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Pagina principale Handbook of Consumer Psychology
Handbook of Consumer PsychologyHaugtvedt C.P., Herr P.M., Kardes F.R.
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.
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Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000.indd i 11/14/2007 2:36:05 PM Marketing and Consumer Psychology Series Curtis P. Haugtvedt, Ohio State University Series Editor Curtis P. Haugtvedt, Paul M. Herr and Frank R. Kardes Handbook of Consumer Psychology Cele C. Otnes and Tina M. Lowrey Contemporary Consumption Rituals: A Research Anthology Gad Saad The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption Michel Wedel and Rik Pieters Visual Marketing: From Attention to Action Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000.indd ii 11/14/2007 2:36:13 PM EDITED BY CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT PAUL M. HERR • FRANK R. KARDES Lawrence Erlbaum Associates New York London Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000.indd iii 11/14/2007 2:36:13 PM Psychology Press Taylor & Francis Group 27 Church Road Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA Psychology Press Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 © 2008 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-8058-5603-3 (Hardcover) Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Handbook of consumer psychology / edited by Curtis P. Haugtvedt, Paul M. Herr and Frank R. Kardes. p. cm. -- (Marketing and consumer psychology series ; 4) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8058-5603-3 (acid free paper) ISBN-10: 0-8058-5603-X (acid free paper) 1. Consumer behavior. 2. Decision making. 3. Marketing--Psychological aspects. 4. Advertising--Psychological aspects. I. Haugtvedt, Curtis P., 1958- II. Herr, Paul, 1956- III. Kardes, Frank R. HF5415.32.H363 2007 658.8'342--dc22 2007017528 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the Psychology Press Web site at http://www.psypress.com Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000.indd iv 11/14/2007 2:36:13 PM Contents Preface ix Contributors xi I Introduction 1 History of Consumer Psychology David W. Schumann, Curtis P. Haugtvedt, and Edith Davidson II Consumer Information Processing 2 The Role of Knowledge Accessibility in Cognition and Behavior: Implications for Consumer Information Processing Robert S. Wyer, Jr. 3 Consumer Memory, Fluency, and Familiarity Antonia Mantonakis, Bruce W. A. Whittlesea, and Carolyn Yoon 4 Consumer Learning and Expertise J. Wesley Hutchinson and Eric M. Eisenstein 5 Categorization Theory and Research in Consumer Psychology: Category Representation and Category-Based Inference Barbara Loken, Lawrence W. Barsalou, and Christopher Joiner 6 Consumer Inference Frank R. Kardes, Steven S. Posavac, Maria L. Cronley, and Paul M. Herr 7 Effects of Sensory Factors on Consumer Behavior: If It Tastes, Smells, Sounds, and Feels Like a Duck, Then It Must Be A . . . Joann Peck and Terry L. Childers 8 Stages of Consumer Socialization: The Development of Consumer Knowledge, Skills, and Values From Childhood to Adolescence Deborah Roedder John v Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000a.indd v 1/2/2008 9:58:27 AM vi CONTENTS 9 Aging and Consumer Behavior Carolyn Yoon and Catherine A. Cole III Motivation, Affect, and Consumer Decisions 10 Positive Affect and Decision Processes: Some Recent Theoretical Developments With Practical Implications Alice M. Isen 11 The Nature and Role of Affect in Consumer Behavior Joel B. Cohen, Michel Tuan Pham, and Eduardo B. Andrade 12 Self-regulation: Goals, Consumption, and Choices Kathleen D. Vohs, Roy F. Baumeister, and Dianne M. Tice 13 Goal-Directed Consumer Behavior: Motivation, Volition, and Affect Hans Baumgartner and Rik Pieters 14 Goal-Directed Perception Chris Janiszewski IV Persuasion, Attitudes, and Social Influence 15 Attitude Change and Persuasion Curtis P. Haugtvedt and Jeff A. Kasmer 16 Associative Strength and Consumer Choice Behavior Christopher R. M. Jones and Russell H. Fazio 17 Measuring the Nonconscious: Implicit Social Cognition in Consumer Behavior Andrew Perkins, Mark Forehand, Anthony Greenwald, and Dominika Maison 18 Implicit Consumer Cognition Patrick T. Vargas 19 Evoking the Imagination as a Strategy of Influence Petia K. Petrova and Robert B. Cialdini 20 Consumer Attitudes and Behavior Icek Ajzen 21 I Know What You're Doing and Why You're Doing It: The Use of Persuasion Knowledge Model in Consumer Research Margaret C. Campbell and Amna Kirmani 22 Social Values in Consumer Psychology Lynn R. Kahle and Guang-Xin Xie Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000a.indd vi 1/2/2008 9:58:56 AM CONTENTS V Behavioral Decision Research 23 Consumer Decision Making: A Choice Goals Approach James R. Bettman, Mary Frances Luce, and John W. Payne 24 Dynamics of Goal-Based Choice: Toward an Understanding of How Goals Commit Versus Liberate Choice Ayelet Fishbach and Ravi Dhar 25 Hedonomics in Consumer Behavior Christopher K. Hsee and Claire I. Tsai 26 Behavioral Pricing Maggie Wenjing Liu and Dilip Soman 27 Perceptions of Fair Pricing James E. Heyman and Barbara A. Mellers 28 Associative Learning and Consumer Decisions Stijn M. J. van Osselaer VI Products, Preferences, Places, and People 29 A Role for Aesthetics in Consumer Psychology JoAndrea Hoegg and Joseph W. Alba 30 Product Assortment Susan M. Broniarczyk 31 Brands and Their Meaning Makers Chris T. Allen, Susan Fournier, and Felicia Miller 32 Theory in Consumer-Environment Research: Diagnosis and Prognosis Sevgin A. Eroglu and Karen A. Machleit 33 Music and Consumers James J. Kellaris 34 Consumer Psychology of Sport: More Than Just a Game Robert Madrigal and Vassilis Dalakas 35 Diversity Issues in Consumer Psychology Jerome D. Williams, Wei-Na Lee, and Geraldine R. Henderson VII 36 vii Consumer Well-Being Consumers and the Allure of "Safer" Tobacco Products: Scientific and Policy Issues Eugene Borgida, Anita Kim, Emily N. Stark, and Christopher Miller Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000a.indd vii 1/2/2008 9:58:56 AM viii CONTENTS 37 Assessing the Relationships Between Tobacco Advertising and Promotion and Adolescent Smoking Behavior: Convergent Evidence Marvin E. Goldberg 38 The Social Marketing of Volunteerism: A Functional Approach Arthur A. Stukas, Mark Snyder, and E. Gil Clary 39 Health Risk Perceptions and Consumer Psychology Geeta Menon, Priya Raghubir, and Nidhi Agrawal 40 Toward a Psychology of Consumer Creativity James E. Burroughs, C. Page Moreau, and David Glen Mick 41 Compulsive Buying: Review and Reflection Ronald J. Faber and Thomas C. O'Guinn 42 Summing Up the State of Coping Research: Prospects and Prescriptions for Consumer Research Adam Duhachek VIII Advances in Research Methods 43 Self-Reports in Consumer Research Kimberlee Weaver and Norbert Schwarz 44 Cross-Cultural Consumer Psychology Sharon Shavitt, Angela Y. Lee, and Timothy P. Johnson 45 Measurement Error in Experimental Designs in Consumer Psychology Madhu Viswanathan Individual Differences: Tools for Theory Testing and Understanding in Consumer Psychology Research Curtis P. Haugtvedt, Kaiya Liu, and Kyeong Sam Min 46 47 Neuroeconomics: Foundational Issues and Consumer Relevance Giovanna Egidi, Howard C. Nusbaum, and John T. Cacioppo Author Index Subject Index Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000a.indd viii 1/2/2008 9:58:57 AM Preface 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 (i.e., 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. Work in Consumer Psychology integrates theories and methods from many different areas and many different approaches to research and practice. Consumer Psychology research focuses on fundamental psychological processes as well as on issues associated with the use of theoretical principles in applied contexts. Our vision for the Handbook of Consumer Psychology was to bring together distinguished researchers from a variety of academic backgrounds to provide succinct summaries of state-ofthe-art research as well as to provide a place for authors to speculate and provide suggestions for future research and practice. The chapters present theoretical frameworks that address a broad range of important well-established phenomena in addition to suggestions that will serve as a guide for future research on yet-to-be-discovered phenomena and practices. We were delighted that all of the researchers we contacted agreed that the discipline needed such a resource and that they were willing to write chapters for the Handbook. The first chapter provides a history of the field of consumer psychology from 1895 to 1960. The remaining chapters are organized around seven themes. The first theme focuses on the dominant consumer information processing paradigm that specifies how product information is perceived, comprehended, interpreted, retained, and used. The second organizing theme centers on motivation, affect, and consumer decisions. These chapters focus on variables that energize consumers to buy and to consume. The next section examines the important topics of persuasion, attitudes, and social influence. These chapters describe principles that serve as the basis for understanding and influencing change in consumer beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. The following theme, behavioral decision research, focuses on key factors that influence consumer choice. The next theme examines products, preferences, places, and people. This section covers topics such as aesthetics, branding, and retailing. The penultimate section focuses on consumer well-being, and the final section focuses on research methods. Together, these chapters provide a broad and integrative perspective on the field of consumer psychology. ix Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000b.indd ix 12/21/2007 2:13:36 PM x PREFACE While this edition of the Handbook covers many areas of research, it is by no means comprehensive or complete. Just as has been the case for the Handbook of Social Psychology, as new research, frameworks, and controversies develop, we plan on providing updates, revisions and extensions to the material in this Handbook in the coming years. We hope that the current Handbook contributions stimulate excitement and discussion about the topics and that the readers will contribute to the discipline of consumer psychology through their own teaching, research, and practice. This Handbook will be of interest to well-established academics and practitioners as well graduate students and individuals just beginning careers as academicians or practitioners. Consumer Psychology is truly an interdisciplinary field, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to provide a forum for the viewpoints of contributors to the discipline. It has been a pleasure to work with enthusiastic contributors and publishers! Curtis P. Haugtvedt Paul M. Herr Frank R. Kardes Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000b.indd x 12/21/2007 2:13:46 PM Contributors Nidhi Agrawal Department of Marketing Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois Hans Baumgartner Department of Marketing Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pennsylvania Icek Ajzen Department of Psychology University of Massachusetts, Amherst Amherst, Massachusetts James R. Bettman Department of Marketing Duke University