THE ROLE OF RISK IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

James W. Taylor
The Journal of Marketing, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Apr., 1974), pp. 54-60
(article consists of 7 pages)
Published by: American Marketing Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1250198
ABSTRACT
It was once said that there is nothing so useful as a theory that works.
Understanding the role of risk in consumer behavior may provide the basis for
combining consumer behavior theory with marketing management action.
THE ROLE OF BEHAVIORAL MIND-SETS IN GOAL-DIRECTED
ACTIVITY: CONCEPTUAL UNDERPINNINGS AND EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
Journal of Consumer Psychology, Volume 20, Issue 2, April 2010, Pages 107-125
Robert S. Wyer Jr and Alison Jing Xu

ABSTRACT

The cognitive and motor behavior that people perform in the course of
pursuing a goal can induce a mind-set that persists to influence the strategy they
use to attain very different goals in unrelated situations. Although the strategies
governed by a mind-set are typically applied consciously and deliberately, they are
performed without awareness of the reasons for their selection. Research in both
social psychology and consumer behavior exemplifies the impact of mind-sets on
comprehension, judgments, and decision making, thus providing evidence of the
scope and diversity of their effects.

STRUCTURAL COMPARISON AND CONSUMER CHOICE

Journal of Consumer Psychology, Volume 20, Issue 2, April 2010, Pages 126-137
Arthur B. Markman and Jeffrey Loewenstein.

ABSTRACT

Psychological research has demonstrated important parallels between the

structural alignment process involved in judgments of similarity and the processes
that are involved in analogical reasoning. Gradually, this work on comparisons was
applied to consumer choice. In this paper, we review the influence of structural
alignment on choices among a set of options. Then, we discuss extensions of this
work to comparative advertising and to the role of analogy in marketing
communication. Finally, we discuss important extensions to structural alignment
suggested by this work such as the key role that affect plays in comparisons made
during the choice process.

PROCESSING PRODUCT UNIQUE FEATURES: ALIGNABILITY AND

INVOLVEMENT IN PREFERENCE CONSTRUCTION
Journal of Consumer Psychology, Volume 11, Issue 1,2001, Pages 13-27
Shi Zhang, Arthur B. Markman

ABSTRACT
Consumers often form preferences based on the presented attributes of
choice options. Previous research has suggested that consumers tend to form their
preferences using the attributes that are related to common aspects between the
options (i.e., alignable differences) and ignore attributes that are unique to
individual options (i.e., nonalignable differences). We combine cognitive

psychology and motivation research from social psychology and propose that
consumers preference formation can be systematically affected by whether they
focus more on alignable differences or more on nonalignable differences of the
options as a function of consumers involvement with the task. The results of 3
experiments show that preference judgment favors alignable differences over
nonalignable differences in a low-motivation condition. In contrast, high
motivation to process information enables consumers to increase their use of
nonalignable differences in preference formation, which can result in a preference
reversal relative to the low-motivation condition. The results suggest that a
preference reversal occurs when the nonalignable differences of the target option
are superior to both the nonalignable differences and the alignable differences of
the reference option. However, the reversal does not occur when the nonalignable
differences of the target option are superior only to the nonalignable differences of
the reference option. Theoretical and managerial implications relating to
differentiation, positioning, and communication strategies for innovative brands are
discussed.
SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCES: A STRUCTURAL ALIGNMENT VIEW
OF SIMILARITY
Journal of Memory and Language, Volume 32, Issue 4,August 1993, Pages 517535
Markman A. B., Gentner D.

ABSTRACT
The similarity of a pair increases with its commonalities and decreases with
its differences (Tversky, 1977,Psychological Review, 79(4), 281-299). This
research addresses how the commonalities and differences of a pair are determined.
We propose that comparisons are carried out by an alignment of conceptual
structures. This view suggests that beyond the commonality-difference distinction,
there is a further distinction between differences related to the common structure
(alignable differences), and differences unrelated to the common structure
(nonalignable differences). In two experiments, subjects were asked to list
commonalities and differences of word pairs and/or to rate the similarity of these
pairs. Three predictions for this task follow from the structural alignment view: (1)

pairs with many commonalities should also have many alignable differences, (2)
commonalities and alignable differences should tend to be conceptually related,
and (3) alignable differences should outnumber nonalignable differences. The data
support the structural alignment proposal. The implications of these findings for
theories of similarity and of cognitive processes that involve similarity are
discussed.
TRANSFORMATION AND ALIGNMENT IN SIMILARITY
Cognition, Volume 113, Issue 1, October 2009, Pages 62-79
Carl J. Hodgetts, Ulrike Hahn, Nick Chater

