Social Psychologist and business professor. Studies consumer judgment and decision-making, sustainable consumption, and consumer values and well-being. Teaches marketing at Berea College. Address: Berea, Kentucky, United States
There is a general trend for consumer goods considered luxuries to become thought of as necessiti... more There is a general trend for consumer goods considered luxuries to become thought of as necessities. Although the luxury/necessity distinction is central to the fields of marketing and economics, little research has examined the perception of necessity as a psychological phenomenon. Three studies examined the relationship of the perceived necessity of a variety of consumer goods to goals, values, and insecurity. In Study 1, the number of goods considered necessities as opposed to luxuries correlated negatively with intrinsic and positively with extrinsic goal pursuit. In Study 2, this pattern generalized to the distinction between needs and wants, the extent to which participants reported needing their possessions, and to materialistic values. In Study 3, the perception of necessity mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and materialism, suggesting that needing consumer products has in part a basis in interpersonal insecurity. In turn, it may facilitate materialistic consumption.
Peace and Conflict Journal of Peace Psychology, 2010
This article explores whether people agree on what acts do and do not constitute torture and, if ... more This article explores whether people agree on what acts do and do not constitute torture and, if not, what social and contextual factors affect such perceptions. Some have suggested that there is a shared, commonsense definition of torture. If so, people should agree on ...
Management scientists and practitioners ultimately have the same goal: The understanding, control... more Management scientists and practitioners ultimately have the same goal: The understanding, control, and prediction of behavior. To this end, we advocate the adoption of experimental methodology on the part of managers as a way to bridge the science-practice gap. We build our argument largely on the distinction between intuitive and systematic approaches to judgment and decision-making. The intuitive approach is more common in management practice, while the systematic approach is embodied by the scientific method. Although recent research suggests that intuitive judgment can be quite effective, we highlight a number of shortcomings of the intuitive approach. Specifically, we show that the intuitive approach is particularly limited when it comes to causal reasoning, and that the experimental approach is designed to overcome this shortcoming.
Purpose – The purpose of these studies is to determine how maximizing sport fans seek optimal out... more Purpose – The purpose of these studies is to determine how maximizing sport fans seek optimal outcomes through team identification. Maximizers seek optimal outcomes but do not always obtain them. This may be particularly true of sport fans, who often identify with teams for reasons that run deeper than team success. Maximizing fans may be more concerned with being the best fans than following the best teams. Design/methodology/approach – In Study 1, the authors measured maximizing tendency and identification with participants’ favorite National Football League (NFL) teams. The authors then used moderated regression to predict identification levels from the interaction of maximizing and the historical win–loss records of these teams. In Study 2, the authors manipulated team success by providing participants either an optimistic or pessimistic preview of their college basketball team’s upcoming season. The authors measured maximizing tendency as a moderator of this relationship and id...
Anxiously attached individuals desire but may not always form meaningful social relationships. Pr... more Anxiously attached individuals desire but may not always form meaningful social relationships. Previous research demonstrates that money eases the pain of social rejection; Relatedly, people can form relationships with material possessions. Accordingly, we hypothesized that materialistic values may facilitate these substitute relationships in anxiously attached individuals. Study 1 demonstrated a positive relationship between anxious attachment and two different measures of materialism in two independent samples. Study 2 replicated this finding and provided further evidence that the adoption of materialistic values may fill a social void in anxiously attached individuals. Specifically, loneliness mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and materialism. These results suggest that anxiously attached individuals may adopt mechanisms to substitute relationships with objects for relationships with people, and that they might do so in order to deal with the loneliness that results from a lack of meaningful social interaction.
