Knowledge that Transforms

In this study, we explore the cognitive process by which people evaluate consumer products. We examine how people's information about good and bad product classes influences the evaluation of product exemplars. Subjects in three experiments learned what constitutes a good alloy (the good standard) and a bad alloy (the bad standard). Then they were exposed to a series of exemplars whose features partially overlapped with the good and the bad standards. In the first two experiments, features associated with the good standard had a greater impact on judgment than features associated with the bad standard. This positive/ negative asymmetry was stronger when the decision was framed positively (e.g., how good is this alloy) than when it was framed negatively (e.g., how bad is this product). Also, the asymmetry was stronger when the standards had to be accessed from memory than when they were visually available at the time subjects evaluated the exemplars. In the third experiment, the addition of features that signaled the absence of good characteristics had more influence on product evaluations than the addition of features that signaled the absence of bad characteristics. Implications of these findings for current models of evaluative judgment are discussed.

In response to Fishbein and Middlestadt's (1995) study, the theory of reasoned action is evaluated in the context of general attitude theory. Although the theory has been theoretically interesting and practically useful, concerns are raised regarding its implementation, with particular respect to measurement, falsifiabil‐ity, and testability issues. The theory provides a solid foundation for the study of consumer behavior, but participants in the debate over affect or belief‐based attitude mediation should consider additional attitude theories that build on and complement the theory of reasoned action.

Consumer beliefs about influences on liking are explored. Questionnaires were administered to explore the extent to which respondents’ implicit beliefs resemble any of six concepts established in experimental psychology. Results indicate respondents apply beliefs consistent with classical conditioning and Weber's law and expect adaptation to occur in a wide variety of situations. They do not show a general belief in cognitive dissonance effects. They probably do not believe in affective opponent processes (rebound) or the ability of exposure alone (“mere exposure”) to increase liking, although the beliefs they do apply predict the same outcome in some contexts. Implications for consumer behavior are discussed.

The purpose of this research is to show that goods framed to emphasize their association to political concerns produce a distribution of willingness to pay (WTP) different from that produced when the same goods are framed to emphasize their instrumental qualities. Specifically, we hypothesize and find that symbolic presentations of both market and nonmarket goods produce a WTP distribution that is characterized by higher variance and weaker price elasticity than that produced by instrumental presentations of these goods. In addition, we find support for the proposition that changes in the price elasticity of a good are produced by respondents’ differential reliance on instrumental and symbolic considerations. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for marketing and mass politics.

We extend the concept of cognitive age and assess the internal validity of a direct, multiple‐item approach to its measurement. A multitrait–multimethod matrix consisting of the correlations between average cognitive age, ideal age, and least desired age, as measured by three methods (semantic differential, ratio, and Likert scales), was developed and analyzed using three models: confirmatory factor analysis, correlated uniqueness, and direct product. The correlated uniqueness model performed well in terms of goodness‐of‐fit, and the results provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity, as well as the strength of age traits, relative to methods, in explaining matrix variance. Also, the semantic differential scale performed best in explaining the trait variance of a composite of cognitive age measures. The findings provide strong support for the internal validity of the cognitive age concept and the use of the semantic differential as the scale of choice for cognitive age research.

This research examines the behaviors of individuals in environments characterized by varying degrees of ethnic and gender diversity. Self‐attention theory (e.g., Mullen, 1983) is used to explain how being one‐of‐a‐kind (e.g., race or gender) in a social setting may affect behavior. Ethnic minorities have previously been found to avoid behaviors associated with their ethnicity when no other members of their ethnic group are present (Stayman & Deshpande, 1989). However, the extent to which they adopt the behaviors of the majority is not clear. This research investigates conformity and other possible consequences of distinctiveness. Findings from three experiments suggest that numerical minorities adjust to their distinctiveness by reducing perceived dissimilarities rather than increasing perceived similarities between themselves and members of the numerically dominant group.

Findings that challenge several normative assumptions of consumer choice have been documented in the literature on the attraction effect. There has been ample previous empirical evidence supporting the attraction effect. However, there is some concern that findings were generated only in hypothetical choice experiments. The choice of political candidates in elections presents a more complex and “real world” choice setting in which to reexamine the attraction effect. In this article, we report two studies that provide evidence of the attraction effect in the choice of political candidates in the 1994 Illinois State primary election and the 1992 U.S. Presidential election.

As information technology becomes more sophisticated, consumers will be able to access more information to help them make difficult high‐stakes choices, such as medical and financial investments or career decision making. The purpose of this article is to examine how consumers think such information should be used in making decisions for which there are high stakes. Results, based on five exploratory studies, indicate that subjects do not spontaneously favor the use of compensatory decision procedures, such as multiattribute utility theory (MAUT). Explanation and structured pedagogical procedures significantly increase the subjects’ endorsement of decision rules over no decision rules, but they do not increase the endorsement of MAUT. Further, subjects believe that they would be more likely to use compensatory models when they have more options and more information about the options, more time, less certainty about their goals, and more accountability. Paradoxically, although subjects generally do not want to use compensatory rules themselves, they are more likely to want their agents (e.g., physicians or financial or career advisors) to use these rules in making decisions.

This article follows in the recent tradition of calls for marketers to become more engaged in social marketing. Given that public health represents the core of social marketing's domain, it is suggested that any entry into social marketing ought to begin with a review of the public health marketing literature. Such an analysis reveals that much of the work done to date has involved macroexperiments aimed at changing the individual's health‐related behaviors. This approach is linked to a more conservative structural–functional tradition. It is argued that there is a need for a more radical approach in social marketing that emphasizes efforts to change the negative or constraining social structural influences on individual behavior, particularly those that originate as a function of marketing activities. This approach is tied to the more radical critical theory paradigm. Those with interests in microexperimental design are urged to become engaged in such an endeavor.

This research examined the enduring nature of involvement with three recreational activities (golf, downhill skiing, windsurfing) and associated products using a panel survey approach. Over 280 participants completed in‐season questionnaires that assessed involvement using Laurent and Kapferer's (1985) Consumer Involvement Profile scale. Respondents were contacted with follow‐up instruments in the off‐season and preseason. The data suggested that activity involvement scores on the attraction (importance, pleasure) and risk probability dimensions were stable between seasons but sign (symbolic value) and risk consequence scores fluctuated. Product involvement scores for all four dimensions were stable both across seasons and based on length of participation. Positive relations were found between activity involvement and length of participation. Six distinct activity involvement‐based clusters were found. Discriminant analyses suggested that cluster memberships were generally stable across seasons.