Mere-measurement effect

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The mere-measurement effect is a phenomenon used in behavioural psychology. It explains that merely measuring or questioning an individual's intentions or anticipated regret [1] changes his or her subsequent behavior. The mere-measurement effect has been demonstrated in multiple behavioural contexts both general and specific. But it is most commonly used to explain consumer behaviour. In this context, the effect implies that simply questioning one's intentions behind a purchase influences his or her decision making in the market. [2]

Contents

The most well-known coiner of the mere-measurement effect is Vicki Morwitz, a marketing professor at NYU who addressed the term in hers, Eric Johnson and David Schmittlein's article Does Measuring Intent Change Behaviour? [3] Morwitz is well known for her demonstration of the effect in the context of purchasing behaviour. In 1993, she demonstrated that simply questioning people's intentions towards buying a computer or car would increase the likelihood of purchasing these items. [4] Alongside the mere-measurement hypothesis, Morwitz et al. suggested a polarization hypothesis. It implies that the questioning of one's intent to buy something would increase their purchase rate. Yet, repeatedly questioning one's intent would decrease their purchase rate. [3] Morwitz et al. outlines four explanations of the mere-measurement effect in the context of consumer behaviour specifically. Apart from purchasing behaviour, Morwtiz has demonstrated the effect in other behaviours. For instance, in the context of survey validity and the behaviour of survey respondents, the mere act of formulating a way to report an answer to a survey question can influence a respondent's actual response. [2]

Explanations of the effect

In Does Measuring Intent Change Behaviour? Morwitz et al. outlines two main explanations behind this effect. Firstly, answering one's question on behavioural intention would increase accessibility towards their own attitude. Therefore, their subsequent behaviour will be more in line with the attitude driving it. Secondly, answering one's intention question will cause one to carry out heavy cognitive work which may lead to an attitude and intention change, and finally a behavioural change. [3] These are the two basic explanations of the mere-measurement effect and can be applied to multiple behavioural contexts.

Yet, Gavan Fitzsimons and Morwitz expand these explanations more in depth in their later article written in 2004– The Mere-Measurement Effect: Why Does Measuring Intentions Change Actual Behavior. It expands on Morwtiz's previous two explanations of the effect into four proposed explanations for why measuring intentions has an effect on behaviour. The mere-measurement effect can result from either all, a few or one of these explanations.

  1. Enhanced label accessibility– Questioning one's intentions increase the salience of feelings and thoughts associated with engaging in a certain behaviour.
  2. Increased attitude accessibility– It enhances the extent to which one can access their attitudes towards performing a behaviour, especially towards the most salient option within a set of choices.
  3. Attitude polarisation– Measuring intent may lead to a polarisation of attitudes toward the most salient option and will therefore change the subsequent behaviour.
  4. Enhanced intention accessibility– Questioning one's intentions will make the performance of these intentions and specific behaviours more accessible as a whole. [2]

Theoretical background

Many theories and past literature have made a connection between intention and subsequent behaviour before the term mere-measurement effect was invented. One example Morwitz et al. refers to is Icek Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour, Martin Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action, as well as research conducted by Shepherd, Hardwich and Warshaw 1988. [3]

Research into other behaviours

Self-erasing error of prediction

This term was invented by Steven Sherman in 1980. He conducted an experiment and demonstrated the strong impact pre-behavioural, cognitive processes has on one's decision-making and behaviour. Sherman found that participants over-predicted the probability of them performing a socially desirable behaviour. He concluded their errors of prediction as self-erasing. Moreover, participants were more likely to perform the specific behaviour after making these predictions. [5]

Voting behaviour

A later demonstration of the effect was done by marketing professor at the University of Washington, Anthony Greenwald. In 1987, he demonstrated that students who were asked about their voting intentions were more likely to vote in elections than those who were not asked. Both Sherman and Greenwald showcase the effect predictions have on one's thoughts about performing the actual behaviour and the behaviour itself. [4]

Blood donation

In 2008, Gaston Godin, Paschal Sheeran, Mark T Conner and Marc Germain in their article – Asking Questions Changes Behavior: Mere Measurement Effects on Frequency of Blood Donation demonstrated that completing a survey on the topic of blood donation increased the likelihood of a respondent to donate blood. [4] [6]

Physical activity

In 2011, Godin, Ariane Bélanger-Gravel, Steve Amireault, Marie-Claude Vohl, and Louis Pérusse showcased that completing a survey on participant's cognition towards leisurely and physical activity. The found that higher levels of physical activity was observed in participants that completed the questionnaire as opposed to participants that didn't. [7]

Related Research Articles

Behavior or behaviour is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well as the inanimate physical environment. It is the computed response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persuasion</span> Umbrella term of influence and mode of communication

Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours.

