Merrie Brucks

The Effects of Product Class Knowledge on Information Search Behavior

The effects of prior knowledge about a product class on various characteristics of pre-purchase information search within that product class are examined. A new search task methodology is used that imposes only a limited amount of structure on the search task: subjects are not cued with a list of attributes, and the problem is not structured in a brand-by-attribute matrix. The results indicate that prior knowledge facilitates the acquisition of new information and increases search efficiency. The results also support the conceptual distinction between objective and subjective knowledge.

Price and Brand Name As Indicators of Quality Dimensions for Consumer Durables

Delivering quality products requires an understanding of the critical dimensions and cues that consumers use to judge quality. To that end, this article addresses two fundamental research issues. Using a qualitative study, the authors first develop a generalizable typology of quality dimensions for durable goods that includes ease of use, versatility, durability, serviceability, performance, and prestige. Second, the authors conduct a process-tracing laboratory experiment to examine how key marketing variables—price, brand name, and product attributes—affect consumers’ judgment processes and inferences about how products perform on the six quality dimensions. Results of the experiment indicate that consumers use price and brand name differently to judge the quality dimensions, searching for price and brand name much more frequently when evaluating prestige than when evaluating any other quality dimension. Results suggest that managers must determine the relevant quality dimensions for a product category and the cues that are salient for judging those dimensions.

Children's Use of Cognitive Defenses against Television Advertising: A Cognitive Response Approach

This study employs a cognitive response approach using non-directive probes rather than direct questions to assess the effects of advertising knowledge and the presence of a cue on thoughts produced by 9 to 10-year-old children while watching commercials. The number of counterarguments produced indicates childrens use of cognitive defenses. The study found that advertising knowledge did not result in increased counterarguments against advertisements unless a cue was present to activate that knowledge. Direct questions (as opposed to non-directive probes) themselves appear to activate advertising knowledge, thus overestimating childrens actual use of cognitive defenses.

The Moderating Effects of Problem Characteristics on Experts' and Novices' Judgments

A growing body of literature suggests that experts are little if at all better than novices in terms of the quality of decision outputs. To explain this counter-intuitive finding, the authors propo...

Search Monitor: An Approach for Computer-Controlled Experiments Involving Consumer Information Search

This article describes a microcomputer program that can facilitate research on consumer information search and decision making. Search Monitor is a menu-driven user interface with data collection and recording facilities. This article suggests research problems for which Search Monitor is appropriate and briefly describes its features and options.

Physician prescribing decisions: The effects of situational involvement and task complexity on information acquisition and decision making

This research utilized conjoint analysis and an analysis of information acquisition to examine the effects of situational involvement and task complexity on physicians decision-making process. The predictive accuracy of the linear model in predicting drug choice across situations was also assessed. A contingency model for the selection of decision strategies was used as a framework in the study. A sample of forty-eight physicians was asked to indicate their preferences and choices for hypothetical anti-infective drugs. Situational involvement was manipulated by telling physicians in the experimental group via the written scenario to assume that his/her decision would be reviewed and evaluated by peers and (s)he would be asked to justify drug choice. Task complexity was manipulated by varying the number of drug alternatives in a choice set. Results of the study indicated that physicians shifted from using compensatory to noncompensatory decision-making processes when task complexity increased. The effect of situational involvement on the decision-making process was not supported. However, physicians in the two groups were found to differ in choice outcomes and the attention given to specific drug attribute information. Finally, the linear model was found to be robust in predicting drug choice across contexts.

How Childhood Advertising Exposure Can Create Biased Product Evaluations That Persist into Adulthood

Previous research has found that children incrementally learn how to cope with advertising as they age. The current research investigates whether these developmental constraints in advertising knowledge at time of exposure have enduring consequences. Results from four experimental studies show that childhood exposure to advertisements can lead to resilient biased product evaluations that persist into adulthood. Study 1 demonstrates that positive affect toward ad-related stimuli encountered in childhood mediates the relationship between childhood advertising exposure and biased evaluations for products associated with childhood (but not adulthood) advertising. Study 2 demonstrates stronger biases when participants are exposed to childhood advertising cues relative to childhood consumption cues. Studies 3 and 4 show that even when ability and motivation to correct bias are high, lingering positive affect toward childhood ad-related stimuli is a motivational deterrent to correct biased product evaluations. Study 4 also shows that biased product evaluations can transfer to line extensions.

The Effects of Bargainable Attributes and Attribute Range Knowledge on Consumer Choice Processes

The bargaining purchase process is viewed as a multiattribute, multialternative choice in which the attribute values are subject to change. Bargaining is studied empirically by directly comparing information search strategies for purchase tasks that do and do not include a bargaining component. Knowledge of attribute value ranges is manipulated to examine its effects on bargaining and non-bargaining purchase tasks. The results provide evidence that buyers reduce information search when they have the option of bargaining. Furthermore, knowledge of attribute value ranges appears to increase the degree to which buyers replace information search with bargaining. Copyright 1990 by the University of Chicago.

Overlap between Mental Representations of Self and Brand

Peoples mental representations of self overlap with those of significant others and in-groups. We extend this finding to show that peoples mental representations of self also overlap with inanimate, seemingly impersonal, marketplace entities: consumer brands. Our study follows the “including others in the self” paradigm set forth by Aron and colleagues. We use response times to find that characteristics on which the self and a loved brand are similar are relatively more accessible than dissimilar characteristics, indicating self–brand overlap. These findings suggest that self–other overlap extends beyond individuals and in-groups. Psychological implications of the inclusion of brands in the self are discussed.

Preteens’ Ascribed Motivations to Smoke (Not Smoke)

Opponents of additional controls on tobacco marketing designed to protect children assert they are unnecessary because tobacco marketing is not salient to children. However, these children are at an important time in their lives, as they are on the cusp on entering their teen years, where risk and reward centers of the brain are out of balance and engaging in risky behaviors is commonplace (Cauffman et al, in press; Steinberg et al 2008). We find that preteens have sophisticated knowledge of promotion-related motivations to smoke and prevention-related motivations to not smoke and clearly recognize benefits of smoking (e.g., obtaining social approval from one’s peers, attracting members of the opposite sex, relaxation, stress reduction) despite reporting overwhelmingly negative attitudes toward smoking. These positive associations could potentially lead to impressions that are difficult to counter with anti-smoking messages, and perhaps lead to tobacco use initiation just a few years later.