Journal of Consumer Research
September 28, 2011


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JCR Highlights Archive

Journal of Consumer Research
Current Issue Highlights

The Effects of Duration Knowledge on Forecasted versus Actual Affective Experiences

Min Zhao
Claire I. Tsai

Contrary to the lay theory that predicts duration knowledge of affective episodes to ameliorate negative experiences and weaken positive ones, duration knowledge increases the extremity of affective experience. In experiments 1 and 2, participants either know the exact duration of the episodes or not and then experience either negative or positive episodes. The results show that, contrary to general intuition, duration knowledge worsens negative experiences and enhances positive experiences. In experiments 3a and 3b, the authors identify a boundary condition wherein the effect of duration knowledge is attenuated when participants focus primarily on the end of the experience (as opposed to the ongoing experience). In closing, the authors highlight the theoretical implications for studies on hedonic adaptation in general and the uncertainty effect in particular. Possible mechanisms for the effect of duration knowledge are discussed.   

 

Volume 38, Number 3, October 2011
DOI: 10.1086/660114

 


Knowing Too Much: Expertise-Induced False Recall Effects in Product Comparison

Ravi Mehta
JoAndrea Hoegg
Amitav Chakravarti

A long history of research has shown that experts' well-developed knowledge structures provide numerous advantages in memory-based decisions and tasks. More recently, research has shown that in certain situations experts' more detailed knowledge can hinder memory performance by resulting in the creation of false memories. The current research adds to this growing literature by showing how experts can fall prey to a different type of false memory when making product comparisons. Four studies demonstrate that in a product comparison context, in their attempt to make options more comparable, experts inadvertently "fill in the gap" by aligning nonalignable features in memory. This results in the false recall of aligned features that did not appear in the original descriptions. Experts' higher sense of accountability for their judgments, coupled with their highly developed schemata, is identified as the mechanism underlying the effect.

 

Volume 38, Number 3, October 2011
DOI: 10.1086/659380

 


An Interpretive Frame Model of Identity-Dependent Learning: The Moderating Role of Content-State Association

Kathryn R. Mercurio
Mark R. Forehand

Although it is well known that advertising can momentarily activate specific consumer identities and thereby influence preference for identity-relevant products, the influence of such identity activation on consumer memory is undocumented. Identity activation encourages consumers to link advertising content to their identity during encoding, and these links facilitate subsequent recognition if the identity is again activated at retrieval. This identity-dependent processing produces different recognition outcomes for information that is strongly related, moderately related, and unrelated to the identity. Identity activation at both encoding and retrieval improved recognition of advertising content moderately related to the identity but had no effect on recognition of unrelated content. Identity activation at retrieval improved recognition of strongly related content, regardless of whether identity was primed externally at encoding. These results support an interpretative frame process at encoding and suggest that content-state association is a critical moderator of state-dependent learning.

 

Volume 38, Number 3, October 2011
DOI: 10.1086/660837

 


I Imagine, I Experience, I Like: The False Experience Effect

Priyali Rajagopal
Nicole Votolato Montgomery

False memories refer to the mistaken belief that an event that did not occur did occur. Much of the research on false memories has focused on the antecedents to and the characteristics of such memories, with little focus on the consequences of false memories. In this research, exposure to an imagery-evoking ad can result in an erroneous belief that an individual has experienced the advertised brand. Such false experiential beliefs function akin to genuine product experience beliefs with regard to their consequences on product attitude strength, a finding the authors call the false experience effect. The authors further demonstrate two moderators of this effect: plausibility of past experience and evaluation timing.  

 

Volume 38, Number 3, October 2011
DOI: 10.1086/660165

 

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