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An ecologically valid experiment investigated the propositions that (a) people’s judgments are influenced by contextual cues, (b) that they are often unaware that those cues influenced them, and (c) that even when they know the cues should influence them, they do not readily incorporate those cues into their judgment formation. After participating in a realistic simulation of a shopping experience, 405 consumers made judgments about whether the product they examined contained fresh or preserved grapefruit sections. Our findings show that despite being aware that contextual cues (such as the location within a store where the product is sold, the type of container it is sold in, and whether the container is chilled or not) generally influence the judgment at hand, people generally fail to realize that their specific judgments were influenced at all. These findings replicate prior studies, thereby extending the generalizability and robustness of prior research.

The need to evolve the visual depictions of our consumer behavior models is addressed. Previous models are criticized for being constructions that fail to build on prior theory, and lack parsimony, comprehensiveness, coherence, and flexibility. More revolutionary movement in consumer behavior modelling is encouraged and an integrative Stimulus–Organism–Response framework is presented for consideration.

Two studies were conducted among professional security analysts to explore their patterns of decision making while managing investment portfolios. In study 1, a computer-based simulation, the analysts' styles differed markedly, with most exhibiting either a momentum or contrarian approach, as indicated by responses to portfolio stock price changes. Study 2 used a verbal protocol procedure and semistructured depth interviews to probe the analysts' thought processes. Momentum and contrarian investors were found to differ on a number of dimensions including price expectations, age, experience, raw performance, risk propensity, cognitive style, knowledge calibration, and strategy adaptivity. Implications and limitations are discussed. Copyright 2002 by the University of Chicago.

Consistent with calls for a dynamical social psychology (Jacoby et al., 1987; Nowak, Lewenstein, & Vallacher, 1994), attitude formation was studied using a recently developed, computer-based simulation technique termed Higher Order Cognitive Tracing (see Jacoby et al., 1994). Participants’ attitudes toward 12 different products in 3 product categories were investigated as a function of incremental information input. As opposed to traditional memory-based models of attitude formation, the study explored online processing models. Results indicate that the impact of information tends to decrease the later in the sequence that information is accessed. In addition, new information that is affectively inconsistent with prior information tends to have a greater impact on attitudes than information that is affectively redundant. This effect is more pronounced earlier rather than later in the sequence of information acquisition. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Considerable research has examined how securities information, once accessed, is cognitively processed to arrive at buy, sell or hold decisions. In contrast, this paper ex amines whether training novice investors to simply apply the information accessing strategies used by better-performing security analysts, prior to actual cognitive pro cessing of the information, would improve their performance. We obtain performance differences by comparing trained subjects who used the recommended strategies with untrained subjects. Notably, these differences emerged even during a significant mar ket downturn during the simulation. Implications of the findings and directions for fu ture research are discussed.

After discussing the value of trademarks to consumers and businesses, the authors outline the major objectives of trademark law. The authors review recent federal trademark infringement cases that involve the use of disclaimers, in terms of the extent to which disclaimers reduce the likelihood of consumer confusion. The authors then note recent trends and provide suggestions for further research.

Consumer evaluations of new brands evolve over time as information is acquired. We conceptualize the extent to which evaluations are updated in terms of the weight given to new information during information integration. Based on information processing theory, we derive hypotheses regarding the weights given to new information under different processing ability conditions. We then develop a varying-parameter averaging model that captures the hypothesized moderating effects of processing ability (i.e., time pressure and knowledge) and also takes into account order effects. Scale values and weights for information items are derived by estimating the model using continuous evaluations obtained in a process-tracing experiment that allows subjects to access information that they desire in any order. Results from model estimation support the hypothesis that compared with prior evaluations new information plays a larger role in evaluations of high (vs. low) ability subjects. Estimating order effects on weights when order is endogenous, we find a recency effect such that information seen later is given a greater weight than information seen earlier. However, this recency effect is reduced as category knowledge increases. We discuss the theoretical and methodological contributions of this research.

