The human transfer of taste through tales: Exploring the
effects of anthropomorphism in storytelling on taste
perception
Master Thesis
The human transfer of taste through tales: Exploring the effects of
anthropomorphism in storytelling on taste perception
Arjen van der Bij s2534061 University of Groningen Faculty of Business and Economics
Department of Marketing MSc. Marketing Management
Jozefisraelsstraat, 9718GC, Groningen a.h.j.van.der.bij@student.rug.nl
+31637447474
Abstract
Table of contents Abstract ... 2 Introduction ... 4 Literature Review ... 5 Rise of storytelling ... 5 Anthropomorphism ... 6 Anthropomorphism in marketing ... 7
Effects on perceptual taste ... 7
Anthropomorphism in stories ... 8
Need for sociality ... 12
Involvement ... 13
Conceptual model ... 14
Methodology ... 15
Participants and design ... 15
Materials ... 15 Procedure ... 17 Analysis... 18 Main relation ... 18 anthropomorphism on taste. ... 18 sweetness. ... 18 softness. ... 18 smoothness. ... 19 bitterness. ... 19 liking. ... 19 additional findings. ... 21 Moderation... 22
moderator - dependant variable relationship. ... 22
moderation effects. ... 22
moderation “Need for Sociality” on anthropomorphism bitterness relation. ... 23
moderation “Involvement” on anthropomorphism taste relation. ... 24
insignificant moderation of “Need for Sociality” and “Involvement” on anthropomorphism on taste. ... 25
Discussion ... 26
Limitations ... 26
Future research ... 29
Bibliography ... 31
Introduction
You have a very important meeting, and absolutely need your car to get there. However, as you approach your car and see it standing in the driveway, with its headlights like eyes, and the grill as if it was smiling at you, you see that your car has a flat tire. Even though you are mad at the car for not serving its purpose, you can’t help but feel empathy for it. Why do we feel empathy for an inanimate object? Why don’t we see it as a composition of metal and rubber, and act accordingly? The answer might lie in the fact that we don’t just see the car as an object, but rather as a human like entity who deserves empathy and fair
treatment. The mechanism at work here is called anthropomorphism, and in marketing it is extensively used to create deeper and more emotional connections between consumer and product.
In anthropomorphic marketing, various different approaches can be taken to establish this connection, but this is predominantly done through visual anthropomorphism.
Anthropomorphism through storytelling has seen less usage in marketing, and has less academic coverage, but in the famous words of American poet Robert Frost, taking the road less travelled by, might make all the difference.
This research will focus on anthropomorphism through storytelling on product packaging, and the effects it has on perceptual taste. As judgments and expectations about products are formed by extrinsic product cues, such as the stories on the packaging, the expected and perceived taste are change accordingly. This paper will provide an exploratory research to uncover the effects of anthropomorphism in storytelling. Possible moderating variables will also be identified and tested, these moderating variables are the need for sociality and the level of involvement.
This research tries to explore this, by making various links between existing empirical evidence, and by experimentally testing the drawn hypotheses.
So the question for marketers now is, what is the influence of anthropomorphism in
Literature Review
Rise of storytelling
In marketing there has been a surge in storytelling to attract and retain consumers (Pulizzi, 2012). These stories mean to serve various purposes. They provide the consumer with valuable, relevant and compelling content, which is used to create positive behavior towards products and services. Whereas in the last century marketing was mostly focused on providing the customers with rational stories, about the product characteristics, to sway the customers to buy the products, the new age of marketing is more about creating an emotional response in the customer, that will serve to make the customer like the product or brand more (Fennis & Stroebe, 2016).
Nowadays, many purchase decisions and touch points with brands occur under distraction. With people spending more time online than ever before, by having the constant ability to consume media and be available for communication, people exist in a state of almost constant distraction. When people make decisions on whether to buy a certain product, or which brand they prefer, they often do not possess the cognitive ability to process all information directed their way, and instead rely on how the brand makes them feel (Fennis & Stroebe, 2016). Companies therefore shift towards more “feeling based” or affective means of advertising, amongst which by creating compelling stories.
One such meaningful response shown by research to be one of the key factors in determining the effectiveness of stories is emotion (Mcduff, 2012). An affective reaction can be in the form of liking, disliking, preference, evaluation, or the experience of pleasure or displeasure (Zajonc, 1980). The emotional responses they bring forth vary among consumers because of individual differences, some of which will be examined in this research. Many different course of actions can be pursued to establish this affective response; this research however will focus on how “anthropomorphism” can elicit this response, and what its specific effects are.
Anthropomorphism
It is in human nature to imbue life and matter around us with humanlike
characteristics, emotions, intentions and motivations (Epley, Waytz, & Cacioppo, 2007). When we examine religious deities, they tend to all have humanlike characteristics, even when they are non-human. Even in design nowadays producers often try to put these
humanlike characteristics in their products, think for example about cars, where the headlights and the grill seem like a human face. Anthropomorphism is described by Oxford dictionary as “The attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object”.
