The Psychology of

Emotions
Nick Kolenda

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www.nickkolenda.com

COPYRIGHT 2017 © KOLENDA ENTERTAINMENT LLC


What is Emotional Marketing? ...........................................6
1. CULTIVATE A PERCEPTION ...............................................................................6
2. INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR .......................................................................................7
3. MAXIMIZE AN EXPERIENCE .............................................................................7

What is Emotion? .................................................................... 8

Why Do Humans Feel Emotion? ..........................................10

BODILY ADAPTATIONS ............................................................................................10
SOCIAL ADAPTATIONS .............................................................................................10

How Do Emotions In?luence Our Decisions? ..................13

ANTECEDENTS ............................................................................................................14
BEHAVIOR .....................................................................................................................17
CONSEQUENCES .........................................................................................................26

When Should You Use Emotional Appeals? ....................33

IMMEDIATE DECISIONS ..........................................................................................33
INDEPENDENT DECISIONS ....................................................................................37
UNCERTAIN DECISIONS ..........................................................................................38
HEDONIC OPTIONS ...................................................................................................38
ACQUISITION FRAMING ..........................................................................................39
OLDER DEMOGRAPHICS .........................................................................................40

What are the Types of Emotions? ......................................41

REFLEX EMOTIONS (0 – 3 MONTHS) ................................................................42
CORE EMOTIONS (3 – 6 MONTHS) .....................................................................42
CONSCIOUS EMOTIONS (0.5 – 2.5 YEARS) ......................................................43
SOCIAL EMOTIONS (2.5+ YEARS) .......................................................................44
Which Emotions Should You Target? ................................48
TWO OVERALL STRATEGIES .................................................................................48

How to Trigger Emotion ........................................................54

STRATEGY: CHOOSE CONTEXTS WHERE PEOPLE HAVE EMOTION ...54
STRATEGY: EMOTIONAL SCHEMA ......................................................................57
STRATEGY: EMOTIONAL CONTAGION ..............................................................59

Conclusion .................................................................................60
Welcome to a huge resource on emotional marketing.

I’ve always wanted to write this guide — because emotion is a

massively critical topic. But I kept procrastinating because the amount
of academic research is intimidating.

Well…I cinally tackled it.

How it went down

In this guide, I summarize everything you need to know. You’ll learn

how emotions incluence decisions. And you’ll learn how to use that
information to incluence perception and behavior.


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 WHAT IS EMOTIONAL
MARKETING?
Emotional marketing uses emotion to incluence consumers.

Shocking, right?

Well, you can use emotion to achieve different goals. Throughout this
guide, I’ll teach you how to use emotional appeals to achieve the
following goals:

1. CULTIVATE A PERCEPTION

Branding

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2. INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR

Purchases

3. MAXIMIZE AN EXPERIENCE

Consumption


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 WHAT IS EMOTION?
Emotions are mental states that encapsulate our feelings — whether
feelings in general or feelings toward an object.

That’s the “standard” answer.

But here’s the real answer: we don’t know.

“Even after a century of effort, scientific research has

not revealed a consistent, physical fingerprint for even
a single emotion.” (Barrett, 2017, pp. xii)

What’s the problem?

Emotions don’t have discrete labels — like happy, sad, angry.

Awkwardly, we developed that terminology before we understood
emotion.

Researchers are now trying to change the terminology (see Barrett,

2006). But meh, it’s probably too late.

So then, what is emot— err, “those things” we feel?

Think of emotion like a color spectrum.

Sure, we use distinct labels (e.g., red, green, blue). However, those hues
are overarching categories. In actuality, each color has a plethora
(nearly incinite) number of variations.

We have so many variations of “red” that it would be counterproductive

— and near impossible — to label every one.

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 One slight adjustment (left or right) generates a new color

Emotions are similar.

Until recently, we treated emotion with decinitive borders — which

limited our understanding. Instead, emotions are incinite. And we need
to view them as a spectrum (see Barrett, 2017).


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 WHY DO HUMANS FEEL
EMOTION?
We developed emotions because of their adaptive advantages in
evolution (Cosmides & Tooby, 2000).

They served two purposes:

1. Bodily Adaptations
2. Social Adaptations

BODILY ADAPTATIONS
Our ancestors survived because their body adapted to various
conditions:

“[some actions] require a rapid response (e.g.,

responding to the appearance of a predator) while
others require a more gradual, sustained response
(e.g., regulating blood flow to maintain core body
temperature).” (Levenson, 2003, pp. 349)

Those internal responses also changed our outward appearance. When

we feel angry, our face reddens and our pupils constrict (Levenson,
2003). Those visible changes were adaptive in social interactions…

SOCIAL ADAPTATIONS
We developed visible indicators for emotion because they helped
communicate and decipher intentions.