The authors review the principal surveys offered as evidence in FTC v. Kraft, Inc. (1991). The authors explain that the FTC's survey (Stewart 1987) is flawed in universe definition, question wording, experimental design, and analyses, and argue that though Kraft's survey (Jacoby 1988) employed generally recognized and accepted scientific practices, especially as applied in surveys conducted for litigated matters, the FTC Commissioners relied on the survey proffered by the FTC Staff. In addition, they dismissed Kraft's main findings and only relied on it for the one uncontested finding that supported the FTC's position. The authors discuss the implications of such actions and also respond to Stewart's (1995) article, which presents contrasting analyses.

The impact of item-by-item information accessing on uncertainty reduction is studied under self-selected and researcher-constrained information accessing. Study 1 showed that, at both the aggregate and the individual level, subjective uncertainty reduction assumes several distinct patterns, with the dominant pattern conforming to an accelerating or linear power function. Study 2 revealed that different subjective-uncertainty-reduction patterns tend to be associated with within-options versus within-properties searches. Implications of the findings and the procedure are discussed. Coauthors are James J. Jaccard, Imran Currim, Alfred Kuss, Asim Ansari, and Tracy Troutman. Copyright 1994 by the University of Chicago.

Discussing factors that may make judicial opinions a minefield of misinformation, Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner hypothesizes . . . judges' knowledge of the world . . . relevant to legal decision making, derives to a significant degree from judicial opinions that, he suggests, may often be systematically unreliable sources of information. To test this hypothesis, Judge Posner urges academic commentators to expand their study of cases beyond judicial opinions . . . [and] get hold of the briefs and record to check the accuracy of the factual recitals in the opinion. Doing as Judge Posner proposes yields support for his hypothesis. The analysis also reveals that where a court's factual recitals do not comport with the underlying record, the negative effects can extend beyond the delivery of justice in the instant matter to denigrating subsequent case law and generating other adverse effects as well. After considering the antecedents and consequents of erroneous factual recitals, remedies are suggested for mitigating the problem.

Section 43 of the Lanham Act prohibits false or misleading misrepresentations of fact that are likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive as to the sponsorship or approval of goods or services. Examination of case law reveals emerging disagreement across courts on what needs to be assessed when measuring such "sponsorship" confusion. Various issues, including the logic underlying such measurement, are discussed. In the process, the author explains why, from the perspective of both science and law, one approach accepted by courts makes sense while another does not.

According to Judge Richard Posner, judicial opinions may be a mine of misinformation, but this tends not to be recognized because rarely do "commentators get hold of the briefs and record to check the accuracy of the factual recitals in the opinion." By comparing several opinions with their underlying records, evidence is here adduced in support of Judge Posner's hypothesis. The practical import of such findings are described by Judge Posner: "All this would be of relatively little importance were it not that lawyers' and, particularly judges' knowledge of the world, or at least the slice of the world relevant to legal decision making, derives to a significant degree from judicial opinions." Given the multiplier effect generated by precedent, as increasing numbers of opinions (generally, unknowingly) come to rely on factually incorrect recitals provided in earlier opinions, the threat to the administration of justice becomes more widespread. This suggests the need for a system that would identify and make these errors known before their damaging impact becomes magnified.

The major findings of a large scale AAAA study into the miscomprehension of televised communication are summarized. Implications for advertising research and public policy are discussed.

The principal focus of Sections 43a and 43c of the Lanham Act is on the states of mind - particularly confusion, deception, and dilution - of the relevant public (e.g., prospective purchasers). Other key concepts of trademark law (acquired distinctiveness, secondary meaning, fame and genericism) also refer to psychological states of mind. Yet beyond acknowledging that these concepts refer to psychological states of mind, little has been done to describe how the vast body of relevant psychological literature provides an understanding of the development of and change in these psychological states. The objective of this paper is to remedy this neglect by discussing how the relevant scientific literature provides a foundation for greater understanding of these key concepts.

Consumer researchers have conceptualized brand name dilution in terms of the potentially damaging effects that a company's own brand extensions can have on beliefs and attitudes toward parent brands. A different form of dilution, trademark dilution, can also occur through the unauthorized use of a mark (e.g., brand, logo) by an entity other than its owner. With passage of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995, an increasing number of trademark dilution cases are being litigated. A recurring issue in these cases has been how to measure trademark dilution. The authors review the concept of trademark dilution and explore how recognition and recall-based methods can be used for empirically assessing trademark dilution. The authors also investigate the impact of brand familiarity and product category similarity on the extent of trademark dilution and discuss implications, limitations, and areas for further research.

