

hp

osit

ive

affe

ctiv

efe

elin

gs

tow

ard

sa

giv

enad

and

neg

ativ

eaf

fect

ive

feel

ing

sto

war

ds

ag

iven

ad

Em

otio

nis

vie

wed

asa

“val

ence

daf

fect

ive

reac

tion

top

erce

pti

ons

ofsi

tuat

ion

s”(R

ich

ins,

1997

,p

.12

7).T

his

vie

wex

clu

des

from

the

dom

ain

ofem

otio

ns

des

crip

tors

refe

rrin

gto

:n

on-v

alen

ced

cog

nit

ion

ssu

chas

inte

rest

and

surp

rise

;b

odil

yst

ates

such

assl

eep

yan

dd

roop

y;

and

sub

ject

ive

eval

uat

ion

sof

peo

ple

such

asse

lf-c

onfi

den

tor

feel

ing

aban

don

ed.

Bas

edon

this

vie

wth

eC

ES

was

dev

elop

edto

asse

ssa

ran

ge

ofem

otio

ns

mos

tfr

equ

entl

yex

per

ien

ced

inco

nsu

mp

tion

situ

atio

ns

Em

otio

nal

reac

tion

sto

ones

env

iron

men

tca

nb

ech

arac

teri

sed

by

thre

ere

spon

sed

imen

sion

sof

ple

asu

re,a

rou

sal

and

dom

inan

ce.

Th

ese

dim

ensi

ons

are

con

cep

tual

ised

tob

ere

lati

vel

yin

dep

end

ent

from

one

anot

her

(Meh

rab

ian

and

Ru

ssel

l,19

74,

pp

.18

-20)

Sca

led

imen

sion

sP

leas

ure

;ar

ousa

l;d

omin

atio

nU

pb

eat

feel

ing

s;w

arm

feel

ing

s;n

egat

ive

feel

ing

sA

ng

er;

dis

con

ten

t;w

orry

;sa

dn

ess;

fear

;sh

ame;

env

y;

lon

elin

ess;

rom

anti

clo

ve;

lov

e;p

eace

fuln

ess;

con

ten

tmen

t;op

tim

ism

;jo

y;

exci

tem

ent;

surp

rise

;ot

her

item

s

Ple

asu

re;

arou

sal;

dom

inan

ce

Nu

mb

erof

item

s27

item

s65

item

s47

item

s18

item

s

Table I.A comparison of

self-report emotionmeasures


methods

205

Mehrabian and Russell (1974) developed the PAD scale. This has been used widely bymarketing researchers to assess emotional responses to some types of marketingstimuli. The objective of this scale is quite different to that of measures based onemotion theory, both in terms of content and context. With respect to context, the PADscale was designed not to capture the entire domain of emotional experience but ratherto measure emotional responses to environmental stimuli, such as architectural spaces.Although the scale may be suitable to assess consumers’ responses to storeenvironments, for instance, its validity in assessing emotional responses to theinterpersonal aspects of shopping and consumption cannot be assumed. A difference incontext between the PAD scale and other measures is even greater than the differencein context. The PAD scale does not purport to measure emotions per se, instead itassesses the perceived pleasure, arousal and dominance elicited by a set ofenvironmental stimuli. It contains 18 semantic differential items, six each for pleasure,arousal and dominance. One cannot unequivocally infer the existence of specificemotions states such as joy, anger, guilt or fear from individuals PAD scores. Thus, thePAD is best used when a researcher is interested in measuring the dimensionsunderlying emotion states and does not need to know the specific emotions beingexperienced by study participants.

Although the approaches used by marketers to date have been largely empiricallydriven (Edell and Burke, 1987; Holbrook and Batra, 1987; Oliver, 1994; Richins, 1997;Westbrook, 1987), they are somewhat consistent with leading perspectives on emotionsin psychology. For instance, Holbrook and Batra (1987) sought to incorporate widerrange of emotional intensity in understanding consumers’ responses to ads and assumedhomogenous responses on the part of consumers toward given advertisements. Theauthors’ findings support the PAD model posited by Mehrabian and Russell (1974)which categorised emotion according to positive or negative valence and level of arousal.Edell and Burke (1987) demonstrated independence of mood and cognition influencingadvertising response (as advocated by Zajonc (1980)). The authors demonstrated thatfeelings and thoughts generated by advertisements are conceptually distinct inexplaining advertising effects. This research, however, also demonstrated a variety inemotional responses to stimuli, for instance, what one person finds to be a “warm”advertisement, another finds to be a “cool” advertisement. These findings are contrary tothe assumption made by Holbrook and Batra (1987) that consumers have homogenousemotional response to given advertisements, therefore, highlighting the individualdifferences between consumers’ emotional experiences.

