Choice experiments with facial expression analysis: How do emotions affect wine choices?

Abstract

In this paper, we assess the role of emotions in choices. We elicited emotions using an innovative facial expression analysis approach, comparing the results to those from a traditional hedonic liking scale. To this end, we conduct an experiment combing surveys and actual wine tasting. The results show a positive and significant relationship between positive emotions (joy), positive experiences (valence), and wine choices, especially in the case of wines with credence attributes (organic and selected vintage organic wines). Moreover, we conclude that facial recognition mechanisms can be useful to elicit evoked emotions and provide complementary information to the traditional liking scales to better understand decision making.