The Effect of Emotion Resulting from Non-verbal Codes in Commercial Environments on the Audience's Perception of the Commercial Message

Objective
The coordination of environmental information in a communication process can play a significant role in the effectiveness of the message. But in addition to the ability to control disorders with environment design, other benefits of non-verbal communication can be used in effective business communication. Based on the presented definition of communication and relying on the principle of dynamic or emotion-oriented, continuity and irreversibility, it is possible to define non-verbal communication by virtue of continuity, being emotional (based on the principle of emotion), oriented to the goal (based on the principle of awareness). And he also introduced the most effective communication method to be compatible with words (based on the principle of irreversibility). Therefore, in the design of the message in the business environment, if you do not pay attention to the arrangement of compatible information (based on the principle of irreversibility) and in line with the final goal (based on the contextual principle) with non-verbal coding (based on the principle of continuity) and stimulating emotion (based on the principle of dynamism), cannot expect an influential effect. According to the SOR theory, the relationship between the three concepts of environment, emotional response and behavior can help communication researchers in increasing the effectiveness of messages in the business environment. Due to the lack of a similar study in this regard, the present research, based on the SOR theory, sought to measure the effectiveness of emotion resulting from non-verbal codes in commercial environments on the audience's perception of the commercial message.
Research Methodology
In this study, based on the laboratory method, by changing the non-verbal codes, the changes in other concepts have been investigated. Therefore, the type of research method can be introduced as a post-test type experiment (or repeated measurement method). Repeated measurement is a design in which each subject is exposed to more than one independent variable. Based on the post-test method to check the relationships of the conceptual model, 13 tests were designed, which were conducted in 50 minutes (for the first time) and 35 minutes (for subsequent repetitions). In this test, which is repeated 6 times, the researcher measures the changes in the dependent variables by changing the independent variable. The research community included female students available in Tehran, who voluntarily participated in the initial plan and after the initial screening to control suspicious variables, 30 people were finally selected. After the implementation of the test procedures, the obtained information was recorded in both computer and manual ways. The most important data collection tools in the research stages are the Beurer BM58 sphygmomanometer, Assumed HB500 device, Pals Oximeter MD300C13 device, lux-meter and observation.
Findings
The findings show that people's heart rate increases when exposed to warm colors, high light, low light, and stimulating smells. This result is also true for other vital signs. On the other hand, the findings report the effect of cold color and relaxing smell on reducing vital signs. In this way, it can be said that when people face the non-verbal codes of warm color, high light and low light (compared to standard light or a room of 350 to 400 lux) and a stimulating smell with an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, body temperature and blood oxygen also rise. This reaction regarding the sensory stimulation of cold color and relaxing smell shows a decrease in vital signs with a reverse trend. One of the notable points of this section is the increase of 12 units of heart rate when people are placed in a bright environment. Also, the range of blood pressure changes shows that the studied samples have experienced the highest amount of fluctuation when faced with non-verbal olfactory codes. Based on the findings, it can be claimed that body temperature is not affected by the change in non-verbal codes. But the color has been able to reduce the heart rate, blood oxygen and blood pressure by changing from hot to cold. Also, light from low to high and smell from stimulating to relaxing has been able to reduce blood pressure. It should be noted that these changes are very small.
