Lecture 3

Question 1

What idea do many marketers have?

Answer 1

That they are designing happy products and services; delivering happy experiences.

Question 2

What is one reason to be sceptical about marketers and advertisers bringing us happiness?

Answer 2

We don’t trust advertisers and producers of products to give us true happiness.

Question 3

Trust in different professions according to research

Answer 3

Research has shown that we trust doctors, teachers and scientists the most. This might partially be because we don’t associate them with influencing too much, and they are not manipulating people, only informing.

Research has also shown that the trust in advertisers is lower than bankers. This is not a great position to be in if you want to influence people.

Question 4

Why do we not have a lot of trust in advertisers?

Answer 4

• Because they give us products that don’t provide us with real happiness but that seem a bit overdone.
• You see a lot of nonsense products.
• They sell useless products
• They put a lot of ingredients in their products
• Misleading messages
• This manipulating is what we (used to) associate with advertisers.
• Hedonic treadmill idea

Question 5

Marketers putting ingredients in their products

E.g., shampoo with caffeine or rice protein

Answer 5

Most people don’t know what it means, but because it is advertised we think that it must be good so we buy it.

Not saying anything < saying it contains something < saying it does not contain something

Question 6

Hedonic treadmill idea

Answer 6

The idea that if we see something, we want it (even if we don’t need it), we buy it, it gives us happiness for a short time, we get used to it, and then we buy something new.

Question 7

Shift to consumer well-being

Answer 7

There is a trend that causes a shift to consumer well-being where consumers are more and more expecting companies to provide them with true well-being.

• 73% of global consumers believe wellness should be a core mission for brands, which means: caring about their physical and psychological wellbeing, and being social and purposeful.
• In the U.S., 80% of consumers consider wellness a top priority, even amidst financial constraints.
• 91% of consumers prefer personalized experiences that align with their values and needs and that help them create their own journeys.
• 82% of U.S. and 74% of non-U.S. consumers want more meaningful human interaction in their experiences.

Many consumers express a willingness to pay more for enhanced experiences that provide comfort and pleasure on one hand, as well personal growth and authenticity on the other hand.

Question 8

Why do consumers really value experiences?

Answer 8

Consumers want to pay for, and find important: efficiency, convenience, knowledgeable service, friendly service, easy payment, up-to-date technology.

Less important, but also very important: human interaction.

These are all related to their customer experience.

Question 9

Human-Centric Approach

Answer 9

Consumers don’t want to be seen as just passing byers. They want to be seen as real people.

For brands to be successful these days, they need to interact and be in good contact with their consumers.

Question 10

Hedonic well-being

Answer 10

What is subjectively pleasant

• Pleasure: positive emotions, pleasant sensations, and emotional/visceral satisfaction
• Comfort: relaxation, ease, and painlessness

Question 11

Eudaimonic well-being

Answer 11

What is truly, objectively, and inherently good and right and meaningful, even if it’s difficult.

• Growth: gaining knowledge, insight, and skill; actualizing one’s unique potentials; and maturing as human being.
• Authenticity: clarifying one’s true self and values, and acting in accord with them.
• Meaning: seeking what truly matters and has value, and understanding the bigger picture, aligning oneself with it, and contributing to it.
• Excellence: striving for high standards and quality in one’s ethics, behaviour, performance, and products.
• E.g., running a marathon, having children, doing voluntary work. They don’t always give immediate pleasure, but they do give a sense of deeper meaning.

Question 12

Explain the metaphor of the river of life

Answer 12

The banks of the river are eudaimonia, providing structure but also direction. It’s about goals and moving forward in the direction that you find really important and what you want to grow in as a person.

The water is the hedonia, the free flowing spirit, the pleasure. Having joy in life, but also nourishing the banks and the landscape around it.

If you have no pleasure in life, it would be hard to recuperate from all the goal directed behaviour, and to recharge your energy.

Question 13

Explain the metaphor of the garden full of flowers vs. a cosy blanket

Answer 13

Garden full of flowers that you need to take care of = eudaimonia. You need to care of them, put effort in, it’s not always nice to get up early to work in the garden. But you get a nice blossoming garden.

Cosy blanket = hedonia. You are cold, you sit on your couch and you get that easy cosy nice blanket which gives you immediate pleasure and relaxation.

Question 14

Why are eudaimonia and hedonia important?

Answer 14

Both are really important for human survival and for health.
You need to fulfil them both.
You need goals, but also comfort.

Question 15

What can we think about when we think about brands/products/companies providing well-being for the consumer?

Answer 15

Both sides of well-being.

They need to provide them both to give true meaning and pleasure to people.

