ArticlePDF Available

The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing That People Use

Authors:

Abstract and Figures

This article demonstrates that variations in ceiling height can prime concepts that, in turn, affect how consumers process information. We theorized that when reasonably salient, a high versus low ceiling can prime the concepts of freedom versus confinement, respectively. These concepts, in turn, can prompt consumers' use of predominately relational versus item-specific processing. Three studies found support for this theorizing. On a variety of measures, ceiling height-induced relational or item-specific processing was indicated by people's reliance on integrated and abstract versus discrete and concrete ideation. Hence, this research sheds light on when and how ceiling height can affect consumers' responses. (c) 2007 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
... Regarding room size and restorativeness, Gao and Zhang (2020) found that larger rooms may facilitate patient recovery. Nehrke et al. (1979) suggested that room size may influence health status, as small rooms can convey a sense of limitation (Meyers-Levy and Rui, 2007) and exacerbate small-space stressors such as lighting, noise, vibration, radiation, and low air quality (Li et al., 2022). These stressors can be magnified in long-term isolation, leading to sleep disorders and other adverse effects (Meng et al., 2020;Palinkas and Suedfeld, 2021). ...
Article
Full-text available
As society and the economy have advanced, the focus of architectural and interior environment design has shifted from practicality to eliciting emotional responses, such as stimulating environments and innovative inclusive designs. Of particular interest is the home environment, as it is best suited for achieving restorative effects, leading to a debate between interior qualities and restorative impact. This study explored the relationships between home characteristics, restorative potential, and neural activities using the Neu-VR. The results of the regression analysis revealed statistically significant relationships between interior properties and restorative potential. We examined each potential characteristic of the home environment that could have a restorative impact and elucidated the environmental characteristics that should be emphasized in residential interior design. These findings contribute evidence-based knowledge for designing therapeutic indoor environments. And combining different restorative potential environments with neural activity, discussed new neuro activities which may predict restorativeness, decoded the new indicators of neuro activity for environmental design.
... Thus, users tend to explore visually more in such rooms compared to empty rooms or rooms with lower ceilings. This viewing behavior is understandable for both features considering a transition from a lower ceiling room to a high ceiling (Meyers-Levy et al. 2007) or from an empty room to one that has occluding elements. ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
We propose an online methodology where moment-to-moment affect annotations are gathered while exploring and visually interacting with virtual environments. For this task we developed an application to support this methodology, targeting both a VR and a desktop experience, and conducted a study to evaluate these two media of display. Results show that in terms of usability, both experiences were perceived equally positive. Presence was rated significantly higher for the VR experience, while participant ratings indicated a tendency for medium distraction during the annotation process. Additionally, effects between the architectural design elements were identified with perceived pleasure. The strengths and limitations of the proposed approach are highlighted to ground further work in gathering affect data in immersive and interactive media within the context of architectural appraisal.
... This means that rooms that have a long shape provide rather negative feelings and can be useful when designing the indoor version of the "sad" environments. Similar findings were produced by several others studies [45,49,61]. ...
... Embodied cognition research has for example provided support for relationships between physical and mental warmth (Fay & Maner, 2014;IJzerman et al., 2013), verticality and power (e.g., Giessner & Schubert, 2007), and physical weight and importance (Jostmann, Lakens, & Schubert, 2009). Furthermore, the experience of physical space impacts one's experienced psychological space or freedom (Meyers-Levy & Zhu, 2007;Okken et al., 2012). ...
Article
Purpose This research paper explores customer experience (CX) among low-literate customers in organized retail environments. It integrates theories from customer literacy, CX and patronage literature to understand CX comprehensively. Design/methodology/approach The study gathered data from 470 respondents using mall intercept and snowball sampling. Data analysis employed partial least squares (PLS) modeling. Findings The results indicate that all the dimensions do not have the same effect on CX. Answering calls for future research, the results establish CX's nomological validity by showing its positive influence on retail reputation, retail quality and satisfaction. However, it does not directly affect patronage but has an indirect influence through retail quality and satisfaction. Also, the authors conclude that retail quality and satisfaction are consequences of CX and not previously conceptualized proxies for it. Research limitations/implications Conducting primary research with low-literate customers (LLCs) has its own set of limitations that give rise to further research directions. While acknowledging limitations, the study suggests avenues for future research by surveying LLCs with an objective questionnaire, contributing to limited empirical research in this segment. Practical implications The findings highlight the multidimensional nature of CX. In summary, this research paper provides insights into CX dimensions and outcomes for LLCs in organized retail. It contributes to marketing literature, assisting retailers in improving CX and driving patronage across customer segments. Originality/value The paper contributes to marketing literature by studying LLCs, testing a comprehensive CX model, confirming antecedents in retail patronage and exploring reciprocal relationships in retailing.
