the effects of music in advertising on choice behavoiur

8/11/2019 The Effects of Music in Advertising on Choice Behavoiur

1/9

The Effects of Music in Advertising on Choice Behavior: A Classical Conditioning ApproachAuthor(s): Gerald J. GornReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of Marketing, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Winter, 1982), pp. 94-101Published by: American Marketing AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1251163.

Accessed: 11/03/2013 11:04

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

American Marketing Associationis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to

Journal of Marketing.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=amahttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1251163?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1251163?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ama


2/9

Gerald

J. Gorn

h e Effects

o f

M usic

n

Advertising

n

hoice

Behavior

Classical

onditioning

Approach

OMMERCIALS

typically

contain both

product

specific

information and

background

features

such as

pleasant

music,

attractive

colors,

and humor.

This

paper

examines the

impact

of the

background

features on

product preferences.

One

experiment

was

conducted

to determine whether

background

features

of

a commercial

affected

product preferences

when

only

minimal

product

information was

presented.

A

second

experiment

examined the

relative

importance

of

background

features

and

product

information in

different

situations.

The

impact

of

product

information in a

commer-

cial on

beliefs and

attitudes

would

typically

be

inter-

preted

within an

information

processing

framework.

It is suggested here that a classical conditioning

framework

could

account for the

potential

impact

of

background

features on

product

attitudes.

Classical

Gerald

. Gorns a

professor

n

he

Faculty

f Commercend

Business

Administration,

niversity

f British

olumbia.he

author

would ike

to

thank he

Institut

'administration

es

Entreprises,

niversity

ix-

Marseille,

rance,

or ts

helpful

ssistance

n

formulating

nd

pretest-

ing

he

project.

Do

features like

humor, sex,

color,

and

music

in

a

commercial

merely

increase

our

attention

to

product

information in

a

message,

or can

they

directly

influence

our

attitudes?

The

results of

an

experiment

using

a

classical

conditioning ap-

proach

suggest

that

hearing

liked or

disliked mu-

sic

while

being exposed

to

a

product

can

directly

affect

product

preferences.

A

second

experiment

differentiated

communication

situations

where

a

classical

conditioning approach

or an

information

processing approach

might

be

appropriate

in

ex-

plaining product

preference.

conditioning

suggests

that

positive

attitudes

towards

an

advertised

product

(conditioned stimulus)

might

develop through

its association

in a

commercial

with

other

stimuli that

are reacted

to

positively

(uncondi-

tioned

stimuli).

Attractive

colors,

pleasant

music,

and

humor are

examples

of

potential

unconditioned

stim-

uli

in a

commercial.

Potentially,

classical

condition-

ing

could,

in

fact,

explain

the effect

of

many

variables

in

communication-attitude

change

situations.

For

ex-

ample,

the communicator

effect

may

to some

extent

be due to

the association

of the attitude

object

with

positive

affect

attached to

the

communicator.

In

marketing,

classical

conditioning

is

often men-

tioned

and

generally

accepted

as a

process

relevant

to

advertising (e.g., Engel, Blackwell, and Kollat 1978;

Schiffman

and

Kanuk

1978).

There

is,

however,

little

empirical

research

on

whether

preferences

for

objects

can

actually

be

classically

conditioned. In

psychol-

ogy,

where classical

conditioning

has

been

investi-

gated

more

extensively,

there is

little

evidence

that

attitudes

can

be

classically

conditioned

(Brewer

1974,

Fishbein

and

Ajzen

1975).

The

limited

popularity

of

classical

conditioning

may

be due to

several

difficul-

ties associated

with

typical

conditioning

experiments.

Journal of

Marketing

Vol. 46 (Winter1982), 94-101.

4 / Journalof Marketing,Winter1982

This content downloaded on Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:04:59 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/9

Difficulties

With

Classical

Conditioning

Demand

Characteristics

Fishbein

and

Ajzen

(1975)

suggest

that

attitude

hange

in

conditioning experiments

may

be a

function

of

the

demand

characteristicsof the

experimental

situation.

They

believe

that

the

subject

must

be

consciously

aware of the presence of the unconditionedstimulus

when the

conditioned

stimulus is

present

in order

for

conditioning

to

take

place.

This

awareness

may

lead

subjects

to

believe that

the

experimenter

wants

them

to

respond

positively

to a

conditioned

stimulus if

it

is

paired

with a

positive

unconditioned

stimulus.

But

awareness of

the conditioned

stimulus/uncondi-

tioned

stimulus

contingency

should

not

automatically

mean that

attitude

change

is

more

likely

the result

of

demand

characteristics than

conditioning.

