Emotional Influence on Consumer Behavior
Summary
Emotional states exert a profound influence on consumer decision-making by shaping attention, memory and valuation processes. Contemporary research distinguishes between integral affect—emotions directly tied to the product or service—and incidental affect, which arises from unrelated circumstances yet permeates evaluations. Appraisal theories highlight that discrete emotions (for example pride, awe, fear or disgust) carry unique cognitive and motivational profiles that steer preferences, risk attitudes and ethical choices. Positive emotions can broaden consumers’ thought–action repertoires, enhancing creativity and long-term engagement, whereas negative emotions may narrow focus, heighten risk aversion or provoke avoidance. The interplay of these affective forces governs not only momentary purchase intentions but also sustainable consumption, digital engagement and cross-cultural responses. Marketing strategies that align emotional appeals with consumers’ value priorities or regulatory orientations can bolster self-efficacy, foster brand loyalty and guide ethical decision-making. Across global markets, understanding the appraisal dimensions of certainty, control and social connectedness enables practitioners to craft emotionally resonant messages with measurable behavioural outcomes.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Emotional Influence on Consumer Behavior publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in emotional influence on consumer behavior across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Integral affect: Emotional reaction directly connected to the product, brand or decision target under evaluation.
Incidental affect: Emotion elicited by an unrelated event or context that nonetheless influences subsequent judgments and choices.
Appraisal dimension: A characteristic of emotional evaluation (for example certainty–uncertainty or control) that shapes cognitive processing and behavioural responses.
Affective forecasting: The process by which individuals predict their future emotional states in response to anticipated events or consumption experiences.
References
- Feeling the values: How pride and awe differentially enhance consumers’ sustainable behavioral intentions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2023).
- How do you happen to feel? The effect of certainty–uncertainty appraisals of incidental emotions on consumer affective forecasting error. Journal of Consumer Behaviour (2024).
- Examining the interplay of information, emotions, and behavior: PLS-ANN analysis. Frontiers in Communication (2024).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.