The Stability Effect for Weight Judgments
研究发现包装稳定性与客观重量双向关联，使消费者认为视觉上更稳定的形状主观上更重，影响热量感知和消费决策，对食品包装设计有启示。
Package weight and calorie judgments play an important role in food-related consumer decisions. In this article, the authors hypothesize and demonstrate that the bidirectional relationship between package stability and objective weight leads consumers to perceive visually more stable shapes as subjectively heavier: the “shape stability effect” (Study 1). The stability effect is mitigated (replicated) when the context makes volume (weight) judgments more accessible than weight (volume) judgments (Study 2). The shape stability effect has consequences for calorie perceptions (Study 3a) and consumption decisions (Study 3b). The authors also examined the implications for consumers’ willingness to pay (Study 4a). Analysis of an archival dataset (Study 4b) shows that for tasty (healthy) products, price is positively (negatively) associated with shape stability. Theoretically, these results add to the literature on volume and weight judgments and calorie perceptions. Managerial implications for food packaging and positioning are offered.