In

fact,

there is

evidence of

attitude

conditioning

even

where

demand

ype

responses

were

minimized

through

elab-

orate cover

stories

later verified

as

believed

by

sub-

jects (Zanna, Kiesler, and Pilkonis 1970).

Lack of

Awareness

The

consumer

may

not

always

be aware that

the

un-

conditioned

stimuli

in a

commercial

may

affect

his/

her

product

attitudes.

Even

more

generally,

the con-

sumer

may

not

be

aware of the

real forces

impacting

on

both

attitudes

and

behavior. For

example, many

in-store

features

may

influence

consumers

although

they

may

not

be

easily

evoked

in

post-purchase

ex-

planations

of

buying

(amount

of

shelf

space

devoted

to

a

product,

color

of

the

package,

and

so

on).

Nisbett

and

Wilson

(1977)

reviewed

empirical

evi-

dence

casting

doubt on

people's

ability

to

introspect

accurately

regarding

heir

cognitive

processes.'

They

suggest

that

people

often

speculate

about

the

potential

causes

of

their

own

behavior

and

select

stimuli

which

they

think

are

probable

reasons for

their

behavior.

They

may

conclude

that

what

they

think

should

be

the

cause

of

their

behavior

is in

fact

the

cause

of

their

behavior

(Nisbett

and

Wilson

1977).

In

a

typical

communication

situation,

people

may

not

realize or

accept

the

impact

of

unconditioned

tim-

uli

on

their

responses,

since

unconditioned

stimuli

should

not

logically

be

related to

behavior.

Possible

classical conditioning effects might, therefore, be

underestimatedand

underreported

n

self-reports.

In

analyzing

their

behavior,

people

may

attempt

o

con-

vince

both

themselves

and

the

researcher

hat

they

are

strictly

rational.

Cognitive

bias

can

result

from

an

at-

'The

Nisbett

and

Wilson

(1977)

article

is

controversial;

see

both

Ericson

and

Simon

(1980)

and

Weitz

and

Wright

(1979)

for

criti-

cisms.

tempt

to

think

well

of

oneself

(Greenwald

1980).

A

rational

analysis

of

behavior

in a

communication

sit-

uation

might

be

biased

in

favor

of

information

and,

therefore,

of an

information

processing

model.

For

example,

it

may

be more

logical

to

say

that

you

like

the

product

more

after

seeing

a

commercial,

because

you

now

believe it

has

X

characteristic,

rather

than

because

you

liked

the

music

in the

commercial.

Thus

evidence

supporting

classical

conditioning

s

unlikely

to emerge in

self-reports.

Arousal

In

testing

for

classical

conditioning, product

infor-

mation in

the

commercial

mustbe

kept

minimal,

oth-

erwise the

unconditioned

stimuli in

the

commercial

might

merely

be

arousing

interest

in

product

infor-

mation.

Background

features

such

as

sex, music,

color,

and

humor

have

typically

been

treated as

arousal

stimuli

or

stimuli

that

reinforce

the

informa-

tion in the

commercial

rather han

unconditioned

tim-

uli (see Engel, Blackwell, andKollat 1978, for a dis-

cussion

of

this

material).

n

the

print

medium,

Kroeber-

Riel

(1979)

found

that

ads

that

were

arousing

pro-

duced

better

recall

of

the

information in

the

ad.

A

greater

knowledge

of the

product

information

could

presumably

create

more

positive

product

attitudes.

However,

by

minimizing

product

information

in a

commercial

one

can

investigate

the

potential

ability

of

unconditioned

timulito

change

consumer

attitudes

directly.

Mere

Exposure

Versus

Classical

Conditioning

Mere exposure effects can be confoundedwith clas-

sical

conditioning

effects.

While

people

may

develop

favorable

attitudes

owards

products

advertised n

the

context

of

unconditioned

stimuli,

these

attitude

shifts

may

be

simply

a

function

of

mere

exposure

to

the

advertised

product.

Zajonc

(1968)

has

emphasized

that

exposure

leads

to

liking.

Krugman

(1965)

sug-

gested

that

in low

involvement

situations,

people

may

purchase

a

product

simply

because

they

have

been

exposed

to

it

before

through

a

commercial.

It is in-

teresting

to

note that

with

the

Krugman

model,

ex-

posure

leads

to

behavior,

with

attitude

not

concep-

tualized as an intervening variable. With classical

conditioning,

however,

the

person

is

not

choosing

an

object

simply

because

it's

been

seen

before.

His/her

affect

is also

involved,

so

that

if

the

product

(condi-

tioned

stimulus)

is

paired

with

a

negative

uncondi-

tioned

stimulus t

would

be

avoided

despite

exposure.

The

following

experiment

nvestigating

he

impact

of the

background

eatures

of

a

commercial

on

prod-

uct

preferences

allowed

for

a

test

of

mere

exposure

versus

classical

conditioning

effects.

