Research has shown that consumers' future forecasts are vulnerable to being inaccurate (Gilbert et al. 1998). That is, anticipated affect does not always match experienced affect.
This difference between forecasted and experienced affect is called affective misforecasting. Across five studies, the present research examines the impact of affective misforecasting on prosocial behavior. More specifically, this research shows that with
general everyday helping behaviors, consumers overestimate their positive affective responses, i.e., consumers have more positive affect when they think about helping than when they actually help. This overestimation is shown to be due to consumers' perception of greater benefit to others when they think about versus engage in the
behavior. Thus, perceived benefit to others mediates the overestimation effect. Further, this effect is mitigated when consumers focus on the process of the helping behavior when they forecast their emotions. In other words, when consumers shift their focus from outcome oriented terms to more process oriented terms, affective misforecasting disappears. Furthermore, this effect is shown to decrease consumers' willingness to provide repeat help to the charity. Lastly, a boundary condition is shown: when helping is
costly, consumers underestimate rather than overestimate their positive affect. These findings provide implications for the prosocial behavior and affective forecasting literatures as well as managers of non-profit organizations.
","abstract_html":"<p>Research has shown that consumers' future forecasts are vulnerable to being inaccurate (Gilbert et al. 1998). That is, anticipated affect does not always match experienced affect.</p> <p> This difference between forecasted and experienced affect is called affective misforecasting. Across five studies, the present research examines the impact of affective misforecasting on prosocial behavior. More specifically, this research shows that with </p> <p> general everyday helping behaviors, consumers overestimate their positive affective responses, i.e., consumers have more positive affect when they think about helping than when they actually help. This overestimation is shown to be due to consumers' perception of greater benefit to others when they think about versus engage in the </p> <p> behavior. Thus, perceived benefit to others mediates the overestimation effect. Further, this effect is mitigated when consumers focus on the process of the helping behavior when they forecast their emotions. In other words, when consumers shift their focus from outcome oriented terms to more process oriented terms, affective misforecasting disappears. Furthermore, this effect is shown to decrease consumers' willingness to provide repeat help to the charity. Lastly, a boundary condition is shown: when helping is </p> <p>costly, consumers underestimate rather than overestimate their positive affect. These findings provide implications for the prosocial behavior and affective forecasting literatures as well as managers of non-profit organizations.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Robinson, Stefanie"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Campus Access Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Moore School of Business","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["William O Bearden","Caglar Irmak"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:38:14Z","subjects":["Business","Business Administration, Management, and Operations"],"languages":[],"rights":["© 2012, Stefanie Robinson"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/468","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["William O Bearden","Caglar Irmak"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Robinson, Stefanie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Moore School of Business"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Campus Access Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Business","Business Administration, Management, and Operations"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["© 2012, Stefanie Robinson"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/468"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Research has shown that consumers' future forecasts are vulnerable to being inaccurate (Gilbert et al. 1998). That is, anticipated affect does not always match experienced affect.
This difference between forecasted and experienced affect is called affective misforecasting. Across five studies, the present research examines the impact of affective misforecasting on prosocial behavior. More specifically, this research shows that with
general everyday helping behaviors, consumers overestimate their positive affective responses, i.e., consumers have more positive affect when they think about helping than when they actually help. This overestimation is shown to be due to consumers' perception of greater benefit to others when they think about versus engage in the
behavior. Thus, perceived benefit to others mediates the overestimation effect. Further, this effect is mitigated when consumers focus on the process of the helping behavior when they forecast their emotions. In other words, when consumers shift their focus from outcome oriented terms to more process oriented terms, affective misforecasting disappears. Furthermore, this effect is shown to decrease consumers' willingness to provide repeat help to the charity. Lastly, a boundary condition is shown: when helping is
costly, consumers underestimate rather than overestimate their positive affect. These findings provide implications for the prosocial behavior and affective forecasting literatures as well as managers of non-profit organizations.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Misforecasting Positive Affective Responses to Prosocial Behavior"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["William O Bearden","Caglar Irmak"],"dc:creator":["Robinson, Stefanie"],"dc:description.abstract":["Research has shown that consumers' future forecasts are vulnerable to being inaccurate (Gilbert et al. 1998). That is, anticipated affect does not always match experienced affect.
This difference between forecasted and experienced affect is called affective misforecasting. Across five studies, the present research examines the impact of affective misforecasting on prosocial behavior. More specifically, this research shows that with
general everyday helping behaviors, consumers overestimate their positive affective responses, i.e., consumers have more positive affect when they think about helping than when they actually help. This overestimation is shown to be due to consumers' perception of greater benefit to others when they think about versus engage in the
behavior. Thus, perceived benefit to others mediates the overestimation effect. Further, this effect is mitigated when consumers focus on the process of the helping behavior when they forecast their emotions. In other words, when consumers shift their focus from outcome oriented terms to more process oriented terms, affective misforecasting disappears. Furthermore, this effect is shown to decrease consumers' willingness to provide repeat help to the charity. Lastly, a boundary condition is shown: when helping is
costly, consumers underestimate rather than overestimate their positive affect. These findings provide implications for the prosocial behavior and affective forecasting literatures as well as managers of non-profit organizations.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/468"],"dc:rights":["© 2012, Stefanie Robinson"],"dc:subject":["Business","Business Administration, Management, and Operations"],"dc:title":["Misforecasting Positive Affective Responses to Prosocial Behavior"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Moore School of Business"],"thesis:degree_level":["Campus Access Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:38:14Z"}