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information and the mental toll of it. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment. Cognitive dissonance is typically experienced as psychological stress when persons participate in an action that goes against one or more of those things. According to this theory, when two actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, people do all in their power to change them until they become consistent. The discomfort is triggered by the person's belief clashing with new information perceived, wherein the individual tries to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attitude (psychology)</span> Concept linking cognitive processes to behavior

An attitude "is a summary evaluation of an object of thought. An attitude object can be anything a person discriminates or holds in mind." Attitudes include beliefs (cognition), emotional responses (affect) and behaviors. In the classical definition an attitude is persistent, while in more contemporary conceptualizations, attitudes may vary depending upon situations, context, or moods.

Internal validity is the extent to which a piece of evidence supports a claim about cause and effect, within the context of a particular study. It is one of the most important properties of scientific studies and is an important concept in reasoning about evidence more generally. Internal validity is determined by how well a study can rule out alternative explanations for its findings. It contrasts with external validity, the extent to which results can justify conclusions about other contexts. Both internal and external validity can be described using qualitative or quantitative forms of causal notation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theory of planned behavior</span> Theory that links behavior

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is a psychological theory that links beliefs to behavior. The theory maintains that three core components, namely, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, together shape an individual's behavioral intentions. In turn, a tenet of TPB is that behavioral intention is the most proximal determinant of human social behavior.

Attitudes are associated beliefs and behaviors towards some object. They are not stable, and because of the communication and behavior of other people, are subject to change by social influences, as well as by the individual's motivation to maintain cognitive consistency when cognitive dissonance occurs—when two attitudes or attitude and behavior conflict. Attitudes and attitude objects are functions of affective and cognitive components. It has been suggested that the inter-structural composition of an associative network can be altered by the activation of a single node. Thus, by activating an affective or emotional node, attitude change may be possible, though affective and cognitive components tend to be intertwined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theory of reasoned action</span> Psychological theory

The theory of reasoned action aims to explain the relationship between attitudes and behaviors within human action. It is mainly used to predict how individuals will behave based on their pre-existing attitudes and behavioral intentions. An individual's decision to engage in a particular behavior is based on the outcomes the individual expects will come as a result of performing the behavior. Developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen in 1967, the theory derived from previous research in social psychology, persuasion models, and attitude theories. Fishbein's theories suggested a relationship between attitude and behaviors. However, critics estimated that attitude theories were not proving to be good indicators of human behavior. The TRA was later revised and expanded by the two theorists in the following decades to overcome any discrepancies in the A-B relationship with the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and reasoned action approach (RAA). The theory is also used in communication discourse as a theory of understanding.

Behavioural change theories are attempts to explain why human behaviours change. These theories cite environmental, personal, and behavioural characteristics as the major factors in behavioural determination. In recent years, there has been increased interest in the application of these theories in the areas of health, education, criminology, energy and international development with the hope that understanding behavioural change will improve the services offered in these areas. Some scholars have recently introduced a distinction between models of behavior and theories of change. Whereas models of behavior are more diagnostic and geared towards understanding the psychological factors that explain or predict a specific behavior, theories of change are more process-oriented and generally aimed at changing a given behavior. Thus, from this perspective, understanding and changing behavior are two separate but complementary lines of scientific investigation.

Expectancy–value theory has been developed in many different fields including education, health, communications, marketing and economics. Although the model differs in its meaning and implications for each field, the general idea is that there are expectations as well as values or beliefs that affect subsequent behavior.

The value-action gap is the space that occurs when the values or attitudes of an individual do not correlate to their actions. More generally, it is the difference between what people say and what people do. The phrase is associated with environmental geography, relating to attitudes and behaviors surrounding environmental issues. Numerous studies have reported an increase in global environmental concern, but have shown that environmental engagement is not adjusting in accordance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survey (human research)</span> List of questions aimed at obtaining data from a group of people

In research of human subjects, a survey is a list of questions aimed for extracting specific data from a particular group of people. Surveys may be conducted by phone, mail, via the internet, and also at street corners or in malls. Surveys are used to gather or gain knowledge in fields such as social research and demography.

Fear appeal is a term used in psychology, sociology and marketing. It generally describes a strategy for motivating people to take a particular action, endorse a particular policy, or buy a particular product, by arousing fear. A well-known example in television advertising was a commercial employing the musical jingle: "Never pick up a stranger, pick up Prestone anti-freeze." This was accompanied by images of shadowy strangers (hitchhikers) who would presumably do one harm if picked up. The commercial's main appeal was not to the positive features of Prestone anti-freeze, but to the fear of what a "strange" brand might do.