Durham, North Carolina Joseph W. Alba Department of Marketing University of Florida Gainesville, Florida Eugene Borgida Department of Psychology University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota Chris T. Allen Department of Marketing University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio Susan M. Broniarczyk Department of Marketing University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas Eduardo B. Andrade Department of Marketing University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California James E. Burroughs McIntire School of Commerce University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia Lawrence W. Barsalou Department of Psychology Emory University Atlanta, Georgia John T. Cacioppo Department of Psychology University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois Roy F. Baumeister Department of Psychology Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida Margaret C. Campbell Department of Marketing University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado xi Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000c.indd xi 12/21/2007 2:18:01 PM xii CONTRIBUTORS Terry L. Childers Department of Marketing University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky Giovanna Egidi Department of Psychology University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois Robert B. Cialdini Department of Psychology Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona Eric M. Eisenstein Department of Marketing Cornell University Ithaca, New York E. Gil Clary Department of Psychology College of St. Catherine St. Paul, Minnesota Sevgin A. Eroglu Department of Marketing Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia Joel B. Cohen Department of Marketing University of Florida Gainesville, Florida Ronald J. Faber School of Journalism and Mass Communication University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota Catherine A. Cole Department of Marketing University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa Maria L. Cronley Department of Marketing Miami University Miami, Ohio Vassilis Dalakas Department of Marketing Northern Kentucky University Highland Heights, Kentucky Edith Davidson Department of Marketing Auburn University Auburn, Alabama Ravi Dhar Department of Marketing Yale University New Haven, Connecticut Adam Duhachek Department of Marketing Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000c.indd xii Russell H. Fazio Department of Psychology Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio Ayelet Fishbach Graduate School of Business University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois Mark Forehand Department of Marketing University of Washington Seattle, Washington Susan Fournier Department of Marketing Boston University Boston, Massachusetts Marvin E. Goldberg Department of Marketing Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pennsylvania Anthony Greenwald Department of Psychology University of Washington Seattle, Washington 12/21/2007 2:18:08 PM CONTRIBUTORS Curtis P. Haugtvedt Department of Marketing and Logistics Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio Christopher Joiner Department of Marketing George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia Geraldine R. Henderson Medill School Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois Christopher R. M. Jones Department of Psychology Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio Paul M. Herr Department of Marketing University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado Lynn R. Kahle Department of Marketing University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon James E. Heyman Department of Marketing University of St. Thomas Saint Paul, Minnesota Frank R. Kardes Department of Marketing University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio JoAndrea Hoegg Department of Marketing University of British Columbia Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Jeff A. Kasmer Kasmer Associates Los Angeles, California Christopher K. Hsee Graduate School of Business University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois J. Wesley Hutchinson Department of Marketing University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Alice M. Isen Department of Psychology Cornell University Ithaca, New York Chris Janiszewski Department of Marketing University of Florida Gainesville, Florida Timothy P. Johnson Public Adminstration Program University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, Illinois Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000c.indd xiii xiii James J. Kellaris Department of Marketing University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio Anita Kim Department of Psychology University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota Amna Kirmani Department of Marketing University of Maryland College Park, Maryland Angela Y. Lee Department of Marketing Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois Wei-Na Lee Department of Advertising University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas 12/21/2007 2:18:08 PM xiv CONTRIBUTORS Kaiya Liu School of Communication Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio David Glen Mick McIntire School of Commerce University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia Maggie Wenjing Liu Rotman School of Management University of Toronto Ontario, Toronto, Canada Christopher Miller Department of Psychology University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota Barbara Loken Department of Marketing University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota Felicia Miller Department of Marketing Marquette University Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mary Frances Luce Department of Marketing Duke University Durham, North Carolina Kyeong Sam Min Department of Marketing University of South Dakota Vermillion, South Dakota Karen A. Machleit Department of Marketing University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio C. Page Moreau Department of Marketing University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado Robert Madrigal Department of Marketing University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Howard C. Nusbaum Department of Psychology University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois Dominika Maison Department of Psychology University of Warsaw Warsaw, Poland Thomas C. O'Guinn Department of Marketing University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Antonia Mantonakis Graduate School of Business University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois John W. Payne Department of Marketing Duke University Durham, North Carolina Barbara A. Mellers Department of Marketing University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California Joann Peck Department of Marketing University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Geeta Menon Department of Marketing New York University New York, New York Andrew Perkins Jones Graduate School of Management Rice University Houston, Texas Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000c.indd xiv 12/21/2007 2:18:08 PM CONTRIBUTORS Petia K. Petrova Tuck School of Business Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire Dilip Soman Rotman School of Management University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada Michel Tuan Pham Department of Marketing Columbia University New York, New York Emily N. Stark Department of Psychology University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota Rik Pieters Department of Economics & Business Tilburg University Tilburg, the Netherlands Arthur A. Stukas School of Psychological Science La Trobe University Bundoora, Victoria, Australia Steven S. Posavac Department of Marketing Vanderbilt University Nashville, Tennessee Dianne M. Tice Department of Psychology Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida Priya Raghubir Department of Marketing University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California Claire I. Tsai Graduate School of Business University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois Deborah Roedder John Department of Marketing University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota Stijn M. J. van Osselaer Department of Marketing Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands David W. Schumann Department of Marketing University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee Patrick T. Vargas Department of Advertising University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, Illinois Norbert Schwarz Department of Marketing University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan Madhu Viswanathan Department of Marketing University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, Illinois Sharon Shavitt Department of Marketing University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, Illinois Kathleen D. Vohs Department of Marketing University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota Mark Snyder Department of Psychology University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota Kimberlee Weaver Institute for Social Research University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000c.indd xv xv 12/21/2007 2:18:08 PM xvi CONTRIBUTORS Bruce W. A. Whittlesea Department of Psychology Simon Fraser University Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada Guang-Xin Xie Department of Marketing University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Jerome D. Williams Department of Advertising University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas Carolyn Yoon Department of Marketing University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan Robert S. Wyer, Jr. Department of Marketing Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C000c.indd xvi 12/21/2007 2:18:09 PM I INTRODUCTION Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 1 1/2/2008 10:04:44 AM Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 2 1/2/2008 10:04:53 AM 1 History of Consumer Psychology David W. Schumann University of Tennessee Curtis P. Haugtvedt Ohio State University Edith Davidson Auburn University INTRODUCTION The field of consumer psychology is alive and well. A review of recent issues of the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, and other major publication outlets reveals continued high levels of interest and research activity on a widening array of basic and applied research topics. Contemporary consumer psychologists can be found in academic departments of advertising, marketing, psychology, human ecology, communications, sociology, anthropology, etc. Consumer psychologists can also be found government agencies, profit and non-profit businesses. Training for work in consumer psychology often consists of coursework and research in multiple areas (Haugtvedt, 2006). As with most areas of study, the topical focus of contemporary research projects in consumer psychology are not all new. In this chapter, we trace the work of psychologists who can be characterized as pioneers in the field of consumer psychology. Our review is selective and not exhaustive. Our intention is to illustrate how the training, creativity, and motivation of early researchers provided a significant part of the foundation of the field as we know it today and as reflected by chapters in this volume. Our