The Effect Of The Synchrony Experience On Product Evaluation And Construal Level

Synchrony has been found in many aspects of daily life and played a long-term role in social and cultural evolution.Previous studies have predicted a series of synchrony positive social outcomes.However,no research has explored whether the positive effect of synchrony on participants can be extended to the inanimate objects directly involved in the synchrony experience.Will the synchrony experience change information representation and processing?Given the universality and importance of synchrony experience in consumers' daily life and marketing,it is essential for the marketing practitioners have deeper understanding and insights of synchrony experience.Given the inconsistencies in the existing definition of synchrony,we provide an alternative definition of synchrony experience that encompasses these differences.Drawing from theories of embodied cognition and construal level,we examine the effect of the synchrony experience on product evaluation and construal level.We posit that the positive effect through which exposure to the synchrony experience triggers the cognitive state of harmony has a positive effect of inanimate objects.Five experiments provide convergent support for this proposition and the boundary condition of this positive effect.Meanwhile,construal level theory suggests that cues that are merely associated with benign(vs.threatening)situations trigger abstract construal and expand attentional scope.Four experiments verify that the synchrony experience and synchrony-induced harmony evoke more abstract processing,causing a)a preference for abstract action identification,b)the use of global attributes to classify geometric figures,and,c)a preference for abstract association.Theoretically,we apply the synchronous experience to the research of consumer behavior,expanding the outcomes of the synchrony experience,and leading a comprehensive understand of the synchrony experience.These findings have some practical implications.For example,marketers can create opportunities to synchrony with consumers through sensory cues or use advertisements containing synchronous elements to promote products and brands.Enterprises can improve the positive impact of synchronous experience by combining information representation of different construal level.