Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
25/08/2010
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
Result of a deliberate choice is more satisfying than the one made by another person
When the choice involves some use, there is no difference between
who chose something and he used something chosen by someone else
A survey by the Journal of Consumer Research reveals that when it comes to our pleasure, like having choices, but when the goal is a utility, we're happy to do what they tell us to.
The authors of the study, Simona Botti, the London Business School, and Ann McGill, University of Chicago, suggest the following scenario: imagine a person in a la carte restaurant, which is dining is the sheer pleasure of experiencing the food or obtain a more noble goal, as better understand the local culture.
- In both cases, would be satisfied with a dinner that has predetermined options very different from that obtained if she experienced her own choices on the menu?
The authors conducted four experiments in which volunteers had the same set of options, but varied the process (how each item was chosen) and the goal of each choice. In all four, participants could choose one of the options or had to accept a choice made by someone else.
The researchers told the participants that the goal was simply to assess the outcome of choice (hedonic goal, linked to pleasure) or achieve a superior outcome (goal utility).
In the first experiment, participants were exposed to a selection of different virtual museums. Some were chosen for the role of tourists in search of fun and others for art students on a visit to search for their theses. In subsequent studies, participants chose (or chose for them) between massages, fine dining and schemes of physical training.
Research has shown that the result of a deliberate choice is more satisfying than a choice made by another person when the goal is hedonic (has to do with pleasure), but when the goal is utilitarian there is no difference in satisfaction between those who chose and who did not choose.
Source: R7
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.