Nerd Alert: How Mood Changes the Market

Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We’re breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.

In this episode, Elena and Rob explore how emotions, even ones unrelated to purchasing decisions, shape what people are willing to spend. They reveal that disgust suppresses value across the board, while sadness increases openness to new products by motivating a desire for change.

Topics covered:

• [01:00] "Heart Strings and Purse Strings: Carryover Effects of Emotions on Economic Decisions"
• [02:00] How disgust, sadness, and neutrality shift buying behavior
• [03:00] The endowment effect and emotional influence
• [05:00] Why specificity matters more than positive or negative
• [06:00] Disgust in advertising: effective or repellent?
• [08:00] Can annoyance drive brand recall?

To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.


Resources:
Lerner, J. S., Small, D. A., & Loewenstein, G. (2004). Heart strings and purse strings: Carryover effects of emotions on economic decisions. Psychological Science, 15(5), 337–341.


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