Alleviating hedonic adaptation in repeat consumption with creative thinking
通过五项实验（听音乐、看视频、看照片、吃零食），发现创造性思维能通过增强认知灵活性来减少重复消费中的厌倦或满足感下降，对营销人员有启发。
Abstract Repeat consumption, a common aspect of consumers' daily lives, often results in hedonic adaptation such as satiation or boredom. In line with a growing body of research exploring methods to alleviate hedonic adaptation, this research proposes and finds that creative thinking can effectively reduce hedonic adaptation. Through five experiments conducted across various consumption contexts (music listening, video watching, photograph viewing, snack eating), we show that creative thinking reduces hedonic adaptation by fostering cognitive flexibility during repeat consumption (e.g., enjoying the same photograph from different aspects across repetitions). Supporting this underlying mechanism, the mitigating effect of creative thinking on hedonic adaptation attenuates when consumers' cognitive flexibility is constrained, or when the product itself possesses sufficient complexity that naturally encourages cognitive flexibility over repetitions. Overall, this research sheds light on how creative thinking helps alleviate hedonic adaptation in repeat consumption, with implications for marketing managers and practitioners.