Lusting while loathing: parallel counterdriving of wanting and liking

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Economics
• Decision Science

Background:

• Understanding the interplay between desire and evaluation is crucial for predicting consumer behavior and decision-making.
• Previous research has explored the factors influencing 'wanting' and 'liking' independently, but their simultaneous divergence remains less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the psychological phenomenon where thwarted desire ('jilting') leads to a dissociation between wanting and liking.
• To examine how experiencing failure to obtain a desired outcome impacts subsequent desire and evaluation of that outcome or similar items.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted involving participants who were either successful or unsuccessful in obtaining a desired outcome (e.g., a prize, a reward).
• Experiment 1 measured willingness to pay and propensity to trade a prize after winning or failing to win it.
• Experiment 2 assessed choice behavior and evaluation of a similar item after failure to obtain an expected reward.

Main Results:

• Participants thwarted from obtaining a desired outcome showed increased desire (higher willingness to pay) but decreased actual attractiveness (higher likelihood to trade away).
• Failure to obtain a reward led to increased choice of, but negatively biased evaluation towards, similar items.
• This wanting-liking dissociation was more pronounced in individuals with lower intensity of felt affect, suggesting an emotional regulation component.

Conclusions:

• Experiencing 'jilting' creates a psychological divergence where wanting an outcome intensifies, while its perceived attractiveness diminishes.
• These findings highlight dissociable psychological subsystems for wanting and liking, which can operate independently and even in opposition.
• The results offer insights into emotional regulation and its role in harmonizing affective responses to desired outcomes.