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Research on social influences often distinguishes between social and quality incentives to ascribe meaning to the value that popularity conveys. This study examines the neural correlates of those incentives through which popularity influences preferences. This research reports an functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment and a behavioral task in which respondents evaluated popular products with three focus perspectives; unspecified focus, focus on social aspects, and focus on quality. The results show that value derived with a social focus reflects inferences of approval and reward value, and positively affects preferences. Value derived with a quality (versus normal) focus reflects inferences of quality and negatively affects preferences. This study provides evidence of two distinct inferential routes on both a neurological level, represented by different regions in the brain, and a behavioral level. These results provide the first evidence that a single popularity cue can in different ways influence the value derived from product popularity.

Research on social influences often distinguishes between social and quality incentives to ascribe meaning to the value that popularity conveys. Neurological knowledge on this distinction is rather limited. The current research examines the neural correlates of those routes through which popularity exerts its effect on consumer preferences and behaviour. This research reports the results of an fMRI experiment in which consumers evaluated a large set of food products from three perspectives, each with a specific focus; a normal focus, a focus on social aspects, and a focus on quality. We show that for consumers with a social (vs. normal) focus, popularity leads to activity in brain regions that compute social value which positively interacts with regions that compute general reward value. The combined activation positively mediates the effect of popularity on preference. For consumers who hold a quality (vs. normal) focus, popularity preferences, which suggests an automatic link between popularity and quality. The neural pattern is reflected in the pattern of results from an additional behavioural task. Together, these results provide the first neurological evidence that a single popularity cue can in different ways, influence the value derived from product popularity.