Influence of Warm versus Cool Temperatures on Consumer Choice: A Resource Depletion Account

Across five studies, the authors demonstrate that warm (vs. cool) temperatures deplete resources, increase System 1 processing, and influence performance on complex choice tasks. Real-world lottery data (pilot study) and a lab experiment (Study 1) demonstrate the effect of temperature on complex choices: People are less likely to make difficult gambles in warmer temperatures. Study 2 implicates resource depletion as the underlying process; warm temperatures lower cognitive performance for nondepleted people but do not affect the performance of depleted people. Study 3 illustrates the moderating role of task complexity to show that warm temperatures are depleting and decrease willingness to make a difficult product choice. Study 4 juxtaposes the effects of depletion and temperature to reveal that warm temperatures hamper performance on complex tasks because of the participants’ increased reliance on System 1 (heuristic) processing.

• 저널Journal of Marketing Research · 49(6) · 984–995
• 토픽Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · General Decision Sciences
• DOI10.1509/jmr.08.0205
• 저자Amar Cheema, Vanessa M. Patrick