Motivation and emotion/Book/2026/Consumer emotion measurement

Consumer emotion measurement:
How can consumer emotion be measured?

Overview

The Film "Inside Out" and the challenge of measuring emotion Figure 1. Visual representation of Riley’s emotional experiences in Inside Out. Imagine watching Pixar's Inside Out. As Riley struggles to adjust to moving to a new city, viewers experience her changing emotional world alongside her. As illustrated in Figure 1, her emotions are represented as distinct characters, making her internal experiences visible to the audience. Yet, despite watching the same film, two viewers may experience it differently. One viewer might feel sadness as Riley misses her old home, while another may feel hopeful as she begins to adapt.

This raises an important question for businesses and researchers alike: How can we actually know what consumers are feeling? If a company wanted to evaluate audience reactions to Inside Out, would it rely on questionnaires asking viewers to self report, should it analyse facial expressions, measure heart rate, or track physiological arousal? How do we approach the two viewers reporting differences in emotion despite watching the same film?

The challenge is that emotions are not directly observable, unlike the film Inside Out. Instead, researchers must infer emotional experiences through psychological, behavioural, physiological responses. These emotional experiences are important to businesses because they can influence consumer attitudes, product evaluations, satisfaction and purchasing decisions.

This chapter explores what consumer emotion is, how it can be measured, why consumers may respond differently to the same stimulus, and how individual differences and consumer segmentation can be considered when interpreting emotional responses.

Focus questions What is consumer emotion? What methods are used to measure consumer emotion? How do individual differences influence consumers' emotional responses and their measurement? How can consumer emotion measurement and segmentation inform business decisions?

Understanding consumer emotion

The influence of emotions on judgements, evaluations and decision-making has long been recognised within psychology and consumer behaviour. Early research established that emotions can influence how consumers respond to products and consumption experiences, while more recent research has developed an understanding of how specific emotional states can produce different effects on consumer decision making. Emotions can shape how consumers evaluate products, brands and experiences, while consumers may also seek to regulate their emotions throughout the consumption process.

Understanding these emotional processes is therefore important for examining how and why consumers respond to products and marketing stimuli in different ways. Before considering how these responses can be measured, it is necessary to first understand the nature and dimensions of consumer emotion. This section highlights the early research, key terms and concepts, and further progresses to the current understanding of consumer emotion to date.

Dimensions of emotional experience

• Emotion is not a single, uniform psychological state; researchers have proposed small sub-sets of dimensions to identify and classify "basic" emotions (Stein & Trabasso, 1992).
• Psychologist Paul Ekman identified the most widely recognised set of six basic human emotions (happiness, sadness, surprised, fear, anger and disgust) in the 1960s, grounded in Darwin's theory (Ekman, Dalgleish & Power, 1999).
• Two major approaches are dimensional emotion models, which asserts feelings as continuous points on a coordinate grid rather than as seperate, isolated categories. And second, categorical emotion models (also referred to as discrete models), a framework that classifies human feelings into discrete, seperate and biologically innate basic categories. (PS & Mahalakshmi, 2017).
  • Ekman's work denotes a less-complex categorical model of conceptualising emotional experiences.
• Consumer research has historically used dimensional approaches such as valence and arousal (see key terms and figure 2), however, more recent research suggests that examining specific, discrete emotions can provide additional information about consumer judgements and behaviour (Harmon-Jones, Harmon-Jones & Summerell, 2017).

Figure 2. Russell's Circumplex Model of emotion, a dimensional approach to classifying emotional experience (Russell, 1980).

Table 1

The evolution of dimensional approaches to emotions

Model	Properties	Author and Year
Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) emotional state model	Mehrabian and Russell proposed that emotional responses to environments could be described using three dimensions: pleasure, arousal and dominance.	(Mehrabian & Russell, 1974).
Russell's Circumplex Model	Russell (1980) proposed that affective experiences can be represented within a circular, two-dimensional space. The model is primarily organised around pleasure (valence) and arousal.	(Russell, 1980).
Thayer Model of mood and emotion	Thayer's model describes how activated and tense a person feels on the basis of two dimensions (energetic arousal and tense arousal).	(Thayer, 1989).
The Circumplex Model of affect	Russell and Barrett (1999) argued that “emotion” is too broad to be treated as one scientific category, meaning that different things referred to as emotion may need to be distinguished. A prototypical emotional episode is more complex and involves a sequence of processes, including an antecedent, appraisal, physiological and cognitive changes, behavioural responses and self-categorisation.	(Russell & Barrett, 1999).

Evident in Table 1, the shift from 1974 to 1999 alone denotes the research shift from a primarily dimension and continuum focused approach, to an integration of both dimensional and categorical perspectives. The circumplex model of affect notes that "emotion is too broad" and suggested a shift to a categorisation approach. Furthermore, the 2000s welcomed a prevalence of categorical approaches (Kranzbühler et al., 2020).