Article
Background: As a psychological construct, inspiration has not received extensive examination in the outdoor literature. Inspiration can be characterized in terms of evocation, motivation, and transcendence. Purpose: This qualitative study explored the experience of inspiration in response to natural landscapes utilizing Bergson's qualitative multiplicity, the experience of co-occurring heterogeneous elements. Methodology/Approach: Survey respondents participated in a traveling field course visiting 19 U.S. National Parks in 2015 ( n = 15, 26 days) and 14 parks in 2017 ( n = 15, 18 days). Respondents described inspirational experiences in each park. Findings/Conclusions: Qualitative analysis of responses revealed a characteristic pattern: landscape features, landscape qualities, and affective responses. Participants cited vertical features, vastness, and beauty as triggers of inspiration, and characterized inspiration in terms of awe, wonder, and sublimity. Implications: This study describes inspiration in the outdoors, with implications for planning direct experiences of natural landscapes to maximize inspiration.
Article
CEOs often apologize in public to minimize social disapproval after a corporate crisis. We study how certain nonverbal (e.g., shooting angle) and verbal cues (e.g., message construal) in a CEO public apology affect the social disapproval of a firm and the underlying mechanism of these effects. Evidence from 117 news reports of 56 CEO public apologies collected from six major newspapers between 2015 and 2019 confirms an interaction effect between the non-verbal and verbal cues in a public CEO apology. A laboratory experiment replicates this effect by manipulating the shooting angle and construal level and additionally demonstrates the process underlying the effect. We discuss how these findings contribute to a better understanding of stakeholder expectations in the aftermath of a corporate crisis and affect firms’ crisis response strategies and leadership responsibilities.
Article
V sodobnem slovenskem knjižničarstvu je malo literature, strokovne in raziskovalne, ki bi se ukvarjala z načrtovanjem novih knjižničnih stavb. To je svojevrsten paradoks, sploh glede na število v zadnjih desetletjih zgrajenih novogradenj, namenjenih predvsem splošnim knjižnicam v Sloveniji. Članek predstavlja izbrane primere slednjih z analizo prostorskih elementov, ki najbolj vplivajo na odločitve pri načrtovanju tako novogradenj kot tudi prenov knjižničnih stavb. Predstavljeni podatki so posledica raziskave, narejene v sklopu študijskega dela, podan pa je tudi pregled literature, slovenske in tuje, ki se ukvarja s predstavljeno problematiko.
Article
Full-text available
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Chapter
This chapter examines some of the literature demonstrating an impact of affect on social behavior. It will consider the influence of affect on cognition in an attempt to further understand on the way cognitive processes may mediate the effect of feelings on social behavior. The chapter describes the recent works suggesting an influence of positive affect on flexibility in cognitive organization (that is, in the perceived relatedness of ideas) and the implications of this effect for social interaction. The goal of this research is to expand the understanding of social behavior and the factors, such as affect, that influence interaction among people. Another has been to extend the knowledge of affect, both as one of these determinants of social behavior and in its own right. And a third has been to increase the understanding of cognitive processes, especially as they play a role in social interaction. Most recently, cognitive and social psychologists have investigated ways in which affective factors may participate in cognitive processes (not just interrupt them) and have begun to include affect as a factor in more comprehensive models of cognition. The research described in the chapter has focused primarily on feelings rather than intense emotion, because feelings are probably the most frequent affective experiences. The chapter focuses primarily on positive affect.
Article
The authors examine the effect of type of elaboration on information processing and product judgments Research participants were shown print advertisements promoting a camera in which the pictorial material depicted either product features mentioned in the copy (attribute-focused condition) or people, objects, or usage occasions captured by the camera (image-focused condition). These advertisements were presented in the context of advertisements for competing brands of camel as or for products in categories unrelated to cameras. When the context was composed of competing cameras, the attribute-focused advertisement resulted in more favorable target camera judgments than did the image-focused advertisement, whereas when products unrelated to cameras served as the context, the image-focused advertisement prompted more favorable judgments. These results are interpreted as evidence that product judgments are more favorable when an advertising message receives two types of elaboration, item-specific and relational, than when only one of these types of elaboration is dominant.
