סמינר בשיווק

Speaker: Jochim Hansen (Salzburg)

Title:  Drinks, coffee, and the hammer: High-level construal increases cross-sensory influences 

Abstract: 

Abstract: Since people integrate more information into their representations when they construe a situation on a high (compared to low) level, it was hypothesized that the level of construal would also affect cross-sensory influences of visual information on other sensory perceptions. Four experiments tested this idea. In all experiments, participants were first primed with a high-level versus low-level construal mindset using a category/exemplar task. Next, the effect of construal level on taste perception was examined in three experiments: Participants sampled beverages in cups that differed in color and rated several qualities of the beverage. It was expected that color would influence beverage perception, particularly when participants were primed with a high construal level. In line with this hypothesis, it was found that participants who generated high-level categories (compared to low-level exemplars) rated sparkling water as more refreshing in a blue than in a yellow cup (Experiment 1), an energy drink as sourer in a yellow than in a blue cup (Experiment 2), and coffee as hotter in a red than in a blue cup (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 extended the effect to the Rubber Hand Illusion, which is a distorted perception of one’s body by the acceptance of a fake rubber hand. It was hypothesized that participants who generated high-level categories (compared to low-level exemplars) would show a larger Rubber Hand Illusion in three commonly used dependent variables (subjective ownership rating of the rubber hand, the proprioceptive drift from the own hand to the rubber hand, and participants’ skin conductance in response to a hammer stroke on the rubber hand). The findings replicated the Rubber Hand Illusion and additionally showed the expected moderation by construal level on the proprioceptive drift measure. Together, the findings provide evidence that a high level of construal can increase cross-sensory assimilation. Possible processes will be discussed.