T he notion of information overload has received a fair measure of attention in the consumer behavior literature. Early research on the phenomenon (Jacoby 1974; Jacoby, Kohn, and Speller 1973; Jacoby, Speller, and Berning 1974; Jacoby, Speller, and Kohn 1974) suggested that there could be dysfunctional consequences resulting from providing consumers with "too much" information. These studies soon spawned critics (Russo 1974; Summers 1974; Wilkie 1974), rejoinders (Jacoby 1977; Jacoby, Speller, and Beming 1975) and additional empirical work (Scammon 1977; Staelin and Payne 1976). While the critics raised a variety of technical issues regarding the empirical procedures employed (e.g., what are the best ways to operationalize information and decision quality, should one correct for guessing as a function of the number of brands available, and so on), Jacoby was perhaps his own severest critic. This occurred primarily in two articles which appear to have attracted negligible attention and which, when cited, seem not to be recognized as the fundamental critiques that they are. The first paper (Jacoby 1975) begins by summarizing the results of several additional overload studies (including some conducted outside of the U.S. and others involving authentic subject motivation-that is, test situations in which the consumer actually kept the product selected), all of which seemed to confirm an overload effect and most of which were likely to have been published in the climate of those times. The purpose of the paper was to describe the evolution of my thinking. Accordingly, the second half raised and discussed several fundamental issues, all of which focused on the inability of the traditional overload research paradigm-as advanced and researched by Jacoby-to capture and model the real world. These same arguments are made even more explicit in the second paper, which concluded that the information overload research paradigm had limited ability to provide a suitable basis for real-world managerial and policy decisions (Jacoby, Speller, and Berning 1975, p. 155). Thus by 1976, the literature contained ample cause for concern about attempts to employ the basic overload approach to answer applied questions. Yet the flow of such research has not abated. Indeed, some researchers even rely on the overload paradigm to argue for both sides of the issue. As a case in point, consider the papers by Malhotra (1982) and Malhotra et al. (1982). In April 1982, an article by Malhotra, Jain, and Lagakos entitled "The Information Overload Controversy: An Alternative Viewpoint" appeared in the Journal of Marketing. This article reanalyzed the data from three prior overload investigations-two in the Journal of Consumer Research (Jacoby, Speller, and Kohn Berning 1974; Scammon 1977) and one in the Journal of Marketing Research (Jacoby, Speller, and Kohn 1974)-and arrived at the following conclusions (Malhotra et al. 1982, p. 35)

AND JACOB JACOBYPurdue UniversityNinety blacks and 90 whites evaluated six proposed advertisements in termsof attractiveness and likelihood of purchase of the product advertised. Theadvertisements differed in the degree of racial integration depicted, which wasoperationally denned by a S-point continuum ranging from 0 whites and4 blacks (OW-4B) to 4 whites and 0 blacks (4W-OB). The hypothesis thatyoung blacks react negatively to integrated ads depicting tokenism (e.g.,three whites to one black) and positively to ads depicting equality (e.g.,two whites to two blacks) was supported with each of the dependent measures.

A behavioral process methodology was utilized to examine the amount and type of information acquired by consumers from package panels prior to making purchase decisions. Consumers selected few information dimensions from larger information arrays, with brand name and price most frequently selected. Less information was selected when brand name was available, perhaps because brand name serves as information “chunk” in consumer decision-making.

