Curiosity Can Resist Anything but Temptation: The Incidental Effects of Curiosity on Indulgent Consumption
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Curiosity can do more than kill a cat.The present research sheds light on an unexpected consequence of curiosity by showing that curiosity can lead to indulgent consumption.Four experiments present convergent evidence that the more curious consumers are, the more likely they are to indulge.This effect is explained by a heightened desire for anything that is rewarding.Study 1 provides initial support for the proposed model.Study 2 replicates the impact of curiosity on indulgent consumption through desire for rewards and shows that consumers who are more sensitive to rewards are particularly susceptible to that effect.Studies 3 and 4 test a boundary condition by showing that the effect of curiosity on indulgent consumption will no longer hold when consumers believe that the willpower to resist temptations is an unlimited resource.Study 4 also rules out an alternative mechanism of reward enjoyment.Together, these studies demonstrate that curiosity acts as an impetus for indulgent consumption by impairing consumers' ability to resist temptations and that implicit theories about the willpower to resist temptations moderate this effect.iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During my five years at the University of Washington, it has been a great pleasure to work amongst helpful, supportive and intellectual people who have been instrumental to my research in a number of ways.I would like to express my deepest gratitude to them because without their help and guidance this dissertation would not have been possible.I would especially like to thank the chair of this dissertation, Shailendra Jain, and the rest of my committee, Martin Reimann, Nidhi Agrawal, Ann Schlosser, and Geoffrey Loftus, for providing guidance throughout this process and for teaching me so much about research.I could not have found a more knowledgeable and supportive group of mentors for my academic career.
Author: Kyra Wiggin
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2597917786