The relationship between desire and attention was long thought to only work in one direction: When a person desires something, they focus their attention on it.

Now, new research reveals this relationship works the other way, too: increasing a person's focus on a desirable object makes them want the object even more -- a finding with important implications for marketers seeking to influence behavior.

The study, published in the journal Motivation and Emotion, is the first to demonstrate a two-way relationship.

"People will block out distraction and narrow their attention on something they want," said Anne Kotynski, author of the study and a PhD student in psychological sciences at Case Western Reserve University. "Now we know this works in the opposite direction, too."

In marketing, advertisements with a hyper focus on a product's desirable aspect -- say zooming in on the texture of icing and frosting -- might help sell a certain brand of cake.

The study's findings also add a wrinkle to knowledge of focus and emotion.

Positive Emotions Enhance Focus

According to a spate of previous research, positive emotions -- such as happiness and joy -- widen a person's attention span, while negative emotions -- such as disgust and fear -- do the opposite: narrowing a person's focus.

"We conceptualize fear as drastically different from desire," Kotynski said. "But our findings contribute to growing evidence that these different emotions have something key in common: They both narrow our focus in similar ways."

The findings also fit the notion that both of these emotions -- fear (negative) and desire (positive) -- are associated with evolutionarily pursuits that narrowed our ancestors' attentions. For example, fear of predators motivated attention focused on an escape route, while an urge to mate motivated focus on a sexual partner.

"If a person has a strong desire, research says this positive emotion would make them have a wide attention span," Kotynski said. "Our research shows we developed a more beneficial behavior around desire: focusing our mental energy on the important object, much like fear would."

Theme’s Take

“This study reinforces the importance of using good, positive visuals in all your media and marketing documents to better enhance the focus of your prospects,” said Theme Communications Managing Partner Trey Robinson.

The Mechanics of the Study

Study participants were shown images of desserts mixed in with mundane items. They were instructed to pull a joystick toward them if the image was tilted one direction and push the stick away if it was tilted the opposite direction. Researchers recorded the reaction time of each. Participants who responded fastest to pull the images of desserts were those whose attention had been narrowed. Responses were much slower to the mundane, and for participants whose attention was broad -- suggesting narrowed attention increases desire for desserts but not for everyday objects.

The study used dessert pictures to measure reaction time because such images have been shown to increase desire across individuals, most likely due to a motivation to seek high fat, high calorie foods that is rooted in evolution.