Hedonic asymmetry in emotional responses to consumer products

Consumer products can evoke a wide range of emotional responses. Nevertheless, these responses deviate from the emotions studied in the majority of the emotion literature. Whereas the general emotion literature tends to focus mainly on negative emotions, the emotions elicited by products tend to be mainly positive. Negative emotions concur with action tendencies. They tend to signal events that require immediate responses, because they are vital for survival. In contrast, people will only be persuaded to invest time, effort, and money in acquiring products, if they are likely to generate positive emotions. Apart from being experienced as pleasant, positive emotions also widen the array of thoughts and actions that come to mind and, thereby, contribute to people’s personal skills and resources. To investigate the subtleties of product emotions in more detail, we need additional theories and instruments that are specifically developed to describe, measure, and explain the concerns and appraisals that differentiate between positive emotions typically experienced in human–product relationships. In addition, we would like to determine the consequences for interacting with products: what kinds of behaviors are activated by the different emotions and how do they affect product experiences?