The reason for making the world around us more human like is in many ways connected to the social nature of man. Man has a high need for social connection. When deprived of social connection, neural mechanisms, similar to those activated in times of physical pain, are activated, and to alleviate this pain from a lack of social contact, people anthropomorphize the world around them (MacDonald & Leary, 2005), this is called the sociality motivation. Another reason for anthropomorphic behavior is effectance. Effectance means to effectively interact with one’s environment, so in order to make sense of the complex environment humans have linked these human traits and characteristics to non-human objects and phenomena (Waytz et al, 2010). The extent to which individuals
anthropomorphize depends from person to person, some cultures seem to anthropomorphize more than others and some situations also seem to elicit more anthropomorphic behavior than others. Research has shown that we treat these humanized objects as moral agents worthy of respect versus just treating them as inanimate objects (Waytz et al, 2010). Using
Anthropomorphism in marketing
Anthropomorphism has been used in marketing in order to make the consumer create this human like bond with the product. Research by Delbaere, McQuarrie, & Phillips has shown that when the consumer anthropomorphizes the product, this leads to more positive emotions, more positive attributions of brand personality, and brand liking (Delbaere, McQuarrie, & Phillips, 2011). Not only positive emotions can be transferred this way, the anthropomorphic nature of brands can also backfire when the customers associate the
wrongdoings of the company with the personality of the brand, or when the anthropomorphic characters have negative personality traits or characteristics. Because the brands have human traits, consumer make the inference that the brand is mindful and has intentions, and
malpractice can have negative effects on attitude towards the anthropomorphic brand (Morhart, Malär, Guèvremont, Girardin, Grohman 2015).
Brands use anthropomorphism extensively to create a strong personality for the brand. With brands this is done by giving a face to the brand, making it more human like, or
embellishing it with stories; it is not just trying to give a brand a face, but more trying to enrich it with human traits. This personality serves as a way in which consumers can relate with the brand on an emotional level and create more engagement. The personality of a brand tends to serve a symbolic or self-expressive function, in contrast to the product related
attributes which serve as strictly utilitarian function (Keller, 1993).
Aaker (1997) argues that the antecedents of a brand’s personality are a combination of the brand’s imagery and through certain brand characteristics. The brand’s imagery is defined by “the set of human characteristics associated with the typical user of the brand”
(McCracken, 1989) and characteristics of other associated people like employees, endorsers and the anthropomorphic entities, which all transfer some of their personality onto the brand. The brand characteristics that influence the personality are product related attributes, product category associations, brand name, symbol or logo, advertising style, price and distribution channel (Aaker, 1997).
Effects on perceptual taste
The way we perceive taste may not always equal what we are actually tasting. There are numerous factors that affect and alter our perception of taste. Taste in not solely
irritation (Delwiche, 2004). The combination of all these elements gives an experience which surpasses the mere summation of the elements individually (Dalton, Doolittle, Nagata, & Breslin, 2000). The interaction between the various elements, or cues, is often referred to as cross-modal influences. One of such cross-modal influences could be found in the perception of an anthropomorphic entity. The sight of a human like entity, could influence the way taste is perceived.
Taste however is not only determined by these cross-modal influences, but is also affected by other factors such as emotional state and mood (Platte, Herbert, Pauli, & Breslin, 2013). Research by Platte, Herbert, Pauli, & Breslin (2013) found that inducing certain affective states altered the subject’s perception of taste. Subjects that were put in a positive affective state rated the food as sweeter and less sour, while people that were put in a negative affective state rated sweet and umami food as less intense (Al’absi, Nakajima, Hooker,
Wittmers, & Cragin, 2012).
Perceived taste can also be affected by extrinsic product cues. These cues, like for example the products brand name, price, country of origin or organic nature (Krystallis & Chryssohoidis, 2005), provide the consumer with indicators to the quality, value (Veale, 2008) and taste of the product. Consumers have pre-existing beliefs and expectations related to these cues which serve to influence their judgments. This is because consumers want to simplify their decision-making processes, and thus use these cues as a basis of their
judgments, instead of making decisions on more difficult to process information that requires further and deeper elaboration (Krystallis & Chryssohoidis, 2005). These cues do not have to be truthful to elicit these judgments. When consumers are told that a certain product contains more natural ingredients, or that it was very expensive, consumers have more positive beliefs towards it and will perceive the product in a way which as congrues with these beliefs (Shiv, Carmon, & Ariely, 2005).
The taste someone experiences when tasting something is closely linked to the expectations one has about the quality; when people expect quality, quality is what they perceive. So in order to create the optimal taste perception, the consumer needs to be swayed in favor of the product before the actual consumption (Olshavsky & Miller, 1972).