Although the emotions measures described above have proved useful in thecontexts for which they were developed, several limitations in their application to thestudy of consumption – related emotions must be recognised. In addition to limitationsassociated with each scale, mentioned above, the following considerations limit theirusefulness. First, all of the scales ignore some of the emotions that are particularlycentral in people’s lives. None of the measures grounded in emotions theory assessfeelings of love, for instance. Second, most of the measures contain some terms notfamiliar to many consumers. Words such as “melancholy” “contemptuous” “sheepish”“revulsion” and “brooding” are not part of the everyday vocabulary of most people yetthey appear in the scales described above. Some measures are also confusing. The PADscale uses semantic differential items where the two anchor points are not always clearopposites (e.g. bored and relaxed, cared for and in control) potentially causing

QMRIJ10,2

206

confusion among respondents. Consumer behaviour researchers’ have routinelyrevised or adapted existing emotions measures for use in the consumer context, whichsuggests that they recognise some of these problems.

Third, the appropriateness of using existing measures to assess emotions elicited inconsumption situations is unknown. Emotions are context specific, and the emotionsthat arise in the context of intimate personal relationships are likely to differ inintensity and quality from the emotions experienced when viewing an advertisement.Consumption emotions may also differ in character from emotions experienced in othercontexts; that is some emotions experienced in the context of interpersonalrelationships may rarely be experienced during consumption. In their desire torepresent the full range of emotional experience, emotion scholars usually examinemany possible experiences, without focusing on any particular one. Whether themeasures developed for this larger perspective are efficient and appropriate forthe types of emotions experienced in consumption situations has not beensystematically investigated.

Finally, it has been argued that self-reports reflect individuals’ beliefs about whatthey feel as opposed to the contents of “conscious feeling” (Dennett, 1991; Frijda et al.,1995; Ortony et al., 1988). The conclusion drawn by such critics is that valence andarousal are artefacts of the self-report process, and do not directly inform on emotionexperience. There is mounting evidence, however, that valence, and to a lesser extentarousal, represent more elemental aspects of a person’s internal state, and are notmerely artefacts of language or belief (Barrett and Russell, 1999).

Physiological measuresA number of researchers stress the need for measures of emotion to go beyondself-report measurement (Bagozzi et al., 1999) and state that “autonomic nervoussystem and other physiological processes” at least accompany subjectively feltemotions (Oatley, 1992, p. 21) and that:

. . . [i]f the criterion of physiological activity was eliminated from the definition, the concept ofemotion would be left without one of the most important response boundaries with which todistinguish it from nonemotion (Lazarus, 1991, pp. 58-9).

If indicators of an emotional response are connected by a single, common cause, itshould be possible to measure more easily observable aspects of emotion (for example,the facial movements, the vocal expression, in order to learn something aboutexperience (which itself is not observable)). Lambie and Marcel (2002) made thisargument when they stated that first-order emotional experience could be measured byobserving expressive behaviour (following the principle that what an emotion feels likecan be determined by how a person behaves). Thus, the more observable aspects ofemotion should validate a person’s self-report of their own experience. If there is lack ofcorrespondence between verbal reports and behaviour, then researchers assume thatthe verbal reports are invalid. Similarly, in an everyday context if a person says he isangry, but moves his face in a way that we easily label as sad, then we will believe himto feel sad. Thus, behaviour outweighs verbal description, particularly as behaviour isperceived to be a result of a causal mechanism (Lambie and Marcel, 2002).

One view presented in the psychology literature upholds that emotional states havespecific and unique patterns of changes within the autonomic nervous system.


methods

207

Although individual studies sometimes report distinct autonomic correlates fordifferent emotion categories (Christie and Friedman, 2004; Ekman et al., 1983;Levenson et al., 1990), meta-analytic summaries generally fail to find distinct patternsof peripheral nervous system responses for each basic discrete emotion (Cacioppo et al.,2000). Studies that have looked at peripheral nervous system responses for conditionsof threat and challenge show consistencies between results (Quigley et al., 2002;Tomaka et al., 1993, 1997). Similarly studies that consider positive versus negativeaffect generate similar results (Cacioppo et al., 2000; Lang et al., 1993). However, thesestudies do not distinguish between categories of emotion.

