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Hari P R 2010SMF6553

SUMMARY OF PAPERS READ (JOURNAL OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY)

The benefits of sleeping on things: Unconscious thought leads to automatic weighting Maarten W. Bos , Ap Dijksterhuis, Rick B. van Baaren

It was established that making decisions helped by unconscious thought leads to greater efficiency in decision making as compared to conscious decision making. Three experiments were conducted to drive home this point . The participants were divided into two groups : One of which had to make the decision immediately after seeing the information, and another of which was distracted through a 2-back test (a set of digits is presented, and the participant has to determine whether each digit matches the digit that preceded it by 2 places). In the first experiment, a set of participants were given a set of hypothetical cars to choose from, based on a listing of 12 of their attributes. In a set of cars, called the Quality Cars, 4 significant positive attributes and 8 insignificant negative attributes were listed. In another set, called the Frequency Cars, 4 significant negative attributes and 8 insignificant positive attributes were listed. It was found that the group which had to decide after distraction showed a greater preference for quality cars. A variation of Experiment 1 was conducted where participants were asked to rate each attribute on a scale of 1-9. Again, participants in the unconscious group showed a greater preference for quality cars. To show that mere distraction (i.e, distraction without any specific goal) does not help decision making much, a third group was introduced, which, after being shown the attributes of cars, was told that no further questions relating to cars would be asked, was put to

the distraction task. It was established through this experiment that participants in the unconscious group showed a greater preference for quality cars than either of the other two groups. Thus, unconscious decision making, wherein there is a period of distraction introduced before the actual decision making, leads to an automatic non-conscious weighing of parameters, which ultimately leads to improved decision making.

Unconscious information processing reduces information overload and increases product satisfaction Claude Messner , Michaela Wnke

This paper submits that unconscious information processing results in increased choice satisfaction when the decision to be made is complex. An assortment of pralines was given to participants, and they had to choose one among them. Two assortments were used: one having 6 pralines (to demonstrate simple decision making) and the other 24 pralines (to demonstrate complex decision making). The participants were divided into 3 groups: one that had to take the decision spontaneously, another that was given time to ponder over the options and then decide, and another that was distracted for a while through an activity involving anagrams and then asked to decide. It was found that choice satisfaction was highest, and hence regret was least, among the unconscious group, i.e., the one that was distracted for a while before arriving at a decision, when the decision making was complex (24 pralines). However, when the decision to be made was simple (6 pralines), the distraction actually had an adverse affect on choice satisfaction and increased regret.

A multidimensional association approach to sequential consumer judgments David Sleeth-Keppler , S. Christian Wheeler

This paper shows how exposure to a certain product can create constructs in the customers mind, which in turn can influence his buying behavior in subsequent purchase decisions. In the experiment carried out in the paper, consumers are first exposed to a Ferrari, which leads to the constructs expensive and foreign to be formed in their minds. Subsequently, they are asked to judge the price of two identical sets of beverages, with one branded as domestic and the other as foreign. It was found that the participants gave a higher price estimate for the foreign brand. Similarly, when exposed to a low-cost foreign brand (Kia), participants estimated the price of the foreign brand to be lower. A further experiment was conducted to prove that the constructs can also work in isolation. Here, it was shown that the construct expensive can work independently of the construct foreign (when participants were exposed to Ferrari). When the participants were asked to estimate prices of beverages in a restaurant with its name displayed in high salience (prominent logos and bright fonts), they estimated the price to be higher. Similarly, participants exposed to Kia estimated the price of beverages to be lower when the salience was lowered. When the salience was kept neutral, there was no significant difference in the price estimation of participants from both groups. These insights are useful in todays context where sequential purchases across product segments are quite common, in places like shopping malls and expos. A consumers expectation of price is significantly influenced by what he is exposed to in the course of his shopping experience.

Red Bull Gives You Wings for better or worse: A double-edged impact of brand exposure on consumer performance S. Adam Brasel , James Gips

This paper shows how brand exposure acts as a double edged sword in influencing consumer behavior, at an unconscious level. An experiment was performed, wherein participants were made to play a video racing game involving cars which were identical in all attributes except for

the brand displayed on them. The brand Red Bull was printed on one of the cars, to signify high energy and speed, while neutral brands were printed on the others. While measuring the performance of participants in the race (time taken to complete normalized to adjust for differences), it was found that participants, while playing using the Red Bull branded car performed at the extremes : ie, their performance was either significantly better or significantly worse than their average when they used the Red Bull car. It was later ascertained from the participants that the variation in performance was unconscious and indeliberate. Thus, the brand identity and the image of a brand in the customers mind have a double-edged, U-shaped effect on consumer performance. In this case, performance improved because the Red Bull brand drove participants to drive faster and with more aggression. The very same drive, however, affected performance adversely too, by means of more frequent crashes and deviations from the track.

