When Consumers Don’t Recognize ‘Benign’ Intentions Questions as Persuasion Attempts [Archive.org URL]

Several studies have shown that asking people questions about their intentions leads them to overstate the likelihood that they will engage in a certain behavior; more surprisingly, it appears that simply asking the questions can actually change people’s behavior.

This phenomenon, termed the “mere-measurement effect,” is explored by Patti Williams, the James G. Campbell, Jr. Memorial Term Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Gavan J. Fitzsimons, associate professor of marketing at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University; and Lauren G. Block, associate professor of marketing at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College. The authors hypothesize that answering a straightforward question about future intentions, a question outwardly viewed as innocent and non-manipulative, registers in people’s unconscious minds and influences their future choices, increasing socially desirable behaviors and decreasing socially undesirable behaviors.

To test this, the professors asked 232 students one of two questions, either “How likely are you to floss your teeth in the next week?” or “How likely are you to eat fatty foods in the next week?” The researchers presented the two questions one of three ways: with no survey sponsor; with the name of an objective survey sponsor; and with the name of an obviously self-interested sponsor (the Association of Dental Products Manufacturers [ADPM] and the American Fruit Growers Association).

One week later, respondents were given a follow-up questionnaire that measured the number of times they had flossed their teeth and eaten fatty foods over the previous week. As expected, the flossing question led to an increase in flossing, and the fatty foods question led to a decrease in the consumption of high-fat foods. However, in both instances, when the question appeared to come from a self-interested sponsor, the mere-measurement effect was lessened, suggesting that students’ manipulation alarm was activated. In the case of flossing, knowing the ADPM was behind the question created a backlash: Not only did flossing not increase, it actually decreased.

The results support the idea that mere-measurement effects occur only when people believe there is no hidden agenda or self-interested party doing the questioning. Once they are aware of a possible commercial intent to persuade them to perform a specific activity, they are more likely to do the opposite. This finding suggests that most people answer questions about their intentions unconsciously – or “mindlessly,” as the authors put it – without knowing how it might affect their behavior. It is only when they detect an intention to manipulate them that they engage in what the authors call mindful processing.

Market research firms often wrestle with the potential reactions of respondents in determining whether to identify the sponsors of their surveys. These studies indicate that it’s probably a bad idea.
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