Course Syllabus - BA 591
Special Topics in Consumer Research
Jim Bettman – Spring 2010
Purpose:
The purpose of this seminar is to examine recent work in, or relevant to, consumer
research. We will select a set of topics to be considered over the semester, often
triggered by a new article of particular interest or student interests. For each topic
considered, a few articles will be chosen, and we will read and discuss those. Our
goals will be to gain exposure to the latest ideas in consumer research and to develop
research ideas. In particular, each week we should generate in class the
design/idea for at least one new study in the focal topic area.
Classes will be held in the DeSanctis Seminar Room (Seminar Room 2) of the
Academic Center of the Fuqua School on Fridays from 8:45-11:15. The first class is
Friday, January 15. The last class is April 15.
Student Responsibilities:
Each student should come to the seminar prepared to discuss each article in depth and
to present their ideas about the major ideas, contributions, or shortcomings of each
article if asked to do so. Students should also examine the research ideas of the other
students, as described next.
As noted above, we will also generate an idea for a study each week. Each student will
be responsible for writing up an approximately one-page (double-spaced) note for each
class focusing on an idea for a study that relates to that week’s readings, e.g., a new
study or studies designed to extend a particular paper or to build a bridge between
papers. Please specify the research question, why it is important, and a brief overview
of the proposed design (e.g., the independent and dependent variables) and
hypotheses. I will call on people in class to outline their ideas. Please submit your
ideas to me no later than 5 pm on the Thursday before the class so that I and the other
students can examine them. I will forward these ideas to each class member. I will also
send out copies of the papers for each session via email.
Finally, each student will be expected to do a research paper, which can be a critical
literature review, a design for a study, etc. I will set aside 1-2 hours at a specific time
during the semester when we will discuss preliminary ideas for the papers, and I will ask
each student to present an idea at those times. Papers are typically 20-30 pages in
length and will be due by 5 pm on May 8, the Friday of exam week. On March 19 we
will have each student present and receive feedback on their paper idea for roughly 1015 minutes; please prepare a brief set of overheads outlining your idea (no more than 23) that you will present; try to keep your presentation to 5 minutes or so in order to allow
time for feedback from me and the others in the class.
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Papers for BA591, Spring 2010
Session 1 – Utility and Emotion Regulation – January 15, 2010
a. Tamir, Maya (2009), “What Do People Want to Feel and Why? Pleasure and Utility in
Emotion Regulation,” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18 (April),
101-105.
b. Tamir, Maya, Christopher Mitchell, and James J. Gross (2008), “Hedonic and
Instrumental Motives in Anger Regulation,” Psychological Science, 19 (April),
324-328.
c. Andrade, Eduardo B. and Teck-Hua Ho (2009), “Gaming Emotions in Social
Interactions,” Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (December), 539-552.
Session 2 – Perceptions of Time and Distance – January 22, 2010
a. Zauberman, Gal, Jonathan Levav, Kristin Diehl, and Rajesh Bhargave (2010), “1995
Feels So Close Yet So Far: The Effect of Event Markers on Subjective Feelings
of Elapsed Time,” Psychological Science, 21 (January), 133-139.
b. Balcetis, Emily and David Dunning (2010), “Wishful Seeing: More Desired Objects
Are Seen as Closer,” Psychological Science, 21 (January), 147-152.
c. Sackett, Aaron M., Tom Meyvis, Leif D. Nelson, Benjamin A. Converse, and Anna L.
Sackett (2010), “You’re Having Fun When Time Flies: The Hedonic
Consequences of Subjective Time Progression,” Psychological Science, 21
(January), 111-117.
Session 3 – Emotion and Prosocial Behavior – January 29, 2010
a. Small, Deborah A. and Nichole M. Verrochi (2009), “The Face of Need: Facial
Emotion Expression on Charity Advertisements,” Journal of Marketing Research,
46 (December), 777-787.
b. Cavanaugh, Lisa A., James R. Bettman, and Mary Frances Luce (2009), “Feeling
Good and Doing Better: How Specific Positive Emotions Differentially Influence
Prosocial Consumption,” working paper.
c. Oveis, Christopher, E. J. Horberg, and Dacher Keltner (2010), “Compassion, Pride,
and Social Intuitions of Self-Other Similarity,” Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology.
Session 4 – Effects of Sensory Cues – February 5, 2010
a. Krishna, Aradhna, May O. Lwin, and Maureen Morrin (2010), “Product Scent and
Memory,” Journal of Consumer Research, 37 (June).
b. Krishna, Aradhna and Maureen Morrin (2008), “Does Touch Affect Taste? The
Perceptual Transfer of Product Container Haptic Cues,” Journal of Consumer
Research, 34 (April), 807-818.
c. Peck, Joann and Suzanne B. Shu (2009), “The Effect of Mere Touch on Perceived
Ownership,” Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (October), 434-447,
Session 5 – Popularity – February 12, 2010
a. Berger, Jonah and Gaël Le Mens (2009), “How Adoption Speed Affects the
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Abandonment of Cultural Tastes,” Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 106 (May 19, 2009), 8146-8150.
b. Heath, Chip, Chris Bell, and Emily Sternberg (2001), “Emotional Selection in Memes:
The Case of Urban Legends,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81
(December), 1028-1041.
c. Berger, Jonah, Alan T. Sorensen, and Scott J. Rasmussen (forthcoming), “Positive
Effects of Negative Publicity: When Negative Reviews Increase Sales,”
Marketing Science.
