Petia K. Petrova

Fluency of Consumption Imagery and the Backfire Effects of Imagery Appeals

Existing research and widespread commercial usage suggest that appeals urging consumers to imagine the product experience have powerful effects on product preferences. Three studies examined the mediating role of imagery accessibility and demonstrated that the difficulty of imagery generation can reverse the generally observed positive effects of imagery appeals. When participants were low in imagery abilities or when the product was not presented in a vivid way, imagery appeals were not only ineffective but even had a negative effect on product preferences. Providing evidence for its subjective nature, this imagery fluency effect was more likely for individuals attuned to their internal experiences.

Social Influence Online: A Tale of Gender Differences in the Effectiveness of Authority Cues

This study examined the extent to which communicator salience manipulated by varying communication modes, authority-based social influence, and gender affect persuasion in online environments by utilizing a 2 by 2 between subjects design. Participants of the experiment were either presented with an authority-based influence attempt or no influence attempt. They then engaged in a persuasive interaction with a same-sex confederate via computer-mediated communication CMC or face-to-face. Results revealed that men in the Authority condition who interacted via CMC were more persuaded then men in the Peer condition who interacted via CMC. Additionally, men reported more confidence when interacting via CMC and reported that their decision was more influenced by the confederate online. Moreover, perceptions of the confederate varied by gender and communication mode. Analysis suggests that authority based influence tactics via CMC are more effective for men than for women.