The Effects of Embodied Simulation of Fit between Customers' Visual Perspectives and Advertising Appeals

本研究主要探討消費者想像視角與訊息相適配之說服效果。心像是指感官資訊在短期記憶中運作的心理歷程，在說服文獻中扮演著重要的角色。由過去文獻可知，個體在進行想像時，可以採取兩種不同的想像觀點，一個是行動者觀點，另一個是旁觀者觀點。兩種不同視覺觀點會提供不同的心像資訊，進而影響個體對所想像事件或行動的解讀。旁觀者觀點強調行為的個人意義及個性上的展現，而行動者觀點則強調情境所賦予的感覺及所喚起的情緒。視覺觀點在社會心理學中已有廣泛的研究，但尚未應用到行銷說服領域中。本研究藉由整合心像、視覺觀點、及體現模擬的相關文獻，提出一個觀念性的研究架構，試圖說明當消費對採用不同的視覺觀點時，是如何影響其對廣告訴求的偏好，且是藉由何種心理機制來中介視覺觀點與廣告訴求相一致的說服效果。 針對上述的研究目的，本論文設計三個研究來驗證視覺觀點與廣告訴求適配的說服效果。研究一主要是驗證，若消費者採用行動者觀點來想像，則偏好體驗型產品，相反的，若消費者採用旁觀者觀點來想像，則偏好象徵型產品。研究二主要驗證，若消費者採用行動者觀點來想像，則廠商的溝通策略應強調產品屬性的體驗性利益，相反的，若消費者採用旁觀者觀點來想像，當廠商的溝通策略應強調產品屬性的象徵性利益。研究三是植基體現模擬中預設用途的概念，主要探討的是，如何在廣告圖片中安排預設用途線索，進而可以激發不同的視覺觀點。特別的是，當廣告圖片中有互動的預設線索時，則可以激發出旁觀者觀點，此時應強調象徵型訴求，相反的，當廣告圖片中沒有互動的預設線索時，則可以激發出行動者觀點，此時應強調體驗型訴求。且由三個研究結果可知，視覺觀點與廣告訴求相適配所產生的較佳產品態度，是由體現模擬所中介的。The purpose of this research is to understand the persuasive impact of the fit between the visual perspectives and the advertising appeals. Mental imagery, the process by which sensory information is represented in working memory, plays a critical role in persuasion. From a review of the literature, we realize that events can be imagined through the first-person perspective or the third-person perspective. The adoption of the specific vantage point can determine the inference people make about an imagined situation. In particular, the third-person perspective results in a greater dispositional inference, and highlights the broader meaning of the imagined situation, whereas the first-person perspective discloses more information about the inner, affective components of the imagined situation. Visual perspectives have been studied extensively in social psychology, but its implication is rarely applied to consumer behavior. This study adopts three experiments to examine the persuasive impact of fit between the consumers’ visual perspectives and advertising appeals. Study One suggests that when consumers adopt the first-person visual perspective, compared to a symbolic product, consumers would prefer the experiential product; on the other hand, when consumers adopt a third-person visual perspective, compared to an experiential product, consumers would select the symbolic product. Study Two proposes that when consumers adopt the first-person visual perspective, manufacturers should emphasize a product’s symbolic benefits. On the contrary, when consumers adopt a third-person visual perspective, manufacturers should stress a product’s experiential benefits. Study Three demonstrates that affordance cues would prime different visual perspectives, and when the visual perspective and advertising appeals fit mutually, it will have a strong persuasive effect. In particular, when there is an affordance cue in an advertisement, it will encourage consumers to adopt the third-person visual perspective, and then prefer symbolic appeals. On the contrary, when an advertisement does not have any affordance cues, it will stimulate consumers to embrace the first-person visual perspective, and then prefer experiential appeals. All three studies demonstrate that when there is a fit between the visual perspectives and the advertising appeals, consumers will generate a fluent embodied simulation, which would lead them to have a positive product attitude and purchase intention. The results of these three studies not only enrich the literature of visual imagery and marketing communication but also provide useful advice to manufacturers, especially on how to create the fit between product positioning and advertising, in order to promote the the positive product attitude and purchase intention of customers