Underwhelming Pleasures: Towards a Self-Regulatory Account of Hedonic Compensation and Overconsumption

Hedonic overconsumption (e.g., overconsumption of gratifying behaviors, e.g., eating, gaming) is common in daily life and often problematic, pointing to the need for adequate behavioral models. In this article, we develop a self-regulatory framework proposing that when an actual consumption experience falls short of hedonic expectations - such as when being distracted - people will want to consume more to compensate for the shortfall. In a preliminary meta-analysis, a small-scale field experiment on distraction during lunch and subsequent afternoon snacking (Study 1), and a pre-registered experience sampling (ESM) study (Study 2) involving more than 6,000 consumption episodes in everyday life, across multiple consumption domains, we investigated the predictions from our Hedonic Compensation Model. There was clear and consistent evidence across studies and analyses for the prediction that distraction during consumption compromises the actual enjoyment of a given consumption experience. Both empirical studies yielded consistent evidence for a negative effect of actual enjoyment on consumption satisfaction but inconsistent and weaker evidence for the expected role of actual-expected enjoyment discrepancies for this part of the model. There was also consistent evidence for the expected negative association between consumption satisfaction and the need for further gratification. Finally, there was moderate and inconsistent support linking need for further gratification to subsequent consumption across Study 1 (amount and frequency of snacking in the afternoon) and Study 2 (shorter duration to subsequent consumption). Taken together, the present framework provides a good starting point for studying the links among compromising consumption contexts, consumption enjoyment, and subsequent hedonic compensation.