Beauty lies in the mind of the beholder: A resource matching approach to understanding the halo effectand the aesthetic middle principle
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Kent State University / OhioLINK
2019
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1565023601243277 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-kent15650236012432772021-08-03T07:12:14Z Beauty lies in the mind of the beholder: A resource matching approach to understanding the halo effectand the aesthetic middle principle Trivedi, Dharti Rajendra Aesthetics Marketing Visual Product Aesthetics Product Design Marketing Aesthetics Cognitive Processing The halo effect is an affective and non-conscious positive bias in people’s evaluation of attractive objects. It positively biases the evaluation of attributes unrelated to attractiveness, and goes away as soon the process is made more conscious. But, the positive outcomes of attractiveness generated by the halo effect, have a threshold known as the aesthetic middle principle (AMP).Marketing research that studies the preference for moderate levels of attractiveness over high levels of attractiveness is scant (Batra 2009; Giese et al. 2014). None of the existing theoretical explanations for the AMP provide a comprehensive explanation for all the situations in which the threshold is observed. This dissertation collates research across different literature streams within marketing to propose three dimensions of visual product aesthetics (VPA) that contribute to product attractiveness. I then discuss how these three dimensions – elaborateness, strength and visual processing fluency (VPF) – work through different mechanisms and have different outcomes on consumer information processing and decision making. While the halo effect is an affective and non-conscious effect, its threshold may be driven by a conscious and cognitive phenomenon. Based on resource matching theory, this dissertation explains all observed occurrences of the AMP. I also test the boundary effects of brand information and types of visual processing fluency.Four experiments test the effects of the three dimensions on consumer preference. Study 1 tests the effect of increasing levels of elaborateness on consumer preference and the moderating effects of motivation to process and brand information. Study 2 tests the interaction effect of strength and visual processing fluency on consumer preference and the moderating effect of cognitive load. Study 3 replicates Study 2 but replaces cognitive load with elaborateness. Study 4 tests the moderating effect of different types of visual processing fluency. I find support for the curvilinear effect of elaborateness and the moderating effect of motivation to process. I also find support for the negative effects of high levels of strength and visual processing fluency on consumer preference and the moderating effect of cognitive load. However, I do not find support for the moderating effect of elaborateness on the negative effect of high levels of both strength and visual processing fluency. Lastly, I find support for the moderating effect of type of visual processing fluency for the negative effect of high levels of both strength and visual processing fluency. 2019-08-06 English text Kent State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1565023601243277 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1565023601243277 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
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NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Aesthetics Marketing Visual Product Aesthetics Product Design Marketing Aesthetics Cognitive Processing |
| spellingShingle |
Aesthetics Marketing Visual Product Aesthetics Product Design Marketing Aesthetics Cognitive Processing Trivedi, Dharti Rajendra Beauty lies in the mind of the beholder: A resource matching approach to understanding the halo effectand the aesthetic middle principle |
| author |
Trivedi, Dharti Rajendra |
| author_facet |
Trivedi, Dharti Rajendra |
| author_sort |
Trivedi, Dharti Rajendra |
| title |
Beauty lies in the mind of the beholder: A resource matching approach to understanding the halo effectand the aesthetic middle principle |
| title_short |
Beauty lies in the mind of the beholder: A resource matching approach to understanding the halo effectand the aesthetic middle principle |
| title_full |
Beauty lies in the mind of the beholder: A resource matching approach to understanding the halo effectand the aesthetic middle principle |
| title_fullStr |
Beauty lies in the mind of the beholder: A resource matching approach to understanding the halo effectand the aesthetic middle principle |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Beauty lies in the mind of the beholder: A resource matching approach to understanding the halo effectand the aesthetic middle principle |
| title_sort |
beauty lies in the mind of the beholder: a resource matching approach to understanding the halo effectand the aesthetic middle principle |
| publisher |
Kent State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2019 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1565023601243277 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT trivedidhartirajendra beautyliesinthemindofthebeholderaresourcematchingapproachtounderstandingthehaloeffectandtheaestheticmiddleprinciple |
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