Most bodily systems are active during cognitive activities (McGuigan, 1979),consequently marketing and consumer researchers look to physiological functions asindicators of psychological activity which is in accordance with the dimensionalapproach. Arousal is defined as the level of alertness or activation on a continuumranging from extreme wakefulness to extreme drowsiness (Duffy, 1962; Humphreysand Revelle, 1984) and is held to be a complex rather than a unitary process which mayrequire multiple physiological measures (Olson and Ray, 1985). The followingdiscussion identifies three prominent physiological measures of arousal.

Early work using measures of pupil dilation focused on physiological changes of thepupils in response to stimuli (Simms, 1967) and the response indicator of valence (Hessand Polt, 1960) as pupils dilate in response to pleasant stimuli and contract in responseto unpleasant stimuli. Hensel (1970) used pupil dilation and EDA measures toinvestigate retention of radio advertisements. The study used EDA readings as ameasure of “global nervous excitation” and pupil dilation response as a measure of“active processing of particular information” (Hensel, 1970, p. 125). The results of thisstudy showed support for a positive relationship between the levels of arousal andadvertising retention, i.e. high EDA and high pupil dilation is associated with highretention of advertising.

Many social scientists value EDA, generated by placing electrodes on the skin tomeasure electrical activity in the skin, as a valid measure of physiological arousal(Edelberg, 1972; Kroeber-Riel, 1979). Increases in EDA are easily elicited by threateningstimuli, for example, exposure to an angry face or a loud noise. Thus, this method hasparticular potential in a marketing context, for example, in the study of fear appealstimuli and their effects. However, as Critchley (2002) indicates, such responses arealso sensitive to the type of stimuli presented. That is to say, if there is motivationalsignificance, for example, potential threat or reward, wins or losses, anticipation andoutcome, or a degree of cognitive abstraction, for example, novelty and familiarity, loveand hate, memory recall and cognitive work, these factors will influence EDA responses.This is an important consideration for marketing research as there is a level ofawareness on the part of the consumer that the stimuli they are exposed to, is designedspecifically to generate an emotional response. Thus, any research that uses EDAmeasures in a marketing context should either measure or control for motivationalsignificance and cognitive abstraction factors. In advertising research, increases in EDAhave been related to interests, attention, involvement and attitude change. Such studiesassume that physiological arousal of the sweat glands is an indicator ofpsychological activity. Caffyn (1964) measured EDA to posters, newspapers andtelevision advertisements. By summing the amplitudes of each electrodermal response,a measure of response magnitude was created which was presented as a reliability check

QMRIJ10,2

208

of the stated emotional reactions of participants. This demonstrates that EDA data canbe used in conjunction with self report measures of emotion to provide both a moredetailed understanding of the physiological arousal experienced and to identifycorrelations between the subjective experience of the individual as captured by selfreport measures and the objective data generated by EDA responses.

Brand recall, attention and emotional responses are examples of criterion measuresthat have been related to brain hemispheric activity (Klebba, 1985). EEG measures,where electrodes are placed on the skull to measure electrical pulses generated by brainactivity, can be used to improve our understanding of consumer informationprocessing and other cognitive processes. Direct measure brainwave studies allowresearchers to identify the sequence of brain activity as well as the location of activitywithin the brain. Cacioppo and Petty (1982) used EEG measures as an indicator ofinformation processing and emotional responses to audio communications in favour oragainst a topic for which the subject had strong feelings. The authors found thatrespondents with more right hemispheric activity had more emotional response.Young (2002) explored whether specific moments within ads are primarily responsiblefor brand development and attention. Memory and information processing have alsobeen of interest, with Rossiter and Silberstein (2001) using EEG to show that certainvisual scenes – showing fastest activation in left frontal cortices – are also betterrecognised. In a study which received substantial attention, McClure et al. (2004)discovered that there was a higher preference for Coca Cola over Pepsi, and increasedactivity in the areas of the brain associated with emotion when respondents were toldthey were drinking Coca Cola. However, blind testing suggested no such thing. Suchwork reinforces the complexity of choice-making, as well as the value of emotional,situational, and informational resources.