Article
In this article, the authors propose an integrative model of advertising persuasion that orders the major theories and empirically supported generalizations about persuasion that have been offered in the information-processing literature. The authors begin by reviewing this literature, placing particular emphasis on the assorted processes or mechanisms that have been suggested to mediate persuasion. To consolidate this material, the authors propose a framework that delineates three alternative strategies that people may use to process persuasive communications and form judgments, in which each strategy represents a different level of cognitive resources that is employed during message processing. In addition, the framework identifies a judgment correction stage that allows people to attempt to correct their initial judgments for biases that they perceive may have affected such judgments. The authors add to this by identifying particular processes that appear to mediate when and how these judgment formation and judgment correction processes operate. They also attempt to foster growth by specifying some of the critical issues and gaps in the knowledge that appear to impede further progress. Finally, the authors clarify how the proposed framework can inform the decisions advertising practitioners make about advertising execution and media factors.
Article
In this article, the authors propose an integrative model of advertising persuasion that orders the major theories and empirically supported generalizations about persuasion that have been offered in the information-processing literature. The authors begin by reviewing this literature, placing particular emphasis on the assorted processes or mechanisms that have been suggested to mediate persuasion. To consolidate this material, the authors propose a framework that delineates three alternative strategies that people may use to process persuasive communications and form judgments, in which each strategy represents a different level of cognitive resources that is employed during message processing. In addition, the framework identifies a judgment correction stage that allows people to attempt to correct their initial judgments for biases that they perceive may have affected such judgments. The authors add to this by identifying particular processes that appear to mediate when and how these judgment formation and judgment correction processes operate. They also attempt to foster growth by specifying some of the critical issues and gaps in the knowledge that appear to impede further progress. Finally, the authors clarify how the proposed framework can inform the decisions advertising practitioners make about advertising execution and media factors.
Article
A model of interpersonal terms (verbs and adjectives) is reviewed in terms of the research on: (a) the systematic cognitive inferences these terms mediate, and (b) the implications of this model for social cognitive processes as it is applied in different domains such as attribution processes and intergroup relations.
Article
Advertising repetition is frequently used to influence consumers' judgments of an advertised product. Several studies have found that when the target ad is repeated in a cluttered environment, repetition may not affect judgments. These findings have provoked little interest because they seem to be attributable to the interference introduced by the cluttered environments. The implication is that a substantial number of exposures to the target ad would be needed before an effect of ad repetition on product judgments would be observed. Based on recent research, this article offers and tests an alternative account. The hypothesis is that the nature of the environment in which an ad is repeated can affect the occurrence of two types of target ad processing: item-specific and relational. The type(s) of processing the ad receives, in turn, affects ad recipients' learning and judgments of ad-related information. q 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Article
Is there a method to our madness when it comes to shopping? Hailed by the "San Francisco Chronicle" as "a Sherlock Holmes for retailers," author and research company CEO Paco Underhill answers with a definitive "yes" in this witty, eye-opening report on our ever-evolving consumer culture. "Why We Buy" is based on hard data gleaned from thousands of hours of field research -- in shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets across America. With his team of sleuths tracking our every move, from sweater displays at the mall to the beverage cooler at the drugstore, Paco Underhill lays bare the struggle among merchants, marketers, and increasingly knowledgeable consumers for control. In his quest to discover what makes the contemporary consumer tick, Underhill explains the shopping phenomena that often go unnoticed by retailers and shoppers alike, including: How a well-placed shopping basket can turn a small purchase into a significant sale What the "butt-brush factor" is and how it can make sales plummet How working women have altered the way supermarkets are designed How the "boomerang effect" makes product placement ever more challenging What kinds of signage and packaging turn browsers into buyers For those in retailing and marketing, "Why We Buy" is a remarkably fresh guide, offering creative and insightful tips on how to adapt to the changing customer. For the general public, "Why We Buy" is a funny and sometimes disconcerting look at our favorite pastime.
Article
Automatic stereotype activation can be overcome intentionally and after an extensive training. However, intentions have to be tailored to a certain social category. It is hypothesized that activating the mindset “think different” by priming creativity prevents stereotypes and associations in general from becoming automatically activated. In two experiments a creative, a thoughtful or no mindset was activated. Afterwards, the activation of associations was measured using a lexical decision task with semantic priming. As predicted, the automatic activation of stereotypes (Study 1) and other associations (Study 2) was found in the control conditions but not in a creative mindset. These results suggest that people possess a mindset that allows for overcoming automatic stereotype activation without being tailored to a specific category.