Question 16

How are eudaimonia and hedonia defined by Huta (2016)?

Answer 16

“They are things you…

• Do (behaviour)
• Want (orientation)
• Feel (experience)
• Can achieve (functioning)

… but I have primarily defined them as orientations (i.e., things you want).”

Question 17

Can eudaimonia and hedonia be measured? If yes, how?

Answer 17

Hedonic and eudaimonic orientations can be measured with a scale.

“To what degree do you typically approach your activities with each of the following intentions, whether or not you actually achieve your aim?”

• Seeking relaxation?
• Seeking to develop a skill, learn, or gain insight into something?
• Seeking to do what you believe in?
• Seeking pleasure?
• Etc…

Question 18

Which item on the scale relates more to eudaimonia and which to hedonia?

• Seeking relaxation?
• Seeking to develop a skill, learn, or gain insight into something?
• Seeking to do what you believe in?
• Seeking pleasure?

Answer 18

Seeking relaxation? => relates to hedonia

Seeking to develop a skill, learn, or gain insight into something? => relates to eudaimonia

Seeking to do what you believe in? => relates to eudaimonia

Seeking pleasure? => relates to hedonia

Question 19

What matters most when determining if something is hedonic or eudaimonic?

Answer 19

The underlying reason matters most.

Doing something can be for either hedonic reasons, eudaimonic reasons, or both.

• E.g., jumping out of a plane can be for fun (hedonic) or because it’s a hurdle you want to overcome (eudaimonic).

Question 20

What determines if people are oriented on hedonia or eudaimonia?

Answer 20

It differs on the context.

People also differ in the extent to which they have hedonic or eudaimonic orientations. This is based on parenting styles.

• People with an authoritarian parenting style will have children that are very focused on eudaimonia.
• Hedonia is not related to any kind of parenting style. Any kind of parenting style will lead to children having a strong need for hedonia.

Question 21

How can you shape and present products, ideas, or movements that help people meet their well-being needs? Given that all people need both types of well-being but their orientation differs depending on context.

Answer 21

High promise ignites interest. Delivering on those expectations creates trust and emotional connection, which fosters loyalty.

• If you promise well-being to consumers, this leads to interest. When you constantly actually deliver what you promised, this creates loyalty.

Question 22

Loyalty definition

Answer 22

A customer’s enduring commitment to a brand, e.g., repeat purchases, positive word-of-mouth recommendations, an emotional connection that goes beyond a mere transactional relationship.

Question 23

How can you measure loyalty?

Answer 23

• Net Promotor Score: “How likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague?”
• Repeat Purchase Rate: percentage of customers who make multiple purchases over a specific period.
• Active Engagement Rate: percentage of customers actively interacting with a brand or its content.

Question 24

Intrinsic motivation

Answer 24

Motivation because of the interest and enjoyment in the task itself.

• Enjoyment
• Purpose
• Growth
• Curiosity
• Passion
• Self-expression
• Fun

Question 25

Extrinsic motivation

Answer 25

Motivation because of the outcome that is the result of doing the task. - Promotions - Pay raises - Bonuses - Benefits - Prizes - Wining - Perks

Question 26

How are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation related to hedonia and eudaimonia?

Answer 26

Intrinsic motivation: hedonia and eudaimonia Extrinsic motivation: transactional

Question 27

How can products, ideas, or movements fulfil our needs?

Answer 27

Fulfil intrinsic needs (both eudaimonic and hedonic). A bit of extrinsic fulfilment doesn’t hurt.

Question 28

What is your goal as a brand/movement/etc.?

Answer 28

You want to give people intrinsic fulfilment, and only a bit of extrinsic fulfilment. If you give people too much extrinsic rewards, they will lose their intrinsic motivation.

Question 29

How can you fulfil someone's intrinsic needs?

Answer 29

By fulfilling the humans' three basic needs: competence, autonomy and relatedness (self-determination theory).

Question 30

Why is Duolingo at the top of its field?

Answer 30

Learning a language in itself is very eudaimonic because you become competent, you grow and you learn something new. But, it’s also very fun, the owl, the gamification and the personalisation. The producer has really succeeded in giving hedonic, eudaimonic and intrinsic fulfilment.

Question 31

True or false: "Overall, consumers derive more intrinsic pleasure and fulfilment from things than experiences."

Answer 31

It depends on your income. When you have a low income, the difference between experiential and material purchases on happiness is not so big. However, when you arrive at a point where you have enough income to buy all the things you really need, new stuff will only give you superficial pleasure. The more income you have, the more happiness experiential purchases bring you and the bigger the difference between happiness from experiential and material purchases.

