To buy or not buy? A review of affective priming in purchase decision

Abstract

Correspondence: Gabriel JC Mograbi Department of Philosophy, Institute for Human and Social Sciences, UFMT – Federal University of Mato Grosso, 2367 Av Fernando Correa da Costa, Bairro Boa Esperanca, Cuiaba, MT 78060-900, Brazil Tel +55 65 3165 8479 Fax +55 65 3634 7600 Email gabriel.mograbi@gmail.com Abstract: The current paradigm of neuroeconomics goes beyond merely axiomatic models and contemplates the influence of psychological factors on economic decisions. Under this framework, the main aim of the current review is to address the influence of affective priming in purchase decision. For this purpose, we first summarize the affective priming literature, followed by a section concentrating on purchase-decision studies that show that this phenomenon is value-driven, going beyond the emotionless calculation of traditional utility models in microeconomics. Finally, both themes are connected by reviewing the available experiments investigating affective priming effects on economic and purchase decision. We discuss these findings within a framework that considers that humans, as biological entities, attribute salience to hedonic information, highlighting the value-driven nature of decision-making, especially purchase decisions.