• If we see an angry person, we can be alert

• If we need to scare someone, we can show anger

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Those cues also triggered emotional contagion:

“For social species, there are enormous advantages to

having a mechanism by which emotions can be
transferred quickly and efficiently across individuals.
In humans, emotion contagion serves a number of
functions including: (a) alerting, (b) calming, and (c)
empathy.” (Levenson, 2003, pp. 357)

If our ancestors noticed a friend running toward them with a fearful

expression, they could experience the same emotion to prepare for an
attack or escape.


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12 of 60
 HOW DO EMOTIONS
INFLUENCE OUR
DECISIONS?
Now, the fun part. I compiled the following model to summarize the
effects of emotion. I’ll explain everything afterward.

The antecedents are different types of emotion. Those emotions lead to

certain behaviors, which — in turn — lead to various consequences.


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My model prioritizes simplicity over complexity. If you want more
depth, you can refer to the Affect-Infusion Model (Forgas, 1995) and
Cognitive Appraisal Theory (Bagozzi, Gopinath, & Nyer, 1999).

ANTECEDENTS
Three types of emotion incluence our decisions (Cohen, Pham, &
Andrade, 2006):

1. Integral Emotion
2. Incidental Emotion
3. Task-Related Emotion

INTEGRAL EMOTION

I friggen love yogurt.

Integral emotions are directly related to the decision.

You feel these emotions from the current options or expected outcome
(e.g., our happiness after choosing Option B).

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INCIDENTAL EMOTION

Today is a great day.

Incidental emotions are current mood states.

This principle is also called feelings-as-information because we use our

current moods (i.e., feelings) to construct our judgments (i.e.,
information).

In a classic study, Schwarz & Clore (1983) asked people to rate their
happiness with life. On rainy days, people were signicicantly less happy
with their overall life. Essentially, they asked: how do I feel today? Their
dampened mood — which stemmed from the rain — was misattributed
to their overall life.

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TASK-RELATED EMOTION

Gah, so many options.

Task-related emotion involves decision characteristics.

If you need to choose a single option among many favorable options,

you might feel anticipated regret. Those negative feelings could
incluence your decision (e.g., postpone the purchase).

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BEHAVIOR
All three emotions, in turn, lead to various intermediary effects:

1. Attention Scope
2. Informational Focus
3. Social Focus
4. Regulatory Focus
5. Temporal Focus
6. Certainty Level

ATTENTION SCOPE

Emotions incluence our decisions because they adjust the scope of our
attention.

Negative emotions — like fear — narrow attention (Wichary, Mata, &

Rieskamp, 2016). If your child is missing, you’d have trouble thinking of
something else. According to your brain: missing child > an episode of
The Bachelorette.

Positive emotions — like happiness — broaden attention (Rowe, Hirsh,

& Anderson, 2007). When our ancestors were happy, they were in a

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safe environment (where broad attention could help them search for
resources).

INFORMATIONAL FOCUS

Emotions also incluence the type of information that we consider.

CONCRETE IMAGERY

We rely more heavily on concrete imagery.

In one study, people preferred an insurance plan that covered death by

terrorism, compared to a plan that covered death by any reason
(Johnson et al., 1993). Even though the second plan covered any reason
— including terrorism — ironically, people found it less appealing.

In another study, people were more likely to donate $5 to an African

girl named Rokia, compared to the same appeal for “millions of
people” (Small, Loewenstein, & Slovic, 2007). We have trouble
envisioning millions of people. But we easily see one child in need.

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CONSTRUAL LEVEL

Emotions incluence our construal level (Labroo & Patrick, 2008).

Negative emotions — because they narrow attention — trigger low

construals. We focus on nitty gritty details.

Positive emotions — because they broaden attention — trigger high

construals. We focus on abstract information and overall gists.

SENSORY FOCUS

Emotions incluence our perception of sensory input.

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It’s called affect-gating (King & Janiszewski, 2011).

In particular:

“…consumers in a negative affective state experience

enhanced sensitivity to the tactile benefits of
products, whereas consumers in a positive affective
state experience enhanced sensitivity to the visual
benefits of products.” (King & Janiszewski, 2011, pp.
697)

Those responses were adaptive in evolution.

When we feel a negative emotion, we’re usually in trouble. We’re hurt.