In design of experiments, single-subject curriculum or single-case research design is a research design most often used in applied fields of psychology, education, and human behaviour in which the subject serves as his/her own control, rather than using another individual/group. Researchers use single-subject design because these designs are sensitive to individual organism differences vs group designs which are sensitive to averages of groups. The logic behind single subject designs is 1) Prediction, 2) Verification, and 3) Replication. The baseline data predicts behaviour by affirming the consequent. Verification refers to demonstrating that the baseline responding would have continued had no intervention been implemented. Replication occurs when a previously observed behaviour changed is reproduced. There can be large numbers of subjects in a research study using single-subject design, however—because the subject serves as their own control, this is still a single-subject design. These designs are used primarily to evaluate the effect of a variety of interventions in applied research.

Implicit attitudes are evaluations that occur without conscious awareness towards an attitude object or the self. These evaluations are generally either favorable or unfavorable and come about from various influences in the individual experience. The commonly used definition of implicit attitude within cognitive and social psychology comes from Anthony Greenwald and Mahzarin Banaji's template for definitions of terms related to implicit cognition: "Implicit attitudes are introspectively unidentified traces of past experience that mediate favorable or unfavorable feeling, thought, or action toward social objects". These thoughts, feelings or actions have an influence on behavior that the individual may not be aware of.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Introspection illusion</span> Cognitive bias of people thinking they understand their own mental states but others are inaccurate

The introspection illusion is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly think they have direct insight into the origins of their mental states, while treating others' introspections as unreliable. The illusion has been examined in psychological experiments, and suggested as a basis for biases in how people compare themselves to others. These experiments have been interpreted as suggesting that, rather than offering direct access to the processes underlying mental states, introspection is a process of construction and inference, much as people indirectly infer others' mental states from their behaviour.

Subliminal stimuli are any sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception, in contrast to supraliminal stimuli.

The reasoned action approach (RAA) is an integrative framework for the prediction of human social behavior. The reasoned action approach states that attitudes towards the behavior, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control determine people's intentions, while people's intentions predict their behaviors.

An intention is a mental state in which the agent commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the content of the intention while the commitment is the attitude towards this content. Other mental states can have action plans as their content, as when one admires a plan, but differ from intentions since they do not involve a practical commitment to realizing this plan. Successful intentions bring about the intended course of action while unsuccessful intentions fail to do so. Intentions, like many other mental states, have intentionality: they represent possible states of affairs.

Allen Erwin Liska was an American sociologist and criminologist. He was a full professor at the University at Albany, SUNY from 1982 until his death in 1998, having originally joined the faculty there in 1979. From 1985 to 1988, he was the chair of the Department of Sociology there. He supervised more Ph.D. students than any other faculty member in the University at Albany, SUNY's sociology department. During his career, he also served as chair of the American Sociological Association's Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance. He was named a fellow of the American Society of Criminology in November 1998. In 1999, he was one of four University at Albany, SUNY faculty members to receive the university's Excellence in Research Award.

References

  1. Sandberg, Tracy; Conner, Mark (June 2009). "A mere measurement effect for anticipated regret: Impacts on cervical screening attendance". British Journal of Social Psychology. 48 (2): 221–236. doi:10.1348/014466608X347001. PMID   18793492.
  2. 1 2 3 Morwitz, Vicki G.; Fitzsimons, Gavan J. (2004). "The Mere-Measurement Effect: Why Does Measuring Intentions Change Actual Behavior?". Journal of Consumer Psychology. 14 (1–2). doi:10.1207/s15327663jcp1401&2_8.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Morwitz, Vicki G.; Johnson, Eric; Schmittlein, David (June 1993). "Does Measuring Intent Change Behavior?". Journal of Consumer Research. 20 (1): 46. doi:10.1086/209332. ISSN   0093-5301.
  4. 1 2 3 "Will You Read This Post?". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2020-04-11.
  5. Sherman, Steven J. (1980). "On the self-erasing nature of errors of prediction". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 39 (2): 211–221. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.2.211. ISSN   0022-3514.
  6. Godin, Gaston; Sheeran, Paschal; Conner, Mark; Germain, Marc (2008). "Asking questions changes behavior: Mere measurement effects on frequency of blood donation". Health Psychology. 27 (2): 179–184. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.27.2.179. ISSN   1930-7810. PMID   18377136.
  7. Godin, Gaston; Bélanger-Gravel, Ariane; Amireault, Steve; Vohl, Marie-Claude; Pérusse, Louis (2011). "The effect of mere-measurement of cognitions on physical activity behavior: a randomized controlled trial among overweight and obese individuals". International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 8 (1): 2. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-8-2 . ISSN   1479-5868. PMC   3023726 . PMID   21223565.