This study tested a portion of Olson's cue model which hypothesizes that, other things equal, intrinsic cues (e.g., physical product differences) will be stronger determinants of perceived-qua lity judgments than will extrinsic cues (e.g., price or store image). Ninety female undergraduates were randomly assigned to the conditions of a 2X3X3 (Price X Store Image X Hosiery Product Samples) analysis of variance with repeated measures on the intrinsic factor. Results supported the hypothesis; omega-square values revealed that 73% of the total variance was due to intrinsic product sample differences. Additionally, Shapiro's hypothesis that perceived worth would be more strongly related to stated purchase intentions than would perceived quality was supported. Purchase behavior in contemporary American society requires, among other things, that the consumer be able to make judgments and comparisons across products, brands, and services. Such judgments are arrived at by a process in which some or all of the various items of information (i.e., cues) associated with the product, brand, or service are identified, evaluated, and integrated to form a composite judgment. One judgment usually of considerable importance to the consumer is the product's quality, and more than a score of published studies have examined the effects of specific cues on the judgment of perceived quality (cf. Jacoby, Olson, & Haddock, 1971; Olson, 1972). Little thought, however, has been given to developing a conceptual framework for expressing how and when specific cues or types of cues operate to form the composite quality judgment. Until recently, the most notable exception has been Cox (1962), who developed a cue-processing model based upon the notions of predictive and confidence value. Other investigators (Jacoby et al., 1971; Valenzi & Andrews, 1971) have distinguished between intrinsic and extrinsic cues. The former refer to cues which, if changed, would produce a resultant change in the physical product itself (e.g., flavor and aroma cues for beer), while the latter refer to such factors

The present study illustrates how computers can substantially extend the range and ease of application of the behavioral process information monitoring procedures that are increasingly being used to capture and preserve traces of pre-decision information accessing behavior. Employing such an extension, the study examined whether better and poorer decision marker performance was related to differences in the extent and content of information accessing behavior. The results of a computer simulation involving practicing financial security analysts engaged in a securities analysis task revealed that the better performing analysts generally considered slightly greater amounts of information and different types of information than did the poorer performing analysts. These findings are interpreted in terms of the concept of “control schemas” postulated by Kozminsky, Kintsch, and Bourne (1981). A concluding section describes numerous ways in which computers improve upon both the flexibility and validity of traditional research paradigms.

We conducted a large scale, nationally representative study of the comprehension/miscomprehension of print communication involving 54 advertisements and 54 editorials. On average, 21.4 percent of the material was miscomprehended with an additional 15.5 percent of “don't know” responses. Editorial content was associated with slightly higher rates of miscomprehension than was advertising content. Except for age and amount of formal education and income, other basic sociodemographic variables appeared to be negligibly related to miscomprehension. We discuss the implications of these findings.

This investigation explores the factors which lead to miscomprehension of television advertisements. Findings indicate that meaningful differences in both the receivers of the message and the message content itself can account for the degree of miscomprehension of television communications. Implications for message development are discussed.

Current theories of social judgment and social decision making emphasize dynamic process perspectives, but the methods used to investigate these processes have been relatively static and limited in scope. This paper describes a set of evolving procedures designed to capture process data and discusses how this approach may be used to study various psychological phenomena, including control schemata, attribution theory, attitude formation, impression formation, implicit personality theory, verbal report accuracy, postdecision dissonance reduction, attraction, choice behavior, time constraints, gender stereotypes, agenda effects, and task feedback effects.

The preceding commentaries offer interesting perspectives. As might be expected, we agree with some of the points raised but disagree with many others. Given the editor's request for a short and tight rejoinder, we only address points of disagreement. Our comments generally follow the order in which these points were raised.

Important conceptual-definitional and empirical issues previously have been raised with regard to information overload in the consumer context. The primary purpose of this rejoinder is to highlight points of agreement and disagreement and thus bring closer a resolution of the issues.

Brand loyalty is first distinguished from simple repeat purchasing behavior and then conceptually defined in terms of six necessary and collectively sufficient conditions. An experiment designed to test this conceptualization provided strong empirical support for the distinction as conceptualized.