Americans have a lot of stuff, but are not necessarily happier for it. One possibility is that ev... more Americans have a lot of stuff, but are not necessarily happier for it. One possibility is that even if we want what we have, we want more. Wanting more may increase have-want discrepancies and reduce well-being. In this paper, we introduce the construct wanting more, and show that it negatively predicts well-being. We then identify materialism as a mediator of this relationship. Wanting more negatively effects well-being at least in part because those who want more are more likely to be materialistic. Finally, we show that wanting more than one has and wanting what one has are distinct constructs, and that wanting what one has moderates the relationship between wanting more and wellbeing. Those who want more are less happy only if they also do not want what they have. Wanting what one has may reduce attention to have-want discrepancies that result from wanting more. Keywords Wanting more Á Happiness, well-being Á Materialism Á Have-want discrepancies Á Wanting what one has Á Desire fulfillment What kind of paradise am I looking for? I've got everything I want and I still want more.-Ani DiFranco (2001) Americans have a lot of stuff. Fully 98% of Americans own a television and 36% own flat-screen televisions (Pew Research 2006). Most of these flat-screens were probably purchased by people who already had a functioning television, which helps explain why the average American household has more televisions than people (2.8 vs. 2.5; Nielsen Media Research (March 17 2007). With the recent advent of 3-D television, it is likely that many of these perfectly good flat-screens will themselves be upstaged soon. The general
Cross-Understanding in Groups: How to "Cross Over" Without "Dying" Despite recent advances in gro... more Cross-Understanding in Groups: How to "Cross Over" Without "Dying" Despite recent advances in group cognition research, the link between this research and group decision making in real-life organizations has been lacking. In their article Huber and Lewis (2010) address this gap between research and practice by introducing the construct "crossunderstanding." According to Huber and Lewis, cross-understanding explains seemingly inconsistent research findings, since group decisions may be affected by group members' (mis)understanding the "mental models" of other group members, including their knowledge, beliefs, sensitivities, and preferences. Here we build on Huber and Lewis's (2010) concept of cross-understanding in three ways. First, we address the difficulty of applying the concept, as presented by Huber and Lewis, to real-life organizations. Second, we discuss crossunderstanding in terms of basic social psychological processes. Third, we present a model of group cognition that shows when and how crossunderstanding could be used to benefit group decision making in real-life organizations.
Affective contrast refers to the tendency for stimuli to be judged as less evocative when precede... more Affective contrast refers to the tendency for stimuli to be judged as less evocative when preceded by more evocative samevalence stimuli. The authors used facial electromyographic (EMG) activity over corrugator supercilii, which is inversely related to affective valence, to determine if context influences underlying affective reactions. In Experiment 1, moderately pleasant pictures elicited less activity over corrugator supercilii when they were embedded among mildly pleasant, as opposed to extremely pleasant, pictures. In Experiment 2, moderately pleasant pictures elicited less activity over corrugator supercilii when they were embedded among mildly valent (i.e., pleasant and unpleasant), as opposed to extremely valent, pictures; moderately unpleasant pictures elicited comparable EMG activity regardless of context. Results indicate that context can influence affective reactions underlying affective judgments of moderately pleasant stimuli.
Management scientists and practitioners ultimately have the same goal: The understanding, control... more Management scientists and practitioners ultimately have the same goal: The understanding, control, and prediction of behavior. To this end, we advocate the adoption of experimental methodology on the part of managers as a way to bridge the science-practice gap. We build our argument largely on the distinction between intuitive and systematic approaches to judgment and decision-making. The intuitive approach is more common in management practice, while the systematic approach is embodied by the scientific method. Although recent research suggests that intuitive judgment can be quite effective, we highlight a number of shortcomings of the intuitive approach. Specifically, we show that the intuitive approach is particularly limited when it comes to causal reasoning, and that the experimental approach is designed to overcome this shortcoming.
Purpose-The paper introduces a new model, the evolutionary-existential model of organizational de... more Purpose-The paper introduces a new model, the evolutionary-existential model of organizational decision-making. The purpose of the model is to provide an empirical framework for understanding the context for decision-making under conditions of existential threat to organizations, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic during the year 2020. Design/methodology/approach-The model is built on an extensive interdisciplinary literature review, drawing from research in social psychology, management, behavioral economics, evolutionary psychology and consumer behavior. In general, the authors follow Bargal's (2006) call for action research in the spirit of Lewin (1951). Findings-According to the model, organizational decision-making during the pandemic threat is influenced by (1) existential threat and (2) an unprecedented macroenvironmental context for decision-making. The authors argue that these psychological and macroenvironmental forces may lead to suboptimal decision-making, based on (1) their basic cognitive architecture and (2) specific evolutionary triggers activated by the pandemic. The authors highlight how the interaction between these inputs and the decision context manifest in various social psychological phenomena that are known to impact judgments and decisions. Practical implications-Simply put, the magnitude and the urgency of the global pandemic call for new and integrative ways of understanding organizational decision-making. Originality/value-The model is new. Although the authors draw on prior research and theory, the model is uniquely interdisciplinary; further, the authors are able to make specific and unique predictions about the inputs, decision context and their social-psychological consequences for decision-making.
Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2020
Marketers have long incentivized consumers in an effort to encourage them to sell their unwanted ... more Marketers have long incentivized consumers in an effort to encourage them to sell their unwanted goods back, a behavior we label as consumer-to-business (C2B) behavior. Despite years of offering financial incentives, most consumers store unwanted items at home rather than sell them back to marketers. A trend toward greater environmental accountability, coupled with limited supply and increasing costs of raw materials, compels marketers to motivate C2B behavior. The current research introduces both appeal and incentive type as tactics firms can use to motivate this behavior. Specifically, we identify appeals that present environmental and economic outcomes as different benefits of C2B behavior, along with either hedonic or utilitarian incentives. Across four studies we find support for a licensing effect whereby an environmental appeal paired with a hedonic incentive is particularly effective at motivating C2B behavior. We demonstrate a boundary condition to this effect, where consumers high in pro-environmental attitudes respond positively to environmental appeals regardless of incentive, while other consumers are more likely to engage in licensing behavior.
There is a general trend for consumer goods considered luxuries to become thought of as necessiti... more There is a general trend for consumer goods considered luxuries to become thought of as necessities. Although the luxury/necessity distinction is central to the fields of marketing and economics, little research has examined the perception of necessity as a psychological phenomenon. Three studies examined the relationship of the perceived necessity of a variety of consumer goods to goals, values, and insecurity. In Study 1, the number of goods considered necessities as opposed to luxuries correlated negatively with intrinsic and positively with extrinsic goal pursuit. In Study 2, this pattern generalized to the distinction between needs and wants, the extent to which participants reported needing their possessions, and to materialistic values. In Study 3, the perception of necessity mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and materialism, suggesting that needing consumer products has in part a basis in interpersonal insecurity. In turn, it may facilitate materialistic consumption.
There is a general trend for consumer goods considered luxuries to become thought of as necessiti... more There is a general trend for consumer goods considered luxuries to become thought of as necessities. Although the luxury/necessity distinction is central to the fields of marketing and economics, little research has examined the perception of necessity as a psychological phenomenon. Three studies examined the relationship of the perceived necessity of a variety of consumer goods to goals, values, and insecurity. In Study 1, the number of goods considered necessities as opposed to luxuries correlated negatively with intrinsic and positively with extrinsic goal pursuit. In Study 2, this pattern generalized to the distinction between needs and wants, the extent to which participants reported needing their possessions, and to materialistic values. In Study 3, the perception of necessity mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and materialism, suggesting that needing consumer products has in part a basis in interpersonal insecurity. In turn, it may facilitate materialistic consumption.
Peace and Conflict Journal of Peace Psychology, 2010
This article explores whether people agree on what acts do and do not constitute torture and, if ... more This article explores whether people agree on what acts do and do not constitute torture and, if not, what social and contextual factors affect such perceptions. Some have suggested that there is a shared, commonsense definition of torture. If so, people should agree on ...
Management scientists and practitioners ultimately have the same goal: The understanding, control... more Management scientists and practitioners ultimately have the same goal: The understanding, control, and prediction of behavior. To this end, we advocate the adoption of experimental methodology on the part of managers as a way to bridge the science-practice gap. We build our argument largely on the distinction between intuitive and systematic approaches to judgment and decision-making. The intuitive approach is more common in management practice, while the systematic approach is embodied by the scientific method. Although recent research suggests that intuitive judgment can be quite effective, we highlight a number of shortcomings of the intuitive approach. Specifically, we show that the intuitive approach is particularly limited when it comes to causal reasoning, and that the experimental approach is designed to overcome this shortcoming.
