Anticipating Consumption: the Impact of Expectations on Decision-Making For Healthy Products

This two-part study offers an examination of the construct of consumer expectations within the context of making purchases for health-related products. In the first experiment, we find that internally-derived expectations can sometimes be detrimental to decision making because these self generated expectations can override the "objective" evidence of the product's performance. In the second experiment, we find a persistent interaction effect such that when individuals approach a decision making task from an affective or experiential processing frame, they discount the validity of scientific reports in favor of their own pre-conceived expectations. Implications for public policy makers are discussed.