This Handbook contains a unique collection of chapters written by the world's leading researchers in the dynamic field of consumer psychology. Although these researchers are housed in different academic departments (ie. marketing, psychology, advertising, communications) all have the common goal of attaining a better scientific understanding of cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to products and services, the marketing of these products and services, and societal and ethical concerns associated with marketing processes. Consumer psychology is a discipline at the interface of marketing, advertising and psychology. The research in this area focuses on fundamental psychological processes as well as on issues associated with the use of theoretical principles in applied contexts. The Handbook presents state-of-the-art research as well as providing a place for authors to put forward suggestions for future research and practice. The Handbook is most appropriate for graduate level courses in marketing, psychology, communications, consumer behavior and advertising.

What impact can various research methods have on consumer psychology? How can they help us understand the workings of the consumer mind? And how can the field of consumer psychology best utilize these methods? In the Handbook of Research Methods in Consumer Psychology, leading consumer psychologists summarize key aspects of the research process and explain how different methods enrich understanding of how consumers process information to form judgments and opinions and to make consumption-related decisions. Kardes, Herr, and Schwarz provide an in-depth analysis of the scientific research methods needed to understand consumption-related judgments and decisions. The book is split into five parts, demonstrating the breadth of the volume: classic approaches, contemporary approaches, online research methods, data analysis, and philosophy of science. A variety of leading researchers give insight into a wide range of topics, reflecting both long-standing debate and more recent developments in the field to encourage discussion and the advancement of consumer research. The Handbook of Research Methods in Consumer Psychology is essential reading for researchers, students, and professionals interested in consumer psychology and behavior.

Applying Social Cognition to Consumer-Focused Strategy, a book in the Advertising and Consumer Psychology series sponsored by the Society for Consumer Psychology, focuses on the most important recent developments at the interface of social cognition and marketing, and develops integrative theoretical frameworks with rich practical implications. More specifically, the chapters offer a novel and thought-provoking perspective on consumer-focused strategy--or the effects of marketing stimuli and activities on an integrated system of consumer processes and responses. Divided into four parts, this book: *offers new perspectives on consumer information processing, selective or one sided information processing, and attribution theory; *discusses how asking questions in focus groups, surveys, and experiments leads consumers to create opinions that would not have occurred to them otherwise; *advances a new approach for modeling uncertainty and a new framework for thinking about uncertainty; *summarizes recent developments concerning the Implicit Association Test and their implications for branding strategy; *develops a new approach for analyzing the effects of intention on behavior and unplanned purchase behaviors; *discusses the devaluation effect and shows both how implementation intentions can be used to increase new product consumption and also how promotion versus prevention regulatory focus influences consumer preferences; and *focuses on consumer information processing and persuasion. The text is intended for advanced graduate students, academics, and practitioners who embrace cutting-edge paradigms and methodologies in social-cognitive consumer research.

"Applying Social Cognition to Consumer-Focused Strategy," a book in the Advertising and Consumer Psychology series sponsored by the Society for Consumer Psychology, focuses on the most important recent developments at the interface of social cognition and marketing, and develops integrative theoretical frameworks with rich practical implications. More specifically, the chapters offer a novel and thought-provoking perspective on consumer-focused strategy--or the effects of marketing stimuli and activities on an integrated system of consumer processes and responses.
Divided into four parts, this book:
*offers new perspectives on consumer information processing, selective or one sided information processing, and attribution theory;
*discusses how asking questions in focus groups, surveys, and experiments leads consumers to create opinions that would not have occurred to them otherwise;
*advances a new approach for modeling uncertainty and a new framework for thinking about uncertainty;
*summarizes recent developments concerning the Implicit Association Test and their implications for branding strategy;
*develops a new approach for analyzing the effects of intention on behavior and unplanned purchase behaviors;
*discusses the devaluation effect and shows both how implementation intentions can be used to increase new product consumption and also how promotion versus prevention regulatory focus influences consumer preferences; and
*focuses on consumer information processing and persuasion.
The text is intended for advanced graduate students, academics, and practitioners who embrace cutting-edge paradigms and methodologies in social-cognitive consumer research.

What impact can various research methods have on consumer psychology? How can they help us understand the workings of the consumer mind? And how can the field of consumer psychology best utilize these methods? In the Handbook of Research Methods in Consumer Psychology, leading consumer psychologists summarize key aspects of the research process and explain how different methods enrich understanding of how consumers process information to form judgments and opinions and to make consumption-related decisions. Kardes, Herr, and Schwarz provide an in-depth analysis of the scientific research methods needed to understand consumption-related judgments and decisions. The book is split into five parts, demonstrating the breadth of the volume: classic approaches, contemporary approaches, online research methods, data analysis, and philosophy of science. A variety of leading researchers give insight into a wide range of topics, reflecting both long-standing debate and more recent developments in the field to encourage discussion and the advancement of consumer research. The Handbook of Research Methods in Consumer Psychology is essential reading for researchers, students, and professionals interested in consumer psychology and behavior.

In this book, we propose that there are multiple factors, such as the education process and the consumption environment, which work to simultaneously create an opposition framework. People are constantly exposed to rival products, which are positioned to be opposites even when they are often extremely similar in chemical content and physical appearance. Thus, the implications of the recency-frequency model of activation (Higgins, Bargh and Lombardi 1985) would be that these proximal factors could, in some sense, prime dichotomous thinking. Dichotomous or oppositional thinking, as it is defined in this book, pertains to the flattening of dimensions present in a choice set such that the items can be graphically depicted at two ends of one dimension (see Figure 2 and Figure 3). We will first explore the impact of a dichotomous mindset on making a decision and then expand to the realm of opposition in choice set structures. Our findings show that when choices are presented in a dichotomous way, individuals find them less frustrating while maintaining their satisfaction with their choice.