Purpose – The purpose of these studies is to determine how maximizing sport fans seek optimal out... more Purpose – The purpose of these studies is to determine how maximizing sport fans seek optimal outcomes through team identification. Maximizers seek optimal outcomes but do not always obtain them. This may be particularly true of sport fans, who often identify with teams for reasons that run deeper than team success. Maximizing fans may be more concerned with being the best fans than following the best teams. Design/methodology/approach – In Study 1, the authors measured maximizing tendency and identification with participants’ favorite National Football League (NFL) teams. The authors then used moderated regression to predict identification levels from the interaction of maximizing and the historical win–loss records of these teams. In Study 2, the authors manipulated team success by providing participants either an optimistic or pessimistic preview of their college basketball team’s upcoming season. The authors measured maximizing tendency as a moderator of this relationship and id...
Anxiously attached individuals desire but may not always form meaningful social relationships. Pr... more Anxiously attached individuals desire but may not always form meaningful social relationships. Previous research demonstrates that money eases the pain of social rejection; Relatedly, people can form relationships with material possessions. Accordingly, we hypothesized that materialistic values may facilitate these substitute relationships in anxiously attached individuals. Study 1 demonstrated a positive relationship between anxious attachment and two different measures of materialism in two independent samples. Study 2 replicated this finding and provided further evidence that the adoption of materialistic values may fill a social void in anxiously attached individuals. Specifically, loneliness mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and materialism. These results suggest that anxiously attached individuals may adopt mechanisms to substitute relationships with objects for relationships with people, and that they might do so in order to deal with the loneliness that results from a lack of meaningful social interaction.
Americans have a lot of stuff, but are not necessarily happier for it. One possibility is that ev... more Americans have a lot of stuff, but are not necessarily happier for it. One possibility is that even if we want what we have, we want more. Wanting more may increase have-want discrepancies and reduce well-being. In this paper, we introduce the construct wanting more, and show that it negatively predicts well-being. We then identify materialism as a mediator of this relationship. Wanting more negatively effects well-being at least in part because those who want more are more likely to be materialistic. Finally, we show that wanting more than one has and wanting what one has are distinct constructs, and that wanting what one has moderates the relationship between wanting more and wellbeing. Those who want more are less happy only if they also do not want what they have. Wanting what one has may reduce attention to have-want discrepancies that result from wanting more. Keywords Wanting more Á Happiness, well-being Á Materialism Á Have-want discrepancies Á Wanting what one has Á Desire fulfillment What kind of paradise am I looking for? I've got everything I want and I still want more.-Ani DiFranco (2001) Americans have a lot of stuff. Fully 98% of Americans own a television and 36% own flat-screen televisions (Pew Research 2006). Most of these flat-screens were probably purchased by people who already had a functioning television, which helps explain why the average American household has more televisions than people (2.8 vs. 2.5; Nielsen Media Research (March 17 2007). With the recent advent of 3-D television, it is likely that many of these perfectly good flat-screens will themselves be upstaged soon. The general
Cross-Understanding in Groups: How to "Cross Over" Without "Dying" Despite recent advances in gro... more Cross-Understanding in Groups: How to "Cross Over" Without "Dying" Despite recent advances in group cognition research, the link between this research and group decision making in real-life organizations has been lacking. In their article Huber and Lewis (2010) address this gap between research and practice by introducing the construct "crossunderstanding." According to Huber and Lewis, cross-understanding explains seemingly inconsistent research findings, since group decisions may be affected by group members' (mis)understanding the "mental models" of other group members, including their knowledge, beliefs, sensitivities, and preferences. Here we build on Huber and Lewis's (2010) concept of cross-understanding in three ways. First, we address the difficulty of applying the concept, as presented by Huber and Lewis, to real-life organizations. Second, we discuss crossunderstanding in terms of basic social psychological processes. Third, we present a model of group cognition that shows when and how crossunderstanding could be used to benefit group decision making in real-life organizations.
Affective contrast refers to the tendency for stimuli to be judged as less evocative when precede... more Affective contrast refers to the tendency for stimuli to be judged as less evocative when preceded by more evocative samevalence stimuli. The authors used facial electromyographic (EMG) activity over corrugator supercilii, which is inversely related to affective valence, to determine if context influences underlying affective reactions. In Experiment 1, moderately pleasant pictures elicited less activity over corrugator supercilii when they were embedded among mildly pleasant, as opposed to extremely pleasant, pictures. In Experiment 2, moderately pleasant pictures elicited less activity over corrugator supercilii when they were embedded among mildly valent (i.e., pleasant and unpleasant), as opposed to extremely valent, pictures; moderately unpleasant pictures elicited comparable EMG activity regardless of context. Results indicate that context can influence affective reactions underlying affective judgments of moderately pleasant stimuli.