Session 6 – Stigma and Bad Behavior – February 19, 2010
a. Sandikci, Özlem and Güliz Ger (2010), “Veiling in Style: How Does a Stigmatized
Practice Become Fashionable,” Journal of Consumer Research, 37 (June).
b. Luedicke, Marius K., Craig J. Thompson, and Markus Giesler (2010), “Consumer
Identity Work as Moral Pragmatism: How Myth and Ideology Animate a BrandMediated Moral Conflict,” Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (April).
c. Horberg, E. J., Christopher Oveis, Dacher Keltner, and Adam B. Cohen (2009),
“Disgust and the Moralization of Purity,” Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 97 (December), 963-976.
Session 7 – Experiences I – February 26, 2010
a. Goode, Miranda R., Darren W. Dahl, and C. Page Moreau (2010), “The Effect of
Experiential Analogies on Consumer Perceptions and Attitudes,” Journal of
Marketing Research, 47 (April).
b. Biswas, Dipayan, Dhruv Grewal, and Anne Roggeveen (forthcoming), “How the
Order of Sampled Experiential Products Affects Choice,” Journal of Marketing
Research.
c. Shu, Suzanne B. and Ayelet Gneezy (forthcoming), “Procrastination of Enjoyable
Experiences,” Journal of Marketing Research.
Session 8 – Health – March 5, 2010
a. Samper, Adriana, Devavrat Purohit, and Mary Frances Luce (2010), “Contagion,
Control and Prevention: Perceptions of Control and Message Fit,” working paper.
b. Pechmann, Cornelia and Liangyan Wang (2010), “Effects of Indirectly and Directly
Competing Reference Group Messages and Persuasion Knowledge: Implications
for Educational Placements,” Journal of Marketing Research, 47 (February), 134145.
c. Agrawal, Nidhi and Adam Duhachek (2010), “Emotional Compatibility and the
Effectiveness of Anti-Drinking Messages: A Defensive Processing Perspective on
Shame and Guilt,” Journal of Marketing Research, 47 (April).
Session 9 – Student Paper Idea Presentations – March 19, 2010
Session 10 – Embodiment – March 26, 2010
a. Niedenthal, Paula (2007), “Embodying Emotion,” Science, 316 (May 18), 1002-1005.
b. Jostmann, Nils B., Daniël Lakens, and Thomas W. Schubert (2009), “Weight as an
Embodiment of Importance,” Psychological Science, 20 (September), 1169-1174.
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c. Miles, Lynden K., Louise K. Nind, and C. Neil Macrae (2010), “Moving Through
Time,” Psychological Science, 21.
d. Liljenquist, Katie, Chen-Bo Zhong, and Adam D. Galinsky (2010), “The Smell of
Virtue: Clean Scents Promote Reciprocity and Charity,” Psychological Science,
21.
e. Mortensen, Chad R., D. Vaughn Becker, Joshua M. Ackerman, Steven L. Neuberg,
and Douglas T. Kenrick (2010), “Infection Breeds Reticence: The Effects of
Disease Salience on Self-Perceptions of Personality and Behavioral Avoidance
Tendencies,” Psychological Science, 21.
Session 11 – Emotion, Persuasion, and Evaluation – April 2, 2010
a. Lau-Gesk, Lorraine and Joan Meyers-Levy (2009), “Emotional Persuasion: When the
Valence versus the Resource Demands of Emotions Influence Consumers’
Attitudes,” Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (December), 585-599.
b. Lee, Seungjo and Annie Lang (2009), “Discrete Emotion and Motivation: Relative
Activation in the Appetitive and Aversive Motivational Systems as a Function of
Anger, Sadness, Fear, and Joy During Televised Information Campaigns,” Media
Psychology, 12 (2), 148-170.
c. Kim, Hakkyun, Kiwan Park, and Norbert Schwarz (2010), “Will This Trip Really Be
Exciting? The Role of Incidental Emotions in Product Evaluation,” Journal of
Consumer Research, 36 (April).
Session 12 – Experiences 2 – April 9, 2010
a. Van Boven, Leaf, Margaret C. Campbell, and Thomas Gilovich (In press),
“Stigmatizing Materialism: On Stereotypes and Impressions of Materialistic and
Experiential Pursuits,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
b. Carter, Travis J. and Thomas Gilovich (2010), “The Relative Relativity of Material
and Experiential Purchases,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98
(January), 146-159.
c. Carter, Travis J. and Thomas Gilovich (2010), “I Am What I Do, Not What I Have:
The Centrality of Experiential Purchases to the Self-Concept,” working paper.
Session 13 – Customized Session – April 16, 2010
a. Moreau, C. Page and Kelley B. Herd (2010), “To Each His Own? How Comparisons
with Others Influence Consumers’ Evaluations of Their Self-Designed Products,”
Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (February), 806-819.
b. Kruger, Justin, Nicholas Epley, Jason Parker, and Zhi-Wen Ng (2005), “Egocentrism
Over E-Mail: Can We Communicate as Well as We Think,” Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology,” 89 (December), 925-936.
c. Greitemeyer, Tobias and Silvia Osswald (2010), “Effects of Prosocial Video Games
on Prosocial Behavior,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98
(February), 211-221.
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