We’re lost. We need warmth. To survive, we needed a mechanism that
guided us toward physical touch in those negative states.

And…that’s what happened.

Our brain developed circuitry to increase pleasure from tactile

stimulation in negative states.

Positive emotions are different:

“…juvenile mammals in a positive affective state are

organismically sufficient. To the extent that neural
circuitry could induce a juvenile in a positive affective
state to explore its environment (i.e., mitigate future
risks or seek diversified sources of rewards), its
chances of survival would increase.” (King &
Janiszewski, 2011, pp. 697-698)

Thus, when feeling positive, our brain increases pleasure from visual
stimulation. That means we’re more persuaded by visual aesthetics
(Pham & Avnet, 2004).

MOOD CONSISTENCY

Emotions incluence our decisions because we focus on “mood-

consistent” information (Adaval, 2001).

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Consider a vacation to Mexico.

Happy people place more importance on favorable attributes

(e.g., sitting on the beach).
Sad people place more importance on unfavorable attributes
(e.g., cost of the trip).

We place more importance on mood-consistent information because

we (falsely) think that it’s more accurate:

“When extraneous affect is similar in valence to one’s

affective reactions to this information, it can make
these reactions appear more appropriate or valid and,
therefore, can increase the perception that one’s
feelings about the information have been assessed
correctly.” (Adaval, 2001, pp. 3)

Plus, we actively seek mood-consistent information — especially when

feeling negative. That’s why sad people listen to sad songs. The music is
a replacement for an empathetic friend.

“We propose that mood-congruent aesthetic stimuli,

akin to an empathetic friend, can provide mood-
sharing, emotionally connected experience through
which people feel that their emotion is understood,
cared about, supported, and validated.” (Lee, Andrade,
& Palmer, 2013, pp. 390)

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SOCIAL FOCUS

Emotions orient us toward the self or others.

Consider pride and contentment:

Pride increases social focus. We’re motivated to attract public

attention —indicated by our puffed out chest and raised chin.
This emotion helped our ancestors establish dominance.

Contentment reduces social focus. When we feel content, we’re

satiated. Since we satiscied our needs, we prefer a safe
environment to savor our contentment.

In both cases, that focus incluences our desire for products:

“…pride enhanced the desire for clothing to be seen by

others (e.g., clothing for going out) but not for clothing
to be worn around the house… contentment enhanced
the desire for clothing to be worn around the house
but not for clothing for going out.” (Griskevicius,
Shiota, & Nowlis, 2010, pp. 246)

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REGULATORY FOCUS

Emotions incluence our propensity to acquire or reject.

Consider disgust and sadness. Both emotions are negative, but they
trigger different effects.

With disgust, we want to push something away. That emotion

helped our ancestors reject toxic stimuli.

With sadness, we want to change our circumstances. That

emotion could makes us more likely to pull something closer.

In one study, disgust reduced selling prices (because people wanted to

get rid of their possession). Sadness increased buying prices (because
people wanted to acquire something new to change their situation;
Lerner, Small, & Loewenstein, 2004).

Even neutral emotions — like hunger — trigger acquisition or

rejection:

“…hunger is likely to activate general concepts and

behavioral knowledge associated with acquisition.
These acquisition concepts, once accessible in
memory, may influence subsequent decisions to
acquire objects, even when these objects (say, binder
clips) are clearly unable to satisfy the hunger
motive.” (Xu, Schwarz, & Wyer, 2015, pp. 2688)

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TEMPORAL FOCUS

Emotions orient us toward the past, present, or future.

That “temporal focus” incluences our decisions. For instance, when

we’re focused on the future, we have better self-control. In one study,
people ate fewer M&Ms when researchers induced hopefulness
(Winterich & Haws, 2011).

CERTAINTY LEVEL

Emotions have different levels of certainty.

Consider anger and fear (Tiedens & Linton, 2001).

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 When fearful, we’re less certain about a future outcome.
When angry, we’re certain about the source of our anger.

More importantly, we can misattribute those feelings of certainty or

uncertainty (Lerner & Keltner, 2001).

Fearful gamblers experience more uncertainty. They feel like

their odds of winning are more unpredictable, and they stop
gambling.

Angry gamblers misattribute their certainty. They feel certain

about the source of their anger, and they confuse that “certainty”
with the likelihood winning.

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CONSEQUENCES
The previous factors extend their incluence in subsequent ways:

1. Processing Depth
2. Decision Speed
3. Value Assessment
4. Probability Estimation
5. Choice Behavior
6. Processing Depth

PROCESSING DEPTH

Emotions incluence our decisions because they incluence the extent of

mental processing.