ABSTRACT
This paper contrasts two structural accounts of psychological similarity:
structural alignment (SA) and Representational Distortion (RD). SA proposes that
similarity is determined by how readily the structures of two objects can be
brought into alignment; RD measures similarity by the complexity of the
transformation that distorts one representation into the other. We assess RD by
defining a simple coding scheme of psychological transformations for the
experimental materials. In two experiments, this concrete version of RD
provides compelling fits of the data and compares favourably with SA. Finally,
stepping back from particular models, we argue that perceptual theory suggests that
transformations and alignment processes should generally be viewed as
complementary, in contrast to the current distinction in the literature.
COMPARISON IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CATEGORIES
Cognitive Development, Volume 14, Issue 4, October-December 1999, Pages 487513
Dedre Gentner, Laura L. Namy
ABSTRACT
Recent research on children's word learning has led to a paradox. Although
word learning appears to be a deep source of insight into conceptual knowledge for

children, preschoolers often categorize objects on the basis of shallow perceptual

features such as shape. The current studies seek to resolve this discrepancy. We
suggest that comparing multiple instances of a category enables children to extract
deeper relational commonalities among category members. We examine 4-yearolds' categorization behaviors when asked to select a match for a target object (e.g.,
an apple) between a perceptually similar, out-of-kind object (e.g., a balloon) and a
perceptually different category match (e.g., a banana). Children who learn a novel
word as a label for multiple instances of the category are more likely to select the
category match over the perceptual match. Children who learn a label for only one
instance are equally likely to select either alternative. This effect is present even
when individual target instances are more perceptually similar to the perceptual
choice than to the category choice. We conclude that structural alignment processes
may be important in the development of category understanding.

SIMILARITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF RULES

Cognition, Volume 65, Issues 2-3, January 1998, Pages 263-297
Dedre Gentner, Jos Medina

ABSTRACT
Similarity-based and rule-based accounts of cognition are often portrayed as
opposing accounts. In this paper we suggest that in learning and development,
theprocess of comparison can act as a bridge between similarity-based and rulebased processing. We suggest that comparison involves a process of structural
alignment and mapping between two representations. This kind of structuresensitive comparison process which may be triggered either by experiential or
symbolic juxtapositions has a twofold significance for cognitive development.
First, as a learning mechanism, comparison facilitates the grasp of structural
commonalities and the abstraction of rules; and, second, as a mechanism for the
application and extension of previously acquired knowledge, comparison processes
facilitate the application of abstract knowledge to new instances.

STRUCTURAL COMPARISON AND CONSUMER

CHOICE
Journal of Consumer Psychology, Volume 20, Issue 2, April
2010, Pages 126-137
Arthur B. Markman, Jeffrey Loewenstein

ABSTRACT
Psychological research has demonstrated important parallels between the structural
alignment process involved in judgments of similarity and the processes that are
involved in analogical reasoning. Gradually, this work on comparisons was applied
to consumer choice. In this paper, we review the influence of structural alignment
on choices among a set of options. Then, we discuss extensions of this work to
comparative advertising and to the role of analogy in marketing communication.
Finally, we discuss important extensions to structural alignment suggested by this
work such as the key role that affect plays in comparisons made during the choice
process.

How successful would a phone-pillow be: Using dual process theory to predict
the success of hybrids involving dissimilar products
Journal of Consumer Psychology, Volume 19, Issue 4, October 2009, Pages
652-660
Michael Gibbert, David Mazursky

ABSTRACT

Drawing on dual process theory from psycholinguistics, results reveal that,

in order for respondents to develop preferences for hybrids from dissimilar
categories the products underlying the hybrid need to be structurally aligned based

on links between individual functions, and that these links also need to be situated
in concrete consumer goals (study 1). In addition, it was found that category
similarity interacts with these two factors (study 2). Specifically, prompting the
potential consumer to think about structural alignment and consumer goals
increased the success of hybrids made up of dissimilar products, but decreased the
success of hybrids involving similar products.

