Incentives may simultaneously entice consumers and arouse reactance. It is proposed that consumers reaffirm their autonomy by choosing rewards that are congruent with the promoted consumption effort (choosing reward x over reward y, given effort x). Such congruity allows consumers to construe...

This article proposes that supposedly farsighted (hyperopic) choices of virtue over vice evoke increasing regret over time. We demonstrate that greater temporal separation between a choice and its assessment enhances the regret (or anticipated regret) of virtuous decisions (e.g., choosing work...

Marketers often extend product lines by offering limited-capability models that are created by removing or degrading features in existing models. This production method, called versioning, has been lauded because of its ability to increase both consumer and firm welfare. According to rational...

This research examines why consumers desire unusual and novel consumption experiences and voluntarily choose leisure activities, vacations, and celebrations that are predicted to be less pleasurable. For example, consumers sometimes choose to stay at freezing ice hotels and to eat at restaurants...

For most forms of conscious consumer choice, product attributes serve as the means that consumers use to accomplish their goals. Because there is competition between products in the marketplace, consumption decisions typically present conflict between means to achieve a goal. In this article, we...

Heuristic use is a central topic in consumer research, but the factors that determine when consumers will settle for shortcut solutions to choice problems (e.g., compromise) versus rely on "true" preferences (e.g., self-goals) remain unclear. We propose that both motivation to use self-goals, as...

It is suggested that consumers' choices between alternatives can be systematically influenced by asking them to an anticipate the regret and responsibility they would feel if they made the wrong decision. Specifically, on the basis of the notion that choices of conventional or default options...