The hidden cost of value-seeking: People do not accurately forecast the economic benefits of experiential purchases

References

• Andrade, E. B., & Van Boven, L. (2010). Feelings not forgone: Underestimating affective reactions to what does not happen. Psychological Science, 21, 706–711.10.1177/0956797610368809
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Arkes, H. R., & Blumer, C. (1985). The psychology of sunk cost. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 35, 124–140.10.1016/0749-5978(85)90049-4
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Ayton, P., Pott, A., & Elwakili, N. (2007). Affective forecasting: Why can’t people predict their emotions? Thinking & Reasoning, 13, 62–80.10.1080/13546780600872726
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Buhrmester, M., Kwang, T., & Gosling, S. D. (2011). Amazon’s mechanical turk: A new source of inexpensive, yet high-quality data? Psychological Science, 6, 3–5.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Caprariello, P. A., & Reis, H. T. (2013). To do, to have, or to share? Valuing experiences over material possessions depends on the involvement of others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104, 199–215.10.1037/a0030953
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Carter, T. J., & Gilovich, T. (2010). The relative relativity of material and experiential purchases. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 146–159.10.1037/a0017145
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Carter, T. J., & Gilovich, T. (2012). I am what I do, not what I have: The differential centrality of experiential and material purchases to the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102, 1304–1317.10.1037/a0027407
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dunn, E. W., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2011). If money doesn’t make you happy, then you probably aren’t spending it right. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 21, 115–125.10.1016/j.jcps.2011.02.002
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dunn, E. W., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2003). Location, location, location: The misprediction of satisfaction in housing lotteries. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1421–1432.10.1177/0146167203256867
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Faber, R. J., & O’Guinn, T. C. (1992). A clinical screener for compulsive buying. Journal of Consumer Research, 19, 459–469.10.1086/jcr.1992.19.issue-3
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Finkenauer, C., Gallucci, M., van Dijk, W. W., & Pollmann, M. (2007). Investigating the role of time in affective forecasting: Temporal influences on forecasting accuracy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1152–1166.10.1177/0146167207303021
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gagné, M. (2003). The role of autonomy support and autonomy orientation in prosocial behavior engagement. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 199–223.10.1023/A:1025007614869
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gilbert, D. T., & Ebert, J. E. J. (2002). Decisions and revisions: The affective forecasting of changeable outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 503–514.10.1037/0022-3514.82.4.503
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gilbert, D. T., Morewedge, C. M., Risen, J. L., & Wilson, T. D. (2004). Looking forward to looking backward. The misprediction of regret. Psychological Science, 15, 346–350.10.1111/psci.2004.15.issue-5
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2007). Prospection: Experiencing the future. Science, 317, 1351–1354.10.1126/science.1144161
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Howell, R. T., & Hill, G. (2009). The mediators of experiential purchases: Determining the impact of psychological needs satisfaction and social comparison. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 511–522.10.1080/17439760903270993
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Howell, R. T., & Howell, C. J. (2008). The relation of economic status to subjective well-being in developing countries: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 536–560.10.1037/0033-2909.134.4.536
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Howell, R. T., Pchelin, P., & Iyer, R. (2012). The preference for experiences over possessions: Measurement and construct validation of the experiential buying tendency scale. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7, 57–71.10.1080/17439760.2011.626791
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hsee, C. K. (1999). Value seeking and prediction–decision inconsistency: Why don’t people take what they predict they’ll like the most? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 6, 555–561.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hsee, C. K., & Rottenstreich, Y. (2004). Music, pandas, and muggers: On the affective psychology of value. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 23–30.10.1037/0096-3445.133.1.23
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hsee, C. K., & Zhang, J. (2004). Distinction bias: Misprediction and mischoice due to joint evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 680–695.10.1037/0022-3514.86.5.680
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hsee, C. K., Zhang, J., Yu, F., & Xi, Y. (2003). Lay rationalism and inconsistency between predicted experience and decision. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 16, 257–272.10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0771
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D. A., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. A. (2004). A survey method for characterizing daily life experience: The day reconstruction method. Science, 306, 1776–1780.10.1126/science.1103572
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kashdan, T. B., & Breen, W. E. (2007). Materialism and diminished well-being: Experiential avoidance as a mediating mechanism. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26, 521–539.10.1521/jscp.2007.26.5.521
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kasser, T., Cohn, S., Kanner, A. D., & Ryan, R. M. (2007). Some costs of American corporate capitalism: A psychological exploration of value and goal conflicts. Psychological Inquiry, 18(1), 1–22.10.1080/10478400701386579
   Google Scholar
• Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. (1993). A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 410–422.10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.410
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kitchens, M. B., Corser, G. C., Gohm, C. L., von Waldner, K. L., & Foreman, E. L. (2010). Predicted and experienced affective responses to the outcome of the 2008 US president election. Psychological Reports, 107, 837–846.10.2466/07.PR0.107.6.837-846
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lam, K. H., Buehler, R., McFarland, C., Ross, M., & Cheung, I. (2005). Cultural differences in affective forecasting: The role of focalism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1296–1309.10.1177/0146167205274691
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lench, H. C., Safer, M. A., & Levine, L. J. (2011). Focalism and the underestimation of future emotion: When it’s worse than imagined. Emotion, 11, 278–285.10.1037/a0022792
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Liberman, N., & Trope, Y. (1998). The role of feasibility and desirability considerations in near and distant future decisions: A test of temporal construal theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 5–18.10.1037/0022-3514.75.1.5
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Loewenstein, G., & Adler, D. (1995). A bias in the prediction of tastes. The Economic Journal, 105, 929–937.10.2307/2235159
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• MacInnis, D. J., Patrick, V., & Park, C. W. (2006). Looking through the crystal ball: Affective forecasting and misforecasting in consumer behavior. Review of Marketing Research, 2, 43–80.