Many theorists assume that types of emotion have specific activation points withinthe brain (Buck, 1999; Damasio, 1999; Dolan, 2002; Ekman, 1992; Izard, 1993; LeDoux,1996; Panksepp, 1998). Yet, two recent meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies(Murphy et al., 2003; Phan et al., 2002) failed to find consistent evidence for particularneural correlates for anger, sadness, disgust, and happiness (Barrett, 2004). Althoughthere are a number of methodological and theoretical factors that currently limitresearchers’ ability to draw inferences about the neural brain activity associated withemotional responses, the failure to find neural patterns for distinct emotions isconsistent with the behavioural evidence. For example, there is evidence that specificbehaviours (for example, freezing) may depend upon specific brainstem andsubcortical nuclei (Panksepp, 1998), but there is little evidence to suggest that eachbehaviour can be associated with any single emotion category. Because we can assignthem to one does not make doing so scientifically accurate or useful. So while freezingmay be an innate behaviour, and may be part of the general understanding for thecategory fear, it is not necessarily innately linked to some module of fear responding.This is an important consideration for marketers as the use of objective observationdata concerning physiological arousal generated by exposure to stimuli is very useful,in order to generate a deeper understanding of the consumers experience it may benecessary to compliment such methods with self report scales to access both theconscious and subconscious experiences of the consumer.

Several different limitations have been suggested to account for the lack ofphysiological or behavioural markers for different emotion categories. One argument


methods

209

suggests that social factors, like display rules (Ekman, 1972; Ekman and Friesen, 1969)or other regulation processes might mask or inhibit responses that would otherwise becorrelated. A second argument suggests that scientists do not accurately observe brainactivity because response systems differ in their temporal dynamics, sensitivity andreliability of measurement (Bradley and Lang, 2000). A third argument is thatlaboratory studies of emotion do not employ emotion-eliciting stimuli that are strongenough to produce emotions where responses would be correlated with one another(Tassinary and Cacioppo, 1992). While any of these explanations may be correct, anequally plausible explanation is that scientists have failed to observe stable andreliable response clusters because they are not really there. At this point, enoughevidence has accumulated for some theorists to conclude that the lack of coherencewithin each category of emotion is empirically the rule rather than the exception(Bradley and Lang, 2000; Russell, 2003; Ortney and Turner, 1990; Shweder, 1994).

This discussion has highlighted that although physiological measures of arousalare not without fault, or in need of further investigation, they can, nevertheless, providemarketers with essential data concerning emotional experiences of consumers. Weposit that while self report measures of valence and arousal are very useful in thecapturing of the conscious emotional experience, leading to a categorisation ofemotional responses, they can be complimented by the use of observation methodssuch as pupil dilation, EDA and EEG. The investigation of correlations betweensubjective self report measures and objective observation measures can providevaluable insight into the consumers’ emotional experience and aid the advancement oftheoretical understanding in this field.

Conclusion and directions for further researchThis paper aims to provide insight into the variety of measurement instrumentsavailable to capture emotions in a marketing context. It is apparent from the discussionthat the physiological responses captured using observation methods responses tomarketing stimuli have not been adequately considered by marketers. As we havehighlighted, observation methods are not without limitations. However, we posit thatthe objective measurement of physiological arousal in consumer emotion research is avaluable insight, which can be used to investigate correlations between the consciousreported emotional experience of both valence and arousal and the subconsciousphysiological arousal experienced by individuals. Such research will generate a deeperunderstanding of the construct of emotion itself and also the effects of manipulatingemotions using marketing tools.

In utilising such methodological approaches, we as marketers cannot only developour understanding of the specific nuances of the emotional experiences of consumersbut also make a contribution to the fields of psychology and neuroscience byresearching this area. We can contribute to the theoretical debates surrounding theconceptualisation of emotion by addressing the complexity of the construct and indeed,its application in a marketing context. It is important to note that in order to make suchcontributions we must employ up to date and rigorous methods to achieve valid,reliable and comparable results.

Research by emotion theorists who have studied specific emotions in clinicalsettings or other contexts may serve as useful starting points for future investigations.We suggest that there is a significant need to investigate the validation of current

QMRIJ10,2

210

measures of emotions used in a marketing context. We have identified that emotionsare a central component of consumer responses and acknowledge the impact thattheoretical and methodological advances in this area can have for marketing. Suchadvances can be used to research the effects of advertising stimuli in online, television,print and radio advertisements; the consumers shopping experience and reactions tostore atmospherics or layout; both online and offline service interactions; productsatisfaction; consumers reactions and opinions of brands and packaging.