Anthropomorphism in stories
cue. In writing stories and claims, marketers can take a plethora of roads with which to talk about the product. In this research, the focus is on creating favorable expectations by
anthropomorphizing the product through anthropomorphism in stories. Anthropomorphism in storytelling has seen very limited academic research and as such, this research will have an exploratory nature.
Prior research has focused mainly on visual anthropomorphism; how adding human visual stimuli cue people to link human traits to the object. This was mainly done by looking at imagery in print and in video, looking the effects of the brand logos, brand characters and examining design. An example of this was when anthropomorphism saw a surge in popularity in the 1960’s with the use of spokescharacters. Cartoony characters with human traits were linked to products to increase the liking of the products. The usage of these spokescharacters slowed down drastically because it was deemed a very overt marketing effort, and was even considered “cheesy” (Shalit & Ruth, 2000). Marketers therefore seek another way to create this connection, which might be done through the less obvious and cheesy way of
anthropomorphizing in storytelling. By doing so, the usage of anthropomorphism can lead to similar effects of increased attributions of personality and increased emotional connections (Delbaere, McQuarrie, & Phillips, 2011), without being obvious and cheesy.
When stories contain anthropomorphic entities, it is believed that these entities will give some of their personality to the product similar to when this happens through visual anthropomorphism (McCracken, 1989). Similar to visual anthropomorphism, it is expected that consumers will also be able to form an emotional connection to the entity that is
portrayed in stories, and consequently experience similar effects. This is expected because the anthropomorphic entities portrayed in stories can similarly have personality and human traits, which will be attributed to the product. The extent to which the effects between
anthropomorphism in stories and visual anthropomorphism, are similar in effect and their respective strength, is unknown to this point, but seeks to be explored in this research.
generally only applied to the actions of other human actors, in order to establish meaning in their actions. It is predicted that through anthropomorphism, this human trait, can be linked to anthropomorphic actors. The perception of intention can influence the way complex social stimuli are perceived. When intentions of an entity are perceived are positive, the stimuli related to the entity will also be perceived as more positive (Gray, 2012). The research of Kurt Gray (2012) confirmed this was also the case with food. The research showed that when participants were informed that the intentions of the people who provided them with food were positive, the participants rated the food as sweeter and better tasting. In the case of the anthropomorphic story, it is predicted that if the intention of the anthropomorphic entity is perceived as positive, it will consequently lead to a sweeter and better tasting product.
Another construct that is closely related to the social connection made with the anthropomorphic entity, is warmth. Aaker, Stayman & Hagerty (1986) described warmth as being “the positive, mild volatile emotion involving physiological arousal and precipitated by experiencing directly or vicariously a love, family, or friendship relationship”. This positive emotional state can substantially influence cognitive processes, even when mild (Isen & Shalker, 1982). In addition to warmth, Bowlby (1969) found that the construct of comfort was also associated with proximity to familiar people and meaningful objects. This provides the suggestion that these anthropomorphic effects can grow in strength over time, when they increase in familiarity and meaningfulness.
Food consumption is on an evolutionary level deeply associated with social behavior (Rappoport, Peters, Huff-Corzine, & Downey, 1992), and the context in which consumption takes place, plays a vital role in the experience, with the social context influencing feelings such as warmth and comfort (Troisi & Gabriel, 2011). People in general have always seen the merits of eating together and as such eaten together in social context, with friends or family, in order to bolster these feelings of comfort. In the present time however, people lead busier lives, which tend to lead to less meals being eaten together; the anthropomorphic entity could bring forth some of these feelings of comfort normally drawn from actual social presence and serve as a substitute. Comfort food is a category that clearly shows these effects at work. Comfort food has been described as food that not only satiates not only the physical, but also the emotional needs (Troisi & Gabriel, 2011); it is food that evokes a psychologically
The feeling of social presence induces both feeling of warmth and comfort, and activates their respective positive emotional states.
Existing literature has not yet examined the effects of comfort and warmth in the perception of taste. It is believed that priming consumers with social presence activates them to have a stronger reaction to comfort-related concepts. When cognitive constructs are activated, related cognitive constructs are also activated (Collins & Loftus, 1975). In the perception of taste however, comfort and warmth, are not extensively used to describe the taste of food or drink; they are used rather explanations of induced feelings, or in the case of warmth, the physiological perception of warmth as temperature. For this reason, different terminology must be used, to correctly accompany taste. In the perception of taste and its examination, closely related concepts to warmth and comfort are smoothness (versus Roughness) and softness (versus Harshness). These flavor components are expected to be activated when there is an anthropomorphic presence, thus making the food taste smoother (less rough and softer (less harsh).
As mentioned before, in the research of Kurt Gray (2012), a relation was found between positive intentions and the perception of more sweetness and better taste. Added to this comes that the taste of sweetness, softness and smoothness are all positive constructs, and the combination of these will likely result in a better tasting product. For this reason, it is expected that anthropomorphism will, through its positive effect on positive, desirable flavor dimensions, result in a better tasting product.
