New study views how people humanise emotions impacts buying behaviour

KUALA LUMPUR: A new study co-authored by Dr Rocky Chen from Hong Kong Baptist University School of Business shows that how people process emotions like sadness affects them as consumers.

The idea of anthropomorphising emotions dovetails with how marketers appeal to consumers with more and more humanised products and services.

With their crafted tone of voice and image, brands are constantly marketed with emotion and personality in mind.

Marketers would love to unlock when it is best to sell to consumers - is it when they are happy, sad or something in between?

According to a statement, anthropomorphic thinking has downstream consequences on how people consume.

When people anthropomorphise sadness, they experience it less intensely.

Thinking of sadness as a person helps them feel more detached from it – this may make anthropomorphising a viable strategy for alleviating sadness.

In addition, reducing the intensity of sadness anthropomorphically before shopping can help people increase self- control as they will have a better chance of choosing a more practical purchase over something excessive.

Anthropomorphic thinking not only impacts sadness, it can dilute happiness, whereby consumers may want to consider anthropomorphising happiness if they are prone to getting swept up in a moment.

As people browse great deals that are sure to pop up this holiday shopping season, perhaps consider their emotional state anthropomorphically before clicking ‘Order Now’ and checkout.

Doing so may help them become a more mindful shopper who buys what is really needed in the longterm instead of something they temporarily feel drawn to, during a down moment.