One factor is certainty level (Tiedens & Linton, 2001).

High-certainty emotions (e.g., anger) trigger heuristic

processing. We feel more certain about our emotions, and
we misattribute those feelings to our certainty about the

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 decision. We don’t need to think carefully because we’re
already sure.

Low-certainty emotions (e.g., fear) trigger systematic

processing. We feel less certain about our emotions (and
thus the decision). So we feel obligated to scrutinize
everything.

Another factor is valence (see Herr et al., 2012).

Positive emotions trigger heuristic processing. Since

positive emotions signal a safe environment, we feel safe
making a decision.

Negative emotions trigger systematic processing. Since

negative emotions signal a problematic environment, we
feel obligated to carefully deliberate.

DECISION SPEED

Similarly, emotions incluence our decisions because they reduce the

length of deliberating.

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Our emotion system is anchored in the present (Chang & Pham, 2012).
When we feel emotion, we’re quicker to decide, and we’re drawn
toward options that provide immediate benecits. And that makes sense.
Our ancestors developed emotion to help with urgent choices (e.g.,
cight or clight).

VALUE ASSESSMENT

Emotions incluence our decisions because they incluence our

perception of value (see Lerner & Keltner, 2000).

RELATIVE VALUE

Generally, we use two methods to calculate value:

Cardinal Utility — Absolute value on a quantitative scale

Ordinal Utility — Relative value compared to other options

Our emotions use ordinal utility (Pham et al., 2015).

Employees experience more happiness — not when you raise their

salary by an absolute amount— but when you raise it above coworkers’
salaries.

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Why the focus on relativity?

Again, it stems from evolution. When our ancestors experienced

emotion, they weren’t calculating how much they should set aside for
retirement. They were comparing options:

Should I cight or run away?

Should I hunt or stay?
Should I do A or B?

Those choices don’t require absolute measurements. They

require comparative assessments: is A > B or is B > A?

SCOPE INSENSITIVITY

Our emotions have trouble with scope.

In other words:

“…when people rely on feeling, they are sensitive to the

presence or absence of a stimulus (i.e., the difference
between 0 and some scope) but are largely insensitive
to further variations of scope.” (Hsee & Rottenstreich,
2004, pp. 23)

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For example, Hsee and Rottenstreich (2004) measured willingness to
pay for a CD set of Madonna. First, they asked participants unrelated
questions to prime a mindset (rational or emotional). Then, they asked
how much they would pay for a 5- or 10-CD set.

Based on their mindset, people used a different process to calculate

their willingness to pay:

Rational Group. People calculated how much they would

pay for a single CD (e.g., $3). Then, they multiplied that
cigure by the number of CDs (e.g., $15 for the 5-CD set, $30
for the 10-CD set).

Emotional Group. People based this calculation on their

feelings toward Madonna. Since people had the same
feelings, regardless whether the collection was a 5 or 10 CD
set, their willingness to pay was consistent (roughly $20 in
both sets).

Likewise, people feel similar emotion at varying levels — like a true

story vs. cictional story (Ebert & Meyvis, 2014). We become so
absorbed in emotional events (e.g., cictional story) that we fail to
consider distancing information (e.g., did it really happen?).

Similarly, when waiting for an electric shock, people felt the same level
of stress with a 5%, 50%, or 100% chance of receiving the shock
(Monat, Averill, & Lazarus, 1972). The looming image of a shock was
the only ingredient necessary.

PROBABILITY ESTIMATION

Scope insensitivity and concrete imagery incluence our estimates of

future probabilities.

Imagine that you need to pull a red jelly bean from a jar of white beans.
Based on your gut, which group below looks more appealing?

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You probably chose Group 1 — the group with more red beans, right?

Denes-Raj and Epstein (1994) ran that same contest. Most people
people chose Group 1, even when they knew Group 1 had lower odds of
winning:

“Subjects reported that although they knew the

probabilities were against them, they felt they had a
better chance when there were more red
beans.” (Denes-Raj & Epstein, 1994, pp. 819)

It doesn’t matter if you have a 1 in 100,000,000 chance of winning the

lottery…the mere presence of that mental image is persuasive.

How I imagine it

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CHOICE BEHAVIOR

When people evaluate items sequentially, emotion has the greatest

impact on the cirst item (Qiu & Yeung, 2007).

Why does that happen?

