Undermining Desire: Reducing Unhealthy Choices by Highlighting Short-Term (vs. Long-Term) Costs
研究发现，强调不健康行为的短期成本（如吃糖后烦躁或消化不良）比强调长期成本更能有效减少不健康消费，因为短期成本与消费行为关联更强，能削弱预期的享受感。
Abstract What motivates consumers to avoid unhealthy behaviors (e.g., consuming sugar, energy drinks, and fast food)? Traditional interventions and lay intuition suggest that to motivate themselves, consumers can consider the negative long-term health consequences of their decisions. Yet, consumers still struggle to avoid unhealthy behaviors. Seven experiments (N = 4,021) offer a different approach. We find that considering short-term costs of unhealthy behaviors (e.g., irritability or indigestion after eating sugar) better curbs these behaviors than considering long-term costs or no costs. We theorize that short-term costs are more effective at reducing unhealthy behavior because they are more strongly associated with the act of consumption, both in terms of immediate timing and perceived likelihood of costs occurring. As such, short-term costs are better at undermining the reason for consuming unhealthily: anticipated enjoyment of the consumption experience. We test this process by (a) demonstrating mediation via increased association strength and subsequent decreased anticipated enjoyment, (b) manipulating the association strength between consumption and costs (i.e., same cost realized sooner vs. later), and (c) demonstrating moderation via consumers’ goal for eating unhealthily. These results identify a powerful but underutilized self-regulation strategy—emphasizing short-term costs of unhealthy consumption—with implications for consumers and marketers.