About this Research Topic
Emotions are essential in marketing. They uncover the affective value of consumption-related stimuli, contributing to the prediction of subsequent consumers’ behaviors. Emotions relate to numerous marketing contexts—service, advertising, branding, product design—and are mainly investigated through self-report methods. Researchers also apply psychophysiological methods to explore consumers’ emotions in marketing. For instance, the psychophysiology of emotion enables the interpretation of physiological correlates, such as facial expressions or skin conductance responses, as a proxy of psychological processes, such as emotional reactions or emotion regulation. Whatever the method, the interpretation of consumers’ emotions must rely on up-to-date theories to bring reliable and valid results in marketing and consumer insights.
However, despite the enthusiasm for consumers’ emotions and alternative methods from psychophysiology, emotion theories in marketing have been little or not advanced over the years. Specific theories of emotion are still used or misused in marketing, although they have been updated, challenged, or even refuted in the affective neuroscience literature. For instance, the theory of constructed emotion called the basic theory of emotion into question and assumed that emotions are not localized in specific brain regions; they are not inborn, and if they are universal, it is due to share concepts. From a methodological perspective, the theory of constructed emotion also showed no direct correspondence between facial expressions (e.g., frowning) and emotion categories (e.g., anger). Such a result undermines the validity and reliability of emotion-reading gadgets and apps that pretend to reveal a clear correspondence between facial configuration or brain signal spectrum and specific emotion categories. Unfortunately, theoretical (r)evolutions in affective neuroscience have not yet permeated marketing, and thorough conceptual and theoretical reflections on what an emotion is and how to apply emotion theories from affective neuroscience to marketing are needed.
Against this backdrop, this research topic seeks contributions that discuss or test the application of affective neuroscience theories to the study of emotion in marketing. Contributions should address theoretical issues in the study of emotion in various marketing fields and bring constructive reflections on how affective neuroscience can foster alternative theoretical backgrounds in investigating consumers’ emotions. We welcome manuscripts that focus on theoretical models of emotion, their assessment, and their applications in various marketing contexts, such as but not limited to:
- Service interaction
- Decision-making
- Aesthetic experience
- Product evaluation
- Artificial intelligence
- Attachment
- Consumer behavior or psychology
Empirical contributions (both qualitative and quantitative) are welcome, although conceptual contributions are privileged. Contributions that discuss the implications of different emotion theories from affective neuroscience on methods and measures of emotion in marketing are also encouraged. However, articles that merely present a list of methods for measuring consumers’ emotions will not be considered.
However, despite the enthusiasm for consumers’ emotions and alternative methods from psychophysiology, emotion theories in marketing have been little or not advanced over the years. Specific theories of emotion are still used or misused in marketing, although they have been updated, challenged, or even refuted in the affective neuroscience literature. For instance, the theory of constructed emotion called the basic theory of emotion into question and assumed that emotions are not localized in specific brain regions; they are not inborn, and if they are universal, it is due to share concepts. From a methodological perspective, the theory of constructed emotion also showed no direct correspondence between facial expressions (e.g., frowning) and emotion categories (e.g., anger). Such a result undermines the validity and reliability of emotion-reading gadgets and apps that pretend to reveal a clear correspondence between facial configuration or brain signal spectrum and specific emotion categories. Unfortunately, theoretical (r)evolutions in affective neuroscience have not yet permeated marketing, and thorough conceptual and theoretical reflections on what an emotion is and how to apply emotion theories from affective neuroscience to marketing are needed.
Against this backdrop, this research topic seeks contributions that discuss or test the application of affective neuroscience theories to the study of emotion in marketing. Contributions should address theoretical issues in the study of emotion in various marketing fields and bring constructive reflections on how affective neuroscience can foster alternative theoretical backgrounds in investigating consumers’ emotions. We welcome manuscripts that focus on theoretical models of emotion, their assessment, and their applications in various marketing contexts, such as but not limited to:
- Service interaction
- Decision-making
- Aesthetic experience
- Product evaluation
- Artificial intelligence
- Attachment
- Consumer behavior or psychology
Empirical contributions (both qualitative and quantitative) are welcome, although conceptual contributions are privileged. Contributions that discuss the implications of different emotion theories from affective neuroscience on methods and measures of emotion in marketing are also encouraged. However, articles that merely present a list of methods for measuring consumers’ emotions will not be considered.
Keywords: Emotion; Affective neuroscience; Consumer behavior; Marketing; Affective science
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
