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Warmth and conformity: The effects of ambient temperature on product preferences and financial decisions
Author(s) -
Huang Xun Irene,
Zhang Meng,
Hui Michael K.,
Wyer Robert S.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1016/j.jcps.2013.09.009
Subject(s) - conformity , closeness , product (mathematics) , psychology , perception , social psychology , marketing , business , mathematics , geometry , mathematical analysis , neuroscience
Comfortable ambient temperatures can influence consumer preferences for conformity. The results of three laboratory experiments suggest that warm (vs. cool) temperatures dispose consumers toward using others' opinions as the basis for product preferences, stock price forecasts, and betting. Warm temperatures increased the participants' perceptions of social closeness to other decision‐makers, thus leading them to consider the opinions of those decision‐makers to have greater validity. This enhanced validity, in turn, rendered them more likely to conform to the crowd. This effect was confirmed in an analysis of betting behavior at the racetrack over a three‐year period. Bets were more likely to converge on the “favorite” (i.e., the majority‐endorsed option) when the temperature at the track was warm.