Early dimensional models provided a useful way of representing emotional experience along continuous dimensions such as valence and arousal. However, contemporary research suggests that these broad dimensions may not capture the full psychological and behavioural significance of specific emotions. Rather than replacing dimensional approaches, contemporary research increasingly recognises the value of considering both dimensional and discrete perspectives. This broader understanding of emotional experience provides a foundation for considering how emotions influence consumers' responses to products, brands and consumption experiences.

(1) Dimensions of emotional experience - Take home knowledge: Consumer emotions can be understood using both dimensional approaches, which describe emotions according to their fit with broad dimensions, such as valence and arousal, and categorical approaches, which distinguish specific emotions such as happiness, anger and fear. Contemporary consumer research recognises that both perspectives provide valuable insights into emotional experiences.

Emotion and consumer behaviour

• Emotions impact consumer decision-making through cognitive appraisals (Achar et al., 2016).
• Positive and negative emotions can influence evaluations differently, but the specific emotion experienced may also matter e.g., according to the Circumplex model, anger and fear are both negative/high-arousal emotions, but can produce different judgements and decisions, supporting the need for a categorical model influence.
• Lerner and Keltner (2001) demonstrated this distinction using the Appraisal-Tendency framework, two emotions with the same negative valence produce inverse effects on decision-making.

The application of consumer emotion

• Understanding consumer responses > How do emotional responses provide insight beyond satisfaction (Zeelenberg & Pieters, 2004).
• Informing Business decisions > product development, advertising strategies, branding and consumer experience
• Businesses want to apply this information accordingly, we must find reliable ways to measure responses.

Measuring consumer emotion

Emotions involve subjective experiences as well as observable behaviour and physiological responses, researchers use multiple approaches to capture different facets of emotion which will be discussed in this section.

Self-report measures

Self-report measures ask consumers to consciously report their emotional experiences using emotion scales or questionnaires.

Table 2

Summary of self-report tools used to measure consumer emotion.

Tool	Description	Advantage	Limitation

• Self-report measures capture subjective emotional experiences, that may not be observable through behavioural or physiological measures (Chamberlain & Broderick, 2007).

• Such methods are used to assess emotional responses to advertisements, products and consumption experiences, but may be influenced by recall and response biases.

Behavioural and physiological measures

• Emotional responses can be inferred from observable behaviour and physiological changes, such as facial expressions, heart rate and skin conductance. The James-Lange theory of emotion (1884) (made early note of the relationship between physiological changes and perceived emotion (James, 2002; Ningjian, 2024).

• Considerations & limitations

Concluding para: Address limitations, analyse current measurements (shopping cites etc..), link to early theories.

Individual differences in consumer emotion

Although measurement methods can provide insight into consumer emotion, emotional responses should not be assumed to be consistent across consumers. Individuals may experience and express different emotions in response to the same stimuli due to differences in physiological or innate characteristics, experiences and appraisal processes. Thereby, understanding these differences is important when interpreting consumer emotion measurements as a "whole" concept. This section will dissect individual differences, personality and emotion, and further the implications this has on standard emotion measurement.

Individual Differences

• Individualistic vs collectivist cultures affect the upbringing of individuals, leading to different conceptualisations of emotions, generalising standard tests/measures to large cross-cultural groups can be inapplicable (Matsumoto & Hwang, 2012).
• As touched on previously, Ekman's six "basic" emotions is the most widely recognised emotion theory globally (Ekman, Dalgleish & Power, 1999).
• Research by Xie, Bagozzi & Grønhaug (2015) identified the role of moral emotions and their influence on consumers responses to corporate environmental actions. The study additionally highlighted how individual characteristics shape these emotional reactions.Findings showed that corporate non-green actions triggered negative emotions such as contempt, anger and disgust, particularly among consumers with stronger social justice values, empathy, moral identity and self-concept, which subsequently led to negative word-of-mouth, complaints and boycotting.In contrast, corporate green actions elicited gratitude, particularly among more empathetic consumers, which encouraged positive responses such as positive word-of-mouth, resistance to negative information, stronger company identification and investment.

Personality and emotion

• Western individualistic cultures have permeated the understanding of personality and emotion, this is an important consideration when applying concepts broadly or administering psychological measures among large groups.
• Consumption-related emotions are often operationalised as broad dimensions, however, research suggests these dimensions (valence and arousal) have been shown to be influenced by specific personality traits and further, influence customer satisfaction. There is a growing importance of categorical emotional measurement over dimensional (Faullant, Matzler & Mooradian, 2011).
  • Study looks at categorical emotions linked to personality (Joy = extraversion)(Fear = neuroticism).
  • Implications on consumer emotion measurement

Consumer segmentation and emotion measurement

Recognising individual differences in emotional responses has implications beyond measurement, as emotional information can also help businesses identify meaningful consumer groups. When emotion measurement is integrated with consumer segmentation, businesses can examine whether different groups of people respond to products, brands or marketing stimuli differently.

