The Impact of Product Name on Dieters' and Nondieters' Food Evaluations and Consumption

This research explores the impact of merely altering the name of a food on dieter and nondieter evaluation of the food's healthfulness and taste, as well as consumption. Four studies demonstrate that when a food is identified by a relatively unhealthy name such as pasta, dieters perceive the item to be less healthful and less tasty than do nondieters. When the identical food is assigned a relatively healthy name such as salad, however, dieting tendency has no effect on product evaluations. This effect, which results in differences in actual food consumption, is explained by nondieter insensitivity to food cues as well as dieter reliance on cues indicating a lack of healthfulness and tendency to employ heuristic information processing when evaluating foods. These findings contribute to the body of literature that explores both individual and contextual factors that influence food evaluation and consumption.

Celebrity Contagion and the Value of Objects

Why do people purchase objects that were once owned by celebrities, such as film stars or politicians, and also by despised individuals, such as serial killers and notorious dictators? The present studies examine three potential explanations: mere associations, market demands, and contagion (the belief that these objects contain some remnants of their previous owners). Results indicate that while market demands do play a role, contagion appears to be the critical factor affecting the valuation of celebrity possessions. Manipulating the degree of physical contact that a celebrity has with an object dramatically influences consumer willingness to purchase it, and individual differences in sensitivity to contagion moderate this effect. Additionally, the valuation of celebrity possessions is principally explained by measures of contagion, and subliminally activating the concept of contagion changes consumer willingness to purchase celebrity objects. 

Choice, Rejection, and Elaboration on Preference-Inconsistent Alternatives

Previous research has demonstrated that rejecting product alternatives (that is, choosing which alternatives to give up) may cause preference reversals compared to choosing alternatives. The authors provide an investigation into the psychological processes underlying this phenomenon. These preference reversals can be caused by increased elaboration on the features of preference-inconsistent alternatives when people reject alternatives. When these features are appealing, increased elaboration increases preference for preference-inconsistent alternatives. When these features are unappealing, increased elaboration may reduce preference for preference-inconsistent alternatives. The findings provide insight into how the amount of elaboration on product alternatives may mediate the influence of different decision-making tasks on decision outcomes.

Bringing Us Together or Driving Us Apart: The Effect of Soliciting Consumer Input on Consumers' Propensity to Transact with an Organization

This research examines a novel process by which soliciting consumer input can affect subsequent purchase and engagement, namely, by changing consumers' subjective perception of their relationship with the organization. The authors contrast different types of consumer input and propose that, relative to no input, soliciting advice tends to have an intimacy effect whereby the individual feels closer to the organization, resulting in increases in subsequent propensity to transact and engage with the organization. However, soliciting expectations tends to have the opposite effect, distancing the individual from the organization. The authors demonstrate these relationship effects of consumer input in four studies involving both nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Implications for theory and practice of brand relationship as well as consumer judgment and decision making are discussed.

The Role of Relationship Norms in Responses to Service Failures

A friendly relationship with a service provider can sometimes decrease the negative feelings that consumers experience as the result of a service failure. However, friendship is not always beneficial. When consumers focus their attention on the provider's obligation to respond to their needs, they react more negatively to a service failure when they are friends of the provider than when they have only a business relationship. When their attention is drawn to their own obligation in the relationship, however, the reverse is true. This difference is confirmed in four experiments in which the perspective from which participants imagined a service failure was activated either by unrelated experiences before being exposed to the failure or by features of the service encounter itself.

Making Magic: Fetishes in Contemporary Consumption

Fetishes (magical objects of extraordinary empowerment and influence) are often sought by consumers for their value as usable objects. The authors' interpretive research extends the current static perspective of fetishes by proposing a dynamic cyclical model of fetishization appropriate to an age of mass production. Consumers use contagious and imitative magic to imbue replica instruments with power. Semiotically signified magical thinking causes replicas to radiate aura and thus transforms them into fetishes. The authors suggest that although all replicas with aura become fetishes, the cyclical fetishization process is only perpetuated when empowerment is public, sustained, and authentic.

Effects of Construal Level on the Price-Quality Relationship

Drawing on construal level theory, this research proposes that consumer reliance on price (vs. feature-specific product attributes) for making quality inferences will be enhanced when the judgment is psychologically distant (vs. close). For example, the impact of price (attributes) on quality inferences should increase (decrease) when these inferences are made with regard to another person rather than oneself. A series of experiments provides support for this thesis. In addition, the authors document a theoretically derived reversal of the core pattern, reconcile the current findings with seemingly opposed results in the construal literature, and rule out several alternative explanations for the obtained effects. The insights obtained in this work enrich our understanding of three different areas of research: the price-quality link, construal level theory, and the self-other distinction. 

Truly, Madly, Deeply: Consumers in the Throes of Material Possession Love

This research on material possession love expands an understanding of the role that discrete emotional attachment forms play in identifying commercial value for marketers and in enhancing consumer well-being. Employing a mixed-methods research design (relying on both qualitative and quantitative data) the authors develop and empirically test a three-factor, but seven-faceted, conceptualization of material possession love in four separate consumption contexts (automobiles, computers, bicycles, and firearms). Love-smitten consumers nurture their beloved possessions, in part, by buying complementary products and services. Material possession love is empirically tied to loneliness and social affiliation deficits, which suggests a compensatory basis of consumer well-being. The authors distinguish possession love from the construct of attitude and empirically demonstrate the distinct functionality of each. Concluding discussion considers the mixed-methods findings and their implications for consumer research.