The document discusses how implicit techniques can help uncover consumers' true feelings and emotions that they may not be able or willing to explicitly report. It describes how emotions often drive consumer behavior in unconscious ways. Several case studies are presented that used implicit methods like priming, hypnosis-interviewing, and psychodrama to reveal hidden emotions that were not captured through traditional explicit self-reporting techniques. The document argues that market research should use both explicit and implicit measures to get a more comprehensive understanding of consumer emotions and brand relationships.

1. Implicit Emotional
Assessment
Uncovering What
Consumers Can’t or
Won’t Tell Us About
Their True Feelings
Paul Conner
experiEmotive® analytics
www.experiemotive.com
March 5, 2009

3. 800 Pound Gorilla
 People often
can’t or won’t
“tell the truth”
 Research still
accepts “face
value”

4. Compelling Study
Emotions’ Impact
on Cons. Behavior
Two “equal”
groups of
Group 1
respondents
Group 2

5. Compelling Study
Emotions’ Impact
on Cons. Behavior
?
Exposed to
something
Group 1
different
?
Group 2

6. Compelling Study
Emotions’ Impact
on Cons. Behavior
Gender
Recognition
Task
Male or Female?

7. Compelling Study
Emotions’ Impact
on Cons. Behavior
? Rate Feeling State
Group 1 and Group 2
Group 1
Feelings States Were
? Explicitly Equal
Group 2

8. Compelling Study
Emotions’ Impact
on Cons. Behavior
How much $$
? would you pay for
a beverage?
Group 1
Group 1 would pay
?
more $$
Group 2

9. Compelling Study
Emotions’ Impact
on Cons. Behavior
Subliminally, Group
1 shown happy
faces, Group 2
Happy
Group 1
shown angry faces
Group 1 would pay
more $$
Angry
Group 2

10. Why? (Agenda)
 Emotions drive
(consumer) behavior.
 People often can’t or
won’t “explicitly” report
emotions.
 Implicit techniques
help marketers see &
use “hidden” emotions.

11. Explicit Information
Direct

Conscious

Reflective

Rational

Defended


12. Implicit Information
Indirect

Unconscious

Automatic

Non-rational

Undefended


13. Emotions and feelings
drive our behavior.
They “tell us what to do.”

14. Kevin Roberts (Saatchi & Saatchi CEO) at
ESOMAR Conference, Barcelona, 2002.
“We now accept that human beings
are powered by emotion, not by
reason. Emotion and reason are
intertwined, but when they are in
conflict, emotion wins every time.
[Emotion] controls our rationality,
our decision making.”

15. The CEO and His Car
 Emotion Myths
• Only
overt, conscious
expressions
• Only certain
emotions
“My decision was based on • Mutually exclusive
practical, family considerations.
from reason
Emotion didn’t enter into it.”

16. The Truth
 Emotion and
reason are
“neuro-
connected.”
 Emotions add
value to
decision-making.

17. Giep Franzen and Margot Bouwman in The
Mental World of Brands: Mind, Memory and
Brand Success, 2001.
“Our perceptions and memories
are constantly linked to
emotional reactions. Thoughts
are never free from emotions
and emotions are never free
from thoughts.”

18. John O’Shaughnessy and Nicholas Jackson
O’Shaughnessy in The Marketing Power of
Emotion, 2003.
“Emotion is not an aberrant
element when making buying
decisions, but a necessary
condition if decisions are not
to be continually postponed.”

19. Two Important
Aspects of Emotions
Largely
unconscious
Often
guarded
experiences

20. Problem
Traditional MR
techniques often
accept what
people explicitly
say.

21. Solution
Implicit techniques
assess
unconscious, autom
atic, un-defended, or
un-rationalized, yet
influential, emotions.