Question 32

What gives you more satisfaction, experiential or material purchases?

Answer 32

The ambiguous nature of some (…) purchases highlights the fact that it is not whether a purchase is material or experiential per se that determines the satisfaction people derive from it. (…) Instead, it is the set of psychological processes that tend to be invoked by experiences and material goods that determine how much satisfaction they provide. 1. Experiential purchases enhance social relations more readily and effectively than material goods. 2. Experiential purchases form a bigger part of a person’s identity. 3. Experiential purchases are evaluated more on their own terms and evoke fewer social comparisons than material purchases. o In general, the fewer social comparisons you make, the happier you are.

Question 33

How do materialistic people look at experiential and material purchases? And less materialistic people?

Answer 33

Some people are high in materialism, who really care and attach a lot of value to material things in the world. Depending on that personality characteristic, there is a difference in happiness from a material or experiential purchase. - People who score low on materialism, have quite a bit of a difference between a positive material purchase compared to a positive experiential purchase, where you are happier from the experiential purchase. - People who score high on materialism, only have a small difference between a positive material purchase compared to a positive experiential purchase. Both purchases make you equally happy. - People who score low on materialism, experience less happiness with a negative experiential purchase than a negative material purchase. - People who score high on materialism, experience less happiness with a negative material purchase than a negative experiential purchase. - You are more vulnerable to the valence of a purchase.

Question 34

What determines the level of well-being you get from the different types of purchases?

Answer 34

Personality characteristics

Question 35

Purchases in terms of short and long term

Answer 35

Not having a lot of happiness from a negative experiential purchase is probably only for a short period of time. - E.g., if you have a bad travel experience like being packed into a car, you can say that you’re not very comfortable while traveling. On the short term you might think it’s not a pleasant experience, but later, this experience will turn out as a nice story. - E.g., giving blood is not nice during the moment, but it gives you a lot of fulfilment afterwards. The short and long term really matter in how people feel about their purchases.

Question 36

How does volunteering affect happiness?

Answer 36

The more time and money people spend on volunteering, the happier they become. Beneficial effects increase as we age. People who provide more help live longer.

Question 37

Is eudaimonia pleasurable? Use facial expressions to answer

Answer 37

Determination is the emotion we relate to eudaimonia. How we show anger and determination in our facial expressions is quite similar. Eudaimonia might not seem pleasurable in the beginning, but it is.

Question 38

Autonomy

Answer 38

Aspect of intrinsic motivation.

Question 39

Experiment on autonomy

Answer 39

In an experiment they asked the participants to make a sculpture that represents a consumer experience that made them happy. They found that participants talked about a sense of freedom (related to autonomy) when talking about their sculpture. They also found that there are two types of freedom: freedom from and freedom to.

Question 40

Two types of freedom

Answer 40

Freedom from - Something that you want to run away from or want to avoid. - E.g., different from hectic and stressful every day life, put aside people’s thoughts, escape, no worries, no stress, no hick-ups, no anything. - E.g., “I can still go and watch a Disney movie. It makes me not have to worry about what’s going on in the real world.” - Related to hedonia, being away from the hectic life and having comfort. Freedom to - E.g., whatever you want to be, feel special, feel confident, achieve anything you want to, feel balanced, just be myself, do whatever my heart desires. - E.g., “I think there’s a lot of happiness in feeling like you know who you are, and feeling comfortable and like you belong in a certain situation or setting.” - Related to eudaimonia, being whoever you want to be and realizing your true potential.

Question 41

Follow up study on what the different freedom experiences mean

Answer 41

The researchers looked at what people think about experiences that gave them the feeling of freedom from or freedom to. - The feeling from experiences are calmer, there is less positive arousal. The experiences are related to more ordinary experiences. - The feeling to experiences are less calm, there is more positive arousal. The experiences are related to more extraordinary experiences. - Some types of consumer behaviour (i.e., food/beverages, entertainment) are more related to freedom from. - Other types of consumer behaviours (i.e., health & physical endeavours, creative activities, travel, education & learning, and beaty & fashion) are more related to freedom to.

Question 42

Does age have an effect on how much happiness is derived from ordinary and extraordinary experiences?

Answer 42

Yes, younger and older people differ in how much happiness they derive from ordinary and extraordinary experiences. - Younger people typically derive more pleasure from extraordinary experiences, which are connected to eudaimonia because they give you growth, something new, excitement, they help you develop personal sills. - When you are getting older, ordinary and extraordinary experiences become more similar in terms happiness.

Question 43

Ordinary experiences are...

