It explains that merely measuring or questioning an individual's intentions or anticipated regret[1] changes his or her subsequent behavior.
In this context, the effect implies that simply questioning one's intentions behind a purchase influences his or her decision making in the market.
[2] The most well-known coiner of the mere-measurement effect is Vicki Morwitz, a marketing professor at NYU who addressed the term in hers, Eric Johnson and David Schmittlein's article Does Measuring Intent Change Behaviour?
In 1993, she demonstrated that simply questioning people's intentions towards buying a computer or car would increase the likelihood of purchasing these items.
Yet, Gavan Fitzsimons and Morwitz expand these explanations more in depth in their later article written in 2004– The Mere-Measurement Effect: Why Does Measuring Intentions Change Actual Behavior.
Many theories and past literature have made a connection between intention and subsequent behaviour before the term mere-measurement effect was invented.
[4][6] In 2011, Godin, Ariane Bélanger-Gravel, Steve Amireault, Marie-Claude Vohl, and Louis Pérusse showcased that completing a survey on participant's cognition towards leisurely and physical activity.