In this research, we examine the effect of joint versus separate visual presentation on consumers’ product evaluation. Counter to prior research on hedonic editing and unpacking, which suggests that separate presentation or unpacking produces greater utility, we propose and demonstrate in this paper that joint visual presentation can increase product evaluation. This pattern of effects occurs because presenting products together facilitates mental imagery of the product consumption, which leads to greater perceived psychological ownership and higher product evaluation. As such, the effect of joint presentation on product evaluation is attenuated when mental imagery is disrupted under joint presentation, encouraged under separate presentation, or when products lack complementarity to elicit mental imagery of one cohesive consumption episode. Evidence from seven studies provides converging support for these hypothesized effects and their underlying process. Our findings contribute to the literature on visual presentation, unpacking, and imagery, offering relevant implications to marketers and retailers.

在这项研究中，我们检验了联合视觉呈现与单独视觉呈现对消费者产品评价的影响。与先前关于享乐编辑和解包的研究表明单独呈现或解包产生更大的效用相反，我们在本文中提出并证明联合视觉呈现可以增加产品评价。之所以会出现这种效果模式，是因为将产品放在一起展示会促进产品消费的心理意象，从而导致更大的心理归属感和更高的产品评价。因此，当心理意象在联合展示下被打乱，在单独展示下受到鼓励，或者当产品缺乏互补性以引发一个有凝聚力的消费事件的心理意象时，联合展示对产品评估的影响就会减弱。来自七项研究的证据为这些假设的影响及其潜在过程提供了一致的支持。我们的发现有助于有关视觉呈现、拆包和图像的文献，为营销人员和零售商提供相关的启示。