To investigate how ambivalence influences consumer choice, Anne Hamby and Cristel Russell conducted a series of experiments with teenagers and young adults in the US and France. They hypothesized that ambivalence-evoked arousal focuses consumers on the immediate consequences of a consumption decision. This leads to increased desire for risky products where immediate outcomes are positive—feelings of gratification. Because physiological arousal also sensitizes people to normative information, they also expected this effect to be moderated by consumers’ awareness of their peer groups’ behavior.

Because physiological arousal also sensitizes people to normative information, which is prevalent in the social media-saturated consumption environment, we offer further evidence of this process by showing that information about salient social norms moderates the relationship between ambivalence and an approach toward risky products; the degree to which a product is viewed as normative affects whether and to what degree ambivalent consumers are interested in it.

In the first experiment, some subjects were asked to imagine discussing only the positive effects of an energy drink (low ambivalence) while others were asked to imagine discussing both positive and negative effects (high ambivalence). After rating statements about energy drinks in general, subjects were asked about their willingness to pay (WTP) for an energy drink which was not yet available in the US. Controlling for favorability toward the product, subjects in the high ambivalence group were willing to pay more for the unfamiliar energy drink.

A second experiment utilizing biometric measures confirmed that physiological arousal mediates the effect of ambivalence on attention to positive (but not negative) information about a product (cognitive enhancers). The third study used highly entertaining music in a TikTok video to provide further evidence that arousal encourages young adults’ interest in cognitive enhancers, regardless of the ambivalence-related content.

A separate set of experiments with French teenagers showed that ambivalence toward e-cigarettes and cigarettes is related to heightened intention to use these substances, moderated by information about peer group usage. An intervention experiment found that reducing the perceived normativity of substance use by peers attenuates the effect of ambivalence toward e-cigarettes on intention to use them. A final study confirmed that the positive effect of ambivalence on WTP is reduced when perceived normativity is low and does not differ from the control condition when perceived normativity is high.

Read the full report here.