Management scientists and practitioners ultimately have the same goal: The understanding, control... more Management scientists and practitioners ultimately have the same goal: The understanding, control, and prediction of behavior. To this end, we advocate the adoption of experimental methodology on the part of managers as a way to bridge the science-practice gap. We build our argument largely on the distinction between intuitive and systematic approaches to judgment and decision-making. The intuitive approach is more common in management practice, while the systematic approach is embodied by the scientific method. Although recent research suggests that intuitive judgment can be quite effective, we highlight a number of shortcomings of the intuitive approach. Specifically, we show that the intuitive approach is particularly limited when it comes to causal reasoning, and that the experimental approach is designed to overcome this shortcoming.
Purpose-The paper introduces a new model, the evolutionary-existential model of organizational de... more Purpose-The paper introduces a new model, the evolutionary-existential model of organizational decision-making. The purpose of the model is to provide an empirical framework for understanding the context for decision-making under conditions of existential threat to organizations, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic during the year 2020. Design/methodology/approach-The model is built on an extensive interdisciplinary literature review, drawing from research in social psychology, management, behavioral economics, evolutionary psychology and consumer behavior. In general, the authors follow Bargal's (2006) call for action research in the spirit of Lewin (1951). Findings-According to the model, organizational decision-making during the pandemic threat is influenced by (1) existential threat and (2) an unprecedented macroenvironmental context for decision-making. The authors argue that these psychological and macroenvironmental forces may lead to suboptimal decision-making, based on (1) their basic cognitive architecture and (2) specific evolutionary triggers activated by the pandemic. The authors highlight how the interaction between these inputs and the decision context manifest in various social psychological phenomena that are known to impact judgments and decisions. Practical implications-Simply put, the magnitude and the urgency of the global pandemic call for new and integrative ways of understanding organizational decision-making. Originality/value-The model is new. Although the authors draw on prior research and theory, the model is uniquely interdisciplinary; further, the authors are able to make specific and unique predictions about the inputs, decision context and their social-psychological consequences for decision-making.
Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2020
Marketers have long incentivized consumers in an effort to encourage them to sell their unwanted ... more Marketers have long incentivized consumers in an effort to encourage them to sell their unwanted goods back, a behavior we label as consumer-to-business (C2B) behavior. Despite years of offering financial incentives, most consumers store unwanted items at home rather than sell them back to marketers. A trend toward greater environmental accountability, coupled with limited supply and increasing costs of raw materials, compels marketers to motivate C2B behavior. The current research introduces both appeal and incentive type as tactics firms can use to motivate this behavior. Specifically, we identify appeals that present environmental and economic outcomes as different benefits of C2B behavior, along with either hedonic or utilitarian incentives. Across four studies we find support for a licensing effect whereby an environmental appeal paired with a hedonic incentive is particularly effective at motivating C2B behavior. We demonstrate a boundary condition to this effect, where consumers high in pro-environmental attitudes respond positively to environmental appeals regardless of incentive, while other consumers are more likely to engage in licensing behavior.
There is a general trend for consumer goods considered luxuries to become thought of as necessiti... more There is a general trend for consumer goods considered luxuries to become thought of as necessities. Although the luxury/necessity distinction is central to the fields of marketing and economics, little research has examined the perception of necessity as a psychological phenomenon. Three studies examined the relationship of the perceived necessity of a variety of consumer goods to goals, values, and insecurity. In Study 1, the number of goods considered necessities as opposed to luxuries correlated negatively with intrinsic and positively with extrinsic goal pursuit. In Study 2, this pattern generalized to the distinction between needs and wants, the extent to which participants reported needing their possessions, and to materialistic values. In Study 3, the perception of necessity mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and materialism, suggesting that needing consumer products has in part a basis in interpersonal insecurity. In turn, it may facilitate materialistic consumption.
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Papers by Ian Norris