review focuses on the years between 1895 and 1955. The activities in this time frame set the stage for two major events in the 1960s. One major event was the establishment of Consumer Psychology Division (Division 23) of the American Psychological Association in 1960. In the late 1950s, a conflict over ownership of the discipline took place within the American Psychological Association leading to the establishment of a society of practitioners and academics with sole interest in the psychological response of the consumer. A brief history of this conflict appears at the end of this chapter. The second major event was the publication of three widely recognized textbooks on the topic of consumer behavior. Books by Francesco Nicosia (1966), John Howard and Jagdish 3 Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 3 1/2/2008 10:04:53 AM 4 DAVID W. SCHUMANN, CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT, AND EDITH DAVIDSON Sheth (1965), and James Engel, David Kollat and Roger Blackwell (1968) each contained a comprehensive model of important constructs underlying consumer behavior. Early pioneers of consumer psychology were influenced greatly by their training. Prominent perspectives included the mentalist approach (represented by experimental psychologists such as Wundt, James, and Titchener); the behavioral or mechanistic approach (represented by Watson and Thorndike); and the dynamic psychology approach (represented by Freud and McDougall). Early applied psychologists often had to hide their interest and research in consumer psychology from some of the leaders of the parent discipline because these leaders felt that the field of psychology had to mature before applications to the business world could be espoused. As will be reviewed, much of the work of these early consumer psychologists focused on responses to advertising. This, however, led to other concerns as consumer psychologists of the time were not well accepted by the professional advertising community. The practitioners viewed the psychologists as interfering in their work and felt that the scientific approaches were irrelevant. All of this changed in the early 1900s. It is important to note that the label "consumer psychology" did not exist during this time period. Rather, work that explored the application of psychological principles to business activity was known simply as "applied psychology" and the proponents were "applied psychologists." The first contributions to what would be characterized as "consumer psychology" occurred within what was termed "scientific advertising," followed closely by the scientific study of personal selling. These early pioneers eventually established a home under the parent applied discipline of industrial psychology which became identified as Division 14 of the American Psychological Association. Use of the term "consumer psychology" did not appear until the late 1950s. THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT LEADING TO THE ADVENT OF COMSUMER PSYCHOLOGY Our 65 year historical review of the study of consumer psychology begins in the last decade of the 19th century. The study of consumer psychology emerged from specific interest in advertising and how advertising influenced people. By the latter half of the 19th century, the advertising industry was well established in the United States. Its growth as an industry paralleled the industrial growth of this country. In the United States the first organized advertising appeared in colonial times and was enhanced through the advent of urban newspapers. As the country expanded, there was an obvious need to extend the reach of advertising. From 1850 to 1900, transportation and technology brought on a "new industrial age." An explosion in manufacturing productivity led to new factories, increased volume, greater diversity in consumer products, and the need for new markets (Oliver, 1956). Advertising became the critical vehicle for achieving growth. As new markets emerged reflecting new populations centers, so did the concept and practice of national advertising with the advent of large circulation magazines like Atlantic Monthly, Colliers, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Monthly, Ladies Home Journal, McClure's, and the Saturday Evening Post (Kuna, 1976). The second half of the 1800s witnessed the advent and growth the advertising agent, the advertising copywriter, and, subsequently, the advertising agency. A new found need for professionalism resulted in numerous ad clubs, associations, trade journals, and codes of ethics (Wiebe, 1967). During this time period, two schools of advertising emerged (reflecting, but not to be confused with the dominant theoretical perspectives in economics and psychology). The first school was based on a rational view of man, the potential consumer who carefully paid attention to promotional messages before making product choices. The purpose of advertising was simply to inform the public that the item was available and what it could be used for. The public was viewed as skeptical and mostly incapable of being persuaded to act against their better judgment. This rational perspective Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 4 1/2/2008 10:04:53 AM HISTORY OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY 5 followed classic economic theory that people are self-interested and naturally desire to maximize profits while valuing their time. Not surprisingly, the emphasis was therefore on reasonable price and basic selling points. While the rational school was dominant during the 1890s and early 1900s, by 1910 it was supplanted by the non-rational perspective. Followers deemed it likely that the emotions of the public could be manipulated and that people could actually be persuaded to purchase goods. This school was much more open and receptive to a psychological approach to understanding audience response to advertising. Also contributing to the non-rational school was psychology's new emphasis on the unconscious and motivational states (e.g. Freud, 1924/1969), as well as on the mechanistic reinforcement of behavior (e.g., Watson, 1913). EARLY ROOTS TO THE STUDY OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY As is the case with most all of experimental psychology, one must go back to Germany in the latter part of the 19th century to understand the roots of what was ultimately to become consumer psychology. These roots began in the laboratory of Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) in Leipzig in 1879. Of particular relevance to the study of consumer psychology was Wundt's focus on the topic of attention and his influence on a subset of students who would go on to become, much to Wundt's displeasure, the first applied, industrial/organizational psychologists in America. Wundt (as did James and Titchener) believed that psychology needed to first prove its worth and evolve as a pure science before it could adequately respond to problems of the applied world (Kuna, 1976). During this same period of time, William James (1842–1910), trained as a philosopher, was bringing to light the new science of psychology in his laboratory at Harvard University. James promoted a mentalistic perspective for this new science. In his seminal book entitled The Principles of Psychology, he defined psychology as the "science of mental life, both of its phenomena and their conditions" and, like Wundt, professed that this young science needed to rely on introspective observation (James, 1890/1950). The focus on this mentalistic approach to attention continued with Wundt's students, Edward Bradford Titchener (1867–1927) at Cornell and Hugo Munsterberg (1863–1916) at Harvard. While Titchener felt applied psychology was premature at best, Munsterberg became the first important voice in the promotion of applied psychology. Indeed, in the 1909 edition of Psychological Bulletin, he promoted founding of the department of applied psychology as part of the Harvard Psychological Laboratory (Munsterberg, 1909). In this announcement he calls for research on "psychotechnical studies, dealing with the psychological conditions in our technical civilization in business and commerce and industry…". (p. 49). He arguably was the first true industrial/organizational psychologist. Although he did little himself to contribute to knowledge regarding consumer related psychological topics, his promotion of applied psychology in business settings, in the face of the purists, provided significant professional support for those psychologists scientifically investigating applied business topics. Other students of Wundt's who reinforced the mentalistic focus but turned their interests toward the study of advertising, included Edward Wheeler Scripture at Yale, Harlow Gale at the University of Minnesota, and Walter Dill Scott at Northwestern University. The most dominant belief of the mentalists was ideo-motor action. James (1890/1950) defined it this way: That every representation of a movement awakens in some degree the actual movement which is its object; and awakens it in a maximal degree whenever it is not kept from so doing by an antagonistic representation present simultaneously to the mind. (p. 526) Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 5 1/2/2008 10:04:53 AM 6 DAVID W. SCHUMANN, CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT, AND EDITH DAVIDSON James viewed ideo-motor action as immediate, that the representations of the movement in the mind remain for a matter of seconds (or less) (James 1890/1950). In the early part of the new century, the mentalistic approach had two challenges: behaviorism and dynamic psychology. The two pioneering advocates for behaviorism in America were Edward Lee Thorndike (1874–1949) and John Broadus Watson (1878–1958). Each attempted to discredit the mentalistic approach (as well as the functional approach) by advocating a mechanistic view of behavior. Dynamic psychology, reflecting the dynamic (changing) nature of human behavior, prescribed that man was better understood through instinctive, unconscious, biologically driven actions (Watson and Evans, 1981). The two leading proponents were Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and William McDougall (1981–1938). Freud was first formally introduced to American psychology in 1909 during his famous visit to Clark University at the invitation of G. Stanley Hall. Because behavior was in constant flux, dynamic psychologists viewed the conscious state as less important and less reliable than the unconscious state. McDougall (1912) was the first to propose that rather than being a study of consciousness, psychology was more accurately the study of behavior. He focused on the notion of innate instincts that drive men (and animals) towards goals. Both Freud and McDougall believed that tension reduction was at the root of all motivation and behavior. Their perspectives were reflected in the non-rational school of advertising emerging at the same time (Kuna, 1976). Their theories were obviously antithetical to both the mentalistic and the mechanistic perspectives. This established interesting confl icts and debates, both among "pure" psychologists as well as those psychologists seeking to focus on applied settings. THE EARLY PIONEERS: 18951930 E. W. Scripture and Harlow Gale Although Edward Wheeler Scripture (1864–1943) and Harlow Gale (1862–1945) are not considered