title: Fear and Loving in Las Vegas: Evolution, Emotion, and Persuasion.
abstract: How do arousal-inducing contexts, such as frightening or romantic television programs, influence the effectiveness of basic persuasion heuristics? Different predictions are made by three theoretical models: A general arousal model predicts that arousal should increase effectiveness of heuristics; an affective valence model predicts that effectiveness should depend on whether the context elicits positive or negative affect; an evolutionary model predicts that persuasiveness should depend on both the specific emotion that is elicited and the content of the particular heuristic. Three experiments examined how fear-inducing versus romantic contexts influenced the effectiveness of two widely used heuristics-social proof (e.g., "most popular") and scarcity (e.g., "limited edition"). Results supported predictions from an evolutionary model, showing that fear can lead scarcity appeals to be counter-persuasive, and that romantic desire can lead social proof appeals to be counter-persuasive. The findings highlight how an evolutionary theoretical approach can lead to novel theoretical and practical marketing insights.
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota.
authors.forename: Vladas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Griskevicius
authors.forename: Noah J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: Chad R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.forename: Jill M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sundie
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Cialdini
authors.forename: Douglas T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Kenrick