Nader T. Tavassoli

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.

Language and Consumer Memory: The Impact of Linguistic Differences between Chinese and English

Languages of the Asia-Pacific region, such as Chinese, are based on ideographic writing systems which are radically different from the alphabetic systems used in Western languages, such as English. We propose that structural differences between Chinese and English affect mental representations which, in turn, influence consumer memory of verbal information. Specifically, unaided brand recall should be differentially affected in Chinese and English when it is spoken compared with when it is written. Furthermore, recognition should be differentially affected in Chinese and English when brand names are learned auditorily compared with when they are learned visually. Results of a cross-cultural experiment conducted in China and in the United States confirm predictions for unaided brand recall and partially confirm predictions for recognition. Copyright 1994 by the University of Chicago.

Temporal and Associative Memory in Chinese and English

This article presents a theoretical model that suggests that linguistic differences between Chinese and English have a qualitative effect on the processing of verbal information. A higher degree of phonological processing of English words was hypothesized to result in a superior encoding of temporal information. In contrast, a higher degree of contextual and visual-semantic processing of Chinese words was hypothesized to result in a superior encoding of interitem associative information. These effects were hypothesized to be absent for pictorial information. Two experiments found support for the hypotheses. In a sorting task, native English speakers demonstrated superior temporal memory for English words compared with native Chinese speakers for Chinese words. In a free recall task, native English speakers demonstrated a greater reliance on temporal order in the retrieval of English words, whereas native Chinese speakers demonstrated a greater reliance on semantic associations in the retrieval of Chinese words. In both experiments, cross-cultural differences were absent for semantically equivalent pictorial information. The implications of these memory findings are discussed with respect to the formation of memory-based judgments and the encoding of thematic information in marketing communications.

The Differential Interaction of Auditory and Visual Advertising Elements with Chinese and English

Multimedia advertisements often contain nonverbal auditory elements, such as music and sound effects, and nonverbal visual elements, such as images and logos. On the one hand, these elements can have the unintended negative effect of interfering with the processing of the verbal ad copy. Two experiments demonstrate that auditory elements interfere more with the learning of and cognitive responding to English ad copy than with Chinese ad copy, and vice versa for visual elements. On the other hand, auditory and visual elements have the intended positive effect of facilitating ad copy recall when they are reinstated as part of an integrated marketing campaign or as a recall cue in an advertising tracking study. A third experiment demonstrates that auditory elements are better retrieval cues for English than for Chinese ad copy, and vice versa for visual elements. The authors discuss implications of these cross-linguistic differences for the effective design of multimedia communications, integrated marketing campaigns, advertising tracking studies, and cross-cultural research.

Language in Multimedia: Interaction of Spoken and Written Information

Recent findings on the brains anatomy suggest that there are modality-specific resources for the processing of language. This article develops a theoretical model on the behavioral consequences of modality-specific resources for spoken and written information. The model predicts antagonistic effects of reduced interference versus reduced integration of verbal information presented across the two modalities, as compared to within a single modality. Three experiments compare unimodal to multimedia messages containing either a mix of modalities or information presented bimodally. The results provide qualified support for the model in the realm of item-specific versus relational memory and elaboration. Compared to unimodal presentations, alternating the presentation modality decreases relational processing but can increase item-specific processing. Furthermore, a simultaneous bimodal presentation format increases recognition memory but does not appear to affect relational processing or item-specific elaboration.

Scripted Thought: Processing Korean Hancha and Hangul in a Multimedia Context

We compare the cognitive processing of words written in alphabetic scripts with the cognitive processing of words written in logographic scripts. We suggest that the processing of words written in alphabetic scripts relies more heavily on the storage of--and the serial rehearsal properties of--short-term memorys phonological loop. In contrast, the processing of words written in logographic scripts relies more on the storage of--and the spatial-relational rehearsal properties of--visual short-term memory. A series of three experiments investigates implications of these processing differences within a single language, Korean, where words can be written in the alphabetic Hangul or in the logographic Hancha. These experiments examine contextual interference from auditory and visual stimuli, relational memory between brand names and auditory and visual brand identifiers, and two qualitative processing outcomes, serial-order memory and spatial-relational memory. Copyright 2001 by the University of Chicago.

Gender Identity Salience and Perceived Vulnerability to Breast Cancer

Breast cancer communications that make womens gender identity salient can trigger defense mechanisms and thereby interfere with key objectives of breast cancer campaigns. In a series of experiments, the authors demonstrate that increased gender identity salience lowered womens perceived vulnerability to breast cancer (Experiments 1a, 3a, and 3b), reduced their donations to ovarian cancer research (Experiment 1b), made breast cancer advertisements more difficult to process (Experiment 2a), and decreased ad memory (Experiment 2b). These results are contrary to the predictions of several prominent theoretical perspectives and a convenience sample of practitioners. The reduction in perceived vulnerability to breast cancer following gender identity primes can be eliminated by self-affirmation (Experiment 3a) and fear voicing (Experiment 3b), corroborating the hypothesis that these effects are driven by unconscious defense mechanisms.

Auditory and Visual Brand Identifiers in Chinese and English

A main component of branding is to link a brand name to nonverbal cues that facilitate brand name memory. The authors examine the integration in memory of auditory and visual brand identifiers with brand names written in the logographic Chinese script compared with the alphabetic English script. The first experiment compares native Mandarin speakers living in China with native English speakers living in the United States. The second experiment examines bilingual Cantonese–English speakers living in Hong Kong. The results of the experiments suggest that visual brand identifiers are integrated in memory more easily with Chinese brand names, whereas auditory brand identifiers are integrated in memory more easily with English brand names. These results are of theoretical interest because they demonstrate that writing systems affect cognitive processes that are involved in the integration of words with nonverbal information. The results are of practical interest because they suggest that the relative success of auditory and visual brand identity strategies is affected by differences in writing systems.

Employee-Based Brand Equity: Why Firms with Strong Brands Pay Their Executives Less

This article examines the concept of employee-based brand equity—the value that a brand provides to a firm through its effects on the attitudes and behaviors of its employees—and empirically demonstrates its significance on executive pay. Executives value being associated with strong brands and, therefore, accept substantially lower pay at firms that own strong brands. Consistent with identity theory, this effect is stronger for chief executive officers and younger executives than for other executives. Data from a large, cross-industry sample of executives suggest that academics and practitioners should take a broader view of the contributions of brand-related investments to firm value and make use of strong brands in pay negotiations that are typically viewed as being outside the realm of marketing.

Spatial Memory for Chinese and English

Reading Chinese logographs relies relatively more on visual cognitive processes than does reading alphabetic English words, whereas the latter relies relatively more on phonological cognitive processes. As a consequence of this differential involvement, memory for the spatial location of words learned scattered across a single display was hypothesized to be better for Chinese logographs than for alphabetic English words. This prediction was supported using native speakers and bilinguals. Experiment 1 found that relative to a picture control condition, the spatial location of Chinese logographs was better remembered than the spatial location of alphabetic English words. Experiment 2 replicated this result using nonsense words and abstract symbols. Experiment 3 found that script differences were specific to spatial memory and did not affect the free recall of words. The results suggest that writing systems, which are a core element of many cultures, can affect the representation of verbal information in memory.