1. Altering Taste Judgments with Shapes: How and When Shape–Taste Crossmodal Correspondences Can Be Applied in Marketing Designs
- Author
-
Tina M. Lowrey, L. J. Shrum, Fei Gao, Centre de Recherches sur l'Action Politique en Europe (ARENES), Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Rennes-École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP] (EHESP)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Paris), and HEC Paris Research Paper Series
- Subjects
sensory marketing ,0303 health sciences ,Crossmodal ,030309 nutrition & dietetics ,Taste (sociology) ,media_common.quotation_subject ,crossmodal correspondence ,05 social sciences ,Context (language use) ,Sensory system ,Cognition ,Sensory marketing ,food marketing ,03 medical and health sciences ,product designs ,0502 economics and business ,[SHS.GESTION]Humanities and Social Sciences/Business administration ,Spreading activation ,050211 marketing ,Psychology ,shape symbolism ,Associative property ,Cognitive psychology ,media_common - Abstract
Crossmodal sensory correspondences between shape and taste are well-established (e.g., angular–bitter, rounded–sweet). However, the extent to which these correspondences reliably influence consumer taste judgments is less clear, as are the processes underlying the effects. This research addresses both issues. Across seven experiments, we show that whether shape–taste correspondences influence taste judgments depends on their associative strength in memory, and that a significant shape–taste correspondence spontaneously affects taste judgments only when its associative strength reaches a sufficient threshold. We further demonstrate the effects in a child development context, in which children’s age, as a naturally occurring proxy of associative strength, moderates shape–taste crossmodal effects on taste judgments. We also demonstrate that the generation of shape–taste crossmodal effects is driven by a simple spreading activation model that is moderated by associative strength, is highly automatic, and occurs even when cognitive and visual resources are constrained. The findings suggest that 1) managers must go beyond establishing simple crossmodal correspondences to determine whether sufficient thresholds are met, 2) the shape–taste associations can apply to products marketed to older children, and 3) the effects are likely to occur even in cognitively noisy retail environments.
- Published
- 2020