In this research a survey was constructed where different stories on the packaging of coffee were used. In order to correctly predict the results of this specific research, and product, elaboration of the specifics of coffee and its flavor components is required.
Coffee was used is in this research context because it can be considered as a hedonic product, coffee is considered a product primarily consumed for pleasure (Bhumiratana, Adhikari, & Chambers 2014). A hedonic product is a product that is consumed for luxury purposes, pleasure or fun. Arguments can also be made for the fact that for many it is also considered an utilitarian product, which means that the product is consumed solely for
motivation. The hedonic nature means that attitudes are more easily formed by affective arguments, instead of through functional arguments (Wansink, Cheney, & Chan, 2003). Because in this research the focus is on affective arguments, through anthropomorphism, a hedonic product will show more significant changes in attitude.
One of the main flavor components prevalent in coffee, which lacked academic coverage in the field of anthropomorphism, is bitterness. The bitterness component is
however expected to show similar effects as did the sweetness component but in the opposite direction. This is because bitterness can be defined as an opposite of sweetness in the flavor profile of coffee. Saltiness and sourness can be defined similarly as opposites of sweetness, but show less presence in the context of coffee flavor. In cases of products with stronger sweet and sour, or sweet and salty components, effects in the perception of sour and salty are more probable to be found.
To sum up, it is expected that a product with an anthropomorphic story, will make the product taste sweeter, softer, smoother, less bitter and taste better, versus a story in which there is no anthropomorphic presence.
H1a: A product with a story with anthropomorphic qualities will taste sweeter than a
product with a non-anthropomorphic story
H1b: A product with a story with anthropomorphic qualities will taste softer and
smoother than a product with a non-anthropomorphic story
H1c: A product with a story with anthropomorphic qualities will taste better than a
product with a non-anthropomorphic story
H1d: In the case of coffee, a product with a story with anthropomorphic qualities will
taste less bitter than a story without anthropomorphic qualities.
Need for sociality
As mentioned above, the extent to which an individual anthropomorphizes is dependent on various variables such as the situation, sociality motivation, effectance and culture. In this research the sociality motivation serve as a moderator between
anthropomorphic stories and its effect on perceptual taste. The reason this variable was chosen is because it fits best with anthropomorphism. Some people need more social
social interactions and relationships, and a lack thereof should also show an increase in need to form relationships (Epley, Waytz, Akalis, & Cacioppo, 2008). This is because of the pain related to loneliness and the need to resolve this (MacDonald & Leary, 2005). Some people are lonely and want to resolve this, some people are not lonely but might want to create higher quality relationships, some might be content with their current social relationships, and some might be lonely but have no need for more social interaction (Epley, Waytz, Akalis, & Cacioppo, 2008). When people with a high need for sociality are exposed to an
anthropomorphic entity they are believed to feel more incentive to form a relationship. Through this stronger relationship, and deeper emotional connection they form with the anthropomorphic entity, the anthropomorphic effects on taste are expected to be stronger. This is why it is predicted that a higher need for sociality will positively moderate the effect of anthropomorphism on taste.
Which brings us to the second hypothesis:
H2: Need for sociality will positively moderate the relationship between
anthropomorphism in stories and its effect on taste
Involvement
Another factor that could mediate the relationship between story and its effect on the taste perception is the level of involvement people have with the product. Depending on the level of involvement, different advertising styles elicit different responses (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983). In this research this could mean that using either anthropomorphism in the story or not, could severely impact the effect the story has on the elicited response. In the work Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann two different routes to processing of advertisements are defined, the central and peripheral route. In the central route, consumers are highly involved with the product and process the advertisement messages in depth and require strong
arguments to change their attitude like for example product specifications. In the peripheral route, the consumers are involved on a low level, and process the ad on a shallow level, and require arguments that are easily processed and give a positive feeling, like well-known brand endorsers . Messages tailored to high involvement have greater personal relevance and elicit more personal connections than low involvement messages (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983). The level of involvement determines how deep the messages are processed.
Anthropomorphic
story
Taste
H1a: Sweetness + H1b: Softness + H1b: Smoothn ess + H1c: Liking + H1d: Bittern es s -H3:
Involvement
H2:
Need for
Sociality
-+
anthropomorphic entity can be considered a weak argument to its quality; it does not provide an argument to why it would be a good product, it only tries to give the reader a feeling. It was found in the research of Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann (1983) that when people who are highly involved are exposed to this, they will process the message on a deep level and will identify the anthropomorphic entity as a weak argument to the quality, and thus won’t be affected as much as low involved customers, who don’t process the message as deeply. Consumers that have low involvement are more easily swayed by weaker arguments as opposed to consumer that have high involvement. It is because of this that the last hypothesis of this research can be made:
H3: Involvement will negatively moderate the relationship between
anthropomorphism in stories and its effect on taste
Conceptual model
The previously mentioned hypotheses bring us to the following conceptual model that will be tested (Figure 1)
Methodology Participants and design
The way in which the conceptual model is examined was through an online survey. In the survey participants had to answer various questions and statements relating to the
constructs provided in the literature review. The survey was constructed on Qualtrics and distributed through social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp, and through
SurveyCircle, which is the largest community for mutual support in online research.
