When Categorization Is Ambiguous: Factors That Facilitate the Use of a Multiple Category Inference Strategy

Prior research has established that categorization plays a central role in new product learning. Very little is known, however, about category‐based learning under conditions of categorization ambiguity. Of particular interest is whether and under what circumstances consumers might employ a multiple‐ (vs. single‐) category strategy to generate inferences about ambiguous products. In this research, we identified 2 factors—category familiarity and the nature of the category cue—that are responsible for determining whether inferences are based on a single category or multiple, competing categories. The results of 3 studies suggest that when an ambiguous product is described in terms of conflicting conceptual and perceptual category cues, a single category inference strategy is employed when the perceptually cued category is more familiar than the conceptually cued category. In particular, inferences are based largely on the perceptually cued category under these circumstances. However, when the perceptually cued category is less than or equal to the conceptually cued category in familiarity, a multiple category inference strategy is employed and inferences are based on both the perceptually and conceptually cued categories.     

Labeling bias and categorical induction: generative aspects of category information

When a person is characterized categorically with a label (e.g., Linda is a feminist), people tend to think that the attributes associated with that person are central and long lasting (S. Gelman & G. D. Heyman, 1999). This bias, which is related to category-based induction and stereotyping, has been thought to arise because a category label (e.g., feminist) activates the dominant properties associated with the representation of the category. This explanation implies that categorical information influences inferential processes mainly by conjuring up main attributes or instances represented in the category. However, the present experiments reveal that this attribute-based explanation of induction does not provide a complete picture of inferential processes. The results from 3 experiments suggest that category information can affect inferences of attributes that are not directly related to the category, suggesting that categories not only activate likely attributes but also help integrate unlikely or even unrelated attributes.     

Intentional forgetting as a facilitator for recalling new product attributes

When market changes alter what product attributes are deemed important, consumers may intentionally try to forget old product information in an attempt to remember new product information. In Experiment 1, the authors demonstrated that intentional forgetting of this nature temporarily inhibits retrieval of old product information and leads to a benefit to memory for new product information. The results show that, after a short delay, benefits continue in the absence of costs, which is supportive of a multiple-process account of intentional forgetting. Experiment 2 extends these effects using an advertising message to stimulate forgetting. Across both experiments, results also show that brand preference is based on learning of new attribute information.     

The effect of evolving resource synergy beliefs on the intentions–behavior discrepancy in ethical consumption

Consumers are less likely to buy ethical products than their stated intentions in marketplace polls, due at least in part to the distinct temporal frames guiding their poll responses versus actual purchase decisions. We propose that as consumers' beliefs about the synergy between the resources a firm devotes to their ethical and functional attributes evolve, as part of the broader ethical marketing/corporate social responsibility movement, from negative to positive, this discrepancy between intentions and behavior is likely to disappear. Two studies provide support for this basic contention, implicating the importance consumers ascribe to a brand's ethical attribute as the driver of the temporal frame- and resource synergy beliefs-based differences in their preference for that brand.     

Stating Preference for the Ethereal but Choosing the Concrete: How the Tangibility of Attributes Affects Attribute Weighting in Value Elicitation and Choice

Marketers routinely make use of stated consumer preferences and the relative attribute‐importance weights implied by these preferences when making decisions on issues such as advertising messages and product design. Using this information as a basis for managerial decision making is risky, though, if stated preferences diverge from actual choices. Practical evidence that such a divergence is of concern is provided by the current trend toward the use of stated choice‐based conjoint analysis. This article examines differences between the attribute‐importance weights consumers use during value elicitation and the attribute weights revealed to influence actual choice. The results of an empirical analysis of automobile stated preference and purchase decisions, and an experiment and subsequent qualitative analysis of wine choice, converge to suggest that consumers’ attribute weightings differ in value elicitation versus choice in a reliable manner. Specifically, we demonstrate a tangibility effect—the tendency for tangible attributes to be weighted relatively more heavily than intangible attributes in choice as compared to in value elicitation. The process underlying the tangibility effect is discussed, as are the implications for researchers and managers.     