by some to be true forefathers of consumer psychology (see Benjamin, 2004), they appear to be the first psychologists interested in consumer related issues, and specifically consumer response to advertising (Scripture, 1895; Gale, 1900). As such, their work is part of the history of consumer psychology. In perhaps the first discussion of psychology as it pertains to advertising, Scripture (1895), implicitly employing Wundt's notion of involuntary attention, denoted several psychological "laws" as they relate to advertising. For example, Scripture noted that "bigness" and the intensity of a sensation regulate attention to commercial promotion, noting the effectiveness of signage and lighting in stores and theaters. Scripture also considered feeling and expectations, proposing that "the degree of attention paid to an object depends on the intensity of the feeling aroused," and that the level of our expectations would determine the amount of attention paid to an object (Kuna 1976). Here Scripture hints at the notion of incongruity as attracting attention (e.g., putting notices upside down). Although Scripture discussed these psychological issues related to advertising and business, he left it up to others to do the scientific investigation. Harlow Gale, an instructor at the University of Minnesota, picked up Scripture's call for greater scientific investigation. Gale (1900) conducted what many argue to be the first actual scientific studies of advertising and consumer behavior. He began with a qualitative survey mailed to advertising professionals where he posed a series of open-ended questions designed to provide practitioner opinions about the best means to attract attention and induce purchasing through advertising. The survey required significant effort and resulted in only a 10% response return. Gale then followed the survey with a series of experiments, employing the tachistoscope procedure learned from Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 6 1/2/2008 10:04:54 AM HISTORY OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY 7 Wundt. The attentional issues he examined included relevant versus irrelevant materials (words and advertising "cuts" or representative images), large versus small style of type, the side of the page first attended to, exposure levels, and colors used in advertising. As he moved from one study to another, he discovered potential confounds and attempted to correct for them in subsequent studies. Perhaps of interest at the time, but not surprising today, he found that gender moderated some of his effects. It is interesting to note that Gale may have been the first to use the order-of-merit technique in determining the importance of message arguments. Gale would ask respondents to rank order brands based upon the information provided in advertisements. E. K. Strong Jr. (Strong will be discussed in depth in a subsequent section) fi rst attributed this technique to James McKeen Cattell (Strong, 1911), but later reversed himself, giving credit for the method to Gale (Strong, 1938; see also Kuna, 1979). This method was widely used by subsequent researchers in advertising and business studies (but challenged by Adams, 1915, see further discussion later in this chapter). Gale confined his work to conducting studies within his classroom and was not willing to establish relationships with members of the advertising industry. He was more interested in giving his students practical experience with psychology. Walter Dill Scott At the turn of the century, the emphasis in psychology was transitioning from a mentalistic perspective, an ideational-cognitive explanation for unconscious phenomena, to the more dynamic notions of instinct and emotion. No more is this transition evidenced than in the long career of Walter Dill Scott (1869–1955). Scott is considered by many as America's first business psychologist and the first true applied psychologist (Jacobson, 1951). Unlike Gale, Scott actively promoted his findings to business and often served as a consultant. After his educational studies with both Wundt and Titchener, he began his academic career as a professor at Northwestern University, eventually serving as its president. Aside from studying advertising, he also published in the areas of salesmanship and classification of military personnel. Scott was the first to actively promote the psychological study of advertising. He was very vocal in a series of 12 columns that appeared in Mahin's Magazine and challenged the thinking of those who rejected a scientific approach, then represented in Printer's Ink (Kuna, 1976, Watson and Evans, 1981). His first book, The Theory of Advertising (1903), was a compilation of those articles, and was written from a mentalist perspective, purporting that creating involuntary attention was the motive for advertising. This book, like his second, was fi lled mostly with advice for practitioners, although it did cite a few select studies. Like Scripture, Scott listed a number of "laws" and principles. These reflected numerous psychological dimensions and elements inherent in advertising as described in his chapters: apperception/attention, counter influences on attention, intensity of sensation, context effects, comprehension, repetition and rehearsal, mental imagery, laws of association, suggestion, perceptional illusions, and intensity of feeling (Scott, 1903). By 1905 Scott was deep into solving applied problems for business through various research methods. He was also authoring articles for other magazines including the Atlantic Monthly, Business World, and Advertising World (Kuna, 1976). John Mahin asked Scott for more articles and Scott obliged with 21 more columns. This second set of articles formed his second and most famous book. The Psychology of Advertising (1908), while still maintaining a mentalist perspective, combined new irrational aspects of consumer behavior to include emotion and instinct, with the old focus on attention and suggestion. More studies were included that incorporated new methods: naturalistic observation, longitudinal study, order-of- Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 7 1/2/2008 10:04:54 AM 8 DAVID W. SCHUMANN, CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT, AND EDITH DAVIDSON merit, and memory value of advertising. His thoughts on suggestion in basic psychology became invited articles in the Psychological Bulletin (1910–1916). Scott believed that humans were susceptible to suggestion and that the force of suggestion could lead to action. Effective advertising, according to Scott, should suggest a course of action in a manner that ruled out other contrary actions. There are many examples of Scott's influence on advertising practitioners including his advice on the association of the advertising with the product (laws included repetition, recency, and vividness), direct commands embedded in advertising, and suggestion as how advertising works with couponing (Scott, 1916). He provided testimony from companies as to the success of his propositions. Of special note is the fact that Scott never published his studies in academic journals nor presented this work at academic conferences, even though he served as APA president. Daniel Starch One could say that Daniel Starch (1883–1979) followed in the footsteps of Walter Dill Scott, carrying on the mentalist tradition. Like Scott, Starch's applied research never appeared in an academic journal. During his time in academia, he chose to reinforce his reputation as an experimental psychologist, publishing on traditional topics including a series of review articles for Psychological Bulletin (1911–1916) on the topic of auditory space. Yet Starch differed from Scott in that he attempted to bring an objective scientific view to all of his work. Rather than offering subjective opinions about the psychology of advertising, all of his contentions appear to be empirically supported. Starch reinforced the mentalist approach in his focus on attention, suggestion, and instinct, but he extended it by introducing the concept of consumer "interest," which he later labeled "appeals" (e.g., Starch, 1923). Starch spent most of his relatively short academic life at the University of Wisconsin (1908–1919) and at Harvard (1920–1926). His first book titled Principles of Advertising (1910) consisted of two parts: attracting attention and securing action. While primarily focusing on the attention oriented topics of Scott, Starch did add the notion of primacy and recency of advertisements as attracting more attention in the mind of the consumer. While both Scott and Hollingworth mentioned the importance of optimal length of line in print advertising (as noted in Tinker & Paterson, 1928), Starch was the first to actually conduct studies on this important question (Starch, 1924, 1923). Starch's second book was published in 1914. This book addressed not only the psychology of advertising, but also other non-psychological topics like advertising strategy and ethics. The book was again organized around attention and securing response. Several laws of attention were presented to include the laws of intensity, counter-attraction, and contrast. In securing a response, Starch focused on argumentation and suggestion. It was under the latter that Starch introduced the strategy of stimulating consumer interest. Interest was an extension of attention, a kind of involuntary prolonged attention to an object. It was assumed that a reader of an ad would be more likely to attend and respond if the stimuli presented in it reflected the reader's interests. He suggested that illustrations could be used to stimulate interests. Th is book became a standard for the advertising practitioner. It is important to note that for every topic, Starch went to significant lengths to support his contentions with empirical evidence from his own studies or the work of other psychologists or practitioners. In 1924 while still at Harvard, Starch became heavily involved in supervising research for the American Association of Advertising Agencies. In 1932 Starch left academia altogether and started Daniel Starch & Staff, a marketing research company providing subscribing companies with data on the effectiveness of their ads. Starch became well known for his methodological innovations, including the Starch Recognition Procedure in 1922, which measured consumer reading habits, Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 8 1/2/2008 10:04:55 AM HISTORY OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY 9 and the Buyometer in 1948, which isolated the influence of magazine advertising on sales (Kuna, 1976). He retired in 1968 at the age of 85. BEHAVIORISM IN ADVERTISING RESEARCH While the mentalistic approach was prevalent at the turn of the century, it was not without challenges. One of those challenges came from the faculty at Columbia University. James McKeen Cattell (1860–1944) had established multiple university laboratories for the study of psychology after returning from the tutelage of Wundt in Leipzig. He welcomed new faculty and students to Columbia in the early 1900s, especially those who had interests in applied psychology. Indeed, over time he recruited a remarkable group of faculty to include Robert Sessions Woodworth (1869–1962), Edward Lee Thorndike (1874–1949), Harry Levi Hollingworth (1880–1956), Edward Kellogg Strong Jr. (1884–1963), and Albert