It involves our misattribution of emotion. When we encounter the cirst

option, we perceive that option as the source of our mood. Subsequent
options are less impactful because we’ve already attributed our
emotion:

“…once individuals have attributed their affect to one

source (the first option), they are less likely to
attribute this affect to other sources (the second and
the third options)…” (Yeung & Qiu, 2006, pg. 2)

If we’re feeling good when viewing that cirst option, then surely, it must
be due to that option.


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WHEN SHOULD YOU USE
EMOTIONAL APPEALS?
Before deciding which emotion to target, you should decide whether to
target emotion at all.

Emotional appeals will be more effective in these conditions:

1. Immediate Decisions
2. Independent Decisions
3. Uncertain Decisions
4. Hedonic Options
5. Acquisition Framing
6. Older Demographics

IMMEDIATE DECISIONS
Since our emotion system is anchored in the present, we rely on
emotions for immediate decisions:

“…affective feelings are relied on more (weighted more

heavily) in judgments whose outcomes and targets are
closer to the present than in those whose outcomes
and targets are temporally more distant.” (Chang &
Pham, 2012, pg. 1)

However, an “immediate” decision depends on the situation and

context.

In one study, students imagined that graduation was either next month
or next year. When graduation was sooner, students were more likely to
rent an emotional apartment (e.g., breathtaking view) than a rational
apartment (e.g., closer to subway; Chang & Pham, 2012).

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The basic strategy: if your customer has limited time to decide, then
target their emotion.

Other tactics…

TACTIC: REDUCE DECISION TIMES FOR HEDONIC

PRODUCTS

If your product is inherently emotional — like fancy shoes — then

speed up the decision:

Emphasize limited quantities (e.g., only 2 in stock)

Give time-sensitive discounts (e.g., on sale this week)

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 Minimize product availability (e.g., only sold in the winter)

TACTIC: PLACE EMOTIONAL APPEALS NEAR THE

PURCHASE

Perhaps you sell a product through an automated email funnel. In that

case, move your emotional appeals toward the end of the funnel —
closer to the cinal decision.

TACTIC: PLACE HEDONIC PRODUCTS NEAR THE

CHECKOUT

In retail stores, impulse purchases are usually hedonic (e.g., gum,

chocolate, gossip magazines). That makes sense — because people
have limited time to decide.

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You can follow that same approach in eCommerce. When you upsell
items near the checkout, recommend hedonic products.

TACTIC: REDUCE WAITING TIMES FOR EMOTIONAL

BENEFITS

Because emotion is anchored in the present, it makes people impatient

(see Van den Bergh, Dewitte, & Warlop, 2008).

Suppose that you sell a hedonic product (e.g., stylish clothing), but the
benecits are delayed (e.g., shipping time). You could provide another
benecit in the meantime (e.g., access to a video with fashion tips about
that product). You’ll provide an immediate benecit AND upsell other
products…a win-win.

Oh, and always offer expedited shipping for emotional purchases.

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INDEPENDENT DECISIONS
Emotion is more effective when customers are deciding alone.

When choosing for a group of people — with public consequences —

we feel compelled to choose a “safer” option:

“After all, in the case that the decision turns out

poorly, one can still demonstrate the original merit of
the decision if it is easy to justify.” (Hong & Chang,
2015, pp. 1394)

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TACTIC: GIVE “JUSTIFIABLE” REASONS FOR B2B
PURCHASES

Doh!

In B2B settings — where decisions impact many people — don’t rely on

emotions alone. Give utilitarian reasons so buyers have an escape route
with colleagues (e.g., “Well, I bought it because of [rational reason]”).

UNCERTAIN DECISIONS
Uncertainty can be good or bad:

Good Uncertainty: contents of a gift

Bad Uncertainty: stock market collapse

Both lead to a greater reliance on emotion (Faraji-Rad & Pham, 2016).

When people are uncertain, they use “constructive thinking” — which
acts like a cloodgate for emotion to enter (see Forgas, 1995).

TACTIC: GIVE EMOTIONAL APPEALS TO CUSTOMERS

ON THE FENCE

When customers are stubbornly indecisive, we usually resort to

rational arguments. However, albeit counterintuitive, their uncertain
mindset is ripe for an emotional appeal.

HEDONIC OPTIONS
It’s probably obvious, but just to concirm, emotional appeals are more
effective for hedonic products (i.e., emotional options). The main
reason stems from mood-consistent information (Pham, Geuens, &
Pelsmacker, 2013).

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ACQUISITION FRAMING
Emotional appeals are more effective when you describe what your
product provides, rather than what it prevents (Cohen et al., 2006).