Expressing passion for luxury enhances perceived authenticity

Consumers are often viewed unfavorably when using luxury products. They are seen as seeking status and managing impressions, and therefore judged as inauthentic. How can luxury consumers alleviate these negative social consequences? Our pilot studies suggest that although many consumers are passionate about luxury products and brands, they avoid sharing this passion with others because they fear being judged negatively. However, we propose that publicly expressing one's passion for luxury can mitigate the social costs of luxury consumption. Six experiments (including three supplemental experiments) show that expressing passion for luxury causes others to perceive luxury consumers as more authentic, consequently increasing perceptions of their warmth and trustworthiness, and leading others to demonstrate greater interest in knowing more about them. Expressing passion for luxury enhances perceived authenticity by prompting observers to attribute the luxury consumption more to intrinsic motivation (e.g., consuming luxury for inherent enjoyment and pleasure) rather than extrinsic motivation (e.g., status enhancement). The effects of passion expression are attenuated for non-luxury consumption because non-luxury consumption is generally unlikely to elicit inferences about extrinsic motives.     

Does variety seeking vary between hedonic and utilitarian products? The role of attribute type

The purpose of this paper is to consider attributes that stimulate variety seeking in hedonic and utilitarian product categories and examine the interaction of product category and attribute type on variety‐seeking behaviour. The results of 3 studies indicate that in hedonic product categories, consumers seek more variety in sensory attributes, whereas in utilitarian product categories, they seek more variety in functional attributes. This interaction effect is explained by the fact that the satiation rates of sensory and functional attributes depend on the nature of the product category. In product categories, which are not clearly hedonic or utilitarian, this interaction effect is not evident. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Processing Product Unique Features: Alignability and Involvement in Preference Construction

Consumers often form preferences based on the presented attributes of choice options. Previous research has suggested that consumers tend to form their preferences using the attributes that are related to common aspects between the options (i.e., alignable differences) and ignore attributes that are unique to individual options (i.e., nonalignable differences). We combine cognitive psychology and motivation research from social psychology and propose that consumers’ preference formation can be systematically affected by whether they focus more on alignable differences or more on nonalignable differences of the options as a function of consumers’ involvement with the task. The results of 3 experiments show that preference judgment favors alignable differences over nonalignable differences in a low‐motivation condition. In contrast, high motivation to process information enables consumers to increase their use of nonalignable differences in preference formation, which can result in a preference reversal relative to the low‐motivation condition. The results suggest that a preference reversal occurs when the nonalignable differences of the target option are superior to both the nonalignable differences and the alignable differences of the reference option. However, the reversal does not occur when the nonalignable differences of the target option are superior only to the nonalignable differences of the reference option. Theoretical and managerial implications relating to differentiation, positioning, and communication strategies for innovative brands are discussed.     

Pseudocontingencies in Consumer Choice: Preference for Prevalent Product Categories Decreases with Decreasing Set Quality

Building on theorizing about contingency inferences, the present research deals with the impact of product category prevalence on consumer choice. We argue that a category's prevalence in the choice set can signal high quality, but the validity depends on the aggregate quality of the choice set. With ever more low‐quality products in the set, high prevalence should increasingly signal poor rather than high quality. When choosing from a poor‐quality set, choices should thus favor products from the rare category. In four experiments, we show that poor‐quality sets increase the proportion of consumers choosing products from a rare category. Furthermore, we show that these effects increase when base rates of a category and quality become more extreme. Finally, Experiment 4 shows that contingency inferences partly mediate the effect of set quality on choice. The results extend previous research on contingency inferences, indicating the adaptive use of base‐rate information in consumer decision making. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Goal–Attribute Compatibility in Consumer Choice

This research advances the notion that product evaluations are a function of the compatibility of consumers’ goals with the attributes describing choice alternatives. Building on the concept of self‐regulation, it is argued that attribute evaluations are moderated by individuals’ goal orientation and, specifically, that attributes compatible with individuals’ regulatory orientation tend to be overweighted in choice. This proposition is tested by examining the impact of goal orientation on consumer preferences in 3 different contexts: (a) hedonic versus utilitarian attributes, (b) performance versus reliability attributes, and (c) attractive versus unattractive (good vs. bad) attributes. The data show that prevention‐focused individuals are more likely to overweight (in relative terms) utilitarian, reliability‐related, and unattractive attributes than promotion‐focused consumers, who are more likely to place relatively more weight on hedonic, performance‐related, and attractive attributes. Considered together, these findings support the proposition that attributes compatible with individuals’ goal orientation tend to be overweighted in choice.     