85 (43 female, 42 male) participants took part in the study. The data from 2
respondents was excluded because they failed to answer the attention check question “please fill in never”. This means that they did not read carefully and thus their data will not be used in further analysis. Further analysis was continued with 83 respondents (42 female, 41 male).
The gender, age and yearly salary distributions, are given in table (Table 1.).
Table 1. Respondents demographics.
Gender Age Yearly salary 41 (49.4%) Male 54 (63.5%) 18-24 51 (60%) 0 - 5000 42 (50.6%) Female 24 (28.2%) 25-35 23 (27.1%) 5000 - 20000 4 (4.7%) 50> 5 (5.9%) 20000 - 50000 1 (1.2%) 36-50 4 (4.7%) 50000 >
The study used a “between-subject” design which examines the difference between 2 different conditions. The total sample is divided into 2 subgroups which are exposed to different conditions, anthropomorphic and normal.
Materials
The stories that were shown to the participants were adapted from the house blend of Starbucks. This was done in order to have stories of high quality. The story provided to the participants goes as follows (In the non-anthropomorphic story, instead of “Joe the coffee bean”, it states “this coffee”):
“It’s deceptively simple. Joe the coffee bean comes from a plantation in beautiful Colombia where he was roasted to a glistening, dark chestnut color. Joe is loaded with flavor,
balancing tastes of nuts and cocoa, just a touch of sweetness from the roast. Joe is sure to bring you a great cup of coffee.
Enjoy your cup of Joe”
In the survey, scales were used to measure the dependent variable Perceptual taste, and the moderators, Need for sociality, and Involvement.
To measure the taste participants were asked to imagine tasting the product they read about, after which they were asked to rate the product based on their predictions on 9 items that were rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. The measured items were the 4 main flavor components, sweet, bitter, sour and salty, the liking of the taste and the perception of softness and harshness, and smoothness and roughness. Some of these concepts have not been mentioned in the hypotheses but are included to get a clearer picture of the flavor composition, which can be used for further exploratory analyses.
Lastly to measure the involvement, the “Personal Involvement Inventory” scale was used (Zaichkowsky, 1985). The scale measures the level of involvement a person has with the product category. The scale consists of 5 items (Cronbach’s α = 0. 731) that are rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Participants are asked to indicate to what extent they agree with the statements. The exact questions used are as given in the appendix (see appendix 1.).
they agree with the statements. The exact questions used are as given in the appendix (see appendix 2.).
Procedure
The study began with a general briefing about the purpose of the study without giving any information about the constructs that were going to be examined. After this, the
participants were exposed to either an anthropomorphic story or a non-anthropomorphic one. After this, in order to make sure the participants really took some time to think about the story they just read, and to form predictions about its taste, they were asked to imagine tasting the product, and write down a few words that came to mind when pretending to drink the
Analysis Main relation
anthropomorphism on taste.
To test the influence of anthropomorphism in product stories versus stories without anthropomorphism on the taste perception, independent samples t-tests were used. In the analysis, the condition with anthropomorphism will be referred to as “JOE” and the non-anthropomorphic one as “COF”. The taste perception was measured on 9 different levels.
sweetness.
The first hypothesis stated the following:
H1a: A product with a story with anthropomorphic qualities will taste sweeter than a
product with a non-anthropomorphic story
For the effect of anthropomorphism on the prediction of sweetness, Levene’s test for equality of variances indicated that the variance between the two groups (i.e., JOE vs. COF) was equal, F = 0.365, p = .547. Therefore a t-test that presupposes equality of variances was used; This test showed that there was a significant difference between the two experimental conditions t(83) = 3.068, p = .003. Specifically, participants’ prediction of sweetness was higher in the anthropomorphic condition (M = 4.03, SD = 1.478) than in the
non-anthropomorphic condition (M = 3.05, SD = 1.430). For a graphical representation, see figure 2.
softness.
The second hypothesis stated the following:
H1b: A product with a story with anthropomorphic qualities will taste softer and
smoother than a product with a non-anthropomorphic story
smoothness.
The second hypothesis also referred to smoothness.
For the effect of anthropomorphism on the prediction of smoothness, Levene’s test for equality of variances indicated that the variance between the two groups (i.e., JOE vs. COF) was unequal, F = 5.878, p = .018. Therefore a t-test that does not presupposes equality of variances was used; This test showed that there was a significant difference between the two experimental conditions t(83) = 2.530, p = .014. Specifically, participants’ prediction of smoothness was higher in the anthropomorphic (M = 5.38, SD = 0.847) than in the non-anthropomorphic condition (M = 4.75, SD = 1.400). For a graphical representation, see figure 2.
bitterness.
