Peter R. Darke, Amitava Chattopadhyay, Laurence Ashworth
Existing evidence for affect's influence on information processing and choice under high elaboration is mixed. In addition, affective choice is often viewed as erroneous in that it is assumed to lead to regret. We show that affect has a reliable impact on choice under high elaboration, which occurs through a combination of heuristic and systematic processing. Furthermore, consumers were able to correct for the impact irrelevant affect had on systematic processing but not for its impact on less conscious heuristic processing. Finally, affective purchases led to greater long-term satisfaction for important purchases, suggesting that affective choice can be functional. © 2006 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc.
Finning Ltd., Canada; Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada; College of Business, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1110, United States; Department of Marketing-Innovation and Creativity, INSEAD, Singapore 138676, 1 Ayer Rajah Avenue, Singapore; School of Business, Queens University, Kingston, Ont. K7L 3N6, Canada
