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International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics

AHFE 2020: Advances in Neuroergonomics and Cognitive Engineering pp 175–182Cite as

Evaluating Effects of Environmental and Financial-Savings Messaging on Decision-Making Using Electrodermal Activity

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Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 1201))

Abstract

Understanding how we make decisions has far-reaching practical implications from medicine to marketing as it is a fundamental cognitive construct intertwined in our everyday lives. Even though there is research on the influence of messaging on decision-making behavior, the effects from a psychophysiological perspective have not yet been fully understood. To assess the effects of environmental and financial-savings messaging on consumers’ decision-making behavior, we designed a study where participants made binary choices between different electricity plans before and after seeing a video message. Participants were given either a single environmental or financial-savings message, each also framed either positively or negatively. In this study, we used electrodermal activity (EDA), a wearable and non-invasive sensor that measures the electrical properties of the skin as an indicator of emotional arousal. We compared before and after-message EDA-based arousal levels and decision-making behavior around the messaging. Results show that messaging and framing seem to affect consumers’ emotional processes. Participants’ arousal levels significantly increased during decision-making after watching the message. Moreover, negative-framed messaging was significantly effective when in changing the arousal when two entirely different plans are being decided, while positive messages and financial-savings messages affected participants’ arousals significantly in the decisions between two plans that have the same structure, but different parameters. Moreover, watching an environmental message affected their plan preferences more than financial-savings messaging, regardless of the message’s framing. The findings indicate that EDA can provide supportive information related to consumers’ affective states, which can be valuable in social interaction and marketing research.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Yigit Topoglu, Amanda Sargent, Jan Watson & Hasan Ayaz

  2. LeBow College of Business, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

    Hongjun Ye & Rajneesh Suri

  3. Solutions Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Rajneesh Suri & Hasan Ayaz

  4. Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Hasan Ayaz

  5. Department of Family and Community Health, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Hasan Ayaz

  6. Center for Injury Research and Prevention, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Hasan Ayaz

  7. Department of Family and Community Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Yigit Topoglu

Authors
  1. Yigit Topoglu
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  2. Amanda Sargent
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  3. Jan Watson
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  4. Hongjun Ye
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  5. Rajneesh Suri
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  6. Hasan Ayaz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yigit Topoglu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Hasan Ayaz

  2. National University of Sciences and Tech (NUST), School of Mech and Manufacturing Eng (SMME), Islamabad, Pakistan

    Umer Asgher

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© 2021 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Topoglu, Y., Sargent, A., Watson, J., Ye, H., Suri, R., Ayaz, H. (2021). Evaluating Effects of Environmental and Financial-Savings Messaging on Decision-Making Using Electrodermal Activity. In: Ayaz, H., Asgher, U. (eds) Advances in Neuroergonomics and Cognitive Engineering. AHFE 2020. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1201. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51041-1_24

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