The Anticipation of Chosen Pleasures: Temporal Variations in the Valuation of Delayed Consumption

This research investigates how the valuation of delayed consumption, of hedonic products such as concerts and chocolate, varies with the passage of time between choice and consumption. We find that when consumers make their own choices they exhibit increases in evaluations of consumption that is delayed, but only if the interval between choice and consumption is relatively short. The effect attenuates over longer periods, resulting in an inverted-U shaped relationship between evaluations and time. In contrast, when somebody else chooses the same option for the consumer, the passage of time causes evaluations to decrease. These effects are shown to depend on the extent of intrinsic motivation towards the object of consumption, and occur only for consumption that is of inherent interest. Further, anticipatory increases in subjective valuations prior to consumption have ironic negative effects on post-consumption evaluations.

Citation:

Elaine Chan and Anirban Mukhopadhyay (2009) ,"The Anticipation of Chosen Pleasures: Temporal Variations in the Valuation of Delayed Consumption", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 556-557.