Consumer Visual and Affective Bias for Soothing Dolls

Area of Science:

• Consumer psychology
• Human-computer interaction
• Affective computing

Background:

• Soothing dolls are increasingly popular for stress relief.
• Existing research lacks understanding of consumer purchasing behavior, doll preference, and visual attention.
• The study addresses the gap in research concerning emotional and visual preferences for soothing dolls.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate factors influencing emotional and visual preferences for soothing dolls.
• To explore the relationship between doll format (2D vs. 3D) and consumer response.
• To propose a novel research model integrating eye-tracking and the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) scale within the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework.

Main Methods:

• Utilized 2D and 3D versions of three popular dolls sourced from sales data.
• Assessed subjective emotional preferences using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) scale (valence and arousal).
• Employed eye-tracking technology to analyze visual attention before and after emotional stimulation via the International Affective Picture System (IAPS).

Main Results:

• Both 2D and 3D dolls exhibited high average valence scores (3.80 and 2.65, respectively).
• Eye-tracking showed no significant difference in initial gaze preference between 2D and 3D dolls.
• Following negative emotional stimuli, attention shifted, with a significant increase in observation time for right-side images and a decrease for left-side images. The 3D doll garnered a higher average observation time ratio (40.6%) compared to the 2D doll (34.3%).

Conclusions:

• Soothing dolls demonstrate potential for emotional relaxation and possess high valence characteristics.
• The study successfully implemented a novel research model combining eye-tracking and SAM for SOR framework analysis.
• Findings suggest that 3D soothing dolls may capture and retain visual attention more effectively, particularly in emotionally charged contexts.