The Influence of Concrete and Abstract Affect on Inter-Temporal Consumer Judgments

Extant theories of inter-temporal valuation of affect postulate different effects: while some theories predict that affect typically influences short-term, immediate decisions, other theories demonstrate that affect has influence on long-term decisions as well. In this article, we report the results of three experiments in which we demonstrate that affect can influence short-term and longterm decisions as a function of the nature of the associations evoked by the affect. We propose two different types of affect: Concrete affect that is posited to be more influential on short-term decisions, and abstract affect that is posited to be more influential on long-term decisions. We demonstrate that it is the specificity of the affective experience that distinguishes concrete affect from abstract affect. Concrete affect is more hot, visceral and certain, and evokes more immediate behavioral responses. On the other hand, abstract affect is warm, pallid and less certain, and has a greater influence on long term decisions. By using alternate manipulations of concrete and abstract affect - color and message content (experiment 1), discrete emotions (experiment 2), goals and message content(experiment 3) - we are able to enhance the construct validity of the phenomena we examine. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our results.