When focused on acquisition goals, we perceive our emotions to be

more accurate (Pham & Avnet, 2009). We cind emotional benecits more
persuasive, and we rely more heavily on peripheral information (e.g.,
visual aesthetics), rather than substantive information (e.g., logical
reasons; Pham & Avnet, 2004).

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OLDER DEMOGRAPHICS
Emotional appeals are more effective for older demographics. And the
reason is pretty interesting (Williams & Drolet, 2005).

In any context, we view time as limited or expansive — which changes

our behavior. It’s called socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen,
Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999).

When time is expansive (e.g., young adults), we focus on

knowledge goals. We spend more time planning so that we
prepare for the future.

When time is limited (e.g., older adults), we focus on

emotional goals. We spend more time with close
relationships so that we enjoy the present.

That’s why emotional appeals work better for older demographics

(Williams & Drolet, 2005).

Interestingly, though, time perception is malleable. Your perspective

changes in different contexts. College freshman have an expansive
perspective, so they prefer making new friends. Seniors, however, have
a limited perspective. So they prefer spending time with current friends
(Frederickson, 1995).


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 WHAT ARE THE TYPES
OF EMOTIONS?
Lewis (2000) proposes three categories, but I’ll describe four:

1. Reclex Emotions
2. Core Emotions
3. Conscious Emotions
4. Social Emotions

Although emotions aren’t discrete categories, I’ll be using specicic

labels…so indulge me.

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REFLEX EMOTIONS (0 – 3 MONTHS)
When we’re born, we experience two — and only two — emotions.

CONTENTMENT

We’re too young to distinguish positive emotions, so “contentment”

captures everything. If our needs are satiscied, then we’re good.

DISTRESS

Likewise, when our needs are unsatiscied, we’re distressed. And we’ll
cry to communicate it.

CORE EMOTIONS (3 – 6 MONTHS)

After a while, our body can distinguish between various emotions
within contentment and distress.

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INTEREST

Survival depended on exploration and learning (see Loewenstein,

1994). Without interest, we died.

HAPPINESS

We feel happy when we see familiar stimuli (Lewis, 2000). We also

develop “happy” facial expressions. Those visual cues helped our
ancestors communicate their intentions to engage in a friendly
interaction.

SADNESS

If evolution is so great, then what’s the purpose of sadness?

If a family member dies, that person is already dead. It’s serving no

purpose.

That’s true — bereavement isn’t helpful. However, the UNDERLYING

function is useful in other situations (Frijda, 2000).

If you imagine that person dying, then you’ll feel sad (and you’ll know
to avoid killing that person). Or if you’re a child seeking your mother,
then sadness — accompanied with crying — can retrieve her.

Since those functions are more important, you need to endure sadness
elsewhere.

CONSCIOUS EMOTIONS (0.5 – 2.5 YEARS)

As we progress in development we experience other emotions through
our consciousness.

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FEAR

Fear requires more cognitive development:

“…in order for children to show fearfulness, they have

to be capable of comparing the event that causes
them fearfulness with some other event, either
internal or external” (Lewis, 2000, pg. 277)

For example, children need to identify that a stranger’s face is different

from a familiar face.

SOCIAL EMOTIONS (2.5+ YEARS)

Along our development, we acquire self-awareness. We begin
interacting socially, and we can measure our behavior against a
standard (Lewis, 2000).

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ANGER

We feel angry when people aren’t treating us with enough importance.

Our ancestors developed anger to improve their welfare:

“Acts or signals of anger communicate that, unless

the target increases the weight it places on the angry
individual’s welfare sufficiently, the actor will inflict
costs on, or withdraw benefits from, the target.” (Sell,
Tooby, & Cosmides, 2009, pp. 15074)

Those researchers found something interesting too. Certain people

naturally had greater bargaining power:

Some could inclict more costs (e.g., powerful brutes)

Some could give more benecits (e.g., attractive mates)

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Since those people had greater leverage, they felt “entitled” to more
welfare. They felt anger more easily — even in fair transactions —
because they expected more.

Fast forward to today, and we still experience those evolutionary forces.

Today, stronger men and attractive women are more prone to anger
(Sell et al., 2009).

In fact, physically stronger politicians are more likely to use military

force (Sell et al., 2009). Based on their individual strength, they falsely
believe that other nations will be less likely to retaliate.

Don’t you feel safer now?

EMPATHY

Most mammals possess empathy. If an offspring is distressed, parents

need to feel enough emotion and motivation to resolve that distress (De
Waal, 2008).

Over time, though, empathy started playing a larger role in human

society. We accomplish more — and live better — when we cooperate
with others.