From a marketing perspective we suggest that a further complication arises in thestudy of emotion. Marketers often place emotional cues in advertisements, packagedesign and brands designed to trigger an emotional response, therefore, someconsumers have an element of awareness inherent in their response or appraisal of astimulus that they are being encouraged to experience emotion. That is not to say thatemotions generated by marketing stimuli are different to those examined inpsychological research, rather, that it is a suggested consideration for researchersdealing with the complexity of emotions in this context.

While advances in technology have aided observation measurement of emotionsand created prolific avenues for research in the field of psychology, this paper hasdemonstrated that measurement of physiological indicators of emotion have been usedon an ad hoc basis to investigate marketing and consumer behaviour researchquestions for many years. It is important to note that technology is constantlyevolving, meaning that better and more objective measurement and observation cancurrently be utilised in the examination of emotional responses to marketing stimuliand in the consumption experience to contribute to the body of research that hasalready been conducted in this area.

References

Bagozzi, R.P., Baumgartner, H. and Pieters, R. (1998), “Goal directed emotions”, Cognition andEmotion, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 1-26.

Bagozzi, R.P., Gopinath, M. and Nyer, P.U. (1999), “The role of emotions in marketing”,Academy of Marketing Science Journal, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 184-206.

Barrett, L.F. (1998), “Discrete emotions or dimensions? The role of valence focus and arousalfocus”, Cognition and Emotion, Vol. 12, pp. 579-99.

Barrett, L.F. (2004), “Feelings or words? Understanding the content in self-report ratings ofexperienced emotion”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 87, pp. 266-81.

Barrett, L.F. and Russell, J.A. (1999), “Structure of current affects”, Current Directions inPsychological Science, Vol. 8, pp. 10-14.

Batra, R. and Holbrook, M.B. (1990), “Developing a typology of affective responses toadvertising”, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 7, pp. 11-25.

Boote, J. and Mathews, A. (1999), “Saying is one thing; doing is another: the role of observation inmarketing research”, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 2 No. 1,pp. 15-21.

Bradley, M.M. and Lang, P.J. (1995), “Measuring emotion: the self assessment manikin and thesemantic differential”, Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, Vol. 25,pp. 49-59.

Bradley, M.M. and Lang, P.J. (2000), “Measuring emotion: behaviour, feeling, and physiology”,in Lane, R.D. and Nadel, L. (Eds), Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion, Oxford UniversityPress, New York, NY, pp. 242-76.


methods

211

Buck, R. (1999), “The biological affects: a typology”, Psychological Review, Vol. 106, pp. 301-36.

Burns, A.C. and Bush, R.F. (2000), Marketing Research, 3rd ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs,NJ.

Cacioppo, J.T. and Gardner, W.L. (1999), “Emotion”, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 50,pp. 191-214.

Cacioppo, J.T. and Petty, R.E. (1982), “The relationship between differential hemispheric alphaabundance and the affective polarisation of thoughts about an attitude issue”, in Monroe,K.B. and Arbor, A. (Eds), Advances in Consumer Research 9, Association for ConsumerResearch, Provo, UT.

Cacioppo, J.T., Berntson, G.G. and Klein, D.J. (1992), “What is an emotion? The role ofsomatovisceral afference, with special emphasis on somatovisceral ‘illusions’”, Review ofPersonality and Social Psychology, Vol. 14, pp. 63-98.

Cacioppo, J.T., Berntson, G.G., Larsen, J.T., Poehlmann, K.M. and Ito, T.A. (2000),“The psychophysiology of emotion”, in Lewis, R. and Haviland-Jones, J.M. (Eds),The Handbook of Emotion, 2nd ed., Guilford, New York, NY, pp. 173-91.

Caffyn, J.M. (1964), “Psychological laboratory techniques in cognitive research”, Journal ofAdvertising Research, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 45-50.

Cahill, L., Haier, R.J., Fallon, J., Alkire, M.T., Tang, C., Keator, D., Wu, J. and McGaugh, J.L. (1996),“Amygdala activity at encoding correlated with long-term, free recall of emotionalinformation”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States ofAmerica., Vol. 93 No. 15, pp. 8016-21.

Christie, I.C. and Friedman, B.H. (2004), “Autonomic specificity of discrete emotion anddimensions of affective space: a multivariate approach”, International Journal ofPsychophysiology, Vol. 51, pp. 143-53.

Clore, G.L., Ortney, A. and Foss, M.A. (1987), “The psychological foundations of the affectivelexicon”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 53, pp. 751-5.

Critchley, H.D. (2002), “Electrodermal responses: what happens in the brain”, The Neuroscientist,Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 132-42.