According to the findings, the matching of color with smell can create the greatest effect compared to other possible combinations for color. This finding is also observed during the matching of smell with other codes. But regarding light, a combination with color shows better conditions for light than a combination with smell. On the other hand, based on the findings, it is clear that the simultaneity of color and smell (compared to the combination of color-light or smell-light) has the greatest effect on the audience's perception of emotional capacity. Among other findings, we can mention the increasing effect of the combination of cold color and soothing smell on increasing the perception of pleasure in the audience. The intensity of the emotion of trust is most affected by cold color, lots of light and soothing smell. In the case of summarizing and looking at the emotions of trust and pleasure in a unified way, cold color and soothing smell can be introduced as the most effective non-verbal codes on the audience's perception of the intensity of positive emotions. Regarding the perception of negative emotions, the findings showed that low light stimulates the intensity of the emotion of sadness, warm color and the stimulating smell are the factors influencing the intensity of the emotion of fear, the stimulating smell and high light stimulate the intensity of the emotion of anger, and the stimulating smell and low light are the factors that stimulate the intensity of the emotion of hatred. In general, the stimulating smell and dim light can be introduced as the most effective environmental non-verbal codes for the intensity of negative emotions. On the other hand, the warm color and the stimulating smell have caused the subjects to evaluate the commercial environments of the slides as crowded. On the other hand, the low light and soothing smell created a different perception of the environment and the subjects voted for the quietness of the images. The stimulating smell causes the subjects to evaluate the commercial environments of the slides as places where expensive goods are sold; While the soothing smell has led to the perception of selling cheap goods and the stimulating smell in the environment causes the subjects to evaluate the commercial environments of the slides as exciting; While low light has led to a dull environmental perception. Also, none of the studied non-verbal codes has been able to change the audience's perception of the environment from the perspective of the commercial environments of the slides being suitable for purchase; while low light has led to a drastic change in the audience's perception of the inappropriateness of the environment for shopping. The findings showed that by changing the light and color, the perception of the message (textual and visual) increases significantly. It is noteworthy that the positive messages in bright light and warm color are almost completely understood. Another noteworthy point is that sadness and fear are perceived with a significant difference in color. Also, regarding low light and cold color, the message of pleasure and anger are perceived more than other messages. Based on the findings of this section, it can be concluded that warm color and high light have almost similar perceptual behavior, and on the other hand, low light and cold color have played a similar role in the perception of the message. By changing the smell, the perception of the message (textual and visual) changes significantly. It is noteworthy that positive messages in stimulating and soothing smell are perceived more than other messages. The predominance of fear and sadness messages is also significant during the emission of stimulating odors. Regarding the comforting smell, the perception of the fear message is also significant, but it is noteworthy that this message is the same in both odor conditions. Perhaps the reason can be found in survival behavior.
Discussion & Conclusion
Contemporary studies indicate the non-rational and self-conscious origin of audience behavior in business environments (Floh & Madlberger, 2013; Virvilaite & Saladiene, 2012, 664). Based on this research, the aesthetic factors (Cai & Xu, 2011), song and music (Ding & Lin, 2012), the environmental signs (Floh & Madlberger, 2013) and the colors (Cheng, Wu & Yen, 2009) have been identified as factors that stimulate positive emotions and lead customers to unplanned purchases. These results support the theory of SOR presented by Mehrabian and Russell (1974) and the theoretical model of the present research. Based on the assumption of the present research, emotional stimuli can affect the attitude, responses and emotional state of customers and as a result change the desire and behavior of the customer, which is in agreement with the research results of Zhu and his colleagues (2015). In this research, the effect of the environment on the formation of emotion (as a stimulus for physiological and cognitive behavior (Kapoor, 2015, 100; Jansson-Boyd, 2010) was confirmed. The results of this section can be considered in line with Herbert Simon's theory of bounded rationality. According to studies, 20% of the brain's capacity is used consciously and 80% of this capacity is allocated to the unconscious processes (Morin, 2011, 134). On the other hand, it has been claimed that the conscious part of the brain includes verbal information and the unconscious includes non-verbal information (Hogan,  2008, 127). Researchers have shown that capacity is effective on the emotional intensity of the audience (Gomes, Brainerd, & Stein, 2013); in such a way that the perceived emotional intensity of messages and environmental stimuli, when the emotional capacity of the content is negative, is more than the positive state (Viinikainen, Jääskeläinen, Alexandrov, Balk, Autti, & Sams, 2010). This relationship in human experiments (Citron, Gray, Critchley, Weekes, & Ferstl, 2014; Eder & Rothermund, 2010) showed the following results: (A) The content is consistent with negative emotional capacities with high intensity and positive with low intensity, as a consequence, the processing power of the brain when facing this type of emotional content is more than other modes; (B) Emotional content with negative capacity and low intensity or positive and high intensity is incompatible and contradictory from the point of view of brain processing, as a result, in the filtering process of the brain, they are filtered and do not produce any value.