T. Poffenberger (1885–1977). Thorndike (1911) had introduced laws of effect (i.e., the role of "satisfiers" and "annoyers" as reinforcing and inhibiting behavior) and exercise (i.e., connection of a response to a situation). In applying these laws to advertising, Hollingworth felt that, rather than focusing on whether an ad attracted someone's attention, the true measure of the effectiveness of an ad is ultimately reflected with the actual purchase behavior. Hollingworth held that research conducted by advertisers was by its very nature, flawed, as it didn't control for numerous extraneous variables (seasonal sales, competitor actions, amount of media, etc.). Hollingworth had advertisers send him ads to test in his lab. Interestingly, his lab tests were highly correlated with the actual sales figures related to each ad. In several studies, Hollingworth (e.g., 1911) examined the same variables considered by Gale and Scott, (e.g., images, wording, size, color, position, and type style) but considered the variance of the response rather than introspection. As his studies progressed, he considered individual differences such as gender and socioeconomic differences. In some cases his results contradicted the results of Gale and Scott. Hollingworth even constructed a panel of New York City residents, the fi rst systematic effort to track consumption behavior (Kuna, 1976). In 1913, Advertising and Selling: Principles of Appeal and Responses was published. Building on his earlier work but appearing to move away from behaviorism, his next book on the topic, Advertising: Its Principles and Practice (1915) captured four principle functions of advertising: securing attention, holding attention, establishing associations, and influencing conduct by making associations dynamic. Hollingworth's objectivity in his empirical methods clearly influenced other younger applied psychologists. One of these was Edward K. Strong Jr. Thorndike's (1913) classic paper rejected ideo-motor action and promoted new laws of habit, effect, and exercise, Watson released his treatise on behaviorism (1913), and Hollingworth's (1913) book reflected aspects of this new wave of thought. Cattell had earlier challenged the claim that introspection was the most valid methodology for the study of psychology. His focus was on reducing qualitative responses into quantitative data. As an example, his version of the order-of-merit method was strictly objective, requiring subjects to order stimuli on some criterion (Kuna, 1976; 1979). Strong and Hollingworth took a more "molar" view of behaviorism, with a focus on complex stimuli as opposed to discrete stimuli. Rather than being preoccupied with people's thoughts, they measured what they felt were surrogates for behavioral response to advertising stimuli. They employed the order-of-merit method as well as a refined recognition test that Strong (1914) developed in a reaction to the traditional mentalist recall measures. Strong believed that recognition was the best surrogate for actual purchase behavior and tested the influence of several presentation variables to include size and frequency, and repetition intervals (e.g., Strong, 1912, 1913, 1914). Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 9 1/2/2008 10:04:55 AM 10 DAVID W. SCHUMANN, CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT, AND EDITH DAVIDSON One other behaviorist from this time period is worth considerable note. It is important to reflect on the contribution to consumer psychology of John Broadus Watson. His treatise on behaviorism in 1913 earned him great acclaim as a psychologist, as he informed the world that efforts based on psychology principles should lead to greater control and prediction of behavior. Watson's studies provided demonstrations of the influence of association and conditioning on behavioral responses (e.g., Watson and Raynor, 1920). He loudly and passionately disclaimed any reason for a mentalist perspective. He became the chair of the psychology department at Johns Hopkins University, editor of the Psychological Review, and served as a president of the American Psychological Association in 1915. However, a scandal led to his termination and exit from academic life, and a transition into a career in advertising. Stanley Resor, the "dean of American advertising," hired Watson to work for him at J. Walter Thompson in New York. Watson quickly found leverage for success in his psychological expertise. The business world embraced him and his leadership and philosophy resulted in numerous successful advertising campaigns. Resor showcased Watson in such a way that it legitimized the role of psychologists working in advertising. ADVANCING AND APPLYING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT To understand how dynamicism eventually evolved from mentalistic and behavioralistic approaches, one needs to consider the influence that Freud had at the time. His influence was subtle. Although Gale, Scott, and Starch all brought forth such notions of the unconscious as instincts, emotions, and interests, they continued to offer explanations consistent with a mentalistic outlook. Thorndike (1911) explained instinct and motivation as an inherited response tendency, adhering to a behavioral explanation where the catalyst for the response was a stimulus, not a condition of the being. It was McDougall who took direct aim in differentiating his purposive psychology from Watsonian behavioral psychology as reflected in the following passage: The two principal alternative routes are (1) that of mechanistic science, which interprets all its processes as mechanical sequences of cause and effect, and (2) that of the sciences of mind, for which purposive striving is a fundamental category, which regard the process of purposive striving as radically different form mechanical sequence. (1923, p. vii) Enter Robert S. Woodworth, a colleague of Thorndike and Hollingworth at Columbia. Woodworth is credited with putting the organism in the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model and thus finding a home for the contribution of motivation and instinct to human behavior. In his book Dynamic Psychology (1918), he attempted to bring together (and even expand) the work of Freud and McDougall with mainstream psychology. It is important to note that the term "psychodynamic" as often describes Freud and his adherents' theories, is not viewed as the same as "dynamic psychology." While both referred to notions of the unconscious mind, the former term typically includes identification of certain emotional conflicts and the resolution of these conflicts with specific defense mechanisms. Dynamic psychology was focused upon the influence of basic motivational drives on behavior. McDougall spoke of "drives" as strong and persistent stimulation, as initiating goal-directed actions through selective excitation of response mechanisms related to particular goals (e.g., consumption behaviors). Hollingworth and Strong, as colleagues of Woodworth, were naturally exposed to his thinking and his ideas regarding drives and organism responses, even his early ideas on psychoanalysis. Indeed, Hollingworth earlier had occasion to meet Jung and be exposed to Freud's ideas. Although Hollingworth and Strong were reticent to adopt the dynamic approach, Hollingworth challenged business leaders to better understand the role of motives, interests, and instincts (Kuna, Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 10 1/2/2008 10:04:55 AM HISTORY OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY 11 1976). Finally, in Hollingworth's multiple-authored book, Advertising: Its Principles and Practice (Tipper, Hollingworth, Hotchkiss, & Parsons, 1915), he provided a listing of a hierarchy of human needs (e.g., comfort, play, sociability, competition, shyness, revenge, and pride) as representative of the individual, not a specific stimulus. He also revised his functions of advertising from his previous book to now include tabulation of the fundamental needs of men and women, analysis of the satisfying power of the commodity in terms of the consumer's needs, establishing the association between need and commodity, and making the association dynamic. This was a remarkable transference. Strong too experienced this transference and by 1925 his thinking culminated in his book, The Psychology of Selling and Advertising. While Strong provided leadership in the adoption of the dynamic approach to applied psychology, his eventual fame came from a different applied focus. Although he continued to conduct research in advertising, he also served on the committee on Classification of Personnel during World War I. In 1923, he published the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) which became the most widely used career interest inventory in publication, a revision of which is still employed today in helping individuals understand their natural work propensities. The influence of the work of Hollingworth and Strong on other psychologists was considerable. Another Columbia colleague, Joseph V. Breitwieser, made extensive reference to the work of both Hollingworth and Strong in his textbook Psychological Advertising (1915). Their work to adopt the order-of-merit method resulted in subsequent usage by many investigators. By 1923, Starch had conducted at least 34 studies using the method. Henry Foster Adams and Dexter Kitson In his book entitled Advertising and Its Mental Laws (1916a), Adams appears to be carrying on the mentalist tradition by specifically citing the work of those we've previously discussed: Gale, Scott, Hollingworth, Strong, and Starch. However, Adams himself conducted numerous empirical studies. Adams believed in testing factors in isolation applying a "mathematical exactness" in examining various elements found in advertising. Although he respected their contributions, Adams was especially critical of Hollingworth and Strong's use of the order-of-merit method (Adams, 1915). In Advertising and Mental Laws he repeats his criticism but also devotes one chapter on the use of statistical tools to examine response to advertising (correlation and variance), and another on experimentation in advertising. One important contribution from Adams' book was his ordering of certain advertising stimulus factors, as he perceived them related to key response variables: attention, association, memory, perception, and aesthetics. Adams also considered the effectiveness of different media. He concluded the book with chapters on fusion (a nod to behaviorism) and action. The book, for the most part, was still a tribute to the mentalistic approach. His concluding chapter dealt with the empirical findings related to gender differences. He noted that women paid attention more to size, personal appeals and observed events while men attended more to successive presentations, pictures, industrial-job related, and recommendations of authorities. Of peculiar interest, he found that memory tests contradicted the attention effects. For example, women had better memory with successive presentations and pictures, while men had better memory based on size of ad and for trade names. The comprehensive books by Adams and Starch, each promoting the importance of the empirical results to date, set the tone for much work to follow. In a short period of time following these books, numerous studies were reported. For example, Adams (1916b), still maintaining the mentalist approach, went on to study the relative memory for duplication and variation, and sizes of ads (Adams 1917), as well as the effect of order of presentation (Adams, 1920). Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 11 1/2/2008 10:04:56 AM 12 DAVID W. SCHUMANN, CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT, AND EDITH DAVIDSON Henry Dexter Kitson helped set the stage for this focus on other aspects of the consumer in his book titled The Mind of the Buyer, published in 1921. His first chapter examines the "stream of thought" in a sale, prescribing six stages in a sale: attention, interest, desire, confidence, decision and action, and satisfaction. The book clearly takes an eclectic approach, citing researchers and theorists from all three schools of psychology: mentalist, behaviorist, and dynamic. Kitson contributed to the study of advertising as well, especially with his studies regarding illustrations within advertising (Kitson, 1921), and more specifically the use of color (Kitson, 1922a), various art forms (Kitson, 1922b), package illustrations (Kitson & Campbell, 1924), and illustrations containing people (Kitson & Allen, 1925). Indeed, in 1921, Kitson presented his "historical method of investigating problems in advertising." This appears to be the first documented use of content analysis methodology in advertising studies. In 1925, Kitson and Allen reported a trend in the usage of illustrations containing people in advertising, after analyzing 20 years of ads from Saturday Evening Post, Literary Digest, and Women's Home Companion. This continued focus on illustration is one of the first examples of programmatic research in consumer psychology. Albert T. Poffenberger Albert T. Poffenberger (1885–1977) studied at Columbia under Cattell and Woodworth. The influence of these associations are reflected in his lifelong interest in physiological psychology and objective response. His dissertation was titled Reaction Time to Retinal Stimulation (Wenzel, 1979). He never lost this interest and continued in this vane through much of his career. However, his strongest interest was in the area of applied psychology (see 1921 edition of American Men in Science). After conducting a number of studies, he published the book entitled Psychology in Advertising in 1925. This imposing tome is a remarkable recapitulation of all the conceptual and empirical work up to that time. Aside from a through review of traditional subjects like memory and attention, and some focus on methodology, statistics, measurement, and appeal, Poffenberger provided new reviews in comprehension, "feeling tone," attitude, human desires, and individual and group differences, among others. Poffenberger followed this book with Applied Psychology: Its Principles and Methods (1927, 1932). Here he defined applied psychology as "every situation in which human behavior is involved and where economy of human energy is of practical importance." In the section on Advertising and Selling, he explores the desires, habits, and logic of the consumer, and reviews the state of psychology as it has been applied to advertising and selling strategies to date. Poffenberger contributed heavily to the service of the discipline culminating in his election to the presidency of the APA in 1934. OTHER CONTRIBUTORS DURING THIS TIME PERIOD Others, notably Heller and Brown (1916) in their study on memory for street-car signage, Laslett (1918) in a study of relevance of illustrations, Hotchkiss and Franken (1920) in their study of attention factors, and Turner (1922) in his examination of testimonials used in advertising, continued the mentalist tradition. However, a number of applied researchers were beginning to employ more objective measures reflecting a clear leaning toward the behavioral approach. Poffenberger was arguably the most prolific examining face types (Poffenberger & Franken, 1923), return of coupon resulting from advertising (Poffenberger, 1923a), belief consistency with advertisement (1923b) and the value of lines used in advertising (Poffenberger & Barrows, 1924). In what was to become a significant subject of study, as we shall see in the next section of this chapter, Nixon (1924, 1926) examined attention and interest in advertising and concluded that dif- Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 12 1/2/2008 10:04:56 AM HISTORY OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY 13 ferences in attention between color ads and black and white ads lasted only briefly. He voiced concern over he reliability of differences in memory tests between the two types of ads, and designed and employed a method whereby researchers could observe where visual attention was focused. Up to this point, researchers from Gale forward suggested that more attention would be paid to relevant messages about products as opposed to irrelevant messages. Likewise Laslett (1918) found that relevant illustrations led to better recall. However, using Nixon's method of "visual fi xation," irrelevant pictures paired with products garnered more attention than did relevant pictures. As was noted above (and will be discussed in depth below), at this time psychologists began to consider other aspects of consumer behavior. For example, Geissler (1917) pointed out that consumers needed to be approached in more ways than just advertising and began to study processing that occurred in consideration of purchase. Heller (1919) studied the impact of package labels on purchasing, while Kitson (1923) authored a conceptual article examining the consumer's role in market strategy. Laird (1923) compared demographic and socioeconomic differences in the selection of toothpaste, and Hotchkiss and Franken (1923) considered the importance of brand familiarity. James McKeen Cattell was eventually dismissed from Columbia because of his opposition to the draft. In 1921 he, along with Columbia colleagues Woodworth and Thorndike, formed the The Psychological Corporation in New York. They began by developing psychological tests and related materials that could be used in education, business, and government. In the following years, the company hired academics to run sponsored studies. As we shall see, a number of these research studies were eventually published in academic journals. It is interesting to note that through mergers and acquisitions, the corporate entity evolved and still exists today although under a different name (Harcourt Assessment). THE POSTDEPRESSION ERA THROUGH WORLD WAR II: 19351945 The end of the Depression triggered significant research by economists studying product demand and usage. The Journal of Marketing, initiated in 1935, devoted a significant amount of journal space to articles authored by individuals trained in economics and measuring product demand and use. During this same period, applied psychologists were attempting to better understand consumer response to commercial product promotion. The decade following the depression was marked by the advent of a new media form—radio—that quickly found significant application for commercial advertising. As we shall address next in this section, there were numerous areas of consumer research that appeared to be focused on print and radio effectiveness (including comparative effectiveness); salesperson effectiveness; consumer preference, consumer motivation, and concern over research methods. We shall take each in turn and discuss how these applied psychologists addressed these various consumer related interests and issues. It is interesting to note that unlike the prolific work from key pioneers during the previous time period, this time period is marked with contributions from authors who published but a few articles reflecting consumer psychological topics. However, this work, in bulk, does demonstrate a significant level of progression forward in the discipline. FOCUS ON MEDIA DIFFERENCES Several applied psychologists approached the issue of comparing the effectiveness of visual versus spoken ads by mimicking the differences between print, posters, and radio media. This effort was initially reflected in a significant number of memory studies. Burtt and Dobell (1925) reported a Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 13 1/2/2008 10:04:56 AM 14 DAVID W. SCHUMANN, CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT, AND EDITH DAVIDSON series of studies that sought to replicate Ebbinghaus' (1885) notion of a forgetting curve, one that begins with a sharp decline flattening out over time. These researchers provided respondents with a long paired list of products and fictional brand names, two studies projected onto a screen, (over different time frames) and one provided by audio means. The results of all three studies reinforced the same type of forgetting curve, but the initial audio memory test yielded better results in both recall and recognition than did the projected pairs on a screen. Noting that advertising posters seen on streets are also an important type of advertising, Brutt and Crockett (1928) studied memory for different types of posters. Their results reflected significant primacy and recency effects and that distance from the viewer makes a difference in memory for the add (reflecting the best visual angle). Stanton (1934) and Dewick (1935) conducted similar experiments where they provided a series of print advertisements and spoken advertisements in a counterbalanced study using common products. The brand names were mentioned three times in the script which lasted about 35 seconds. They then recorded recall scores for the product class and the brand name, employing both immediate and delayed recall tests. The findings of both studies revealed that there were no consistent differences upon immediate recall. After 5 to 7 days, there was the beginning of a favored auditory response, and in the Stanton study significant differences favoring auditory response were found for 21-day recall. In the Dewick study, recall of "ideas" mentioned in the advertisements were elicited, and while both visual and auditory memory decayed after 6 days, the visual decay in memory was significantly greater than the auditory. In hindsight, it would be interesting to know, in the delayed conditions, if individuals during their everyday normal experience, heard or read more ads for the products used in the study. If the former, that might explain the greater recall scores for auditory messages due to greater exposure to the brand name, product class, and advertising message. It is interesting to note that in the early 1930s William Stanton, while a PhD student at Ohio State, developed a forerunner of the radio and television rating audimeters, later developed for A.C. Nielsen by MIT. Stanton went on to become an executive with Columbia Broadcasting Company and an important pioneer in subsequent radio audience studies (Maloney, 1987, as cited in Kassarjian, 1994). In perhaps what was a precursor to television and was reflected in the speaking movies of the time, Elliot (1936, 1937a, 1937b, 1937c) reviewed the literature on memory of visual and auditory stimuli dating back to Ebbinghaus and developed a series of studies comparing visual, auditory, and the combination of visual and auditory (termed "television" in one of his studies). In all cases, he found an advantage for the combination of the two as regards memory for an