The purpose of this article is to review basic empirical results from the psychological literature in a way that provides a useful foundation for research on consumer knowledge. A conceptual organization for this diverse literature is provided by two fundamental distinctions. First, consumer expertise is distinguished from product-related experience. Second, five distinct aspects, or dimensions, of expertise are identified: cognitive effort, cognitive structure, analysis, elaboration, and memory. Improvements in the first two dimensions are shown to have general beneficial effects on the latter three. Analysis, elaboration, and memory are shown to have more specific interrelationships. The empirical findings related to each dimension are reviewed and, on the basis of those findings, specific research hypotheses about the effects of expertise on consumer behavior are suggested.

Dimensions of Consumer Expertise

Drawing from recent developments in social cognition, cognitive psychology, and behavioral decision theory, we analyzed when and how the act of measuring beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors affects observed correlations among them. Belief, attitude, or intention can be created by measurement if the measured constructs do not already exist in long-term memory. The responses thus created can have directive effects on answers to other questions that follow in the survey. But even when counterparts to the beliefs, attitudes, and intentions measured already exist in memory, the structure of the survey researcher's questionnaire can affect observed correlations among them. The respondent may use retrieved answers to earlier survey questions as inputs to response generation to later questions. We present a simple theory predicting that an earlier response will be used as a basis for another, subsequent response if the former is accessible and if it is perceived to be more diagnostic than other accessible inputs. We outline the factors that determine both the perceived diagnosticity of a potential input, the likelihood that it will be retrieved, and the likelihood that some alternative (and potentially more diagnostic) inputs will be retrieved. This article examines the effects of measurement operations on revealed correlations among survey measures of belief, attitude, intention, and behavior. The potential reactivity of measurement has long been of concern in psychology. Methodologists (e.g., Campbell & Stanley, 1966; Cook & Campbell, 1979; Runkel & McGrath, 1972) warn of measurement-induced distortions relating to social desirability, evaluation apprehension, and sensitization to experimental treatments. Although it is true that the problem of reactivity of measurement affects work in both the social and physical sciences, in the physical sciences, measurement effects are expressed in terms of substantive theory. For instance, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle links basic

Self-generated validity and other effects of measurement on belief, attitude, intention, and behavior.

Mental imagery is receiving increased attention in consumer behavior theory and research. This article describes imagery, characterizing it as a processing mode in which multisensory information is represented in a gestalt form in working memory, and discusses research on the unique effects of imagery at low levels of cognitive elaboration. It specifies researchable propositions for the relationship between high elaboration imagery processing and consumer choice and consumption behaviors. Finally, it reviews specific methods for studying imagery.

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The Role of Imagery in Information Processing: Review and Extensions

The present study investigated how different product presentation formats (visual vs. verbal) influence consumer attitudes toward product and purchase intentions in Internet shopping. The overall results from two Web experiments simulating Internet apparel shopping showed that both visual and verbal information had significant effects on affective and cognitive attitudes toward apparel products, but only verbal information had a significant effect on purchase intention. Though the superiority of visual information was predicted based on prior literature, the results of the study supported verbal superiority. This finding provides an important implication for Internet retailers who tend to pay more attention to visual product presentation. Although visual product presentation is also found to be important, detailed product descriptions are critical to positively influence consumer shopping experience in Internet shopping. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The effects of visual and verbal information on attitudes and purchase intentions in internet shopping

Misinformation—defined as information that is initially assumed to be valid but is later corrected or retracted—often has an ongoing effect on people’s memory and reasoning. We tested the hypotheses that (a) reliance on misinformation is affected by people’s preexisting attitudes and (b) attitudes determine the effectiveness of retractions. In two experiments, participants scoring higher and lower on a racial prejudice scale read a news report regarding a robbery. In one scenario, the suspects were initially presented as being Australian Aboriginals, whereas in a second scenario, a hero preventing the robbery was introduced as an Aboriginal person. Later, these critical, race-related pieces of information were or were not retracted. We measured participants’ reliance on misinformation in response to inferential reasoning questions. The results showed that preexisting attitudes influence people’s use of attitude-related information but not the way in which a retraction of that information is processed.

Do people keep believing because they want to? Preexisting attitudes and the continued influence of misinformation

Relationships between recalled information and subsequent attitudes toward chosen and rejected alternatives were explored under different experimental conditions. Memory for product information and effects of amount recalled on subsequently reported attitudes varied as a function of the processing objective and chosen or rejected alternatives. Results are discussed in terms of recent theoretical models describing effects of memory on judgments.

Relationships Between Information Recall and Subsequent Attitudes: Some Exploratory Findings

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Relationships Between Information Recall and Subsequent Attitudes: Some Exploratory Findings