Emotional Segmentation

• Consumer segmentation identifies groups with shared characteristics, while emotional segmentation considers different emotional needs, responses and motivations.
• Consumers can associate different emotions with products and brands, providing a basis for identifying distinct consumer groups (Bigné & Andreu, 2004).
• Businesses can identify segments with different emotional needs to marketing stimuli
  • Case study (brand) example.

Utilising emotion data to inform marketing

• Emotional responses provide information that can support targeted positioning and communication strategies.
• Specific emotions can influence consumer judgements and behaviours differently.
• Emotion data can inform advertising, product development, branding and customer experience decisions.

• Limitations and ethical considerations

(2) Knowledge check quiz 1 All consumers will experience the same emotion when exposed to the same product or marketing stimulus: True False 2 Emotions must be inferred through measurable responses: True False

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Conclusion

• Consumer emotion is complex and cannot be directly observed, so it must be inferred through measurable responses.
• Self-report, behavioural and physiological measures capture different aspects of emotional experience.
• Psychological theories, including dimensional and categorical models, guide how emotion is measured.
• Individual differences such as personality, culture and values determine why consumers may respond differently to the same stimulus.
• Combining measurement approaches and considering individual differences can provide more meaningful consumer insights.
• Emotion measurement can support consumer segmentation and business decisions across many business activities.
• Effective consumer emotion measurement relies on an integration of multiple methods and contextual interpretation.

See also

• Consumer behaviour (Wikipedia)
• Emotional Buying (Book chapter, 2021)
• Personality and Emotion (Book chapter, 2019)

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References

Achar, C., So, J., Agrawal, N., & Duhachek, A. (2016). What we feel and why we buy: the influence of emotions on consumer decision-making. Current opinion in psychology, 10, 166-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.01.009

Bigné, J. E., & Andreu, L. (2004). Emotions in segmentation: An empirical study. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(3), 682-696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2003.12.018

Chamberlain, L., & Broderick, A. J. (2007). The application of physiological observation methods to emotion research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 10(2), 199-216. https://doi.org/10.1108/13522750710740853

Ekman, P., Dalgleish, T., & Power, M. (1999). Basic emotions. San Francisco, USA, 1.

Faullant, R., Matzler, K., & Mooradian, T. A. (2011). Personality, basic emotions, and satisfaction: Primary emotions in the mountaineering experience. Tourism management, 32(6), 1423-1430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.01.004

Harmon-Jones, E., Harmon-Jones, C., & Summerell, E. (2017). On the importance of both dimensional and discrete models of emotion. Behavioral sciences, 7(4), 66. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs7040066

James, W. (2002). The James-Lange theory of emotion. Visceral sensory neuroscience: interoception, 9.

Kranzbühler, A. M., Zerres, A., Kleijnen, M. H., & Verlegh, P. W. (2020). Beyond valence: A meta-analysis of discrete emotions in firm-customer encounters. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(3), 478-498. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00707-0

Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2001). Fear, anger, and risk. Journal of personality and social psychology, 81(1), 146. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.1.146

Matsumoto, D., & Hwang, H. S. (2012). Culture and emotion: The integration of biological and cultural contributions. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43(1), 91-118. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022111420147

Ningjian, L. (2025). James-Lange Theory of Emotion. In The ECPH Encyclopedia of Psychology (pp. 774-775). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-7874-4_1215

PS, S., & Mahalakshmi, G. (2017). Emotion models: a review. International Journal of Control Theory and Applications, 10(8), 651-657.

Stein, N. L., & Trabasso, T. (1992). The organisation of emotional experience: Creating links among emotion, thinking, language, and intentional action. Cognition & Emotion, 6(3-4), 225-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939208411070

Xie, C., Bagozzi, R. P., & Grønhaug, K. (2015). The role of moral emotions and individual differences in consumer responses to corporate green and non-green actions. Journal of the academy of Marketing Science, 43(3), 333-356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0394-5

Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2004). Beyond valence in customer dissatisfaction: A review and new findings on behavioral responses to regret and disappointment in failed services. Journal of business Research, 57(4), 445-455. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(02)00278-3

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External links

• Neuromarketing: Knowing Why You Buy | Sam Usher | TED talk (TED)
• Tightwads and spendthrifts: How emotions drive our shopping behaviour | Podcast (Speaking of Psychology, American Psychological Association)
• You aren't at the mercy of your emotions -- your brain creates them | Lisa Feldman Barrett | TED talk (TED)