Conspicuous consumption in a recession: Toning it down or turning it up? Joseph C. Nunes , Xavier Drze , Young Jee Han

This paper refutes through hard data the notion that conspicuous consumption dies during a recession as the wealthy do not want to show off when the others are suffering. There are two types of consumers for luxury products: the parvenus, who like to show off their luxury purchases to common people, and patricians, who do not mingle with common people and only associate with other patricians.

The study of data on eminent luxury brands of designer bags (Gucci and Louis Vuitton) shows that parvenus stay loyal to luxury goods and seem to prefer huge logos on the products they choose. Inevitably, these brands try to cater to the needs of these consumers who stick to the brands even during lean times. These are the kind of consumers who would like to flaunt to the masses that they are not affected like them. Such customers naturally prefer huge logos and the luxury brands change their marketing and design to attract such customers.

The workings and limits of subliminal advertising: The role of habits Thijs Verwijmeren , Johan C. Karremans , Wolfgang Stroebe , Danil H.J. Wigboldus

This paper shows how subliminal advertising i.e., advertising without having the viewers full attention on the advertisement, such as showing a brand in a movie can influence consumer choices even to an extent where the consumer could choose the primed brand over one he is accustomed to using. An experiment was conducted, where the participants were exposed to subliminal advertising for a cool beverage brand (say, Brand A), and were then given a choice between that brand and another brand which they were habituated to choosing (say, Brand B). It was found that when both brands were identical in attributes (like taste), and if goal-oriented conditions existed (thirst), the participants actually chose the primed brand over the one they habitually use.

Are low-literate and high-literate consumers different? Applying resource-matching theory to ad processing across literacy levels Haeran Jae , Devon S. DelVecchio , Terry L. Childers

This paper submits that high-literate and low-literate consumers, owing to their different levels of comprehension power, react differently to advertisements. An experiment was conducted, where, it was found that high-literate consumers react more positively to advertisements of moderate complexity (Grade 7 level) which involve strong claims, than those that involve only weak claims. Low-literate participants, on the other hand, were not found to be able to differentiate between weak and strong claims, when the complexity was moderate. However, when the complexity was low (Grade 4 level), low-literate participants were found to react more positively to ads that had strong claims than those that had weak claims.

This has important implications for marketers, considering that most advertisements in the USA are worded at the Grade 8 level. Obviously, these do not reach the low-literate consumers, who form a sizeable portion of the total population.

The contrasting effects of negative word of mouth in the post-consumption stage Haksin Chan , Selina Cui

This paper shows how negative word of mouth (NWOM) can have both an aggravating and an alleviating effect on the consumers level of dissatisfaction. Specifically, if the NWOM is attribute-based, it increases customer dissatisfaction, and hence has an aggravating effect. When a set of dissatisfied customers have a discussion, for instance, their dissatisfaction is likely to increase because of the piling up of complaints.

If the NWOM is experience based, and from a similar other, it would have an alleviating effect, because the consumer now knows that he is not alone in experiencing the shortcomings of the product/service. Especially for products that are newly launched and do not have a reference point, experience-based NWOM creates a low reference point on which the product/service is evaluated, and hence leads to a significant decrease in dissatisfaction, and an increased propensity to repurchase.

The limited effects of power on satisfaction with joint consumption decisions Robert J. Fisher , Yany Grgoire , Kyle B. Murray

This paper shows how the possession of power in making joint decisions increases choice satisfaction only when the relationship is weak, and the decision orientation is competitive, i.e., there is little motivation on the part of either partner to satisfy the other. Experiments were conducted with diads, in two scenarios : a) Each partner knowing the others identity b) A condition of anonymity. It was found that in a co-operative decision orientation, the person holding power was satisfied even when the decision taken was different from his initial preference. This can be explained by the fact that the partners happiness and consent is important to the person, and hence forgoing his first preference did not seem a big cost to him. It was found that even in a competitive decision orientation, if the relationship was strong, the person holding power was still willing to forgo his initial preference to accommodate the wish of his partner. It was only in a competitive orientation with a weak relationship that the possession

of power in itself was found to increase satisfaction, as the person holding power would not have to forgo his first preference under any circumstance.

The role of computational ease on the decision to spend loyalty program points Jessica Y.Y. Kwong , Dilip Soman, Candy K.Y. Ho

This paper explores to what extent customers use and encash customer loyalty schemes (such as frequent flyer points and credit card points), and the factors that influence the extent of use of these points. Experiments were conducted, where some participants were given customer points whose encashment was easy to compute (say, $24 for every 36 points, or 2/3, or 66.6%), and some others were given customer points that were hard to compute (say, $25 for every 36 points, or 69.44%). It was found that customers had an increased tendency to make use of loyalty points for actual purchase when the computation for conversion of points into actual currency was simpler. It was also established that external information, i.e., letting the customer know the worth of his accumulated loyalty points, also leads to an increased propensity to encash the loyalty points. Thus, making the conversion of loyalty points to actual currency units simple will lead to increased use of loyalty points.

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