The Role of Scarcity and Attentional Focus in Goal Conflict
| dc.contributor.author | Wiggins, Catherine Elizabeth | |
| dc.contributor.chair | Russo, J. Edward | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | van Osselaer, Stijn Maurits | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Ferguson, Melissa J. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-04-26T14:18:01Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-09-11T06:02:18Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2017-08-30 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Consumers constantly face a pull between competing goals in their everyday lives. The present research examines a novel factor proposed to influence relative goal activation during a self-control conflict—scarcity. In Chapter 1, I review relevant literature to build a theoretical case for the proposition that scarcity influences attention to goal-relevant cues in an unrelated self-control conflict. Chapters 2-4 are comprised of the eleven studies that experimentally test the proposed paradigm. In Chapter 2 (comprised of Studies 1, 2A, 2B, and 2C) I demonstrate the effect of time scarcity on food choice, a proxy for the competing goals of weight control and eating enjoyment. I also identify the population subset for whom the effect occurs, those who struggle with weight regulation. The focus of Chapter 3 is a deeper examination into the process through which scarcity influences the prioritization of a given goal under conflict: diverting attention to goal-relevant cues. Studies 3 and 6 assess attention to eating enjoyment cues directly using a concurrent written protocol and a dot probe task, respectively. Studies 4 and 5 provide moderating evidence as to how the effect can be extinguished by diverting attention to cues that instead support the competing goal (weight control). The studies in Chapter 4 (Studies 7-9) broaden the scope of the current paradigm to another domain of scarcity beyond time and another form of goal conflict, impulsive spending. Chapter 5 concludes with a discussion of open questions that stand to be addressed by future research. | |
| dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.7298/X4D798M6 | |
| dc.identifier.other | Wiggins_cornellgrad_0058F_10326 | |
| dc.identifier.other | http://dissertations.umi.com/cornellgrad:10326 | |
| dc.identifier.other | bibid: 10361648 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1813/56971 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.subject | Marketing | |
| dc.subject | Nutrition | |
| dc.subject | Attention | |
| dc.subject | Social psychology | |
| dc.subject | goal conflict | |
| dc.subject | goals | |
| dc.subject | scarcity | |
| dc.subject | self-control | |
| dc.subject | food choice | |
| dc.title | The Role of Scarcity and Attentional Focus in Goal Conflict | |
| dc.type | dissertation or thesis | |
| dcterms.license | https://hdl.handle.net/1813/59810 | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Management | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Cornell University | |
| thesis.degree.level | Doctor of Philosophy | |
| thesis.degree.name | Ph. D., Management |
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