Back home   |   Bookmark   |   Start page   |   Site map    
Services
News
Channels
Home & Family
Leisure
Technology
Business
Science
Site Search
Free email




The sweet taste of uncertainty: winners enjoy waiting to discover what they've won

TheAllINeed.com
(NC&T/UCPJ) People who know they've won a prize enjoy the anticipation of wondering what they will win, especially if they have clues about what it might be, explain authors Yih Hwai Lee (National University of Singapore) and Cheng Qiu (University of Hong Kong). Prize winners spend time imagining using the potential prizes, and such "virtual consumption" prolongs positive feelings, making them receptive to marketing messages.

The authors conducted two studies where participants played and won simulated lucky-draw games. Some learned what their prizes were immediately; others were told they had won something from a pool of prizes. "We find that consumers will be more delighted after winning a lucky draw when they do not know immediately the exact prize they will receive than when they do," the authors write.

Participants who got clues about the nature of the possible prizes (such as knowing it was an electronic product) responded even more favorably. They also favored prizes that were capable of eliciting mental imagery, like sensory-stimulating products such as chocolates or aromatherapy candles. (Apparently, functional items like cutlery and digital clocks failed to stimulate.)

"Consumers in happier moods have been found to react more favorably to marketing information and activities," write the authors. "Our research suggests that by incorporating positive uncertainty into the design of marketing activities (for example, in promotional events), marketers may not only make consumers happier, but also make them potentially more receptive toward subsequent marketing efforts."


About the Author

©TheAllINeed.com All rights reserved

  Click here to see related videos
More articles
How the brain processes what the eye sees
Rose-coloured glasses
Light-treatment to improve sleep
Friends lost
Humans nonverbal status
Repair heart tissue
HIV-1 eradication
Stress makes hair go gray
Humans' dual vision system
Evolutionary explanation of cancer
Sweet taste of uncertainty
Brain regions
Electrical activity of the brain
How we think of contagion
Brain tumor treatment
Memories being made
Suggested paralysis
Brain architecture
Backing up the brain
Prion proteins
Quotes
Ive always wanted to be a scientist. That way, I could get a bunch of grants and do research into whether money can really buy happiness.
Kyannke.

Ive always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific.
Lily Tomlin

Writers
If you are a writer and want to see your article published at Theallineed.com, just click here to submit.

Info
Today...
In the news...
Top UN officials call for release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Top United Nations officials today expressed their disappointment over the decision by the Government of Myanmar to extend the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
If you go to a wedding reception, what do you choose for your entree?
Salmon
Chicken
Beef
Lamb
Other
 
Things to ponder
There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

Did you know...
The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

Quote of the day
Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations.
Orson Welles

Featured article
"Girl tech" toys: the gadgets for girls revolution
While girls' toys have always been lucrative for toy makers (think Barbie, Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears and – more recently - Bratz), the market for technology-based toys has always been much more heavily aimed at boys.

 
© Lexur