JEALOUSY

We developed jealousy for adaptive reasons:

Males needed jealousy because female incidelity lowered

their likelihood of reproduction

Females needed jealousy because male incidelity lowered

their likelihood of acquiring resources

Therefore, males and females felt different jealousy. Males were more
jealous with sexual incidelity, while females were more jealous with

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emotional incidelity. And, thanks to the nature of evolution, that’s still
true today (Buss et al., 1992).

EMBARRASSMENT

After committing a social blunder, our ancestors needed to restore

social bonds. They developed embarrassment — characterized by a
submissive posture and blush— to indicate remorse for a
transgression. That’s how they reclaimed their position in society
(Keltner & Buswell, 1997).

SHAME

Similarly, shame forces people to conform. Our ancestors needed the

capacity for shame so that they would accept their share of
responsibility (Lewis, 2000).

Our ancestors were pretty pissed at those who didn’t conform.


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 WHICH EMOTIONS
SHOULD YOU TARGET?
In this section, I’ll explain criteria to help you choose the best emotion
for your situation.

1. Two Overall Strategies

2. Which Valence: Positive vs. Negative?
3. Which Arousal: Low vs. High?
4. Which Temporal Focus: Past vs. Present vs. Future?

TWO OVERALL STRATEGIES

Most of the recommendations comprise one of two approaches.

STRATEGY 1: FEELING-IS-FOR-DOING

Zeelenberg et al. (2008) recommend a feeling-is-for-doing approach.

Every emotion serves an evolutionary purpose. Therefore, if you need
to extract a specicic behavior, simply target an emotion that aligns with
that behavior.

“Shopping after lunch, for example, may motivate a

contented person to go to Crate and Barrel to shop
for home products. But shopping after reading a
positive review of one’s work may lead a proud person
to purchase a new outfit for going out in
public.” (Griskevicius, Shiota, & Nowlis, 2010, pp.
247)

Some examples:

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 If you sell stylish clothing, trigger pride. Those people will
be focused on impressing others.

If you want to steal customers from your competitor, trigger

fear. Those people will be focused on escape.

If you want people to donate, trigger guilt. Those people will

be focused on resolving a past transgression.

STRATEGY 2: MOOD CONGRUENCE

If you’re unsure which emotion to target, you could target emotions

that are congruent with your product.

For example, people were more likely to choose an adventurous

vacation when they felt excited, whereas people were more likely to
choose a serene trip when they felt peaceful (Kim, Park, and Schwarz,
2010).

Those congruent appeals were effective because of our tendency to

misattribute emotion:

“…consumers who read an advertisement with specific

emotional product claims are essentially asking
themselves, “Would this product make me feel the
way it promises?” In doing so, they are likely to
misread preexisting incidental feelings as part of their
reaction to the product.” (Kim, Park, & Schwarz,
2010, pp. 985)

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But there are exceptions, which I’ll explain next.

WHICH VALENCE: POSITIVE VS. NEGATIVE?

You can position emotion on two dimensions: valence and

arousal(Barret & Russell, 1998).

I just explained that you should usually target congruent emotions.

However, negative emotions are one exception. Thanks to evolution,
when people feel a negative emotion, they feel motivated to change
their circumstances — so they’re drawn toward incongruent appeals:

“…when consumers are in a negative mood, we find

that they prefer products that are incongruent with
both the level of arousal and the valence of their
current affective state.” (Di Muro & Murray, 2012,
pp. 574)

If customers will be in a negative mood state, consider choosing

emotions on the opposing side of the circumplex.

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Also, as a reminder, here are other factors that I explained earlier.

WHICH AROUSAL: LOW VS. HIGH?

This choice depends on your goal.

High arousal emotions trigger immediate actions. People

are more likely to share online content when they’re feeling
energized (Berger, 2011).

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 Low arousal emotions cultivate favorable perceptions.
When people are less aroused, they adopt high construals,
which inclate perceived value (Pham, Hung, & Gorn, 2011).
People focus on the big picture, so they pay more attention
to desirability (e.g., the appeal of a vacation) than feasibility
(e.g., timing, cost).

WHICH TEMPORAL FOCUS: PAST VS. PRESENT

VS. FUTURE?

Emotions focus on different time periods.

