The Taste of Moral – Influence of ethical and moral values on the perception of taste and liking of products

近年来，消费者行为研究取得了重大进展。发现了以前未知的现象和影响。在消费者研究中获得特别关注的一个效应是所谓的营销安慰剂效应（MPE）。这种效应是指营销活动可以影响产品感知，但不会改变产品的物理特性。特别是，例如，食品上的产品标签可能会导致MPE，因此标记的产品通常会导致更积极的产品感知。因此，可以注意到，MPE对动物产品表现出特定的差异，并且通常MPE对一些消费者似乎更有效。到目前为止，研究的调节MPE因素主要是检查个人心理变量，但对于动物产品，可以根据第一次自我报告研究假设进一步的社会心理因素。越来越多的伦理和道德的消费行为表明，一个人的道德化水平可能会对产品的看法产生影响，并可能构成另一类的社会心理变量MPE。如前所述，伦理和道德价值观的影响到目前为止只在口头上被确定为有意支付的意愿，因此无法推断出对实际产品感知的影响。此外，到目前为止，社会心理变量在MPE研究中仍然基本上没有得到解决。理论阐述和有效的测试将代表MPE研究的下一个逻辑和目标导向的步骤。拟议的项目旨在调查道德化的程度，在可能的MPE的动物产品的背景下。在这样做的过程中，该研究将通过社会心理学方法扩展MPE研究，并可能解释动物产品MPE的特定方差。

In recent years, consumer behavior research has made significant progress. Previously unknown phenomena and effects have been identified. One effect that has gained particular interest in consumer research is the so-called marketing placebo effect (MPE). This effect refers to the phenomenon that marketing activities can influence product perception without, however, changing the physical characteristics of the product. In particular, product labeling on food, for example, can cause MPE, whereby labeled products regularly lead to a more positive product perception. Thereby, it can be noted that MPE exhibits a particular variance for animal products and in general the MPE appears to be more effective for some consumers. Moderating MPE factors investigated so far mainly examine individual-psychological variables, but for animal products a further, social-psychological factor can be assumed based in first self-report studies. Increasingly ethical and moral consumption behaviors suggest that a person's level of moralization might have an impact on product perceptions and might constitute another category of social psychological variables for MPE. As mentioned earlier, an effect of ethical and moral values has so far only been identified on a verbalized basis in terms of intentional willingness to pay, so no consequences can be inferred about effects on actual product perceptions. Furthermore, until now, socio-psychological variables have remained largely unaddressed in MPE research. The theoretical elaboration and valid testing would represent a next logical and goal-oriented step in MPE research. The proposed project aims to investigate the degree of moralization in the context of a possible MPE of animal products. In doing so, the research would extend MPE research by socio-psychological approaches and potentially explain the specified variance for MPE of animal products.