The coffee specific hypothesis stated the following:
H1d: In the case of coffee, a product with a story with anthropomorphic qualities will
taste less bitter than a story without anthropomorphic qualities.
For the effect of anthropomorphism on the prediction of bitterness, Levene’s test for equality of variances indicated that the variance between the two groups (i.e., JOE vs. COF) was equal, F = 0.360, p = .550. Therefore a t-test that presupposes equality of variances was used; This test showed that there was a significant difference between the two experimental conditions t(83) = -2.740, p = .008. Specifically, participants’ prediction of bitterness was lower in the anthropomorphic (M = 4.23, SD = 1.245) than in the non-anthropomorphic condition (M = 5.02, SD = 1.372). For a graphical representation, see figure 2.
liking.
The Third hypothesis stated the following:
H1c: A product with a story with anthropomorphic qualities will taste better than a
product with a non-anthropomorphic story
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
sweetness bitterness smoothness softness harshness
Anthropomorphism on taste prediction
Anthropomorphic Normal
different between the anthropomorphic (M = 5.33, SD = 1.108) and the non-anthropomorphic condition (M = 5.27, SD = 1.703).
harshness.
For the effect of anthropomorphism on the prediction of harshness, Levene’s test for equality of variances indicated that the variance between the two groups (i.e., JOE vs. COF) was equal, F = 1.700, p = .196. Therefore a t-test that presupposes equality of variances was used; This test showed that there was a marginally significant difference between the two experimental conditions t(83) = -1.918, p = .059. Specifically, participants’ prediction of harshness was lower in the anthropomorphic (M = 2.74, SD = 1.186) than in the
non-anthropomorphic condition (M = 3.30, SD = 1.407). For a graphical representation, see figure 2.
additional findings.
Additional analyses were performed to check for the effects of anthropomorphism on the flavor components that were not mentioned in the hypotheses.
To test the effect of anthropomorphism on the prediction of the unhypothesized flavor components, sour, salty, rough and harsh, independent samples t-tests were used. In line with the hypotheses, or lack thereof, these tests showed that there were no significant differences between the two experimental conditions.
The findings of all the independent samples t-test analyses, both significant and insignificant, are summarized in the table (Table 2.) below:
Table 2. Anthropomorphism on flavor.
Flavor
Sig.
(2-tailed) Condition Mean
Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Sweet .003** Anthropomorphic 4.03 1.478 0.237 Normal 3.05 1.430 0.216 Bitter .008** Anthropomorphic 4.23 1.245 0.199 Normal 5.02 1.372 0.207 Sour .425 Anthropomorphic 2.41 1.229 0.197 Normal 2.18 1.352 0.204 Salty .390 Anthropomorphic 2.05 0.999 0.160 Normal 1.86 0.979 0.148 Liking .850 Anthropomorphic 5.33 1.108 0.177 Normal 5.27 1.703 0.257 Smooth .014* Anthropomorphic 5.38 0.847 0.136 Normal 4.75 1.400 0.211 Rough .695 Anthropomorphic 3.28 1.376 0.220 Normal 3.41 1.545 0.233 Soft .048* Anthropomorphic 4.41 1.352 0.216 Normal 3.75 1.616 0.244 Harsh .059*** Anthropomorphic 2.74 1.186 0.190 Normal 3.30 1.407 0.212
Moderation
moderator - dependant variable relationship.
Before the moderation analyses were performed, the relationship between the
moderators, NFS, INV, and the 9 different dependent variables of taste, were examined using a bivariate correlation model. Out of the 18 possible correlations, 3 correlations were found to be significant. Only these significant correlations will be discussed.
The first significant correlation found stated that need for sociality was significantly (p = .031) negatively (r = -.237) correlated with sourness. People that are lonelier significantly predict to taste more sourness.
The second significant correlation found stated that involvement was significantly (p = .002) positively (r = .332) correlated with the liking of coffee. People that are more involved with coffee significantly predict the coffee to be more likable.
The last significant correlation found stated that involvement was marginally
significantly (p = .052) positively (r = .214) correlated with liking of coffee. People that are more involved with coffee significantly predict the coffee to be more bitter.
moderation effects.
It was hypothesized that NFS and INV would moderate the effect of
anthropomorphism on taste. To test the moderation effects of NFS and INV on the relation of anthropomorphism and the dependent variables (sweet, bitter, sour, salty, liking, smooth, rough, soft, harsh) PROCES by Andrew F. Hayes was used (2012). After running the
moderation “Need for Sociality” on anthropomorphism bitterness relation.