PROPORTIONAL REASONING AS A HEURISTIC-BASED PROCESS: TIME

CONSTRAINT AND DUAL TASK CONSIDERATIONS
Experimental Psychology, Volume 56, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 92-99
Ellen Gillard, Wim Van Dooren, Walter Schaeken, Lieven Verschaffel

ABSTRACT
The present study interprets the overuse of proportional solution methods
from a dual process framework. Dual process theories claim that analytic
operations involve time-consuming executive processing, whereas heuristic
operations are fast and automatic. In two experiments to test whether proportional
reasoning is heuristic-based, the participants solved proportional problems, for
which proportional solution methods provide correct answers, and
nonproportional problems known to elicit incorrect answers based on the
assumption of proportionality. In Experiment 1, the available solution time was
restricted. In Experiment 2, the executive resources were burdened with a
secondary task. Both manipulations induced an increase in proportional answers
and a decrease in correct answers to nonproportional problems. These results
support the hypothesis that the choice for proportional methods is heuristic-based.
RECOLLECTION AND FAMILIARITY IN RECOGNITION MEMORY:
EVIDENCE FROM ROC CURVES
Journal of Memory and Language, Volume 55, Issue 4, November 2006, Pages
495-514
Andrew Heathcote, Frances Raymond, John Dunn

ABSTRACT
Does recognition memory rely on discrete recollection, continuous evidence,
or both? Is continuous evidence sensitive to only the regency and duration of study
(familiarity), or is it also sensitive to details of the study episode? Dual process
theories assume recognition is based on recollection and familiarity, with only
recollection providing knowledge about study details. Single process theories
assume a single continuous evidence dimension that can provide information about
familiarity and details. We replicated list (Yonelinas, 1994) and plural (Rotello,
Macmillan, & Van Tassel, 2000) discrimination experiments requiring knowledge
of details to discriminate targets from similar non-targets. We also ran modified
versions of these experiments aiming to increase recollection by removing nontargets that could be discriminated by familiarity alone. Single process models
provided the best trade-off between goodness-of-fit and model complexity and dual
process models were able to account for the data only when they incorporated
continuous evidence sensitive to details.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE PERCEPTION OF SIMILARITY
AND DIFFERENCE
Cognition, Volume 108, Issue 3, September 2008, Pages 781-795
Sabrina Simmons, Zachary Estes

ABSTRACT
Thematically related concepts like coffee and milk are judged to be more
similar than thematically unrelated concepts like coffee and lemonade. We
investigated whether thematic relations exert a small effect that occurs consistently
across participants (i.e., a generalized model), or a large effect that occurs
inconsistently across participants (i.e., an individualized model). We also examined
whether difference judgments mirrored similarity or whether these judgments
were, in fact, non-inverse. Five studies demonstrated the necessity of an
individualized model for both perceived similarity and difference, and additionally
provided evidence that thematic relations affect similarity more than difference.

Results suggest that models of similarity and difference must be attuned to large
and consistent individual variability in the weighting of thematic relations.
STIMULUS COMPETITION IN PRE/POST AND ONLINE RATINGS IN AN
EVALUATIVE LEARNING DESIGN
Learning and Motivation, Volume 41, Issue 2, May 2010,Pages 84-94
Helena M. Purkis, Ottmar V. Lipp

ABSTRACT
Evaluative learning is said to differ from Pavlovian associative learning in
that it reflects stimulus contiguity, not contingency. Thus, evaluative learning
should not be subject to stimulus competition, a proposal tested in the current
experiments. Participants were presented in elemental and compound training
phases with pictures of shapes as CSs. Each shape/pair of shapes was followed by
a picture of a happy or an angry face as the US. In Experiments 1 and 2, evaluative
ratings were collected before and after the experiment, and, in Experiment 3,
participants provided evaluations online. Stimulus competition was evident in all
experiments confirming that evaluative learning is sensitive to stimulus
contingencies.
ATTRIBUTIVE AND RELATIONAL PROCESSES IN NOMINAL
COMBINATION
Journal of Memory and Language, Volume 48, Issue 2 February 2003, Pages 304319
Zachary Estes