Consumer Inference: A Review of Processes,Bases, and Judgment Contexts

Because products are rarely described completely, consumers often form inferences that go beyond the information given. We review research on the processes, bases, and the judgment contexts in which inferences are formed. The most basic processes are induction (inferences from specific instances to general principles) versus deduction (inferences from general principles to specific instances). Stimulus‐based inferences are formed on‐line (as information is encountered) using situationally available information, whereas memory‐based (or theory‐based) inferences are formed using prior knowledge and experience. Inferences can pertain to a single product judged in isolation (a singular judgment context) or to multiple products considered in relation to one another (a comparative judgment context). This 2x2x2 (Induction vs. Deduction x Stimulus‐Based vs. Memory‐Based x Singular vs. Comparative Judgment) theoretical framework suggests that there are 8 different types of inferences that consumers may form. Based on this framework, we identify gaps in the literature and suggest directions for future research.     

自我建构对口碑两极分化产品偏好的影响及作用机制

口碑两极分化的产品, 指那些被许多消费者评价好的同时又被其他许多消费者评价不好的产品。随着个性化消费时代的到来, 满足个性化需求的产品遭受褒贬不一的口碑越来越普遍。当面临口碑两极分化的产品, 消费者如何认知? 哪些因素会影响消费者对口碑两极分化产品的偏好? 其中间机制与边界条件是什么? 回答这些问题对企业有效开展营销具有重要意义。口碑两极分化会提高消费者的购物风险感知, 引发“冲突”联想, 同时还可能使得消费者对目标产品产生感知独特性。这些特征契合了自我建构理论中独立型自我建构与依存型自我建构个体在独特性需求、冲突解决风格与调节定向方面的行为差异, 因而自我建构是影响口碑两极分化产品偏好的重要前因变量, 且独特性需求、冲突解决风格与调节定向是三条中介路径。购物风险水平、购物任务情境、消费场合公开性以及产品类型是以上中介效应的边界条件。     

Differences in consumer preferences when facing branded versus non‐branded choices

Because brands can signal reputation and serve as proxies for trust, consumer preferences for credence attributes may differ for branded and non‐branded products. We test this hypothesis using data from a choice experiment conducted with US pork consumers. The results indicate that consumers are usually willing to pay more for a certification attribute in a non‐branded as compared to branded product. Additionally, greater variation in consumer willingness‐to‐pay for credence attributes is observed in the non‐branded case. This latter characteristic of the results may represent the increased uncertainty some consumers internalize concerning quality consistency when brand information is not provided. These results have interesting implications for producers, processors, retailers, and policy makers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infants’ use of category knowledge and object attributes when segregating objects at 8.5 months of age

The current research investigates infants’ perception of a novel object from a category that is familiar to young infants: key rings. We ask whether experiences obtained outside the lab would allow young infants to parse the visible portions of a partly occluded key ring display into one single unit, presumably as a result of having categorized it as a key ring. This categorization was marked by infants’ perception of the keys and ring as a single unit that should move together, despite their attribute differences. We showed infants a novel key ring display in which the keys and ring moved together as one rigid unit (Move-together event) or the ring moved but the keys remained stationary throughout the event (Move-apart event). Our results showed that 8.5-month-old infants perceived the keys and ring as connected despite their attribute differences, and that their perception of object unity was eliminated as the distinctive attributes of the key ring were removed. When all of the distinctive attributes of the key ring were removed, the 8.5-month-old infants perceived the display as two separate units, which is how younger infants (7-month-old) perceived the key ring display with all its distinctive attributes unaltered. These results suggest that on the basis of extensive experience with an object category, infants come to identify novel members of that category and expect them to possess the attributes typical of that category.     

Infants' use of category knowledge and object attributes when segregating objects at 8.5 months of age

The current research investigates infants' perception of a novel object from a category that is familiar to young infants: key rings. We ask whether experiences obtained outside the lab would allow young infants to parse the visible portions of a partly occluded key ring display into one single unit, presumably as a result of having categorized it as a key ring. This categorization was marked by infants' perception of the keys and ring as a single unit that should move together, despite their attribute differences. We showed infants a novel key ring display in which the keys and ring moved together as one rigid unit (Move-together event) or the ring moved but the keys remained stationary throughout the event (Move-apart event). Our results showed that 8.5-month-old infants perceived the keys and ring as connected despite their attribute differences, and that their perception of object unity was eliminated as the distinctive attributes of the key ring were removed. When all of the distinctive attributes of the key ring were removed, the 8.5-month-old infants perceived the display as two separate units, which is how younger infants (7-month-old) perceived the key ring display with all its distinctive attributes unaltered. These results suggest that on the basis of extensive experience with an object category, infants come to identify novel members of that category and expect them to possess the attributes typical of that category.     

