Consumer researchers often compare a proposed process across contexts (i.e., moderated mediation) or across mediators (e.g., ruling out an alternative process in parallel mediation). This article aims to help researchers in mapping process-related theoretical hypotheses onto statistical coefficients and in reporting their results. Researchers can formulate a variety of hypotheses about the conditional indirect effect (CIE) of a predictor X on an outcome Y through a mediator M, such as: (A) the CIE is greater for moderator condition W0 than W1, (B) the CIE is only positive for W0, (C) the CIE is positive for W0 and negative for W1. For example, if a researcher's hypotheses align with case A, they must test and report the difference between the two conditional indirect effects (i.e., the index of moderated mediation). Reporting that the indirect effect is significant for W0 and non-significant for W1 would be insufficient for case A, but appropriate for case B. We generalize these examples in two tutorials-for moderated mediation and for parallel mediation-to help researchers (1) connect theory to testable predictions, (2) select the appropriate statistical model, and (3) report results transparently and consistently. We provide concrete examples of pre-registrations, data analyses, and manuscript reports.

Communication is a key aspect of the joint decision-making process, yet the field lacks an understanding of how people talk to each other while making joint decisions. In this article, the authors analyzed nearly 200 joint decision conversations from shop-along observations. They found that joint decision conversations are composed of four distinct communication patterns, which characterize how partners talk to each other: (1) coordination (including inquiry and disclosure), (2) contrast (including persuasion and devil's advocate), (3) build, and (4) one-sided. The authors then used these communication patterns as the building blocks of joint decision conversations to quantitatively model how they dynamically flow as partners shop together, finding that decision partners navigate the decision life cycle nonlinearly and communication pattern usage affects immediate satisfaction outcomes. The findings enable connections to be drawn across the splintered literatures on dyadic communication. The authors develop a taxonomy that reflects an integrated, cross-disciplinary phenomenological understanding of each communication pattern to facilitate interdisciplinary research. Theoretical advancements and practical implications are discussed, as are areas for future research.

Aglozo and Cohen (Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2025) synthesize prior work on the influence of religious values on consumer behavior through the frameworks of Schwartz's value theory and moral foundations theory. In this commentary, we extend their work by examining the intersection of religious values and branding. First, we build upon existing frameworks to identify pathways through which brands can leverage religious values (people-based associations, place-based associations, brand network associations, and activity-based associations), while also noting important downsides. Second, we discuss how context affects the extent to which consumers behave according to their religious values, focusing on three mechanisms: identity salience, value internalization and framing, and competing consumption values. Finally, we conclude with directions for future work on religious values in consumer research.

Growing income inequality has led to many important social and economic issues. Despite this, many people prefer social hierarchies and tend to resist egalitarian principles. Traditional perspectives attribute this preference to individuals' conservative political orientation and subjective social status. In this article, we suggest an overlooked factor that may contribute to antiegalitarianism: trait reactance, defined as the chronic tendency to perceive freedom threat and resist against it. Two theoretical perspectives explain why trait reactance might cause antiegalitarianism: First, the broad cultural push for reducing inequality in all spheres of everyday life might lead those with high levels of reactance to perceive this as a threat to their freedom, leading to resistance. Second, because social hierarchy may offer inherent benefits, such as feelings of power and influence, those more chronically attuned to preserving their personal freedom may be drawn to ideologies that preserve hierarchy. We explain both theoretical perspectives in detail and offer preliminary evidence through an internal meta-analysis of 18 studies we have conducted that include both measures of trait reactance and social dominance orientation (the most widely used measure of antiegalitarianism). This analysis reveals a positive correlation between trait reactance and social dominance orientation, which remains robust to several known predictors of antiegalitarianism, participants' subjective positions on the inequality spectrum, and across two distinct cultures (United States and China). We conclude with suggestions for empirical directions that can further elucidate the contours, mechanisms, and causal direction of the relation between reactance and antiegalitarianism.

