Believers of Karma Have Higher Expectations

People who believe in karma do not attach importance to momentary happiness and are likely to have higher expectations , a new study has revealed.

Authors Praveen K. Kopalle, Dartmouth College, Donald R. Lehmann, Columbia University, and John U. Farley Dartmouth College, found that some consumers strategically lower their expectations in order to try to increase their satisfaction with a product or experience

The experts wrote: "The doctrine of karma links current conduct to future consequences either in this life or the next. Thus, a belief in karma entails, among other things, a focus on long-run consequences."

They continued: "Individuals with a long-term orientation are likely to be less inclined to lower expectations in the hope of temporarily feeling better.

"With a long-term orientation, even those individuals who are most unhappy when a product fails to live up to their expectations of it have a limited incentive to artificially lower their expectations and hence have higher (and more accurate/realistic) expectations."

The team added: "Perhaps most importantly, the findings are also encouraging concerning the feasibility of explicitly measuring cultural factors and assessing their impact on consumer behavior."

The study was published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

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Source-ANI
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