Newsmakers

Step back before buying

When you find it difficult to make a purchase decision, try creating some psychological — or physical — distance, suggests new research by Manoj Thomas, assistant professor of marketing. He and his co-author, Claire I. Tsai, examined whether psychological distance reduces the difficulty and anxiety in choice situations. They conducted four experiments where they altered the psychological distance from a given task by using subtle manipulations — varying the abstractness of thinking and having participants assume different body postures. The result: “Those who leaned toward the screen found the choice to be more difficult and were more likely to defer the choice than those who leaned away from the screen,” the authors write (Phys.Org Online, Feb. 14). Harvard Business Review’s “Daily Stat” covered the research under the headline “To make a task seem easier, lean back a little” (Feb. 17). Two international outlets reported it, as well: the U.K.’s Mail Online (Feb. 15) and CBC News Online of Canada (Feb. 16).

The study, “Psychological Distance and Subjective Experience: How Distancing Reduces the Feeling of Difficulty,” will appear in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. The online version is currently available at http://ejcr.org/.