A common strategy to address social inequity in organizations is to implement mandatory diversity training policies. But how do people react to such mandates? Mandating such training can signal the importance of diversity-related issues (e.g., discrimination), potentially increasing acknowledgment of these problems. However, integrating the theory of psychological reactance (Brehm, 1966) with the notion of solution aversion (Campbell & Kay, 2014), we suggest that learning about mandatory diversity training initiatives (compared to optional ones) could also exert an opposing effect, engendering negative emotional responses (i.e., reactance) which fuel increased political polarization surrounding beliefs that diversity-related problems still persist (i.e., solution aversion). Four preregistered experiments support this hypothesis. Study 1 and Study 2a demonstrate that recalling or anticipating mandatory (compared to optional) diversity training leads to increased reactance, which in turn leads to increased denial that social inequity is a problem. Study 2b shows that the effect is unique to mandatory diversity training, but not mandatory training unrelated to diversity. Study 3, via tests of parallel mediation, demonstrates that this effect counteracts the positive effect that mandating training policies have via signaled importance of the problem. Importantly, in all studies, we observe a consistent pattern of moderation by political orientation, such that reactance-induced negative emotions predict denial of discrimination more strongly for more politically conservative (compared to liberal) participants. Our research has significant implications for understanding the repercussions of mandatory diversity training policies, as well as the potential role of imposing solutions on exacerbating political polarization surrounding issues of social inequity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in great loss of life worldwide and shook the global economy, required individuals' willingness and ability to behave prosocially. To contribute to the understanding of predictors of prosociality, we used multilevel models to test three previously established pathways to prosocial behavior, which we call the “broaden and build”, compensation, and incapacity pathways. We also tested whether these three paths are mediated by general well-being, and moderated by collective disempowerment, i.e., individuals’ belief that external societal forces have made it harder for people like them to function effectively. Participants from 39 countries (N = 59987) were surveyed on their willingness to engage in prosocial behaviors in the context of the pandemic. The “broaden and build” pathway was supported: positive affect was associated with willingness to engage in prosocial behavior via higher well-being. Two (in)capacity paths were also supported: financial strain and negative affect were both negatively associated with prosociality via lower well-being. A compensation pathway was also observed: Controlling for lower well-being, negative affect was associated with greater prosociality. Finally, differences in disempowerment moderated the affective pathways: higher disempowerment strengthened the positive association of positive affect with prosociality via well-being, and buffered the negative affect incapacity path.

Understanding how initiatives to support Black-owned businesses are received, and why, has important social and economic implications. To address this, we designed three experiments to investigate the role of antiegalitarian versus egalitarian ideologies among White American adults. In Study 1 (N = 199), antiegalitarianism (vs. egalitarianism) predicted viewing initiatives supporting a Black-owned business as less fair, but only when the business was competing with other (presumably White-owned) businesses. In Study 2 (N = 801), antiegalitarianism predicted applying survival-of-the-fittest market beliefs, particularly to Black-owned businesses. Antiegalitarianism also predicted viewing initiatives supporting Black-owned businesses as less fair than initiatives that targeted other (presumably White-owned) businesses, especially for tangible (vs. symbolic) support that directly impacts the success of a business. In Study 3 (N = 590), antiegalitarianism predicted rejecting a program investing in Black-owned businesses. These insights demonstrate how antiegalitarian ideology can have the effect of maintaining race-based inequality, hindering programs designed to reduce that inequality.

Virus mitigation behavior has been and still is a powerful means to fight the COVID-19 pandemic irrespective of the availability of pharmaceutical means (e.g., vaccines). We drew on health behavior theories to predict health-protective (coping-specific) responses and hope (coping non-specific response) from health-related cognitions (vulnerability, severity, self-assessed knowledge, efficacy). In an extension of this model, we proposed orientation to internal (problem-focused coping) and external (country capability) coping resources as antecedents of health protection and hope; health-related cognitions were assumed as mediators of this link. We tested these predictions in a large multi-national multi-wave study with a cross-sectional panel at T1 (Baseline, March-April 2020; N = 57,631 in 113 countries) and a panel subsample at two later time points, T2 (November 2020; N = 3097) and T3 (April 2021; N = 2628). Multilevel models showed that health-related cognitions predicted health-protective responses and hope. Problem-focused coping was mainly linked to health-protective behaviors (T1-T3), whereas country capability was mainly linked to hope (T1-T3). These relationships were partially mediated by health-related cognitions. We conceptually replicated predictions of health behavior theories within a real health threat, further suggesting how different coping resources are associated with qualitatively distinct outcomes. Both patterns were consistent across countries and time.

Consumers and companies frequently integrate products with lifelike photographs of people, animals, and other entities. However, consumer responses to such products are relatively unknown. Drawing on magical thinking and moral psychology, we propose that, due to a photograph's lifelike resemblance to its referent, consumers believe that photo-integrated products embody the depicted entity's underlying essence. As such, in cases where consumption compromises the product's integrity (e.g., food, disposable goods), people are less likely to consume photo-integrated products because doing so is perceived as destroying the depicted entity's essence, which elicits moral discomfort. In contrast, when the photographic image remains intact through consumption, as is the case with durable goods (e.g., magnets), people increase consumption of photo-integrated products relative to products without photo integration, consistent with their popularity in the marketplace. We highlight two strategies to promote more positive outcomes for managers and consumers alike: (1) choose images of entities whose essence destruction is perceived as less immoral, and (2) increase the durability of the product so the depicted entity's essence is preserved through consumption.