Damasio, A.R. (1999), The Feeling of what Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making ofConsciousness, Harcourt Brace, New York, NY.

Dennett, D. (1991), Consciousness Explained, Little/Brown, Boston, MA.

Dolan, R.J. (2002), “Emotion, cognition and behaviour”, Science, Vol. 298, pp. 1191-4.

Duffy, E. (1962), Activation and Behaviour, Wiley, London.

Edelberg, R. (1972), “Electrical activity of the skin, its measurement and uses inpsychophysiology”, in Greenfield, N. and Sternback, R.S. (Eds), Handbook ofPsychophysiology, Reinhart and Winston Inc., New York, NY, pp. 367-418.

Edell, J.A. and Burke, M.C. (1987), “The power of feelings in understanding advertising effects”,Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 421-33.

Ekman, P. (1972), “Universal and cultural differences in facial expression of emotion”, in Cole, J.R.(Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 1971, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln,NE, pp. 207-83.

Ekman, P. (1992), “An argument for basic emotions”, Cognition and Emotion, Vol. 6, pp. 169-200.

Ekman, P. and Friesen, W. (1969), “The repertoire of nonverbal behaviour: categories, origins,usage, and coding”, Semiotica, Vol. 1, pp. 49-98.

Ekman, P., Levenson, R.W. and Friesen, W.V. (1983), “Autonomic nervous system activitydistinguishes among emotions”, Science, Vol. 221, pp. 1208-10.

QMRIJ10,2

212

Forgas, J.P. (1995), “Mood and judgment – the affect infusion model (Aim)”, PsychologicalBulletin, Vol. 117 No. 1, pp. 39-66.

Frijda, N.H. (1993), “Moods, emotion episodes and emotions”, in Lewis, M. and Haviland, J.M.(Eds), Handbook of Emotions, The Guilford Press, New York, NY, pp. 381-403.

Frijda, N.H., Markam, S., Sato, K. and Wiers, R. (1995), “Emotion and emotion words”, in Russell,J.A., Fernandez-Dols, J.M. and Manstead, A.S.R. (Eds), Everyday Conceptions of Emotion,Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York, NY, pp. 121-43.

Hensel, J.S. (1970), Physiological Measures of Advertising Effectiveness: A Theoretical andEmpirical Investigation, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

Hess, E.H. and Polt, G.M. (1960), “Pupil size as related to interest value of visual stimuli”, Science,Vol. 132, pp. 349-50.

Holbrook, M.B. and Batra, R. (1987), “Assessing the role of emotions as mediators of consumerresponses to advertising”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 404-20.

Humphreys, M.S. and Revelle, W. (1984), “Personality, motivation and performance: a theory ofthe relationship between individual differences and information processing”, PsychologicalReview, Vol. 91, pp. 153-84.

Izard, C.E. (1977), Human Emotions, Plenum Press, New York, NY.

Izard, C.E. (1993), “Four systems for emotion activation: cognitive and noncognitive processes”,Psychological Review, Vol. 100, pp. 68-90.

Klebba, J.M. (1985), “Physiological measures of research: a review of brain activity, electrodermalresponse, pupil dilation and voice analysis methods and studies”, Current Methods andResearch in Advertising, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 53-76.

Kroeber-Reil, W. (1979), “Activation research: psychobiological approaches in consumerresearch”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 5, pp. 240-50.

Lambie, J.A. and Marcel, A.J. (2002), “Consciousness and emotion experience: a theoreticalframework”, Psychological Review, Vol. 109, pp. 219-59.

Lang, P.J. (1994), “The motivational organisation of emotion: affect-reflex connections”, inVan Goozen, S.H.M., Van de Poll, N.E. and Sergent, J.A. (Eds), Emotions: Essays onEmotion Theory, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 61-93.

Lang, P.J., Greenwald, M.K., Bradley, M.M. and Hamm, A.O. (1993), “Looking at pictures:affective, facial, visceral, and behavioural reactions”, Psychophysiology, Vol. 30, pp. 261-73.

Laros, F.J.M. and Steenkamp, J-B.E.M. (2005), “Emotions in consumer behaviour: a hierarchicalapproach”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 58, pp. 1437-45.

Lazarus, R.S. (1991), Emotion and Adaptation, University Press, New York, NY.

LeDoux, J.E. (1996), The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life,Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, NY.