Answer 43

- More calming - Less self-defining - Less risky - Less expensive - Less physically demanding - Things you do alone

Question 44

Extraordinary experiences are...

Answer 44

- Less calming - More self-defining - More risky - More expensive - More physically demanding - Things you do with many others

Question 45

Happiness in terms of eudaimonia and hedonia

Answer 45

Happiness can be very exciting (eudaimonia), but it can also be very calm (hedonia).

Question 46

When you ask someone to define happiness, what does their answer depend on?

Answer 46

They give different answers depending on happiness in the future or right now. - In the future is more exciting. - Right now is more calming.

Question 47

How can you define experiences?

Answer 47

Extraordinary vs. ordinary - What you say about products and experiences (characteristic of the product/experience) Exciting vs. calm - What you experience (right now) Eudaimonic vs. hedonic - More about orientation

Question 48

Dove’s campaign for Real Beauty

Answer 48

The campaign featured women of diverse shapes, sizes, and ages, moving away from the typical airbrushed models. Goal: to redefine beauty standards in a world dominated by unrealistic portrayals. The slogan “Real Beauty” resonated deeply with women across the globe. The campaign also faced criticism from some who accused Dove of hypocrisy, questioning whether a beauty brand could genuinely promote body positivity.

Question 49

What happened to Dove's campaign for Real Beauty?

Answer 49

They build a supportive community. They found allies among organisations and influencers. Strong online presence via viral videos. Dove faces ongoing scrutiny. Critics point at inconsistencies in messaging and say Dove still adheres to conventional beauty standards (e.g., excludes people with disabilities).

Question 50

Is there an increase or decrease in the importance of corporate responisibility?

Answer 50

There is an increase - 70% of Americans believe it is "somewhat" or "very important" for companies to make the world a better place, compared to only 37% who prioritize profit for shareholders (HBS Online, 2021). - Many consumers are willing to pay a premium for products from socially responsible companies (Investopedia, 2024). - 87% of American consumers are more likely to buy from companies that advocate for issues they care about (Investopedia, 2024). - 76% would refuse to purchase from companies that support contrary issues (Investopedia, 2024).

Question 51

Schwartz (2012)

Answer 51

He found that across the world (across cultures and countries), people share the same basic values that they use as guiding principle in life. He made the basic values wheel.

Question 52

What are the most important values on the basic values wheel?

Answer 52

The most important values are self-direction, universalism and benevolence. These are the more ethical values, they are related to being good to others, being good the world and having a sense of what you want in life. Schwarz argues that they are the most important for group survival and prosperity.

Question 53

How are the categories in the basic values wheel devided?

Answer 53

He divides the different values in four categories based on two dimensions: vertical axis is promotion vs prevention, horizontal axis is self vs social.

Question 54

In what categories can the basic values wheel be devided?

Answer 54

- Self-transcendence - Conservation - Self-enhancement - Openness to change

Question 55

Self-transcendence in the basic values wheel

Answer 55

- Promotion and social - Universalism - Benevolence - Opposite of self-enhancement

Question 56

Conservation in the basic values wheel

Answer 56

- Prevention and social - Conformity - Tradition - Security - Opposite of openness to change

Question 57

Self-enhancement in the basic values wheel

Answer 57

- Prevention and self - Hedonism - Achievement - Power - Opposite of self-transcendence

Question 58

Openness to change in the basic values wheel

Answer 58

- Promotion and self - Hedonism - Stimulation - Self-direction - Opposite of conservation

Question 59

How does Schwartz see achievement and power?

Answer 59

He sees achievement and power as prevention focus, this is also how he defines these values, as protecting ones levels of achievements and power. This is why they are not seen as very important values.

Question 60

True or false: "The values of the basic values wheel are dependent on each other."

Answer 60

True. The values are not independent, which gives us insights into how values work in people. The values are dependent on each other, when values of one category are activated, the values of the opposite category are supressed. There are negative relations between values that are on opposite sides of the wheel. - E.g., when self-transcendence values are activated in someone (you think about them a lot), this supresses self-enhancement. When values are close to each other on the wheel, they are positively related. - E.g., when you think about benevolence, it is very likely to things like tradition and conformity are very important to you.

Question 61

How do brands want to present themselves? And is this smart?

Answer 61

We associate brands and products with certain types of values. Some brands want to present themselves with values like self-transcendence, which is smart because they are the most important values, but that doesn’t mean that consumers believe it.