advertising message as well as a trade name. His studies also revealed certain gender effects but these effects were somewhat inconsistent across studies. In general, the difference of effectiveness of television over other modes was stronger for women than men. A number of studies attempted to understand people's attitudes toward radio advertising in general (Cantril & Allport, 1935; Kornhauser & Lazarsfeld 1937; Sayre, 1939). Cantril and Allport, and Kornhauser and Lazarsfeld employed two measures (estimated time that commercials were heard, and amount of money willing to pay annually to remove advertisements) that they deemed reflective of possible positive or negative attitudes towards radio advertising. However, employing a Likert scale, Sayre found no correlation between a direct measure of attitude and the other two scales. William Stanton, mentioned above, conducted radio studies under the guidance of Cantril and Allport at Princeton. The three were instrumental in bringing Paul Lazersfeld to the United States. Lazersfeld, a mathematics PhD from the University of Vienna, had established a radio research organization in Europe and conducted the first major study on radio audience listening. Lazersfeld soon left Princeton and founded what was to become the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University. Lazersfeld, in turn, was instrumental in bringing his Viennese students, Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 14 1/2/2008 10:04:56 AM HISTORY OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY 15 Ernest Dichter and Herta Herzog to the U.S. Dichter's contribution to consumer psychology will be discussed in a subsequent section (Maloney, 1987 as cited by Kassarjian, 1994). Guest and Brown (1939) tested recall for radio advertising based on a number of variable differences. In a controlled study employing both ads and music programming for an hour, they found no differences for temporal position, whole versus part methods of presentation, nor for repetition. They did find an inverse relationship between recall and amount of material, less material presented led to better recall. In all cases, the average number of thought passages retained was small. Wolfe (1941) found a high correlation, .78, between women who could associate a product with a program. These strong results for early radio recall are intuitive given that each program was typically sponsored by only one product. Thus the repetition of the program with one sponsor likely led to a high level of rehearsal and retention. Fay and Middleton (1941) examined the gender of commercial announcers and found no differences in gender preference for announcers, but found that women tended to have a higher preference for announcers across both male and female products, then did males. FOCUS ON MECHANICAL FEATURES OF PRINT AND POSTER ADVERTISEMENTS Several important mechanical factors in print advertising were considered during this time period as they influenced reader response. The impact of color in advertising took center stage in the early 1930s along with an examination of positioning, type style, and amount of copy. In the latter half of the 1920s and early 1930s, several studies pertaining to color, size and position in print advertising appeared. Nixon (1926, 1927) reported the first of several perceptual studies. These two studies compared color and black and white ads, using a measure of attention to the ad. He found no significant differences between color and black and white ads but did find that females tended to pay more attention to the ads than did males. Sumner (1932) studied the influence of color on legibility (blue print on a gray or white background scored highest however there were only 5 subjects. Dorcus (1932) examined people's habitual word associations with colors as they might be a factor in advertising (for a comprehensive review of studies on response to color going back 30 years, see Dorcus 1926). As noted in a 1932 edition of Printer's Ink, Starch, in an analysis of 5 million inquiries, studied 4 million returns from 3,349 advertisements. He found that "color ads brought 53% more returns per 100,000 than did black and white advertisements of similar size and character" (p. 65). While still considering the effects of color, researchers also began to consider size and placement issues. In 1930, Cutler reported no recall differences for the same ad that appeared in magazines of different size. Ferguson (1934) supported Starch's findings by comparing position of magazine advertisements in the Saturday Evening Post (e.g., inside front cover, page opposite the table of contents, outside back cover), and found some differences for position, but also found that color typically out-performed black and white ads. Ferguson made an additional interesting contribution by noting potential differences in target readership: "those who buy SEP in order to read the articles and stories, 2) those who buy SEP for humor, and 3) those who buy SEP to mainly look at the ads." Ferguson (1934, 1935) concluded that contrary to belief, his findings revealed no relationship between the size of an advertisement and its attention value, no preferred positions, and no preference for right versus left hand pages, nor position on the page. Lucas (1937) employed a more sophisticated study as a follow up to Ferguson and found contradictory results. Specifically he found that the differential changes for the advertising by placement and size correlated strongly with recall and recognition, that women respond better to color than men, and that right- and lefthand page locations are of equal value for full-page ads, but right-hand position is better recalled Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 15 1/2/2008 10:04:57 AM 16 DAVID W. SCHUMANN, CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT, AND EDITH DAVIDSON for smaller ads. Guilford and Ewart (1940) examined the difference in reaction time resulting from the potential distraction of print ads that appeared in color or black and white. Listening and responding to the noise of the timer motor which was about the same decibel as the projector of the ads, they found that both types of ads served as significant distractors, but did not differ in reaction time. McNamara (1941) voiced the criticisms regarding previous attention and memory studies in the lab (see subsection on methodology below for these criticisms), and reported a study employing eye movement photography. He found no differences in attention to the prime positions (inside front, back, etc.), nor for right- versus left-hand pages, but did find differences favoring two-column ads found on the outside left page and ads that were found in the upper corners. The continued investigation into typeface response was another mechanical feature of the early 1930's. In 1933, Davis and Smith, building on the earlier work of Poffenberger and Barrows (1924), considered emotional response to different forms of typeface. Respondents were asked to match typefaces with advertised products as well as emotions, revealing some differences based on such typeface characteristics as size, condensation, boldness, use of italics, etc. In a similar study, Schiller (1935) replicated the earlier study of Poffenberger and Franken (1923) examining the effectiveness of certain types of typefaces as representing certain products. However, in her study she also considered color of the typefaces. In a follow up to Kitson's earlier content analysis on the use of illustrations, Klapp (1941) found that not only did advertisements without pictures decrease significantly over 4 decades (1900– 1940), as did ads with pictures but not including people, but that ads with people, especially reflecting relevancy with the product, increased dramatically (1900—16.2%; 1915—34.7%; 1930—49%; 1940—67.1%). One popular question of advertising effectiveness that still evokes research today is the issue of relative effectiveness of negative versus positive message appeals. Investigation of this question can be traced back to the historical content analysis work of Harry Kitson (reported in Lucas & Benson, 1929a). Kitson conclusion as well as Scott's was that in general, it was best to use positive appeals. Kitson based his opinion on the usage rate differences found in his content analysis favoring positive appeals. However, it is interesting to note that some practitioners of the day disagreed (Lucas & Benson, 1929b). Lucas and Benson undertook a program of research on this topic with a series of experiments. Reinforcing the practitioner opinion, across varied message appeals (negative versus positive ) reflecting ads for several different product classes, these researchers found no differences in the amount of coupons returned based on the valance of appeal type (Lucas & Benson, 1929b), and no differences in recall among adults (Lucas & Benson, 1930a). However, they did fi nd that among children, positive ads were recalled better than negative ads, especially among boys. They noted that as children age, differences between appeals and gender disappear. Lucas and Benson (1930b) also published Psychology for Advertisers, an extensive book that summarized advertising effectiveness research to date, and focused on the mechanics of print appeals and how these appeals could facilitate the effort of salespeople. Focus on the amount and proximity of ads: In 1935, Fred McKinney designed a study to examine "retroactive inhibition." In earlier basic psychology studies, numerous results reflected "retroactive inhibition, distraction due to similar material that appears immediately subsequent to the targeted stimulus presentation. In his first study to apply retroactive inhibition to advertising, McKinney sought to discern how memory for parts of an ad (i.e., product name, slogan, headline, reading and picture content), are susceptible to subsequent reviewing of ads. McKinney found slight retroactive inhibition with slogans being the most affected and name of product the least affected. He does draw the obvious conclusion that placement of ads in relative isolation is the most Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 16 1/2/2008 10:04:57 AM HISTORY OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY 17 effective for memory of the ad. Blankenship and Whitely (1941) focused on the effects of proactive inhibition to memory by providing both normal and similar preceding stimulus ads (containing a list of products and associated prices and comparing them to conditions containing a similar list of nonsense names and associated numbers. After subjects were asked to recall the inhibitory stimulus lists, they were then exposed to a regular ad with listed products and associated prices, and recall scores were taken. The results consistently demonstrated a proactive inhibition effect on memory. In a similar application, McNamara and Tiffen (1941), using the Purdue Eye Camera, found that ads adjacent to cartoons inhibited the time spent on the advertising. Franzen (1940), in perhaps the first look at fatigue resulting from clutter, examined ad visibility reported in interviews comparing two magazines, one with 33% more advertising than the other. More fatigue was clearly present in the interview assessing memory for ads in the larger magazine. FOCUS ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SALESPEOPLE