Analyzing Preferences with Consumer Neuroscience
Author
Dolezel, Libor
Term
4. term
Publication year
2016
Submitted on
2016-06-07
Pages
96
Abstract
This thesis examines whether variations in consumer neuroscience measures can account for changes in consumers’ preferences following exposure to commercials. It is grounded in the view that advertising shapes attitudes and preferences through affective and cognitive processes, many of which operate outside conscious awareness and elude traditional self-reports. Based on a literature review, an experiment employed four methods—automated facial coding, eye-tracking, skin conductance, and the Implicit Association Test (IAT)—to capture real-time attention, emotional arousal, and implicit evaluation. The IAT indicated that commercials can shift preferences by strengthening associative networks outside awareness, and these results were strongly and positively correlated with consumers’ intentional purchase behavior. Among physiological and behavioral indices, only skin conductance reliably explained changes in implicit preferences via variations in arousal, whereas eye-tracking and facial coding were less diagnostic under the current setup. The study acknowledges limitations in the experimental settings that may have biased some data and recommends combining electroencephalography (EEG) with skin conductance to determine whether heightened arousal reflects positive or negative affect. Overall, the findings suggest that consumer neuroscience methods can enhance understanding of preference formation and help predict advertising effectiveness, particularly when used alongside traditional self-report measures.
Dette speciale undersøger, om variationer i forbruger-neurometoder kan forklare ændringer i forbrugernes præferencer efter eksponering for reklamer. Udgangspunktet er, at reklamer former holdninger og præferencer gennem affektive og kognitive processer, hvoraf meget foregår ubevidst og derfor ikke fanges af traditionelle selvrapporter. På baggrund af et litteraturreview gennemføres et eksperiment, der anvender fire metoder—automatiseret ansigtskodning, eye-tracking, hudkonduktans og Implicit Association Test (IAT)—for at måle opmærksomhed, emotionel arousal og implicit evaluering i realtid. IAT-resultaterne viser, at reklamer kan ændre præferencer ved at styrke associative netværk uden for bevidstheden, og disse resultater korrelerede stærkt positivt med forbrugernes intentionelle købsadfærd. Blandt de fysiologiske og adfærdsmæssige mål var det kun hudkonduktans, der pålideligt forklarede ændringer i implicitte præferencer via variationer i arousal, mens eye-tracking og ansigtskodning var mindre diagnostiske under de givne betingelser. Studiet anerkender begrænsninger i forsøgsopsætningen, som kan have påvirket enkelte datasæt, og anbefaler at kombinere elektroencefalografi (EEG) med hudkonduktans for at afklare, om øget arousal er positivt eller negativt ladet. Overordnet peger fundene på, at forbruger-neurometoder kan forbedre forståelsen af præference-dannelse og bidrage til at forudsige reklamesucces, især når de bruges sammen med traditionelle selvrapporter.
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