ABSTRACT
The dual process theory of nominal (nounnoun) combination posits a
relational process, in which a relation between concepts is inferred, as well as an
attributive process, in which a property of one concept is attributed to another.
According to dual process theory, these attributive and relational processes occur in
parallel. A relational theory claims instead that attributive and relational

comprehension result from the same process, and assumes that relational
comprehension will occur serially prior to attributive comprehension. Experiment
1 used a priming paradigm to test whether the relational and attributive processes
occur serially or in parallel. Target combinations were more likely to be
comprehended, and were comprehended more quickly, when preceded by a prime
combination that used the same attribution or relation than when preceded by a
prime combination that did not engage the same attributive or relational process.
Critically, the patterns of facilitation and interference were virtually identical
across the attributive and relational target-types, suggesting that the processes
occur in parallel. Experiment 2 showed that particular attributes and relations were
primed, rather than the attributive or the relational process more generally. Results
of both experiments supported the dual process theory. The emergence of a general
model of nominal combination is discussed.
Portland cement-fly ash-silica fume systems in concrete
Advanced Cement Based Materials, Volume 1, Issue 2, December 1993, Pages 8391
Sandor Popovics

ABSTRACT

Laboratory flow, strength, and ultrasonic pulse velocity tests were performed
on mortars made with 70% (by weight) of Portland cement and 30% of pozzolanic
materials where the pozzolanic materials consisted of various combinations of fly
ash and silica fume. In addition to these ternary systems, binary blends, such as
Portland cement and fly ash, and Portland cement and silica fume, along with
100% Portland cement mortars, were investigated for comparison. The purpose of
the investigation, preliminary in nature, was to see under what circumstances, if
any, would be a synergistic action when a ternary system of Portland cement-fly
ash-silica fume is used in a mortar or concrete.
Mortars were made with two cements of type I and two cements of type III along
with class F and class C fly ashes. One silica fume was used. Standard flow tests
were performed on the fresh mortars, and compressive strength as well as

ultrasonic pulse velocity tests were performed with each hardened mortar at
various ages up to 28 days. It is expected that the results and conclusions obtained
here on mortars will be transferable to concretes.
There are several novel, or at least lesser known, results of the investigation. For
instance, a new explanation is offered for the plasticizing effect of fly ash which is
based on the optimum particle-size distribution concept. Another such result is that
ground fly ash produced greater flow increases with type I cement than with type
III. A third finding is that the super plasticizer is more effective in increasing the
flow as well as strength when the mortars contain fly ash and/or silica fume than in
the case of mortars without mineral admixture. Also, it appears that when type
I cement is used, the silica fume in the quantity of 5% of the weight of
the cement produces relatively greater strength increase in the presence of fly ash
than without fly ash.
These promising results are preliminary in nature. Therefore, further research is
justified with ternary systems in concrete. The presented work is a portion of a
larger investigation.

The effect of pozzolans and slag on the expansion of mortars cured at elevated
temperature: Part I: Expansive behaviour
Cement and Concrete Research, Volume 33, Issue 6, June 2003, Pages 807-814
T. Ramlochan, P. Zacarias, M. D. A. Thomas, R. D. Hooton

ABSTRACT
The expansive behavior of heat-cured mortars containing pozzolans and slag
was investigated. In most cases, the addition of any amount of these materials to
the mixture typically reduced the long-term expansion, slowed the rate of
expansion, and delayed the onset of expansion. However, the efficacy of a
particular pozzolan or slag in controlling expansion may depend on its
Al2O3 content. Met kaolin, which contains a high amount of reactive Al2O3, was the
most effective at controlling expansion at relatively low cement replacement
levels. Slag and fly ash, which are also sources of Al 2O3, were also effective at
suppressing expansion at higher replacement levels. Silica fume was less effective

at controlling expansion at conventional replacement levels, and even at higher

replacement levels expansion may only be delayed.
Effect of silica fume and fly ash on heat of hydration of Portland cement
Cement and Concrete Research, Volume 32, Issue 7, July 2002, Pages 1045-1051
B. W. Langan, K. Weng, M. A. Ward

ABSTRACT
Results of calorimeter tests on Portland cementsilica fumefly ash mixtures
are presented. Data indicate that silica fume accelerates cement hydration at high
water/cementations ratios and retards hydration at low water/cementations ratios.
On the other hand, fly ash retards cement hydration more significantly at high
water/cementations ratios. When silica fume and fly ash are added together with
cement, the reactivity of the silica fume is hampered and the hydration of the
cementations system is significantly retarded.