Lee, N., Broderick, A.J. and Chamberlain, L. (2007), “What is neuromarketing? A discussion andagenda for future research”, International Journal of Psychophysiology, Vol. 63 No. 2,pp. 199-204.

Levenson, R.W., Ekman, P. and Friesen, W.V. (1990), “Voluntary facial action generates emotionspecific autonomic nervous system activity”, Psychophysiology, Vol. 27, pp. 363-84.

McClure, S.M., Li, J., Tomlin, D., Cypert, K.S., Montague, L.M. and Montague, P.R. (2004), “Neuralcorrelates of behavioural preference for culturally familiar drinks”, Neuron, Vol. 44 No. 2,pp. 379-87.

McGuigan, F.J. (1979), Psychophysiological Measurement of Covert Behaviour: A Guide for theLaboratory, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.


methods

213

Malhotra, N. (1999), Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, Prentice-Hall, London.

Mehrabian, A. and Russell, J.A. (1974), An Approach to Environmental Psychology, MIT Press,Cambridge, MA.

Milliman, R.E. (1982), “Using background music to affect the behaviour of supermarketshoppers”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 46, pp. 86-91.

Murphy, F.C., Nimmo-Smith, I. and Lawrence, A.D. (2003), “Functional neuroanatomy ofemotion: a meta-analysis”, Cognitive, Affective and Behavioural Neuroscience, Vol. 3,pp. 207-33.

Murray, I.R. and Arnott, J.L. (1993), “Toward the stimulation of emotion in synthetic speech: areview of the literature on human vocal emotion”, The Journal of the Acoustical Society ofAmerica, Vol. 93, pp. 1097-108.

Niedenthal, P.M. and Kitayama, S. (1994), The Hearts Eye: Emotional Influences in Perceptionand Attention, Academic, San Diego, CA.

Oately, K. (1992), Best Laid Schemes: The Psychology of Emotions, Cambridge University Press,Cambridge.

Oliver, R.L. (1994), “Conceptual issues in the structural analysis of consumption emotion,satisfaction”, in Allen, C.T. and John, D.R. (Eds), Advances in Consumer Research,Vol. 21,Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, pp. 16-22.

Olson, J.C. and Ray, W.J. (1985), Perspectives on Psychological Assessment of PsychologicalResponses to Advertising, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA.

Ortney, A. and Turner, T.T. (1990), “What’s basic about basic emotions?”, Psychological Review,Vol. 97, pp. 315-31.

Ortony, A., Clore, G.L. and Collins, A. (1988), The Cognitive Structure of Emotions, CambridgeUniversity, New York, NY.

Osgood, C.E. (1969), “On the whys and wherefores of E, P, and A”, Journal of Personality andSocial Psychology, Vol. 12, pp. 194-9.

Panksepp, J. (1998), Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions,Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

Paulhaus, D.L., Fridhandler, B. and Hayes, S. (1997), Psychological Defense: ContemporaryTheory and Research, Academic, San Diego, CA.

Phan, K.L., Wager, T.D., Taylor, S.F. and Liberzon, I. (2002), “Functional neuroanatomy ofemotion: a meta-analysis of emotion activation studies in PET and fMRI”, Neuroimage,Vol. 16, pp. 331-48.

Pittam, J. and Scherer, K.R. (1993), “Vocal expression and communication of emotion”, inLewis, M. and Haviland, J.M. (Eds), Handbook of Emotions, Guildford, New York, NY,pp. 185-97.

Plutchik, R. (1980), Emotion: A Psychoevolutionary Synthesis, Harper & Row, New York, NY.

Quigley, K.S., Barrett, L.F. and Weinstein, S. (2002), “Cardiovascular patterns associated withthreat and challenge appraisals: individual responses across time”, Psychophysiology,Vol. 39, pp. 1-11.

Reis, H.T. and Patrick, B.C. (1996), “Attachment and intimacy: component processes”, in Higgins,E.T. and Kruglanski, A.W. (Eds), Social Psychology: Handbook of Basic Principles,Guilford, New York, NY, pp. 523-63.

Reisenzein, R. (1994), “Pleasure-activation theory and the intensity of emotions”, Journal ofPersonality and Social Psychology, Vol. 67, pp. 525-39.

QMRIJ10,2

214

Richins, M.L. (1997), “Measuring emotions in the consumption experience”, Journal of ConsumerResearch, Vol. 24, pp. 127-46.

Rosenberg, E.L. (1998), “Levels of analysis and the organization of affect”, Review of GeneralPsychology, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 247-70.