Need for sociality was found to have a significant (coefficient = 1.405) (t = 2.594) (p = .011) interaction effect on bitterness (Table 3.). With higher scores on the scale, meaning people were less lonely, predicted less bitterness when in the anthropomorphic condition. This finding is not in line with the hypothesis. For a graphical representation, see figure 3.
Table 3. Moderation NFS on anthropomorphism bitterness relation.
Coeff se t p LLCI ULCI
constant 6.486 1.335 4.861 .000 3.830 9.143 NFS -.551 0.322 -1.710 .091 -1.191 0.090 Stry -5.057 2.275 -2.223 .029 -9.584 -0.529 int_1 1.405 0.542 2.594 .011 0.327 2.483
Figure 3. Moderation Need for Sociality on Bitterness
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5 Bittern es s
Need for sociality
Moderation Need for Sociality on Bitterness
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 Bittern es s Involvement
Moderation Involvement on Bitterness
Anthopomorphism Normal
moderation “Involvement” on anthropomorphism taste relation.
Involvement was found to have a significant (coefficient = .7061) (t = 2.9640) (p = .0040) interaction effect on bitterness (Table 4.). With higher scores on the scale, meaning people were more involved, predicted less bitterness when in the anthropomorphic condition. This finding is not in line with the hypothesis. For a graphical representation, see figure 4.
Table 4. Moderation INV on anthropomorphism bitterness relation.
Coeff se t p LLCI ULCI
constant 4.859 0.813 5.978 .000 3.241 6.476 INV -0.138 0.173 -0.796 .428 -0.482 0.206 Stry -2.505 1.135 -2.208 .030 -4.763 -0.246 int_1 0.706 0.238 2.964 .004 0.232 1.180
insignificant moderation of “Need for Sociality” and “Involvement” on anthropomorphism on taste.
The insignificant moderation effects of both NFS and INV on the remaining flavor components are summarized in the table (Table 5.) below. This is not in line with the hypotheses; it was expected that NFS and INV would moderate the relations between anthropomorphism and sweet, bitter, liking, smooth and soft.
Table 5. Insignificant moderations NFS and INV on anthropomorphism taste relation
Sweet Sour Salty Liking Smooth Rough Soft Harsh
Discussion
Research question what is the influence of anthropomorphism in stories on the taste
perception, and how is this effect moderated by the need for sociality and level of involvement?
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of anthropomorphism in storytelling on taste. In line with the hypotheses, the experiment showed that
anthropomorphism had a significant positive effect on the perception of sweetness,
smoothness and softness, and a significant negative effect on bitterness harshness. “Need for sociality” and “involvement” were both found to significantly moderate the relationship between anthropomorphism and bitterness. Contrary to expectation, people that were less lonely significantly predicted less bitterness when reading the anthropomorphic story. Also contrary to expectation, people that were more involved significantly predicted less bitterness when reading the anthropomorphic story. Moderation of “need for sociality” and
“involvement” on the relationship between anthropomorphism and sweetness, saltiness, sourness, liking, smoothness, roughness, softness and harshness, were found to be insignificant.
A significant unhypothesized effect was found between anthropomorphism and
harshness but not between anthropomorphism and roughness. The reason for this difference is that harshness is a more commonly associated coffee flavor than roughness.
An interesting finding was that anthropomorphism did not show a significant effect on liking. This effect was hypothesized, because of the expected positive effect of
anthropomorphism on desirable flavor components. If anthropomorphism in stories leads to higher ratings of desirable flavor components, and lower ratings of undesirable flavor
components, then consequently the rating of the overall liking would be higher. Even though liking correlated significantly, and in the right respective directions, with all the variables that were affected by anthropomorphism, the direct effect of anthropomorphism on liking was not significant (see appendix 3.). This means that even though people expect desirable
characteristics of food to be positively affected by anthropomorphism, they do not like it more.
Limitations
not provide conclusive evidence to whether the underlying process that caused the results was anthropomorphism. Failure to adequately examine this underlying process, means that the effects that were found might be caused by other mechanisms not accounted for. Because it is not completely certain whether the effects were caused by anthropomorphism or other
underlying mechanisms, the validity of the findings is reduced. Mechanisms that could have caused the anthropomorphic condition to have significantly different effects than the normal condition can only be accounted to the difference in the conditions, which is “Joe the coffee bean” vs “This coffee”.
The inclusion of “Joe the coffee bean” to the product could have attributed to more favorable judgment, not through anthropomorphism, but through the illusion of the inclusion of a brand; no brand was given on the product, or in the story, which meant that readers could have used “Joe” as a substitute for a brand, and through this brand, created more favorable judgments. The “This coffee” condition could have, in a similar fashion, been regarded as a generic brand. This inclusion of a brand, or the idea of a brand, could affect the way the product is perceived, and might result in the idea of higher quality; branded products tend to be perceived as being of higher quality compared to non-branded products. This might be even more the case involved people, who care more deeply for the quality of their coffee, illustrating a possible explanation for why the hypothesized direction of the moderation effect was reversed for involvement.
