Product Categorization and Inference Making: Some Implications for Comparative Advertising
TL;DR: In this article, a categorization approach was used to determine when the effects of comparative advertising would differ from those of non-comparative advertising, and the results were interpreted within the categorization framework and point to the general usefulness of this conceptual framework.
Abstract: A categorization approach to inference making was used to determine when the effects of comparative advertising would differ from those of noncomparative advertising. Comparative advertising led to different responses for experts relative to either product class or product type level noncomparative advertising, but for novices only when the noncomparative ad referred to a broad product class. These differences were for measures of similarity, distinctiveness, and ad informativeness. Mean values on brand attitudes were not differentially influenced by comparative versus noncomparative advertising, though comparative advertising resulted in more polarized attitudes. These results were interpreted within the categorization framework and point to the general usefulness of this conceptual framework.
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TL;DR: The physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success as mentioned in this paper, and a good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the product.
Abstract: The physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the produc...
1,263 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that products that are moderately incongruent with their associated category schemas are expected to stimulate processing that leads to a more favorable evaluation relative to products that were either congruent or extremely inconguent.
Abstract: Mandler theorized that the level of congruity between a product and a more general product category schema may influence the nature of information processing and thus product evaluations. Products that are moderately incongruent with their associated category schemas are expected to stimulate processing that leads to a more favorable evaluation relative to products that are either congruent or extremely incongruent. Data from three experiments conducted in new product contexts are consistent with Mandler's hypothesis and serve as a basis for theorizing about the process.
1,261 citations
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined two factors that differentiate between successful and unsuccessful brand extensions: product feature similarity and brand concept consistency, and found that consumers take into account not only information about the product-level feature similarity between the new product and the products already associated with the brand, but also the concept consistency between the brand concept and the extension.
Abstract: This article examines two factors that differentiate between successful and unsuccessful brand extensions: product feature similarity and brand concept consistency. The results reveal that, in identifying brand extensions, consumers take into account not only information about the product-level feature similarity between the new product and the products already associated with the brand, but also the concept consistency between the brand concept and the extension. For both function-oriented and prestige-oriented brand names, the most favorable reactions occur when brand extensions are made with high brand concept consistency and high product feature similarity. In addition, the relative impact of these two factors differs to some extent, depending on the nature of the brand-name concept. When a brand's concept is consistent with those of its extension products, the prestige brand seems to have greater extendibility to products with low feature similarity than the functional brand does. Copyright 1991 by the University of Chicago.
1,173 citations
TL;DR: When a brand's concept is consistent with those of its extension products, the prestige brand seems to have greater extendibility to products with low feature similarity than the functional brand does.
Abstract: This article examines two factors that differentiate between successful and unsuccessful brand extensions: product feature similarity and brand concept consistency. The results reveal that, in identifying brand extensions, consumers take into account not only information about the product-level feature similarity between the new product and the products already associated with the brand, but also the concept consistency between the brand concept and the extension. For both function-oriented and prestige-oriented brand names, the most favorable reactions occur when brand extensions are made with high brand concept consistency and high product feature similarity. In addition, the relative impact of these two factors differs to some extent, depending on the nature of the brand-name concept. When a brand's concept is consistent with those of its extension products, the prestige brand seems to have greater extendibility to products with low feature similarity than the functional brand does.
1,141 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors find that when information pertaining to the assessment of the healthiness of food items is provided, the less healthy the item is portrayed to be, the better is its inferred taste, the more it is enjoyed during actual consumption, and the greater is the preference for it in choice tasks when a hedonic goal is more salient.
Abstract: Across four experiments, the authors find that when information pertaining to the assessment of the healthiness of food items is provided, the less healthy the item is portrayed to be, (1) the better is its inferred taste, (2) the more it is enjoyed during actual consumption, and (3) the greater is the preference for it in choice tasks when a hedonic goal is more (versus less) salient. The authors obtain these effects both among consumers who report that they believe that healthiness and tastiness are negatively correlated and, to a lesser degree, among those who do not report such a belief. The authors also provide evidence that the association between the concepts of “unhealthy” and “tasty” operates at an implicit level. The authors discuss possibilities for controlling the effect of the unhealthy = tasty intuition (and its potential for causing negative health consequences), including controlling the volume of unhealthy but tasty food eaten, changing unhealthy foods to make them less unhealthy...
1,041 citations
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TL;DR: Decomposition of objects has been studied extensively in the literature as mentioned in this paper, with a focus on the decomposition of complex objects into more elementary attributes, i.e. the qualities into which complex objects are decomposed.