22. Implicit Techniques
 Psychotherapy
• Projectives, hypnosis-interviewing (case
study), psychodrama (case
study), linguistics/metaphors
 Social/Cognitive Psychology
• Implicit association/misattribution (case
study)
 Psychophysiology
• Face, brain, heart, skin, eyes, voice, breat
h

23. Case Studies
 Implicit Association/
Misattribution
 Hypnosis-
Interviewing
 Psychodrama

24. The Implicit Association/
Misattribution Study
Priming
Technique

25. The Implicit Association/
Misattribution Study
 Emotional profiles -
two battery brands
 Explicit emotion
ratings
 Implicit…

26. The Priming
Technique
Does this symbol
mean this word?

27. Key Explicit & Implicit Results
40% Chose Brand 1, 60% Chose Brand 2
Explicit Feelings Implicit Feelings
(Difference: Explicit Ratings, Brand 2 Minus Brand 1) (Difference: % Implicit Association, Brand 2 Minus Brand 1)
Playful Playful
0.00 20%
Disgusted Disgusted
0.00 -3%
Worried Worried
0.00 -9%
Skeptical Skeptical -11%
0.27
0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 -20% -10% 0% 10% 20% 30%

28. Benefit
Priming showed
otherwise
invisible emotions
consistent with
preference.

29. The Hypnosis-
Interviewing Study
Hypnosis =
relaxed, focu
sed
awareness

30. The Hypnosis-
Interviewing Study
 Help resort community
“emotionally” develop
new land
 Explicit telephone
interviews
 Implicit hypnosis-
interviewing

31. About
Hypnosis
 Relaxed, focused, non-anal
ytical state of mind
 Fully conscious and in
control
 More emotional, less
rationalized, and less
defended responses

32. Key Explicit Results
Peaceful 87.9%
Images of
Boring
Client’s Resort 9.1%
Exciting 3.0%
[Open-ended below]
Good/nice in general 29.6%
Good/like the feel 14.1%
Attractive/beautiful 9.1%
Quiet/peaceful 7.0%

33. Implicit Hypnotic Result
What is it about that pull-out
bed that’s so attractive to you
as a child? It's different. It's
close to everybody.
Close to everybody. How so?
You’re not isolated. You don't
have your own bedroom with
a closed door. It's like a big
sleepover. Everyone’s
excited, staying up late, acting
silly.

34. Benefit
Hypnosis
revealed the
power of
“child”
emotions.

35. The Psychodrama Study
Acting out
relevant
experiences

36. The Psychodrama Study
 Find an “impenetrable”
emotional positioning
 Explicit via conjoint and
positioning statement
preferences
 Implicit via psychodrama
exercises

37. About Psychodrama
 Emotions are neuro-
chemically connected to
thought AND behavior.
 Behaviorally re-
enacting, not just talking
about, stimulates more
neuro-chemical
connections.
 Brings
events, thoughts, and
associated feelings more
to consciousness.

38. Key Explicit Results
Non-Branded Branded Positioning
Conjoint Analysis Statement Preference
Technology 44.9
Service 2.02
Service 22.4
Price/Cost 15.4
Technology 2.18
Positioning 6.6
Feeling 4.1
Customization 2.67
Cust. Svc. Style 3.9
Ethic 1.7
Ethic 3.13
Locale 1.0

39. Implicit Psychodrama Result
I feel a little bit
betrayed. However...
(long pause) ... and it
doesn’t make me feel
good that you have to
leave. I have used you
for so long, I feel like
we're partners here.

40. Benefit
Psychodrama
revealed the
power of
“relationship”
emotions.

41. Summary
 Emotions drive
(consumer) behavior.
 People often can’t or
won’t “explicitly” report
emotions.
 Implicit techniques
help marketers see &
use “hidden” emotions.

42. Peter Cooper and John Pawle. Measuring Emotion in
Brand Communication. Presented at Esomar’s
Innovate! Conference, Paris, February 2005.
“In review of the techniques
available to measure emotion, our
conclusion is that market research
must allow for the measurement of
both explicit conscious feelings and
implicit cognitive emotions for a
more comprehensive account of
the consumer-brand relationship.”

43. References
• Cooper, P. and Pawle, J. (2005). Measuring Emotion in Brand
Communication. Presented at Esomar’s Innovate!
Conference, Paris.
• Franzen, G. and Bouwman, M. (2001). The Mental World of
Brands: Mind, Memory and Brand Success, WARC.
• O’Shaughnessy, J. and O’Shaughnessy, N.J. (2003). The
Marketing Power of Emotion, Oxford Press.
• Roberts, K. (2002). Annual ESOMAR Conference, Barcelona.
• Winkielman, P., Berridge, K.C., and Wilbarger, J.L. (2005).
Unconscious Affective Reactions to Masked Happy Versus Angry
Faces Influence Consumption Behavior and Judgments of Value.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 31(1), pp. 121-135.