Another possible reason could be in line with previously mentioned evidence on the cheesiness of anthropomorphic entities as spokescharacters. The inclusion of “Joe the coffee bean” could have been regarded as cheesy or childlike and consequently induced assumptions of a corresponding childlike flavor profile, being more mild and agreeable (bitterness -, harshness -, smooth+, soft+, sweet+). This might provide an answer to the question why liking was not significantly affected by the anthropomorphic story even though the desirable flavor components were positively affected.
previously been shown that judgments can significantly influence the perceived taste, testing this effect in this context would have given more complete results.
Most of the moderation effects were not found to be significant, apart from the moderation effects on bitterness by both involvement and need for sociality. A small sample size, combined with suboptimal media for data collection lead to the data set not being diverse and complete enough. In the data set, the factor need for sociality, which can take values between 1 = very lonely, to 5 = not lonely at all, had a mean of 4.2, suggesting that on average the participants were not lonely at all, or hardly lonely. Paired with the smaller sample size suggest the range of need for sociality, was too narrow for proper examination. Reasons for this are that the data collection was done mostly through Facebook and other social media, where people are possibly more social, and less lonely. Another reason could be that the participants were not inclined to answer the questions truthfully because of self-serving bias; people do not want to admit loneliness. The moderation effect of involvement also did not see strong support in the data set. This could partially be due to the small sample or due to other previously mentioned reasons.
Theoretical and practical Implications
Even though more research has to be done in order to verify if anthropomorphism shows similar effect on actual taste, the results provide other implications. In the age of digitalization and increasing online shopping, the physical tasting of the product is pushed even further from consumers. When shopping online, consumers are forced to make
judgments about the quality and taste of the products based without the aid of actual taste and more specifically, without the aid of human actors. The inclusion of an anthropomorphic entity in the story can help marketers to link sweetness, softness, smoothness and a less bitterness to their product. The inclusion of anthropomorphism through storytelling is likely to require higher levels of involvement in order to be effective when compared to visual anthropomorphism. Whereas visual anthropomorphism can establish a connection with a consumer within a small time frame, anthropomorphism in stories require the consumer to actually read the story, which is more time consuming, and likely to be only done by involved consumers.
anthropomorphism. This means that scientists and managers alike can opt to use a different source for anthropomorphic effects. The research was exploratory in nature, only the tip of the iceberg has now been examined, which provides the opening for other researchers to build upon the established findings, and further elaborate on these.
Future research
Future research can build on the limitations of this research and try to compare the relation of anthropomorphism in stories with other sources of anthropomorphism, in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of anthropomorphism, and the respective strengths and effects of these different sources. To further test the reliability and validity of this research, different data collection techniques should be used.
First of all the test should be accompanied with a taste test. This will show whether the anthropomorphic effects in stories also hold when accompanied with actual taste instead of only the expectation. This will provide an indication to the strength of the anthropomorphic effect of stories, and its ability to alter not only expectation, but also perception.
Secondly, a more diverse and larger sample should be taken to ensure full coverage of both moderation spectra. In order to make sure the “need for sociality” moderator get a
broader coverage, different media should be used to reach participants and the revised version of the UCLA loneliness scale should be used; this revised scale has shown to be more reliable.
To further examine the strength the effect of anthropomorphism in stories, it should be compared to other sources of anthropomorphism. This could provide a more extensive
framework about the strength of the respective sources of anthropomorphism, and whether the effects are substitutes or complementary.
Future research should also analyze to what extent different anthropomorphic entities in stories have different effects. The anthropomorphic entity in the story used in this research was flat; it was uncomplicated and did not have many identifiable traits or characteristics. Making these entities more round, could elicit different responses, and could be elaborated on more in future research.
Most importantly, future research should focus on establishing that anthropomorphism is the process that is at work in creating the effects in stories. This can be done by first
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Appendix
1. Personal involvement inventory
1. I would be interested in reading information about how the product is made. 2. I would be interested in reading the Consumer Reports article about this product
category.
3. I have compared product characteristics among brands of this product. 4. I think there are a great deal of differences among brands of this product. 5. I have a most preferred brand of this product.
2. UCLA Loneliness scale
1. I am unhappy doing so many things alone 2. I have nobody to talk to
3. I cannot tolerate being so alone 4. I lack companionship
5. I feel as if nobody really understands me 6. I find myself waiting for people to call or write 7. There is no one I can turn to
8. I am no longer close to anyone
9. My interests and ideas are not shared by those around me 10. I feel left out
11. I feel completely alone
12. I am unable to reach out and communicate with those around me 13. My social relationships are superficial
14. I feel starved for company 15. No one really knows me well 16. I feel isolated from others
3. Liking correlations
Correlation Liking*X
X Sweetness Bitterness Sourness Saltiness Smoothness Roughness Softness Harshness