Abstract: ions and general knowledge more extensive than that of individual categories are required in any account of categorization. For example, Pittenger & Shaw (1975, Pittenger et al 1979) argue that higher order knowledge about transformations serves as the perceptual invariant under lying certain types of categorization. In the tradition of constructive mem ory research (e.g. Bartlett 1932, Bransford & McCarrell 1974), categories are treated as part of very general schemas. Finally, large scale computer models (Collins & Loftus 1975, Schank & Abelson 1977, Winograd 1 972) treat categories and categorization processes as inseparable from world knowledge and the inference processes used in such knowledge. DECOMPOSABILITY OF CATEGORIES INTO ELEMENTS Virtually all accounts of the representation and processing of categories assume that categories are decomposable into more elementary qualities. This is not surprising: as Dreyfus (1979) has pointed out, since the time of Plato one of the major aspects of what has been meant by an explanation has been the decomposition of the thing to be explained into its elements. In psychology, however, arguments against the indiscriminate use of expla nation-by-decomposition have been with the field since its inception (see e.g. James 1 890a on the unitary nature of a single complex thought). The issue of decomposability was the focus of the debate in the early part of this century between the structuralists, who saw all experience as built out of primitive meaningless sensations, and the GestaItists, who emphasized irre ducible emergent properties of wholes (see Boring 1 950). At present, while decomposition is the unmarked assumption in model building, the possible need for less analytic factors is periodically acknowl edged. For example, in the pattern recognition literature, analysis into features and holistic matching to a template are generally presented as the two major types of alternative models (Reed 1 973), although for good reasons templates are usually treated as straw men (see Palmer 1978). CATEGORIZATION OF OBJECTS 105 Various empirical developments have brought the nature and role of decomposition into current debate. First, categorization has been investi gated for types of stimuli that do not have obvious elements at a cognitive level. The most notable of these are color (Rosch 1 973b, 1974) and overall configuration (e.g. Attneave 1 957, Posner 1969, Lockhead 1 972-but see also Barresi et a1 1 975, Homa & Vosburgh 1976). It is not surprising that such stimuli do not strike us as obviously decomposible, since they are themselves normally treated as attributes, i.e. the qualities into which more complex objects are decomposed. There has also been considerable dis agreement as to whether faces should be considered special holistically perceived objects (Hochberg & Galper 1 967, Yin 1 969, Rock 1973, Brad shaw 1 976). A second development which has offered the opportunity to view categories as wholes is the possibility for spatial representation of withinand between-category structures through techniques such as mul tidimensional scaling. For example, Hutchinson & Lockhead (1977) have argued that categories can best be conceived as unanalyzed points in metric multidimensional space. A third trend has been use of the concept of a prototype and the facts of gradients of representativeness to suggest holistic processing (e.g. Rosch 1973b, Dreyfus 1 979). The great majority of arguments over decomposition concern specifying the level of abstraction at which a particular kind of decomposition can or cannot be said to occur. While most categorization models include decom position, it is never to the point of infinite regress. Some elements are included as the primitives, although usually by default, rather than by explicit labeling as primitives. Because some elements are not decomposed, many accounts of catego rization include an explicit holistic component. For example, this can be introduced by means of a (relatively) holistic processing stage (E. E. Smith et al 1 974). Another possibility is that a given level of abstraction may be a basic and (potentially) holistically perceived level, even if other levels require more analytic mechanisms (Rosch et al 1 976a). Perceptual process ing of figures (such as a large letter constructed of smaller letters) has been shown to proceed from global to local analysis under some stimulus condi tions (Navon 1 977) but to proceed from local to global under others (e.g. Kinchla & Wolf 1979). In the perception models of Palmer (1975) and Winston ( 1975), the decomposition of a visual scene is viewed as a hierar chical network of subscenes, and it is claimed that higher-order properties are processed first, followed by lower-order properties. Depending on the circumstances, however, a given aspect of a scene might be either the higheror the lower-order property. The controversy over lexical decompo sition in linguistics and artificial intelligence (does "kill" really mean "cause to die") can be seen as largely an issue of which linguistic level to consider a whole and which to consider the elements (Fodor 1970; McCawley 1971,
1,721 citations
TL;DR: This article found that category-based evaluative responses supplement the piecemeal-based evaluation processes more often studied in consumer research, and the alternative modes of processing were found to be contingent upon the match/mismatch of information to category expectations.
Abstract: This study suggests that category-based evaluative responses supplement the piecemeal-based evaluation processes more often studied in Consumer Research. The alternative modes of processing were found to be contingent upon the match/mismatch of information to category expectations. Compared to piecemeal (mismatch) processing, category-based (match) processing resulted in faster impression formation times, more verbalizations related to the product category, fewer verbalizations related to the product's attributes, and fewer references to subtypes. Expertise exaggerated these effects.
1,121 citations
01 Jan 1968
TL;DR: It is a common assumption that the effectiveness of a persuasive communication is, at least in part, a function of the extent to which its content is learned and retained by its audience as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: It is a common assumption that the effectiveness of a persuasive communication is, at least in part, a function of the extent to which its content is learned and retained by its audience. This assumed learning-persuasion relation is based on a reasonable analogy between the persuasive communication and an informational communication such as a classroom lecture. In the lecture, it is by definition of the educational situation that retention of content is taken as a measure of effectiveness. In the persuasion situation, however, the essential criterion of effectiveness is acceptance of content. It remains an empirical question to determine whether acceptance of a persuasive communication is related to retention of its content. The hypothesis that acceptance of a communication is, in some part, a function of learning or retention of its content has received explicit endorsement by a number of attitude researchers and theorists (e.g., Hovland, Janis, & Kelley, 1953; McGuire, this volume; Miller
867 citations
Abstract: Though most observers acknowledge that consumers make inferences among product attributes, the influence of such inferences on product evaluation is much less clear. Study respondents evaluated pro...
479 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a cognitive response approach was used to examine the effects of one and two-sided comparative and non-comparative commercials seen over three levels of repetition, and results indicate qualitative diff...
Abstract: A cognitive response approach is used to examine the effects of one- and two-sided comparative and noncomparative commercials seen over three levels of repetition. Results indicate qualitative diff...
219 citations