Heather Honea

Heather Honea completed her doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley. Currently, Dr. Honea is an Associate Professor at the San Diego State University College of Business Administration and Chair of the Marketing Department at Fowler College of Business. Dr. Honea’s background in psychology and economics frame her different research areas. One research stream addresses consumers’ psychological reactions to direct response marketing activities and interactive consumption experiences; the other examines rational versus nonrational (emotional) determinants of consumption and loyalty.

Dr. Honea’s research allows her to bring a unique perspective to the digital marketing process. In addition to teaching courses San Diego State University, she provides industry lectures and assists companies with the coordination of their digital research and marketing strategies. Dr. Honea also models the impact of green and decentralized technologies on business and society as well as explores transformative mechanisms to enhance sustainable consumer behavior. She lectures on how technology and communication can be leveraged to generate economic, environmental, and social returns that increase the public and private bottom line. Dr. Honea’s research is published in top business and marketing journals.

PRESENTATION

The Quantified Consumer: How Gamification Motivates Individuals through Affective Experiences

The use of self-sensing technology to track, monitor and analyze personal context, states, patterns, consumption, performance, and well-being has quantified the ‘self.’ When monitoring takes the form of a quantified record or information, it can be interpreted, meaningfully evaluated, and responded to by the individual. Moreover, this quantification can be gamified which increases one’s level of involvement in the activity or outcome being monitored and can ultimately support attitude or behavior change. Little academic research has explored the mechanisms or emotive responses underlying consumer learning and behavior in quantified and gamified contexts. In particular, little is understood about what representation of personal data could activate different responses. Could the monitoring and representation of data via different contrasts elicit different thoughts or feelings that could differentially drive behavior? Moreover, could personal progression or contribution to a particular outcome generate certain emotions that are more or less motivating for subsequent action? Could learning and habit formation be supported by emotive states triggered by the type of data feedback individuals receive? Is there some optimal pulsing of arousal, pleasure and dominance feelings, or are there required lengths of streaks of positive emotions relative to negative emotions or perhaps a threshold of negative emotional responses relative to positive emotional responses to optimally motivate action? To explore such issues we present a series of experiments in the context of personal well-being and sustainability. Our results highlight the key role affective response plays in response to gamification and to behavior and attitude change.