The essentialist aspect of naive theories

Recent work on children's inferences concerning biological and chemical categories has suggested that children (and perhaps adults) are essentialists - a view known as psychological essentialism. I distinguish three varieties of psychological essentialism and investigate the ways in which essentialism explains the inferences for which it is supposed to account. Essentialism succeeds in explaining the inferences, I argue, because it attributes to the child belief in causal laws connecting category membership and the possession of certain characteristic appearances and behavior. This suggests that the data will be equally well explained by a non-essentialist hypothesis that attributes belief in the appropriate causal laws to the child, but makes no claim as to whether or not the child represents essences. I provide several reasons to think that this non-essentialist hypothesis is in fact superior to any version of the essentialist hypothesis.     

Constraints and Preferences in Inductive Learning: An Experimental Study of Human and Machine Performance

The paper examines constraints and preferences employed by people in learning decision rules from preclassified examples. Results from four experiments with human subjects were analyzed and compared with artificial intelligence (AI) inductive learning programs. The results showed the people's rule inductions tended to emphasize category validity (probability of some property, given a category) more than cue validity (probability that an entity is a member of a category given that it has some property) to a greater extent than did the AI programs. Although the relative proportions of different rule types (e.g., conjunctive vs. disjunctive) changed across experiments, a single process model provided a good account of the data from each study. These observations are used to argue for describing constraints in terms of processes embodied in models rather than in terms of products or outputs. Thus AI induction programs become candidate psychological process models and results from inductive learning experiments can suggest new algorithms. More generally, the results show that human inductive generalizations tend toward greater specificity than would be expected if conceptual simplicity were the key constraint on inductions. This bias toward specificity may be due to the fact that this criterion both maximizes inferences that may be drawn from category membership and protects rule induction systems from developing over-generalizations.     

From Functional Efficiency to Temporal Efficiency: Multifunctional Products Increase Consumer Impatience

Multifunctional products are ubiquitous in consumers' daily lives. However, scant research has examined whether and how the presence of multifunctional products systematically alters consumer behavior beyond product evaluations and adoption. Across four experiments and three supplementary studies, the authors identify a multifunction-impatience effect. They show that after exposure to multifunctional (vs. single-function) products, consumers are more likely to choose a smaller but sooner (vs. a larger but later) reward (Study 1), report more impatience when waiting for the web search results to load and perceive the loading time as longer (Study 2), and are willing to pay more for expedited shipping (Study 3). The authors further show that the effects occur because multifunctional products activate an efficiency goal among consumers, which renders them less patient (studies 2 and 3). In addition to the regular, “sequential” multifunctional products for which each of the functions has a specific usage situation, the proposed effect also applies to “simultaneous” multifunctional products whose functions operate simultaneously during consumption (Study 4). Taken together, this research broadens the scholarly understanding of the effects of multifunctional products from consumers' responses to these products to the unintended impact of such products on consumer impatience.     

How to arrange assortments available in green alternatives: Displaying products by green attributes

Previous research has investigated how product display affects consumer choices. However, less is known about the effect of product display on green consumption when products are displayed by green attributes. Through three studies with 610, 661, and 208 valid participants, respectively, the present research demonstrates that displaying products by green attributes render green products more recognizable to the consumer, thereby inducing green choices from among the consideration sets. The positive effect is enhanced by providing green category labels on products. However, the positive effect of product display by green attributes weakens in the case of consumers with high brand familiarity. The findings contribute theoretically and practically to the research on promoting green choice through environmental cues such as product display.     

Learning nonlinearly separable categories by inference and classification

Previous research suggests that learning categories by classifying new instances highlights information that is useful for discriminating between categories. In contrast, learning categories by making predictive inferences focuses learners on an abstract summary of each category (e.g., the prototype). To test this characterization of classification and inference learning further, the authors evaluated the two learning procedures with nonlinearly separable categories. In contrast to previous research involving cohesive, linearly separable categories, the authors found that it is more difficult to learn nonlinearly separable categories by making inferences about features than it is to learn them by classifying instances. This finding reflects that the prototype of a nonlinearly separable category does not provide a good summary of the category members. The results from this study suggest that having a cohesive category structure is more important for inference than it is for classification.