Abstract
Results of two studies indicated that tasting a familiar product designed to be refreshing (iced tea), without knowledge of the brand, induced positive affect, as did the gift-of-candy (not consumed) induction, used in many previous studies. As compared to controls, these participants showed more positive affect as reflected by 5 implicit measures and 2~explicit ratings of the refreshingness and pleasingness of the product. They performed significantly better on items from the Remote Associates Test (a test of creativity), generated more unusual and more pleasant first associates to a randomly selected letter of the alphabet, and to neutral words (the implicit measures). Results also indicated that similar affect did not arise when participants tasted a less liked, unfamiliar, brand of iced tea, without knowledge of the brand. However, when the brand name (a known brand) of that tea was presented with the less liked product sample, people who tasted that same tea showed positive affect responses on the implicit measures of affect and also explicitly rated the tea as more refreshing and pleasing than the unbranded version of the same tea.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Aaker, D. A. (1991). Managing brand equity. NY: The Free Press (Simon & Schuster).
Ashkanazy, N. (2003). Emotions in organizations: A multilevel perspective. In F. Dansereau & F. J. Yammarino (Eds.), Research in multi-level issues (pp. 9-54). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Barone, M. J., Miniard, P. W., & Romeo, J. B. (2000). The influence of positive mood on brand extension evaluations. Journal of Consumer Research, 26, 386-400.
Erez, A., & Isen, A. M. (2002). The influence of positive affect on the components of expectancy motivation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 1055-1067.
Estrada, C. A., Isen, A. M., & Young, M. J. (1994). Positive affect influences creative problem solving and reported source of practice satisfaction in physicians. Motivation and Emotion, 18, 285-299.
Estrada, C. A., Isen, A. M., & Young, M. J. (1997). Positive affect facilitates integration of information and decreases anchoring in reasoning among physicians. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 72, 117-135.
Fazio, R. H., Jackson, J. R., Dunton, B. C., & Williams, C. J. (1995). Variability in automatic activation as an unobtrusive measure of racial attitudes: A bona fide pipeline? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 1013-1027.
Fazio, R. H., Sanbonmatsu, D. M., Powell, M. C., & Kardes, F. R. (1986). On the automatic activation of attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 229-238.
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1974). Attitudes towards objects as predictors of single and multiple behavioral criteria. Psychological Review, 81, 59-74.
Graf, P., Mandler, G., & Haden, P. (1982). Simulating amnesic symptoms in normal subjects. Science, 218, 1243-1244.
Isen, A. M. (1987). Positive affect, cognitive processes and social behavior. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 203-253). New York: Academic Press.
Isen, A. M. (1999). Positive affect. In T. Dagleish & M. Power (Eds.), Handbook of Cognition and emotion (pp. 521-539). Sussex, England: Wiley.
Isen, A. M. (2001). An influence of positive affect on decision making in complex situations: Theoretical issues with practical implications. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 11, 75-85.
Isen, A. M., & Daubman, K. A. (1984). The influence of affect on categorization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 1206-1217.
Isen, A. M., Daubman, K. A., & Gorgoglione, J. M. (1987). The influence of positive affect on cognitive organization: Implications for education. In R. E. Snow & M. J. Farr (Eds.), Aptitude, learning, and instruction (pp. 143-164). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Isen, A. M., Daubman, K. A., & Nowicki, G. P. (1987). Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 1122-1131.
Isen, A. M., Johnson, M., Mertz, E., & Robinson, G. (1985). The influence of positive affect on the unusualness of word associations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1413-1426.
Isen, A. M., Shalker, T., Clark, M., & Karp, L. (1978). Affect, accessibility of material in memory, and behavior: A cognitive loop? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 1-12.
Kahn, B., & Isen, A. M. (1993). The influence of positive affect on variety-seeking among safe, enjoyable products. Journal of Consumer Research, 20, 257-270.
Kawakami, K., Dion, K. L., & Dovidio, J. F. (1998). Racial prejudice and stereotype activation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 407-416.
Keller, K. L. (1998). Strategic brand management, building, measuring, and managing brand equity. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
McKoon, G., & Ratcliff, R. (1995). Conceptual combinations and relational contexts in free association and in priming in lexical decision and naming. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 2, 527-533.
Mednick, M., Mednick, S., & Mednick, E. (1964). Incubation of creative performance and specific associative priming. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 69, 84-88.
Neely, J. H. (1976). Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Evidence for facilitatory and inhibitory processes. Memory and Cognition, 4, 648-654.
Neely, J. H. (1977). Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Roles of inhibitionless spreading activation and limited-capacity attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 106, 226-254.
Richardson-Klavehn, A., & Bjork, R. A. (1988). Measures of memory. Annual Review of Psychology, 39, 475-543.
Roehm, M., & Sternthal, B. (2001). The moderating effects of knowledge and resources on the persuasive impact of analogies. Journal of Consumer Research, 28, 257-272.
Schacter, D. L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, Cognition, 13, 501-518.
Schwarz, N., & Clore, G. L. (1983). Mood, misattribution, and judgments of well-being: Informative and directive functions of affective states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 513-523.
Shapiro, S. (1999). When an ad's influence is beyond our conscious control: Perceptual and conceptual fluency effects caused by incidental ad exposure. Journal of Consumer Research, 26, 16-36.
Staw, B. M., & Barsade, S. G. (1993). Affect and managerial performance: A test of the sadder-but-wiser vs. happier-and-smarter hypotheses. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 304-331.
Teasdale, J. D., & Fogarty, S. J. (1979). Differential effects of induced mood on retrieval of pleasant and unpleasent events from episodic memory. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, 248-257.
Tulving, E., & Schacter, D. L. (1990). Priming and human memory systems. Science, 247, 301-306.
Webb, E. J., Campbell, D. T., Schwartz, R. D., & Sechrest, L. (1966). Unobtrusive measures: Nonreactive research in the social sciences. Oxford, England: Rand Mcnally.
Weiss, H. M., Nicholas, J. P., & Daus, C. S. (1999). An examination of the joint effects of affective experiences and job beliefs on job satisfaction and variations in affective experiences over time. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 78, 1-24.
Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 9, 1-27.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Isen, A.M., Labroo, A.A. & Durlach, P. An Influence of Product and Brand Name on Positive Affect: Implicit and Explicit Measures. Motivation and Emotion 28, 43–63 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:MOEM.0000027277.98917.9a
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:MOEM.0000027277.98917.9a