Many consumers are caregivers and, as part of caregiving, frequently make food choices for their dependents. This research examines how food choices made for children influence the healthiness of parents' subsequent self-choices. Whereas prior work focuses on choices for the self (others) as based on self-needs (other-needs), the authors theorize when and why self-choices involve consideration of other-needs. Five studies, including a nursery school field study, test the effect of choosing healthy food for a child on the healthiness of parents' self-choices, focusing on the role of anticipating potentially sharing self-choices with one's child. Potential sharing increased parents' likelihood of making an unhealthy subsequent self-choice if they first made a healthy choice for their child. This effect was driven by parents' present-focused parenting concerns about whether one's child would eat and enjoy healthy options chosen for them. This effect was mitigated when parents instead had future-focused parenting concerns. Additionally, this effect was mitigated after making an initial choice for the child that was (1) unhealthy or (2) healthy but relatively liked by the child. This research contributes to understanding how choices for others shape choices for the self and offers important marketing and policy implications.

Tradeoffs between quality and quantity are widespread in consumer decision- making. While existing research has focused on situational and contextual factors driving choices of higher-quality or higher-quantity purchases, in the current work, we find that consumers possess generalized preferences for quality or quantity across purchase categories. Some consumers systematically prefer quality over quantity, and others systematically prefer quantity over quality. In 32 studies (N 1 / 4 24,404) that use correlational, experimental, and longitudinal designs, and proprietary data from the Federal Reserve Bank, the current research introduces quality-quantity preferences as a novel facet of consumer decision-making. Studies 1-3 demonstrate quality-quantity preferences as an individual difference, develop the "quality-quantity tradeoffs" scale to measure it, and demonstrate that it is different from related existing constructs. Studies 4A-5 show that consumers who prefer quantity over quality spend more money, borrow more, and accrue more debt, indicating that quality-quantity preferences are consequential. Taken together, our findings underscore the importance of quality-quantity preferences as a driver of consumer behavior and pave the way for future research investigating the causes and consequences of consumers' dispositions toward quality or quantity.

Popular brands like Wendy's, Postmates, and RyanAir have gained notoriety by making fun of their consumers, but is this an effective strategy to build strong consumer relationships? Across 11 (seven pre-registered) studies, using lab data, field data, and a variety of analytical approaches, the current research demonstrates that teasing communication increases consumer engagement with and connection to the brand compared to merely funny or neutral communication. These effects occur because consumers anthropomorphize brands more when they use teasing communication. This leads to greater engagement with brand messages and greater self-brand connection (SBC). We also leverage the interpersonal teasing literature to distinguish between prosocial and antisocial teases and highlight an important boundary condition. Specifically, we demonstrate that while prosocial teasing evokes a positive human schema, antisocial teasing, although still anthropomorphic, activates a negative human schema, which reduces connection to the brand. As a result, antisocial teases lose their relational advantage over purely funny communication. This work contributes to the streams of research on brand humor, anthropomorphism, and consumer-brand relationships. It also provides actionable implications by demonstrating a novel antecedent to consumer-brand connection and the boundaries within which these positive effects are expected to occur.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a shift toward a more traditional division of labor–one where women took greater responsibility for household tasks and childcare than men. We tested whether this regressive shift was more acutely perceived and experienced by women in countries with greater gender equality. Cross-cultural longitudinal survey data for women and men (N = 10,238) was collected weekly during the first few months of the pandemic. Multilevel modelling analyses, based on seven waves of data collection, indicated that a regressive shift was broadly perceived but not uniformly felt. Women and men alike perceived a shift toward a more traditional division of household labor during the first few weeks of the pandemic. However, this perception only undermined women’s satisfaction with their personal relationships and subjective mental health if they lived in countries with higher levels of economic gender equality. Among women in countries with lower levels of economic gender equality, the perceived shift predicted higher relationship satisfaction and mental health. There were no such effects among men. Taken together, our results suggest that subjective perceptions of disempowerment, and the gender role norms that underpin them, should be considered when examining the gendered impact of global crisis.