While price and brand image have both been found to be determiners of product quality perception, the potency of these two cues has never been directly compared. Moreover, those studies which found price to be a determiner of perceived quality manipulated only price information, without permitting actual composition characteristics to vary across brands. A 2X2X2X3 factorial experiment, using 136 adult male beer drinkers, and four test beers, examined the effects of price, composition differences, and brand image cues on the perception of beer quality. Price was found to serve as an indicant of product quality when it was the only cue available but not when embedded in a multicue setting. Brand image had a stronger effect upon quality perception, particularly for brands with strong positive images. In addition, it was found that neither price nor brand name had significant effects on perceived quality except when product composition characteristics were allowed to vary between product samples. Last, in contrast to earlier findings, the data suggest that beer drinkers possess at least some ability to distinguish among different brands of beer on the basis of composition (i.e., taste and aroma) cues alone. As the literature on perceived risk (cf. Cox, 1967) clearly demonstrates, consumer purchase decisions are frequently made under conditions of varying uncertainty regarding the product and its attributes. To reduce such uncertainty, consumers seek and process information regarding the product and generally attempt to form accurate impressions of it. Given that products may be viewed "as an array of cues," the "consumer's task in evaluating a product is to use cues from the array as the basis for making judgments about the product (Cox, 1962, p. 413)." One impression usually of considerable importance to the consumer is the product's (or brand's) quality. Cues relevant to forming impressions of quality include (a) price; (b) product composition characteristics such as taste, aroma, color, style, and size; (c) packaging; (d) brand, manufacturer (i.e., corporate), and store image; (e) advertising; (f) word-ofmouth reports; and (g) past purchase experi

Despite the generally held assumption that perception of others is partially shaped by the personality of the perceiver, few studies have been devoted directly to this question, and none have involved individuals in the course of ordinary transactions with their environment. A field experiment was conducted in which 46 S s, divided into small groups and working on personally relevant and important tasks, interacted over a 10-week period. Tested at the end of this period, the hypothesis that open-minded S s are more accurate perceivers of another's degree of dogmatism than are closed-minded S s was supported ( p

THE chronic discontent of both journal editors and contributors of articles with existing procedures for evaluating scientific papers is well documented. Convention program committees face a similar problem in selecting papers for presentation (McReynolds, 1971), although the published complaints usually focus exclusively on frustrations encountered in dealings with the journals. Rodman (1970), writing from the perspective of the journal editor, described the heavy responsibility of the "gatekeeper" role. In his term as editor of Social Problems, Rodman rejected about onefourth of the manuscripts received without passing them on to referees. Among those passed on to reviewers, if two referees read the same paper, they frequently disagreed on its merit. Moreover, when manuscripts were rejected, considerable time and energy were expended in "cooling out" the irate authors who questioned editorial judgment. The pressures generated for the editor are evident by Rodman's view of the job.

THE PLIGHT OF THE UNIFORMED AIR FORCE PSYCHOLOGISTThe recent report of the APA Division19 ad hoc Committee to Study CareerStatus of Military Psychologists (Hed-lund, Newman, Rasmussen, Ross, Sells,Sperling, & Trumbull, 1968) presents arather bleak picture of both the compen-sation and satisfaction derived by "uni-formed" psychologists (i.e., those servingon active duty with either the Army,Navy, Air Force, or Public Health Ser-vice) in contrast to their civilian brethren,both in and out of civil service. However,while the figures for military rank andcompensation presented are accurate forpsychologists serving on active duty withthe Army, they are highly inflated and donot depict the sad state of affairs as theyexist for Air Force psychologists. Thus,any generalizations made from the Com-mittee's data to all uniformed psycholo-gists would not be valid. Furthermore, inchoosing to use the figures for Armypsychologists, it was not necessary for theCommittee to comment on the sensitive,inequitable, and artificially created castesystem currently existing among psychol-ogists on active duty in the Air Force.These various inequities ought to bedescribed if only to set the recordstraight. More important, however, theyneed to be described so that those in-terested and/or about to be affected (i.e.,those young PhDs and MS-level graduatestudents who are about to enter activeduty in order to discharge their militaryobligation) may be able to make moreaccurate comparisons and meaningfulJacob Jacobychoices—choices which will determinethree to five years of their lives.However, our purpose is not simply todwell on the negative, but also to suggestcertain practices which, if implemented,might serve to make the lot of theuniformed psychologist a bit more palat-able and should result in the increasedretention rates for which the militaryservices are clamoring (cf. Hedlund et al.,1968).

(1971). Political Polling and the Lost-Letter Technique. The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 83, No. 2, pp. 209-212.