Contamination without contact: An examination of intention-based contagion

Stavrova, Olga; Newman, George; Kulemann, Anna; Fetchenhauer, Detlef

doi:10.1017/s1930297500004770

Cited by 30 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…We offer a more nuanced understanding of when proper name effects occur and specify the conditions in which they attenuate. Our research also contributes to contagion in consumer research (Isabella & Vieira, 2020;Stavrova et al, 2016). Prior work shows that contagion effects can lead to favorable product judgments with a familiar source (e.g., celebrities, artists, immoral people).…”

Section: Theoretical Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Particularly, prior work on contact‐free contagion has shown that the simple act of creation can imbue an object with a special essence (Stavrova et al, 2016). This effect occurs because an object is thought to be an extension of the creator, inheriting the essence of the person when it was created, even though never physically touched by the creator.…”

Section: Theoretical Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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It is not just a name: Effects of proper name for high‐quality versus low‐quality brands

Rathee

Yu-Buck

Gupta

2023

Psychology and Marketing

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The usage of proper names to advertise a product is ubiquitous in the marketplace. In many cases, there is very little information about these names. For example, treatment lotion by “Lady Aiko.” This research examines whether such a strategy effectively increases evaluations for a product. If so, is this strategy more effective when used by a high‐quality brand or a low‐quality brand? Across one field study, one text analytics study, and two experimental studies, we find that the proper name strategy can lead to higher product evaluations and that such names are more effective when advertised for a low‐quality brand. We first propose, using contagion effects, that products advertised with a proper name are more likely to contain the essence of human creation, resulting in greater product effectiveness than identical products without such proper names. Furthermore, we employ the expectation‐disconfirmation account to propose that when the brand has a higher (vs. lower) quality (expectation stage), the product with a proper name strategy (postexpectation stage) leads to small (vs. large) positive disconfirmation, which thereby results in assimilation (vs. contrast) and forming product evaluations similar (vs. higher) to the original assessments of the brand. We offer implications for new product marketers on how to be most effective in influencing product evaluations, as well as policymakers looking to improve consumer welfare by encouraging manufacturers of generic products to consider using a proper name strategy.

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Section: Theoretical Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Theoretical Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

It is not just a name: Effects of proper name for high‐quality versus low‐quality brands

Rathee

Yu-Buck

Gupta

2023

Psychology and Marketing

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“…What causes moral contamination? Contagion accounts (e.g., Rozin et al, 1986 ) do not adequately account for the data, as such theories are about the transmission of a physical essence [see also Stavrova et al (2016) ]. In addition, disgust, long considered to be a central component of moral decision-making, has been shown not to be causally related to moral decision-making ( Landy and Goodwin, 2015 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral contamination: Perceptions of good (but not bad) deeds depend on the ethical history of the actor

Protzko

Schooler²

2023

Front. Psychol.

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In the majority of moral decision-making research, we are asked to consider the action of someone we know little about—an anonymous actor. This is inconsistent with our everyday judgments of the actions of others. Here we test the novel prediction of whether actions are considered as comparably virtuous or malignant when performed by a good person, an immoral person, or the standard anonymous actor. Across four sets of experiments (nine studies in total), we show that the moral status of the actor contaminates peoples’ evaluations of the virtue of their actions. Even without ulterior motives, people do not judge good acts consistently across actors. We also discover a dose–response relationship where the more immoral the actor has been in the past—the less credit they are given for a good action in the present. This process does not occur for good people performing bad acts, however. Bad acts are bad regardless of who commits them. These results give new insights into the way people evaluate the behaviors of others.

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“…A recent paper (Stavrova, Newman, Kulemann & Fetchenhauer, 2016) provides additional data that argue against association as a sufficient interpretation of contagion. These authors were studying a new type of contagion, involving transfer of essence from an immoral person through an object designed by, but never touched by, the immoral person (a new concept of intention-based contagion).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contamination, association, or social communication: An examination of alternative accounts for contagion effects

Fedotova

Rozin²

2018

Judgm. decis. mak.

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Individuals avoid objects that have been in physical contact with morally offensive or disgusting entities. This has been called negative magical contagion, an implicit belief in the transmission of essence by physical contact. Alternatively, individuals may avoid a negatively contaminated object because: 1) the object is a strong reminder of the original contagion source (association account); or 2) the act of interacting with the object signals specific information about the self (social communication account). We report that: 1) people often prefer to interact with an entity that they believe is more associated with a negative source rather than an entity that is less associated but has made physical contact with the same negative source; 2) while an associative account requires that contact enhances association, a study of memory for visual pairings of objects indicates that when objects are touching, their associative link (recall) is no greater than when they are in proximity; and 3) subjects continue to show aversion to (prefer to wear gloves to handle) an object that contacted a negative entity even if they are handling the object in order to physically destroy it, hence strongly signaling their rejection of that object. Association and social communication are at best partial accounts for contagion effects.

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Contamination without contact: An examination of intention-based contagion

Cited by 30 publications

References 55 publications

It is not just a name: Effects of proper name for high‐quality versus low‐quality brands

It is not just a name: Effects of proper name for high‐quality versus low‐quality brands

Moral contamination: Perceptions of good (but not bad) deeds depend on the ethical history of the actor

Contamination, association, or social communication: An examination of alternative accounts for contagion effects

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