Cognitive differentiation in consumer product judgments

The investigations reported in this article examined some of the individual and situational determinants of the level of cognitive product differentiation in consumer products judgements, Subjects consisted of four large samples of male and female consumers in two large metropolitan areas in the USA. These four independent studies found empirical support for the following hypothesis: consumers tend to have more differentiated judgments of negatively valenced products than positively valenced products. These findings were discussed in the context of the “vigilance”. “justification” and “Pollyanna” hypotheses. Finally, as a promising direction for future research. the need for an interactionist approach to cognitive functioning was emphasized.