Super Size Me: Product Size as a Signal of Status

Tell Me What I Did Wrong: Experts Seek and Respond to Negative Feedback

A large proportion of marketing communication concerns feedback to consumers. This article explores what feedback people seek and respond to. The authors predict and find a shift from positive to negative feedback as people gain expertise. The authors document this shift in a variety of domains, including feedback on language acquisition, pursuit of environmental causes, and use of consumer products. Across these domains, novices sought and responded to positive feedback, and experts sought and responded to negative feedback. The authors examine a motivational account for the shift in feedback: positive feedback increased novices' commitment, and negative feedback increased experts' sense that they were making insufficient progress.

Enjoy! Hedonic Consumption and Compliance with Assertive Messages

This paper examines the persuasiveness of assertive language (as in Nike's slogan "Just do it") as compared to nonassertive language (as in Microsoft's slogan "Where do you want to go today?"). Previous research implies that assertive language should reduce consumer compliance. Two experiments show that assertiveness is more effective in communications involving hedonic products, as well as hedonically advertised utilitarian products. This prediction builds on sociolinguistic research addressing relationships between mood, communication expectations, and compliance to requests. A third experiment reaffirms the role of linguistic expectations by showing that an unknown product advertised using assertive language is more likely to be perceived as hedonic.

$29 for 70 Items or 70 Items for $29? How Presentation Order Affects Package Perceptions

When consumers consider a package (multi-item) price, which presentation order is more appealing, price first ($29 for 70 items) or item quantity first (70 items for $29)? Will this depend on package size (larger [70 items] vs. smaller [7 items]) or unit price calculation difficulty (higher [$29 for 70 items] vs. lower [$20 for 50 items])? Why? Three studies demonstrate how presentation order affects package evaluations and choice under different levels of package size and unit price calculation difficulty. The first piece of information becomes salient and affects evaluations when packages are larger and unit price calculations are difficult (i.e., price-item [item-price] makes price [items] salient, negatively [positively] affecting evaluations). These effects do not persist with smaller packages or easier unit price calculations. The findings contribute to several literatures (e.g., numerosity, computational difficulty) but primarily to the order effects literature and have implications for measurement and practice (e.g., pricing).

Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid: How Word of Mouth Influences the Storyteller

Effect of Regulatory Focus on Selective Information Processing

Individuals tend to selectively rely on information consistent with their attitudes or decisions. In this research, the authors examine the possibility that regulatory focus influences selective information processing. The authors find that individuals selectively rely on information consistent with their regulatory orientation under high (vs. low) information load. Specifically, under high information load, relative reliance on positive (vs. negative) information is greater for promotion-focused (vs. prevention-focused) individuals. Consequently, when information load is high, promotion-focused (vs. prevention-focused) individuals have higher brand evaluations. Under low information load, individuals also rely on information inconsistent with their regulatory orientation. Specifically, under low information load, relative reliance on positive (vs. negative) information is greater for prevention-focused (vs. promotion-focused) individuals. As a result, when information load is low, prevention-focused (vs. promotion-focused) individuals have higher brand evaluations.

A Motivational Account of the Question-Behavior Effect

Years, Months, and Days versus 1, 12, and 365: The Influence of Units versus Numbers

Quantitative changes may be conveyed to consumers using small units (e.g., change in delivery time from 7 to 21 days) or large units (1-3 weeks). Numerosity research suggests that changes are magnified by small (vs. large) units because a change from 7 to 21 (vs. 1-3) seems larger. The authors introduce a reverse effect that they term unitosity: changes are magnified by large (vs. small) units because a change of weeks (vs. days) seems larger. The authors show that numerosity reverses to unitosity when relative salience shifts from numbers to units (study 1). Then, arguing that numbers (units) represent a low-level (high-level) construal of quantities, the authors show this reversal when mind-set shifts from concrete to abstract (studies 2-4). These results emerge for several quantities-height of buildings, time of maturity of financial instruments, weight of nutrients, and length of tables-and have significant implications for theory and practice.