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De zoektocht naar een fit tussen regulatory focus en de mate van prototypicaliteit in productdesign

Meer, Auke van der (2010) De zoektocht naar een fit tussen regulatory focus en de mate van prototypicaliteit in productdesign.

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Abstract:This research has been focusing on the aesthetic preference of consumer products. The approach within this research postulates that aesthetic experience is comparable with an emotion, with which the state of the perceiver is of great importance. Is the perceiver prevention focused and therefore concerned about security and maintaining his current state, while he shows no risk-taking behavior because this can worsen the current state? Or is he more promotion focused, and in search of new things that can improve his current state? With these questions it has been tried to give more insight in the preference for a familiar and typical, or a novel and a-typical design. In study 1 the dispositional regulatory focus was measured in search of the moderating influence of this focus on different types of design of mobile phones. The results of this study suggest that regulatory focus does not influence the aesthetical judgment of the product directly. A-typical product designs were found more positively on aesthetics and purchase behavior. Regulatory focus did have influence on the expected functionality. Prevention focused participants found the typical product more functional, while the promotion focused found the a-typical product more functional. However, this preference did not influence the purchase behavior. In the second study, regulatory focus was manipulated situational. In comparison with the measure of dispositional regulatory focus in study 1, this manipulation did not account for any other effects, thereby not confirming the hypothesis. The a-typical product (mp3 player) was judged as less pragmatic in this study, but this judgment – comparable with study 1 – did not influence the choice of the consumer. In the third experiment it has been tried to show that a typical design fits better with a product that distinguishes itself with a prevention claim, while an a-typical design suits better to a product that is more promotion focused. The a-typical design was again judged more positively, but there were not found any effects of maintaining congruence between typicality of design and the product’s prevention or promotion claim. The results of the three studies suggest that when people judge fashion-conscious products like mobile phones and mp3 players, functionality and simplicity in design is not the main important characteristic, but the specialty and rareness of the product, unregarded of that these products are suggested as more risky and that a consumer is risk-avoiding.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/60542
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