Interaction effects of mood induction and nominal representation of price on consumer choice

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2005

The transition to the euro in several European countries causes consumers to make mistakes in economic transactions. One mistake referred to as the ‘‘euro il-lusion’’ is the tendency to evaluate prices on the basis of their nominal represen-tation, thus overestimating or underestimating how expensive products are. In-vestigating effects of the euro illusion on consumer choice as well as moderating effects of mood, three laboratory experiments were conducted employing conven-ience samples of students. In Experiment 1 a bias toward the nominal represen-tation was demonstrated when participants chose an unfamiliar (fictitious) large unit currency (small numbers) for paying the price of a consumer product but chose an unfamiliar small-unit currency (large numbers) for obtaining a salary. The bias was larger for participants who were induced to feel positive and deacti-vated (calm and relaxed) than for participants who were induced to feel negative and activated (anxious and jittery). The difference in frequencies of choice of cur-rency was replicated in Experiment 2. No effects were, however, found of natural mood assessed by self-report ratings. In Experiment 3 choices of more expensive consumer products with additional features were more frequent when the prices were expressed in the large-unit currency than when expressed in the small-unit currency. Neither in this case did self-reported natural mood affect the choices.