The Varieties of Consumption Experience: Comparing Two Typologies of Emotion in Consumer Behavior

TLDR

Consumer researchers are increasingly exploring the imaginative, emotional, and evaluative aspects of consumption experience, yet emotional aspects remain under‑studied. This paper evaluates the comparative reliabilities and validities of two emotion typologies applied to consumption experiences. Independent judges rated real experiential descriptions using Mehrabian and Russell’s PAD dimensions or Plutchik’s categories, and separate judges evaluated artificial descriptions under the same frameworks, enabling comparisons of reliability, internal validity, and external convergent validity. The results favor Mehrabian and Russell’s PAD paradigm and suggest the need for further research exploring types of emotional responses to the varieties of consumption experience.

Abstract

Consumer researchers have recently turned their attention toward exploring the imaginative, emotional, and evaluative components of the consumption experience. Nevertheless, considerable work remains to be done on the emotional aspects of consumer behavior. Toward that end, this paper assesses the comparative reliabilities and validities of two competing typologies of emotion when they are applied to the representation of experiences associated with consumption activities. Specifically, independent samples of judges rated real experiential descriptions on either Mehrabian and Russell's (1974) PAD dimensions or Plutchik's (1980) emotional categories. Further, separate samples of judges evaluated artificial descriptions on the same competing frameworks. These data permit comparisons of reliability, internal validity, and external convergent validity for the two alternative schemes. The results favor Mehrabian and Russell's PAD paradigm and suggest the need for further research exploring types of emotional responses to the varieties of consumption experience.