Effects

of

Music

n

Advertising 95



4/9

Experiment

One

Basic

Structure

and

Hypothesis

In

the

present

study,

subjects

were

exposed

to a neu-

tral

product

(conditionedstimulus)

in

the context of

a

background

eature

(unconditionedstimulus),

often

found in

commercials.

To minimize the difficulties

mentioned earlier

in

employing

a

conditioning para-

digm, a numberof steps were taken. To lessen de-

mand

characteristics,

an

unobtrusive,

behavioralmea-

sure of

productpreference

was used instead

of

a

paper

and

pencil

measure.

Information

on

the conditioned

stimulus was

kept

as close

to zero as

possible

to dem-

onstrate hat the

unconditioned timulus

could

directly

affect

product preference

even

where

product

infor-

mation

was minimal.

A

negative

unconditioned

stim-

ulus condition

was structured o test

for mere

expo-

sure versus

classical

conditioning.

Consistent

with

a

conditioning

interpretation,

t was

hypothesized

that

subjects

would

prefer

an

unexposed

versus

exposed

product

if

the

exposed

product

were

paired

with a

negative unconditionedstimulus. In contrast, where

the

conditioned

stimulus was

paired

with

a

positive

unconditioned

stimulus,

subjects

would choose the

exposed

rather han

unexposed

product.

Sample

244

undergraduates

andomly

assigned

during regis-

tration to two sections of

a first

year management

course at McGill

University

served as

subjects.

Pilot

In a

pilot,

a

group

of 10

subjects

evaluated

10

dif-

ferentpieces of music on a scale rangingfrom dislike

very

much

(1)

to like

very

much

(5).

The results

of

the

pilot

led

to

the choice

of a

one-minute extract of

music from the movie "Grease" as the

positive

un-

conditioned stimulus

(x=4.3).

One

minute

of

classi-

cal Indian music

(x=

1.5)

served as the

negative

un-

conditionedstimulus.2

Two

different colors of a

pen

were

used as con-

ditioned

stimuli,

light

blue and

beige,

neutral

enough

so

that

associating

them

with liked

or

disliked

music

could

change

color

preferences.

A

pilot

on

23

subjects

had

revealedthat 80%

felt neutralabout

ight

blue and

beige pens,

whereas,

for

example, yellow pens

were

generally disliked, with black pens generally liked.

A

second

sample

(N=41)

of

subjects

were asked di-

rectly

whether

hey

preferred

beige

or

light

blue

pens.

It

was

expected

that if

subjects

were

neutralabout

the

two

colors,

then

half would

choose each.

The

results

2Although

musical

preferences

are

affected

by

prior learning,

music

was

treated as

the

unconditioned

stimulus since it was

not

being

con-

ditioned

in

the

present

experiment.

supported

his

notion,

as 22 out of 41

picked

the

beige

pen,

19 the

light

blue

pen.

Design

and Procedure

The

experiment

was carriedout

during

class time. The

experimenter explained

that an

advertising agency

was

trying

to select

music

(unconditionedstimulus)

to use

in

a commercial

for a

pen

(conditioned

stim-

ulus)

producedby

one of its clients.

They

would

hear

some music that was

being

considered while

they

watched the

slide of the

pen

which the

agency

was

planning

to advertise.

The

pen

was

inexpensive

look-

ing

and cost

forty-nine

cents.

Very

little information

regarding

he

pen's

attributeswas visible in the slide.

The

following

conditions

were structured:

)

con-

dition

LI-Liked

music,

light

blue

pen;

2)

condition

L2-Liked music,

beige pen;

3)

condition

Dl-Disliked

music,

light

blue

pen;

4)

condition

D--Disliked

mu-

sic,

beige

pen.3

While

subjects

had been

randomly

assigned

to the

two sections

of the

course,

a

counter-

balancing procedure

was used to control further

for

any differences that might have existed between the

two sections.

To counterbalance he music and the

color of the

pen

withineach

class,

one-halfof the

first

class was

randomlyassigned

to the liked

music-light

blue

pen

condition

(LI),

while the other

half was as-

signed

to the

disliked

music-beige

pen

condition

(D2).

In

the second

class,

one-half

of the students

were

randomly

assigned

to the

liked

music-beige

pen

condition

(L2),

with the other half

assigned

to the

disliked

music-light

blue

pen

condition

(DI).

The

two conditions

in

each class were

run

sequentially

with one-half

of

the class

taking

a break while the

other half

participated

n

the

project.

The

subjects

in each condition heard the music

while

they

watched

the

slide.

They

then evaluated he

music

on

a

scale

ranging

from dislike

very

much

(1)

to

like

very

much

(5).