Over the past decade, behavioral scientists have learned that many findings in the field may not replicate, leading to calls for change in how behavioral research is conducted. Krefeld-Schwalb and Scheibehenne (2023) examine changes in the methodological practices in consumer research between 2008 and 2020. They find that sample sizes have increased and that effect sizes have decreased. In this article, we take these findings as a starting point and reflect on how we can further improve methodological practices in the field. We argue that in order to build a more replicable, rigorous field, we must place effect sizes at the center of scientific reasoning. Specifically, we make four claims about effect sizes that we hope will help consumer researchers plan, conduct, and interpret their research: (1) effect sizes in consumer psychology are small, and that is a natural consequence of the field's maturity; (2) effect sizes need to be contextualized; (3) our samples are still too small to detect the small effects of modern empirical consumer research; and (4) larger samples do not inherently generate smaller effects. It is our hope that the current article increases the field's understanding about effect sizes and motivates researchers to place effect sizes at the center of their scientific reasoning. By thinking carefully about effect sizes, we believe we can collectively improve methodological practices and confidence in the findings of consumer psychology.

Despite the ubiquity of celebrations in everyday life, little is known about how celebrations may contribute to consumer well-being. In the current work, the authors propose that celebrations promote perceived social support, which prior work has conceptualized as the belief that others will be there for you for future negative life events. The authors further theorize that celebrations require three key characteristics that, in combination, are necessary for increasing perceived social support. Specifically, celebrations must (1) mark an individual's separate positive event and (2) involve consumption (3) with others (i.e., social). They test this theory across eight studies and demonstrate a process mechanism for this effect: these characteristics lead to increases in enacted support and perceived responsiveness, which in turn lead to increases in more general perceived social support. They then extend these findings by investigating virtually held celebrations, the individual's role at the celebration, and a downstream prosocial outcome. By doing so, this work highlights the broader benefits of celebrations beyond the focal individual and the immediate experience. Finally, specific policy implications and suggestions for enhancing consumer well-being are provided.

Some public officials have expressed concern that policies mandating collective public health behaviors (e.g., national/regional "lockdown ") may result in behavioral fatigue that ultimately renders such policies ineffective. Boredom, specifically, has been singled out as one potential risk factor for noncompliance. We examined whether there was empirical evidence to support this concern during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large cross-national sample of 63,336 community respondents from 116 countries. Although boredom was higher in countries with more COVID-19 cases and in countries that instituted more stringent lockdowns, such boredom did not predict longitudinal within-person decreases in social distancing behavior (or vice versa; n = 8,031) in early spring and summer of 2020. Overall, we found little evidence that changes in boredom predict individual public health behaviors (handwashing, staying home, self-quarantining, and avoiding crowds) over time, or that such behaviors had any reliable longitudinal effects on boredom itself. In summary, contrary to concerns, we found little evidence that boredom posed a public health risk during lockdown and quarantine.

We examine whether the cleverness of a brand's humor attempt affects consumers' brand attitudes and engagement. A clever humor attempt is any humor attempt wherein the consumer feels she must make mental connections to solve the joke (e.g., understand a cultural reference, understand the dual meaning of a pun). Across five studies, we demonstrate that as the cleverness of a humor attempt increases, consumers report higher brand attitudes and are more engaged with the brand. This effect is mediated by perceptions of brand warmth and competence and moderated by consumers' need for cognition.

Although close relationships are often characterized by openness and disclosure, in the present research, we propose that there are times when individuals choose not to tell close others about their consumer behavior, keeping it a secret. For example, one partner may eat a candy bar on the way home from work, hide a package that was delivered to the house, or hire a cleaning service and not tell the other partner. We theorize that this type of consumer behavior is both common and mundane. That is, the consumption itself is minor—and has likely been done with the partner's knowledge in the past—but is being intentionally kept from the partner. We further investigate whether such behavior has downstream effects on the relationship, despite its mundaneness. Five studies support our conceptualization of secret consumer behaviors in close relationships and illustrate one consequence: guilt from secret consumption leads to greater relationship investment. This research explores a common, yet understudied, area of consumer behavior and highlights areas for future research. Thus, we contribute to the literature by being the first work to examine emotional, behavioral, and relational aspects of secret consumer behavior.

Psychological research on the predictors of conspiracy theorizing-explaining important social and political events or circumstances as secret plots by malevolent groups-has flourished in recent years. However, research has typically examined only a small number of predictors in one, or a small number of, national contexts. Such approaches make it difficult to examine the relative importance of predictors, and risk overlooking some potentially relevant variables altogether. To overcome this limitation, the present study used machine learning to rank-order the importance of 115 individual- and country-level variables in predicting conspiracy theorizing. Data were collected from 56,072 respondents across 28 countries during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Echoing previous findings, important predictors at the individual level included societal discontent, paranoia, and personal struggle. Contrary to prior research, important country-level predictors included indicators of political stability and effective government COVID response, which suggests that conspiracy theorizing may thrive in relatively well-functioning democracies.

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