The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing That People Use

TLDR

Concepts of freedom and confinement can prompt consumers to use relational or item‑specific processing. The study investigates how ceiling height primes freedom or confinement concepts, thereby influencing whether consumers use relational or item‑specific processing. Three studies showed that high ceilings prime relational, abstract processing while low ceilings prime item‑specific, concrete processing, confirming the theorized effect of ceiling height on consumer processing.

Abstract

This article demonstrates that variations in ceiling height can prime concepts that, in turn, affect how consumers process information. We theorized that when reasonably salient, a high versus low ceiling can prime the concepts of freedom versus confinement, respectively. These concepts, in turn, can prompt consumers' use of predominately relational versus item-specific processing. Three studies found support for this theorizing. On a variety of measures, ceiling height–induced relational or item-specific processing was indicated by people's reliance on integrated and abstract versus discrete and concrete ideation. Hence, this research sheds light on when and how ceiling height can affect consumers' responses.