Question 62

ING campaign - Lovebeatsmoney

Answer 62

The campaign was video clips online showing family members that were first fighting over money being brought back together due to the ING. The bottom line was that the ING helps with bringing people together again. There was a lot of resistance, e.g., “Banks are not around to change the world” The problem: - Inconsistency with ING’s actions o E.g., shortly after the ING campaign was launched, ING top manager got a wage jump of 50%. - Misfit between self-enhancement reputation of ING and self-transcendence oriented campaign.

Question 63

Competence vs. warmth for banks and other brands/companies

Answer 63

Banks are usually perceived as low warmth and high competence. - Banks have a difficult time playing the role of self-enhancement - Banks can be warm, but then they need to implement that strategy consistently (preferably from the start). Brands that consistently focused on corporate responsibility are seen as high warmth and high competence. - E.g., Lush, Patagonia, Airbnb

Question 64

What can brands do to strengthen their appeal as responsible organisations?

Answer 64

Finding ethical allies; collaborate with social causes This can help create a reputation and show their identity as for example warm and ethical. But it needs to be believable. NB. There needs to be a good fit between the values of a brand and the cause!

Question 65

What is the problem with inconsistent values?

Answer 65

Looking at the values wheel, we know that some values are inconsistent with each other. Inconsistency doesn’t work in terms of persuasion. - E.g., a vision or mission that has inconsistent standards or use standards that don’t fit their brand.

Question 66

Study on inconsistent values

Answer 66

The participants read a text with different conditions. The first condition is consistent, the second condition is less consistent, the third condition is very inconsistent. - The less consistent the text was, the less it worked in persuading the participants. - The more consistent the text was, the better it worked in persuading the participants. When values in mission statements are congruent they are very persuasive, but when they are opposing they are not persuasive.

Question 67

Is the following statement congruent? “I will choose freedom because I think freedom leads to equality” George W. Bush

Answer 67

Freedom is more on the openness aspect of the basic values wheel and equality on the self-transcendence aspect, so it’s not a great combination.

Question 68

Is the following statement congruent? “Equality leads to friendship” Plato

Answer 68

This works because they are both related to self-transcendence in the basic values wheel.

Question 69

Is the following statement congruent? “Honesty leads to success in life and business” Howard Greenspan

Answer 69

Not great because honesty is on the top right (self-transcendence) in the basic values wheel and success and business are on the bottom left (self-enhancement).

Question 70

Intention/action gap

Answer 70

We all care about self-transcendence, you would think that consumers would then also live to these values and show self-transcendence in everything they do. However, this is not the case because consumers are not always ethical when they buy stuff.

Question 71

What is the reason for the intention/action gap?

Answer 71

The citizen/consumer paradox

Question 72

Citizen/consumer paradox

Answer 72

'Citizen’ wants ethical, ‘consumer’ wants quality. - People have different (inconsistent) identities. - When we think about ourselves as a citizen (i.e., when we’re going to vote), we care about self-transcendence values. - When we are consumers, we adopt a different identity who cares about a cheap competent product, which is not very self-transcendent.

Question 73

How can ethical consumer behaviour be stimulated?

Answer 73

Provide ethical information – don’t wait until consumers ask for it. We have to give and provide people that information, because consumers don’t want to know that information.

Question 74

Study on ethical information

Answer 74

In research participants had to choose between different wooden chairs. In one condition participants were given information about how sustainable the wood was, in the other condition the participants were not given that information, but they were told that they were able to request that type of information. Results: when you give people that information, people will use it, and they will use it more if they care about rain forest wood. However, if you do not give them that information, people tend to not ask for it, and there is no relation between people’s concern for the rain forest and whether they take that information into account when choosing products.

Question 75

Why do consumers not want to know ethical information?

Answer 75

Blissful ignorance. - Once you know it, you have to use that information. Cognitive dissonance, especially after choice.

Question 76

True or false: "Ethical (consumer) behaviour decreases well-being"

Answer 76

False. Research shows that if people have these moral concerns (which they have according to the basic values wheel), and you then help people fulfil these ethical behaviours, people become happier because they fulfil their values. Ethical behaviour => ethical self-concept => positive self-image => ethical behaviour => etc.

Question 77

What can companies do to foster the well-being of consumers?

Answer 77

Creating experiences that fulfil intrinsic needs. This creates trust, emotional connection and loyalty.

Question 78

What is important to consider with eudaimonia and hedonia?

Answer 78

The context: eudaimonic and hedonic needs vary with age, temporal focus, type of activity, etc.

Question 79

What do consumers think about ethical companies?

Answer 79

Consumers prioritize ethical companies, but corporate values need to align with actions.

Question 80

Consumers and ethical purchases

Answer 80

Most consumers want to make ethical purchases, and helping them do so may increase their well-being.