   Google Scholar
• Meyvis, T., Ratner, R. K., & Levav, J. (2010). Why don’t we learn to accurately forecast feelings? How misremembering our predictions blinds us to past forecasting errors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 139, 579–589.10.1037/a0020285
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Millar, M., & Thomas, R. (2009). Discretionary activity and happiness: The role of materialism. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 699–702.10.1016/j.jrp.2009.03.012
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mitchell, T. R., Thompson, L., Peterson, E., & Cronk, R. (1997). Temporal adjustments in the evaluation of events: The ‘Rosy View’. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 33, 421–448.10.1006/jesp.1997.1333
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Nelson, L. D., & Meyvis, T. (2008). Interrupted consumption: Disrupting adaptation to hedonic experiences. Journal of Marketing Research, 45, 654–664.10.1509/jmkr.45.6.654
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Nicolao, L., Irwin, J. R., & Goodman, J. K. (2009). Happiness for sale: Do experiential purchases make consumers happier than material purchases? Journal of Consumer Research, 36, 188–198.10.1086/596719
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Nisbet, E. K., & Zelenski, J. M. (2011). Underestimating nearby nature: Affective forecasting errors obscure the happy path to sustainability. Psychological Science, 22, 1101–1106.10.1177/0956797611418527
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Pollai, M., Hoelzl, E., & Possas, F. (2009). Consumption-related emotions over time: Fit between prediction and experience. Marketing Letters, 21, 397–411.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Prawitz, A., Garman, E., Sorhaindo, B., O’Neill, B., Kim, J., & Drentea, P. (2006). Incharge financial distress/financial well-being scale: Development, administration, and score interpretation. Financial Counseling and Planning, 17, 34–50.
   Google Scholar
• Richins, M., & Dawson, S. (1992). A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: Scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 19, 303–316.10.1086/jcr.1992.19.issue-3
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Ryan, R. M., & Frederick, C. (1997). On energy, personality, and health: Subjective vitality as a dynamic reflection of well-being. Journal of Personality, 65, 529–565.10.1111/jopy.1997.65.issue-3
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Sevdalis, N., & Harvey, N. (2007). Biased forecasting of postdecisional affect. Psychological Science, 18, 678–681.10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01958.x
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Sheldon, K. M., Gunz, A., Nichols, C. P., & Ferguson, Y. (2010). Extrinsic value orientation and affective forecasting: Overestimating the rewards, underestimating the costs. Journal of Personality, 78, 149–178.10.1111/jopy.2010.78.issue-1
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Tatzel, M. (2003). The art of buying: Coming to terms with money and materialism. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 405–435.10.1023/B:JOHS.0000005770.92248.77
   Google Scholar
• Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2003). Temporal construal. Psychological Review, 110, 403–421.10.1037/0033-295X.110.3.403
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Van Boven, L., & Gilovich, T. (2003). To do or to have? That is the question. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1193–1202.10.1037/0022-3514.85.6.1193
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Vittersø, J., & Søholt, Y. (2011). Life satisfaction goes with pleasure and personal growth goes with interest: Further arguments for separating hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6, 326–335.10.1080/17439760.2011.584548
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wang, J., Novemsky, N., & Dhar, R. (2009). Anticipating adaptation to products. Journal of Consumer Research, 36, 149–159.10.1086/596719
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2003). Affective forecasting. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 35, pp. 345–411). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
   Google Scholar
• Wilson, T. D., Meyers, J., & Gilbert, D. T. (2001). Lessons from the past: Do people learn from experience that emotional reactions are short-lived? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1648–1661.10.1177/01461672012712008
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wood, S. L., & Bettman, J. R. (2007). Predicting happiness: How normative feeling rules influence (and even reverse) durability bias. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17, 188–201.10.1016/S1057-7408(07)70028-1
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Zhang, J. W., Howell, R. T., & Caprariello, P. A. (2012). Buying life experiences for the ‘right’ reasons: A validation of the motivations for experiential buying scale. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1–26.
   Google Scholar