Satoru Shibuya

Social considerations significantly influence daily purchase decisions, and the perception of social risk (i.e., the anticipated disapproval of others) is crucial in dissuading consumers from making purchases. However, the neural basis for consumers' perception of social risk remains undiscovered, and this novel study clarifies the relevant neural processes. A total of 26 volunteers were scanned while they evaluated purchase intention of products (purchase intention task) and their anticipation of others' disapproval for possessing a product (social risk task), using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The fMRI data from the purchase intention task was used to identify the brain region associated with perception of social risk during purchase decision making by using subjective social risk ratings for a parametric modulation analysis. Furthermore, we aimed to explore if there was a difference between participants' purchase decisions and their explicit evaluations of social risk, with reference to the neural activity associated with social risk perception. For this, subjective social risk ratings were used for a parametric modulation analysis on fMRI data from the social risk task. Analysis of the purchase intention task revealed a significant positive correlation between ratings of social risk and activity in the anterior insula, an area of the brain that is known as part of the emotion-related network. Analysis of the social risk task revealed a significant positive correlation between ratings of social risk and activity in the temporal parietal junction and the medial prefrontal cortex, which are known as theory-of-mind regions. Our results suggest that the anterior insula processes consumers' social risk implicitly to prompt consumers not to buy socially unacceptable products, whereas ToM-related regions process such risk explicitly in considering the anticipated disapproval of others. These findings may prove helpful in understanding the mental processes involved in purchase decisions. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved.

特定の製品やサービスの購買意思決定の途上にある消費者がネット上のクチコミを参照する過程は、クチコミの発信者が語る体験から、当該製品・サービスを購入した後の将来の自己の体験を推論する過程として捉えることができる。本研究ではこのような着想にもとづき、従来の推論に関する研究をレビューした上で仮説を設定し、実験によって検証した。 実験の結果、発信者と閲覧者との好みが類似していて、その類似点すなわち共有属性と、発信者の体験とを結びつける結合関係がクチコミ内に記述されており、かつその共有属性に対する閲覧者の関与が高い場合に、閲覧者の購買意図が高まることが示された。

This article attempts to develop a new conceptual framework for information process in persuasive communication. It begins with an overview of the controversy in persuasive communication research area between dual-process model and uni-model which was proposed by Kruglanski and his group at the end of 1990's. The article then brings together insights from previous researches on communication, and sets forth a new model of persuasive communication process model named dual-process dual-layer model. Finally with re-considering the controversy described above, we try to propose an answer to the controversy by using our new model.

This article attempts to develop a conceptual framework for consumer information search behavior on the Internet, based on other consumers' evaluation of products, services or brands. It begins with an overview ofthe Related Attributes Hypothesis of social comparison theory ("Goethals hypothesis"), and discusses the application of the hypothesis to consumer information search behavior on the Internet. The conclusion being that the "two-layer comparison model", underlying the hypothesis, suggests the possibility of manipulation over the personal influence processes through the Internet, which was considered virtually impossible prior to the Internet. The article then brings together insights from previous sections and sets forth a whole model for consumer information search behavior on the Internet.

Previous diffusion theories are based on the conventional communication models. In the era of electrical networks, however, those theories may need some modifications. This paper focuses on a case of movie marketing on the internet with analysis on features of the movie, the structure of the official website, and characteristics of communications on the net. Findings of the research are a new type of relationship between core customers and ROMs (Read-Only-Members) on the website, and an interesting role of core customers' interactions; they serve as "contents" of mass communication function on the net.