Abstract: Romantic experience is a positive emotional experience that significantly impacts people's lives and consumption behaviors. However, the extant research merely conceptualizes romantic experiences as intimate relationships between lovers, which limits the research on how romantic experiences influence consumers' choices. This study extends the concept beyond romantic love by addressing generalized romantic experiences in a broader sense. Four experiments show that romantic experiences (vs. neutral experiences)increase consumers' preference for self-improvement featured products, even in areas not related to the initial romantic stimuli(Study 1). This greater inclination for self-improvement products ismediated by a heightened sense of meaning in life(Studies 2 and 3). Happiness orientation plays a moderating role in the influence of romantic experience on the meaning in life and preference for self-improvement products(Study 4). Theoretically, this paper expands the concept of romantic experience and enriches the research on the influence of romantic experience on consumer choice and the research on the emotional antecedents of self-improvement products. In practice, this paper provides suggestions and guidance for romantic marketing and the promotion of self-improvement products.

Key words: romantic experience, meaning in life, extraordinary experience, self-improvement, happiness orientation