J. Edward Russo

The validity of verbal protocols

The reactivity of a “think aloud” verbal protocol and the veridicality of different retrospective protocols were tested over four dissimilar tasks. Generating a concurrent protocol altered accuracy in two tasks, simple addition and a choice between two gambles, and generally prolonged response times. Such reactivity partially qualifies the dominant theory of protocol generation (Ericsson & Simon, 1984). Retrospective protocols yielded substantial forgetting or fabrication in all tasks, supporting the consensus on the nonveridicality of these methods. It is concluded that protocol validity should be based on an empirical check rather than on theory-based assurances.

Predecisional distortion of product information

Two consumer choice experiments reveal distortion of product information. When relatively equivocal information about two hypothetical brands is acquired one attribute at a time, the evaluation of ...

Nutrition Information in the Supermarket

Lists of nutrition information posted in supermarkets were designed to reduce the information-processing costs of comparing alternative foods. In Experiment 1, lists of vitamins and minerals increased nutrition knowledge but had no influence on actual purchases. In Experiment 2, a list of added sugar—a negative component of food—increased the market share of low-sugar breakfast cereals at the expense of high-sugar brands. We conclude that effort-reducing displays are a successful technique for increasing information use, especially for the more highly valued negative nutrients.

An eye fixation analysis of multialternative choice.

Eye fixations were recorded while subjects chose their most preferred of six used cars. Fixation sequences of the form X-Y-X-... were used to identify pair comparisons. This assumption was validated by verbal protocols and by a comparison between X-Y-X and X-Y-X-Y-... patterns. The results of three experiments showed: (1) that the multialternative choice process was composed primarily of pair comparisons; (2) that evaluative processing took placeonly during these comparisons; (3) that strategies for selecting the pairs were based primarily on information processing convenience; (4) that the sequence of pair comparisons was not used by the subjects as a sequential elimination process; and (5)that subjects changed their strategies to adapt to different task environments. These results have implications for current choice models and for the use of eye fixations in other complex tasks.

An Eye-Fixation Analysis of Choice Processes for Consumer Nondurables

The nature of the choice process for commonly purchased nondurables was examined by tracking eye fixations in a laboratory simulation of supermarket shelving. The observed process contains three stages that were interpreted as (1) orientation, (2) evaluation, and (3) verification. Orientation consisted of an overview of the product display, although some initial screening out of alternatives also occurred. The evaluation stage, the longest by far, was dominated by direct comparisons between two or three alternative products. The last stage, devoted to verification of the tentatively chosen brand-size, mainly examined alternatives with few or no previous fixations. Greater familiarity with a product category led to a choice process that was shorter and that focused on fewer alternatives, but these effects were confined to the evaluation stage. The findings are fully compatible with the general view that the choice process is constructed to adapt to the immediate purchase environment. Copyright 1994 by the University of Chicago.

Non-Conscious Influences on Consumer Choice

While consumer choice research has dedicated considerable research attention to aspects of choice that are deliberative and conscious, only limited attention has been paid to aspects of choice that occur outside of conscious awareness. We review relevant research that suggests that consumer choice is a mix of conscious and nonconscious influences, and argue that the degree to which nonconscious influences affect choice is much greater than many choice researchers believe. Across a series of research domains, these influences are found to include stimulus that are not consciously perceived by the consumer, nonconscious downstream effects of a consciously perceived stimuli or thought process, and decision processes that occur entirely outside of awareness.

Low Involvement Strategies for Processing Advertisements

Abstract Involvement is conceptualized as a state variable with two components, intensity and direction. Intensity is associated with the amount of attention devoted to an ad and direction is represented by the type of strategy used to process the information. An experiment contrasts two strategies, one with brand evaluation as its goal (high involvement) and one that inhibits brand evaluation (low involvement). The low involvement (nonbrand) strategy yielded inferior memory for brand information but a more positive attitude toward the brand.

The Goal of Consistency as a Cause of Information Distortion

Why, during a decision between new alternatives, do people bias their evaluations of information to support a tentatively preferred option? The authors test the following 3 decision process goals as the potential drivers of such distortion of information: (a) to reduce the effort of evaluating new information, (b) to increase the separation between alternatives, and (c) to achieve consistency between old and new units of information. Two methods, the nonconscious priming of each goal and assessing the ambient activation levels of multiple goals, reveal that the goal of consistency drives information distortion. Results suggest the potential value of combining these methods in studying the dynamics of multiple, simultaneously active goals.

A Pyramid of Decision Approaches

Under increasing pressure to make better decisions in less time, managers often use the quickest and easiest decision-making method: going on ” gut feel.” But recent decision research shows that intuition is much less reliable than most people believe. Managers need to use more sophisticated methods. We describe a series of increasingly accurate (and demanding) decision-making approaches. We start with purely intuitive choices, which are quickest and least accurate, and then examine heuristic short-cuts and rules-of-thumb. Thereafter, we discuss more demanding and reliable methods, such as bootstrapping and value analysis. We examine the strengths and weaknesses of each approach in terms of speed, accuracy and justifiability. Each approach is described in step-by-step detail, with illustrative applications to managerial practice. Finally, we offer pragmatic advice on incorporating the more sophisticated techniques into your organization.

Leader‐Driven Primacy: Using Attribute Order to Affect Consumer Choice

Leader-driven primacy uses initial product information to install a targeted brand as the early leader in a choice between two brands. Biased evaluation of subsequent attributes builds support for the targeted brand, causing the choice itself to be biased. Study 1 finds evidence of this effect in choices between two equally attractive brands. Study 2 extends the finding to a situation where one brand is inferior and to conditions where participants do not explicitly identify their leader. Study 3 shows how leader-driven primacy can be reduced by encouraging brand-based processing.