The systematic instability of consumer preferences

Contrary to conventional thinking, research has shown that consumer choice is a motivational and dynamic process based on goals and ‘circumstances’

Of Rats and Brands: A Learning-and-Memory Perspective on Consumer Decisions

Stijn van Osselaer (1971, Ph.D. (Marketing), University of Florida 1998) is Professor of Marketing specializing in Consumer Behavior at the Rotterdam School of Management/Faculteit Bedrijfskunde of Erasmus University in Rotterdam. His research focuses on the study of basic psychological processes involved in consumer decision making. In his inaugural address he argues that even sophisticated patterns of product evaluation and choice can be explained by simple associative learning-and-memory processes similar to those found in rats, dogs, and other animals. He outlines strategic implications for brand management and public policy as well as theoretical implications for the study of human learning and memory. Prior to his appointment at Erasmus University, Van Osselaer was an Assistant and later Associate Professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. His research is published in scholarly journals such as the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. He has presented his work at Columbia University, Duke University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, the University of California at Berkeley, INSEAD, the London Business School, Northwestern University, and to many other audiences worldwide.When consumers evaluate or choose products, they rely on what they have learned and can remember about those productsâ characteristics, such as brand names, ingredients, orfeatures. Severalexperimentssuggest that evenrathersophisticatedpatternsofproduct evaluation and choice can be explained by simple associative learning-and-memory processes,which show similarities to those found in rats,dogs,and other animals.Strategic implications for brand management and public policy, theoretical implications for the study of human learning and memory, and directions for future research are outlined

Memory Accessibility and Product Judgment

This section presents abstracts of studies which investigated the effects of accessibility of information in memory on product judgment. The first paper, by Tybout, Stemthal, Malaviya, Bakamitson, and Park, addresses a paradoxical set of results. Prior research suggests that asking consumers to generate multiple reasons to buy a product can have both positive and negative effects on product judgments. The authors investigate the conditions under which these effects occur. Their results show that the effects of generating reasons are moderated by the accessibility of the reasons in memory. When the reasons are highly accessible or inaccessible, asking for more reasons prompts more favorable judgments. Between these extremes in accessibility, asking for more reasons prompts less favorable judgments. The authors argue that these results are driven by the independent operation of two memory processes, one involves using the content of the retrieved information as a basis for judgment, such as that evaluation is based on the diagnosticity of the accessible information, while the other involves monitoring of the retrieval process and then making a judgment based on how easy it is to retrieve the information, such as the evaluation is based on the accessibility of the information. When accessibility of reasons in memory is very low, consumers do not perceive ease of retrieval to be diagnostic of their feelings about a product

Make me special: Gender differences in consumers’ responses to loyalty programs

Current literature on loyalty programs emphasizes the importance of psychological rewards and special treatment. However, it is not clear if male and female customers respond to these incentives in a similar way. We explore the differential effect for female versus male consumers of two psychological rewards that are provided through a loyalty program (a) high status (e.g., Gold membership), and (b) personalization, at different levels of visibility to other consumers. Across three experiments and a field study, we find a coherent pattern of gender differences in the way customers respond to different types of psychological rewards in the context of loyalty programs. The results show that men respond more positively than women to loyalty programs that emphasize status, but only when their higher status is highly visible to others. In contrast, women respond more positively than men to loyalty programs that emphasize personalization, but only for personalization in private settings. We discuss managerial implications for the design of loyalty programs

Locus of Equity and Brand Extension

Prevailing wisdom assumes that brand equity increases when a brand touts its desirable attributes. We report conditions under which the use of attribute information to promote a product can shift the locus of equity from brand to attribute, thereby reducing the attractiveness of extension products. This effect is moderated by the degree of ambiguity in the learning environment, such that prevailing wisdom is refuted when ambiguity is low but is supported when ambiguity is high

Consumer Learning and Brand Equity

A series of experiments illustrates a learning process that enhances brand equity at the expense of quality-determining attributes. When the relationship between brand name and product quality is learned prior to the relationship between product attributes and quality, inhibition of the latter may occur. The phenomenon is shown to be robust, but its influence appears sensitive to contextual variations in the learning environment. Tests of process are inconsistent with attentional explanations and popular models of causal reasoning, but they are supportive of associative learning models that portray learners as inherently forward lookin

Two Ways of Learning Brand Associations

Four studies show that consumers have not one but two distinct learning processes that allow them to use brand names and other product features to predict consumption benefits. The first learning process is a relatively unfocused process in which all stimulus elements get cross-referenced for later retrieval. This process is backward looking and consistent with human associative memory (HAM) models. The second learning process requires that a benefit be the focus of prediction during learning. It assumes feature-benefit associations change only to the extent that the expected performance of the product does not match the experienced performance of the product. This process is forward looking and consistent with adaptive network models. The importance of this two-process theory is most apparent when a product has multiple features. During HAM learning, each feature-benefit association will develop independently. During adaptive learning, features will compete to predict benefits and, thus, feature-benefit associations will develop interdependently. We find adaptive learning of feature-benefit associations when consumers are motivated to learn to predict a benefit (e.g., because it is perceived to have hedonic relevance) but find HAM learning when consumers attend to an associate of lesser motivational significanc

Evaluative Conditioning 2.0: Referential versus Intrinsic Learning of Affective Value

Evaluative conditioning is an important determinant of consumers’ likes and dislikes. Three experiments show that it can result from two types of learning. First, stimulus-stimulus (S – S) or referential learning allows a conditioned stimulus (e.g., a brand) to acquire valence by triggering (unconscious) recollections of the unconditioned stimulus (e.g., a pleasant image). Second, stimulus-response (S – R) or intrinsic learning allows a conditioned stimulus to bind directly with the affective response that was previously generated by the unconditioned stimulus. We show when each type of learning occurs and demonstrate the consequences for the robustness of conditioned brand attitudes

The Emotional Information Processing System is Risk Averse: Ego-Depletion and Investment Behavior

Two experiments show that a shortage of self-regulatory resources results in more risk aversion in mixed-gamble (gain/loss) situations. The findings support a dual process view that distinguishes between a rational and an affective information processing system, in which self-regulatory resources are the necessary fuel for the rational system. Depending on the expected values of risk seeking versus risk averse behavior, ego depletion can have negative (experiment 1) as well as positive (experiment 2) consequences for investment behavior