Anticipating Variety Reduces Satiation from a Current Experience

There are many factors that influence our enjoyment and satiation from a current experience. Among them we have, the initial utility we derive from it (Coombs and Avrunin 1977), the objective quantity that we have (Mook and Votaw 1992), the rate at which we consume it (Galak, Kruger and Loewenstein 2013; Nelson and Meyvis 2008; Nelson, Meyvis and Galak 2009), how much variety it contains (Rolls et al. 1984), or merely how we remember it (Rozin et al, 1998) or categorize it (Redden 2008). Finding ways to delay satiation is instrumental to our happiness (Raghunathan and Irwin 2001) because when this phenomenon takes place, consumers stop enjoying their favorite stimuli as much as they did before and need to consume better ones in order to just maintain a desired level of enjoyment (Brickman and Campbell 1971). Despite its importance for wellbeing, just a few ways in which satiation can be reduced have been documented in the literature (Frederick and Loewenstein 1999). The current research looks at a new factor that can affect satiation from a current experience, such as anticipating consuming variety in a given domain. Frequently, in our everyday lives, we find ourselves in situations where our future consumption in a given category is likely set due to decisions we have made for ourselves, or simply because the circumstances have attached us to a particular set of conditions. For example, we choose to buy vacation packages, time shares, or season tickets for extended periods of time, lease vehicles to contracts for a set number of months or years, acquire annual country club or gym memberships, or simply buy our favorite flavor of yogurt in bulk at the local Costco. Alternatively, there are situations such as moving to a particular city for work, where we may find ourselves committed to a specific set of entertainment or dining options. What both of these cases have in common is that consumers know what their future consumption in a specific domain will be. Needless to say, we encounter this type of conditions on a regular basis, so it would be useful to learn more about what their effect is on the enjoyment of a related present experience. This research has the objective to help answer this question.