Rossiter, J.R. and Silberstein, R.B. (2001), “Brain-imaging detection of visual scene encoding inlong-term memory for TV commercials”, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 41 No. 2,pp. 12-21.

Russell, J.A. (1980), “A circumplex model of affect”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,Vol. 39 No. 6, pp. 1161-78.

Russell, J.A. (1991), “Culture and the categorization of emotion”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 110,pp. 426-50.

Russell, J.A. (2003), “Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion”, PsychologicalReview, Vol. 110, pp. 145-72.

Russell, J.A. and Barrett, L.F. (1999), “Core affect, prototypical emotional episodes, and otherthings called emotion: dissecting the elephant”, Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, Vol. 76 No. 5, pp. 805-19.

Rust, L.W. (1993), “Parents and children shopping together: a new approach to the qualitativeanalysis of observational data”, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 65-70.

Schacter, S. and Singer, J.E. (1962), “Cognitive, social and physiological determinants ofemotional state”, Physiological Review, Vol. 69, pp. 379-89.

Schwarz, N. and Clore, G.L. (1996), “Feelings and phenomenal experiences”, in Higgins, E.T. andKruglanski, A. (Eds), Social Psychology: Handbook of Basic Principles, Guilford, New York,NY, pp. 433-65.

Shapiro, S., Maclnnis, D.J. and Park, C. (2002), “Understanding program-induced mood effects:decoupling arousal from valence”, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 15-26.

Shweder, A. (1994), “‘You’re not sick, you’re just in love’: emotion as an interpretive system”, inEkman, P. and Davidson, R.J. (Eds), The Nature of Emotion: Fundamental Questions,Oxford University Press, New York, NY, pp. 32-44.

Simms, T.M. (1967), “Pupillary response of male and female subjects to pupillary response inmale and female picture stimuli”, Perception and Psychophysics, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 553-5.

Tassinary, L.G. and Cacioppo, J.T. (1992), “Unobservable facial actions and emotion”,Psychological Science, Vol. 3, pp. 28-33.

Thayer, R.E. (1978), “Toward a psychological theory of multidimensional activation (arousal)”,Motivation and Emotion, Vol. 2 No. 1, p. 1.

Tomaka, J., Blascovich, J., Kelsey, R.M. and Leitten, C.L. (1993), “Subjective, physiological, andbehavioural effects of threat and challenge appraisal”, Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, Vol. 65, pp. 248-60.

Tomaka, J., Blascovich, J., Kibler, J. and Ernst, J.M. (1997), “Cognitive and physiologicalantecedents of threat and challenge appraisal”, Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, Vol. 73, pp. 63-72.

Watson, D. and Tellegen, A. (1985), “Toward a consensual structure of mood”, PsychologicalBulletin, Vol. 98, pp. 219-35.

Wells, W.D. and Lo Sciuto, L.A. (1966), “Direct observation of purchasing behaviour”, Journalof Marketing Research, Vol. 3, pp. 227-33.

Westbrook, R.A. (1987), “Product/consumption based affective responses and post purchaseprocesses”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 24, pp. 258-70.


methods

215

Wierzbicka, A. (1992), “Talking about emotions: semantics, culture, and cognition”, Cognitionand Emotion, Vol. 6, pp. 283-319.

Young, C. (2002), “Brain waves, picture sortsw and branding moments”, Journal of AdvertisingResearch, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 42-53.

Zajonc, R.B. (1980), “Feeling and thinking preferences need no inferences”, AmericanPsychologist, Vol. 32 No. 2, p. 151.

About the authorsLaura Chamberlain (BA, MSc) is an ESRC doctoral candidate at Aston Business School (UK).Her research is concerned with the impact of emotional responses on the effectiveness of fearappeal advertisements. She has presented results of this research at international conferences inItaly and Greece and published in The International Journal of Psychophysiology. LauraChamberlain is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]

Amanda J. Broderick (BA, PhD) is a senior lecturer in Marketing at Aston Business School.Her research expertise lies in international consumer psychology, with particular application tothe electronic marketplace and she has published over 50 articles in refereed journals,books and conference proceedings in this area. She has won numerous research excellenceprizes including the Distinguished Paper Prize at the 1998 European Marketing AcademyConference and the CIM Research Excellence Prize in both 2000 and 2002. The second editionof her Pearson-published Integrated Marketing Communications text was launched in 2005.E-mail: [email protected]

QMRIJ10,2

216

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected] visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

The application of physiological observation methods to emotion research

Documents