They

were told that

they

would

receive either a

light

blue or

beige pen

for their

help,

donated

by

the

company

that

manufactures he

pen.

The

experimenter

held

up

each

pen

briefly

and com-

mentedthat

if

they

wanted

a

light

blue

one,

to

go

over

to the left side of the room to

pick

one

up

and

drop

off

their

question

sheet in a box

provided.

If

they

wanted a

beige

one,

they

were told to

go

to

the

right

side of

the room to

pick

up

the

pen

and

drop

off

their

question sheet. Using two different locations for the

boxes

(150

pens per

box)

of

beige

and blue

pens,

with

question

sheet

drop-off

boxes

next to

them,

allowed

3No condition

containing

both

positive

and

negative

music was

structured,

since it was felt

the

demand

characteristics

would be too

great

under

such

circumstances;

subjects

would

be more

likely

to

think

that

we

expected

them to

pick

the

color of the

pen

associated

with the

positive

music if

both

positive

and

negative

music were

used

in the

same

condition.

96 / Journalf Marketing, inter 982



5/9

for a

relatively

unobtrusive

recording

of choices

and

linking

of these choices

to the evaluation

of

the

mu-

sic.4 As

a result of the music evaluation

ratings, ap-

proximately

10

subjects

were

eliminatedfrom

each

of

the four conditions.

They

were eliminated

if in

the

liked music

conditions,

they

did

not evaluate

the

mu-

sic from

"Grease"

as

either

like

very

much

(5)

or

like

somewhat

(4),

or in

the

disliked music

conditions,

if

they

did not evaluate the Indian

music

as either

dislike

very much (1) or dislike somewhat (2). For the re-

maining subjects,

it was

predicted

that

they

would

pick

the color

of

the

pen they

saw when

they

heard

the liked

music and the

alternative

color

when

they

heard

the disliked

music.

Once out

of

class,

subjects

were

handed the

fol-

lowing

free

response question: "Why

did

you

pick

the

color

of the

pen you

picked

rather than

the

other

color? If

you

have

any

reasons

please

list

them

be-

low."

There

was

room for

thiee

answers.

Finally,

a

discussion

about the natureof the

proj-

ect

was held with

10 students at

the end of class

one

and 10 studentsat the end of class two. Not one men-

tioned that our real

purpose

was to influence

their

particular

olor

preferences.

When told that this

was

in

fact the

purpose,

some

wonderedhow

we were

able

to detect their

preferences,

since

they

did

not

put

the

color of the

pen

they picked

or their names

down

on

the

question

sheet.

They

also did not

see

anyone

re-

cording

their

choices

when

they

picked

the

pens

from

the boxes.

Results

Comparing

he

effect of

liked

versus disliked

music

(Li

and

L2

collapsed

versus

DI

and

D2

collapsed),

there was a very clearcutimpactof the music in the

expected

direction.

As

can be

seen in

Table

1,

74

out

of

94

subjects

(79%)

picked

the

color

of the

pen

as-

sociated with

the liked

music,

while

only

30

out

of

101

subjects

(30%)

picked

the

color of

the

pen

as-

sociated with

the disliked

music.5

When

asked for

possible

reasons

for

their

choice,

126

out of

205

subjects

(62%)

indicated

that

they

did

have

a

particular

reason.

Of

these

126

people,

114

(91%)

mentioned

color

preference

as their

reason.

4A

behavioral rather

than

verbal

measure of

preference

was

used,

in

part,

because it could be recorded

unobtrusively.

In

addition,

be-

havioral

measures of

attitudes

are

generally

preferred

to

verbal

mea-

sures,

although

less

prevalent

in

the

literature

(Carlsmith,

Ellsworth,

and

Aronson

1976).

'The color of

pen

did

not

seem to

matter.

36

out

of

43

people

(84%)

picked

the

light

blue

pen

when it

was

associated

with

the

liked

music

(L,);

38 out

of 51

(74%)

picked

the

beige

rather than

the

light

blue

pen

when

the

beige pen

was

associated

with the

liked

music

(L2).

Similarly,

17

out of 52

(33%)

chose

the

light

blue

pen

when it

was

associated

with

disliked

music

(D,)

while

13

out

of

49

(26%)

picked

the

beige

pen

when it

was

associated

with

the

disliked music

(D2).

These

differences

were

not

statistically

significant.

TABLE1

Liked

Versus

Disliked

Music

and Pen

Choices

Pen Choice

"Advertised"

"Non-advertised"

pen

pen

Liked

music

74

20

94

Disliked

music 30

71

101

104

91

195

x2

=

47.01

(p

the effects of music in advertising on choice behavoiur

Documents