Past

Past-oriented emotions (e.g., nostalgia) might be most effective. Those

emotions can trigger an unfulcilled need:

“…nostalgia represented in the advertisement is not

attainable. When faced with such a situation,
consumers may have a more favorable response to
the product by transferring their unfulfilled desire to
return to the past to a desire for the
product.” (Muehling & Sprout, 2004, pp. 32)

Present

The next most helpful emotions are presented-oriented. Those

emotions are particularly useful when your product is calming:

“…excitement and calm both have a distinct temporal

focus: whereas people tend to feel excited for
something that they anticipate will happen in the
future, they tend to feel calm when soaking up the
present moment.” (Mogilner, Aaker, & Kamvar, 2012,
pp. 430)

That principle applies to product evaluations:

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 When focused on the future, we prefer exciting options.
When focused on the present, we prefer calming options.

Future

Unless your product is very exciting, you should avoid future-directed

emotions — like hope. Those emotions increase self-control (Winterich
& Haws, 2011), which isn’t great for emotional purchases.

Plus, despite having a positive valence, those emotions are

characterized by uncertainty. And we can misattribute our uncertainty
to other aspects of a decision (e.g., uncertain desire for the product).


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 HOW TO TRIGGER
EMOTION
We feel different types of emotion: integral, incidental, and task-related.
How can you trigger them?

STRATEGY: CHOOSE CONTEXTS WHERE

PEOPLE HAVE EMOTION
Instead of directly triggering emotion, seek places where people
naturally feel your target emotions (Kim, Park, & Schwarz, 2010).

AD PLACEMENTS

When choosing ad placements, consider the context:

SPOTIFY → UPBEAT PLAYLIST

Increases arousal, which increases propensity for action.

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HULU → TV SHOW FROM PAST

Triggers nostalgia, which sparks an unfulMilled need that your product

could solve.

HUFFINGTON POST → STYLE SECTION

Increases social focus, which directs attention to the public self.

In all cases, people are experiencing a particular emotion. If you then

present your offering, people are more likely to misattribute their
emotion:

“Instead of asking themselves how they generally feel

about the product, they are likely to ask a more
specific question: “Will this product make me feel the
way it promises?” In answering this question, the
specific phenomenal quality of the feeling (rather than

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 its global valence) looms large.” (Kim, Park, &
Schwarz, 2010, pp. 989)

TIMES OF THE DAY

Likewise, people might have the most energy (i.e., high arousal) in the
late morning, whereas they might feel tired (i.e., low arousal) at night.

You could plan segmentation strategies around those time periods.

In the late morning, your website could recommend exciting

products (e.g., sports equipment).

At night, your website could recommend calming products

(e.g., blankets)

PHYSICAL LOCATIONS

Your physical location also incluences emotion. If you’re in a popular

mall — near restaurants — then many patrons are eating before or
after.

If people haven’t eaten, they’ll be hungry (in a state of

acquisition)

If people already ate, they’ll be full (in a state of satiation)

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But always consider logistics. Even though people evaluate products
more favorably when they’re hungry, they might postpone purchasing
to avoid bringing items into a restaurant.

STRATEGY: EMOTIONAL SCHEMA

In terms of directly triggering emotion, you should consider network
theory.

Our brain is comprised of an associative network. When we view a

relationship between two concepts, we form a connection between
them. Later, you simply need to active one concept in order to activate
the other.

I cilmed this quirky video to further illustrate it.

For our purposes, we attach certain emotions to certain concepts. If you

prime those concepts, you can trigger the corresponding emotions that
are attached to those concepts.

Some examples…

COLOR

Evolution created connections between color and arousal:

Warm colors (e.g., red, orange, yellow) are associated with

the sun, thus increasing arousal.

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 Cool colors (e.g., blue, green, purple) are associated with
relaxation, thus decreasing arousal.

Refer to my guide on color psychology for more detail.

EVOLUTIONARY THREATS

In my guide to visual attention, I explain why evolutionary threats (e.g.,

angry faces, tigers) capture more attention than modern threats (e.g.,
cars). Well, those threatening stimuli also incluence emotion.

SEX

Yup — this one too (Most et al., 2007).

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STRATEGY: EMOTIONAL CONTAGION
Emotions are contagious — they transfer from person to person. If you
want to trigger emotion, then show people experiencing that same
emotion.

STORYTELLING

Storytelling is a huge topic for another article. Essentially, stories are

powerful because they trigger empathetic mechanisms. We inject
ourselves into the story via narrative transportation (Green & Brock,
2000).

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Facial expressions are powerful because we distinguish emotion based

on those features (Ekman, 1993).

Most designers show people with their bodies, which restricts emotion.
Instead, you should enlarge the face — the epicenter of emotional cues.


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 CONCLUSION
Thanks for trudging through. If you enjoyed this guide, check out my
other stuff at www.nickkolenda.com.

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