Salesperson effectiveness was viewed strictly as a "personnel" issue in the early part of the 20th century. Many applied psychologists developed theories as to what comprised a good salesperson (e.g., Link, 1932, 1938; Nixon, 1931, 1942; Snow, 1926; 1929). Indeed, Nixon's bibliography in his second edition of his Principles of Selling (1942) lists over a hundred books on the topic. Applied industrial psychologists had reported numerous studies correlating traits, interests, intelligence, and demographic factors with objective measures of performance like total sales (e.g., Freyd, 1922; Craig, 1933; Dodge 1938a, 1938b). An example of this type of study was conducted by the Psychological Corporation and reported by Schultz (1934). Schultz described results from a study in which sale personnel were measured on the traits of ascendance/submission (measured by Beckman's revision of the Allport Ascendance-Submission Test), and introversion/extroversion (measured by the Root Introversion-Extroversion Test). Intelligence, interests, and general demographic factors were also assessed. Level of ascendance and extroversion correlated with performance. Intelligence screened out "poor" performance but was not related to best or average performance. Age, education, experience, race, and length of service did not reveal any appreciable differences. Interestingly, the employment of E. K. Strong's Vocational Interest survey generated mixed performance results, identifying individuals that were among the best as well as the poorest performers. In 1937, McKinney developed a strategy for rating sales messages. Developing two scripts of the sales "interview" partialed into message segments, student evaluators rated each segment as to their perceived value on a 10-point scale from "poor" to "excellent". Mitchell and Burtt (1938) extended McKinney's work by comparing four pairs of contrasting appeals: 1) demonstration versus oral elaboration; 2) presentation of facts versus short appeals; 3) a "breezy" versus a dignified approach; and 4) a domineering versus a friendly approach. Results favored the demonstration, presentation of facts, and a friendly approach. There was no difference between "breezy" and dignified approaches. Arthur Dodge (1938a, 1938b) conducted studies testing multiple facets of personality against salesperson performance. Compared to poor salespeople, better salespeople tended to report themselves as less moody, more self-sufficient and self-confident, more aggressive and more willing to assume responsibility, less self-conscious, more social, less desirous of talking about self, less resentful of criticism or discipline, and more radical and unconventional. Hampton (1940) found similar results for small grocer retailers. While these studies suggested these personality variables reflected tendencies of salespeople, none boasted what would be termed "strong" differences. Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 17 1/2/2008 10:04:57 AM 18 DAVID W. SCHUMANN, CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT, AND EDITH DAVIDSON FOCUS ON RESEARCH METHODS Although by the mid 1920s there existed several methods in the study of response to advertising, two appeared to be most popular: recall and tests of association (recognition). Indeed, Poffenberger stated "as there are numerous brands of the commonly used articles that really differ little in quality, it is largely a matter of obeying the laws of recall that determines which particular brand shall be bought" (quoted in Lucas & Benson, 1930a, p. 219). Hotchkiss and Franken (1927), in their book entitled The Measurement of Advertising Effects, used tests of association and usage to demonstrate the public's familiarity with different brands of commodities. This work replicated the earlier work of Donovan (1924) by also examining the association of commodities with brands, and the subsequent work of Asher (1928) that revealed a correlation between newspaper advertising expenditures and recall of certain types of retail stores (e.g., drug stores, ladies' stores, real estate companies, automobile agencies) but not other stores (shoe stores, restaurants, music stores, jewelry stores). One of the benefits to practitioners derived from this method is the ability to focus on competitor influences. Significant criticism of research methods arose during this period. Using a method of triple associates (as reported by Link, 1934), experiments were conducted by the Psychological Corporation employing 14,000 consumers and conducted by 60 examiners. Hathaway and Welch (1934) questioned the amount of guessing that occurred during this procedure. Link (1932 article cited in McNamara 1941) questioned whether advertisements tested under artificial conditions or with subjects who were arguably not the target of the product promotion provided a valid test. Earlier Poffenberger (1925) questioned whether studies were holding other factors constant like form of layout, quality, and such. Lucas (1937) questioned the inability to control for influence of past ads in present copy testing, suggesting that it was likely impossible to rule out the cumulative effects of similar copy. Gaudet & Zients (1932) suggested that content analyses conducted at certain intervals could not rule out cycling effects that might not be detected with a linear increase. During this time period, treatises began to appear on the types and combinations of questions to ask to ascertain psychological insights into marketing related behaviors (i.e., purchase rationale, advertising effectiveness, post-purchase evaluation) (Lazarsfeld 1934; Kornhauser & Lazarsfeld, 1935). Several individuals suggested improved methods for understanding the impact of radio advertising (Likert, 1936; Gaskill & Holcomb, 1936). With these criticisms came other new methods of inquiry. Ruckmick (1939) found that respondents' arousal levels as a reflection of varied advertising, could be measured through detecting sweat gland activity. He found that 3-second exposures to print ads across a repeated series, revealed a relatively consistent pattern. Karslake (1940) presented a study employing a new technique called the Purdue Eye Camera. He compared results employing objective attention measures from the camera against reported results in surveys and found minimal correlation, contending that attention scores resulting from a camera are more accurate than self-reported attention scores. D. B. Lucas (1940) voiced concern regarding the validity of examining recognition of specific advertisements apart from the context in which the advertising appears. Indeed, he noted the potential for false recognition rates based on a person's familiarity with other similar ads for the same product. Teaching at New York University, Lucas developed a continuing study of magazine readership of four weekly magazines and created a corrected recognition formula that accounted for false recognition scores. His method was based on exposing respondents to pre- and post-publication exposure advertising. As noted in this chapter, Lucas published multiple studies over the course of 2 decades and his research contributed significantly to knowledge of advertising response at that time. He became the first technical director for the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 18 1/2/2008 10:04:58 AM HISTORY OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY 19 Welch (1941) recommended that ad copy testing employ four known scales as a system of measurement rather than rely on any one scale. These four measures consisted of brand familiarity (Geissler 1917; Hotchkiss & Franken 1923, 1927), brand preference (Link 1932; Laird cited in Poffenberger 1932; Market Research Corporation of America 1935), theme familiarity (from Link's triple associates test (Link 1932, 1934), and theme credence (Link 1932; Market Research Corporation of America, 1937). In 1941 and 1942 the New York Times ran split-run copy tests providing an opportunity to reply and obtain a free sample. Employing similar ads advertising "False Teeth" or "Dental Plate," in both cases "False Teeth" was slightly stronger in number of replies. Zubin and Peatman (1945), citing these studies, developed and tested a more statistically valid method for using split run copy testing data. They concluded by offering a number of important assumptions to include the randomness of the samples drawn from the population, equal numbers of potential buyers of the product, the availability and inclusion of the maximum size of the sample of potential buyers, and that clipping the coupon is a direct result of the advertisement and not some other factor. FOCUS ON PREFERENCE Several researchers during this period addressed how consumers were reacting to various packaging types, primarily as viewed in the size and shape of glass containers. In an earlier book published in 1928, Franken and Larrabee reviewed initial thoughts about packaging and a procedure to consider packaging preference. Employing an accepted method from Franken and Larrabee (1928), Hovde (1931) conducted a controlled field study to find the "best all-around" glass container. He employed multiple examples of caviar and herring containers representing two sizes, 4 oz. and 10 oz. The study was conducted in grocery stores in Philadelphia, beginning with 70 women and 30 men. It is interesting to note that Hovde kept adding groups of respondents to the initial sample until the results became consistent. Hovde began by instructing potential respondents as to the necessity of finding a container that allowed for complete extraction of what was contained inside. His first question sought to address attention value by inquiring as to "which container your attention is most forcibly drawn." Ranking every container employing an order of preference method, respondents were also asked for their reasons for their selection. A second question sought to uncover degree of identification by measuring which container could best be remembered if one forgot the trade name. In one of the first studies on consumption and children, Guest (1942, 1944) surveyed over 800 school children from 3rd grade through the senior year in high school to assess degree of loyalty to brands versus product class. His results revealed that 1) brand loyalty was stronger than product class loyalty, 2) children form loyalty to brands at an early age, and 3) loyalty evolves and strengthens over time. FOCUS ON MOTIVATION The focus on consumer motives began to take hold in the United States with the hiring of Viennese psychologist Ernest Dichter by the Getchell agency in 1940 (see Allen 1941). Dichter sought clues into human motivation by questioning selected "indicator groups," individuals who would be proactive in providing insights into product usage. Dichter used this information to provide a "psychological inventory" of basic motives for specific product purchases. This information in turn, would help advertising creatives develop messages that would directly address the customer motives (a fuller description of Dichter's contribution appears in the next section). Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 19 1/2/2008 10:04:58 AM 20 DAVID W. SCHUMANN, CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT, AND EDITH DAVIDSON In 1941, Allen authored an article that applied Allport's (1937) notion of functional autonomy to better understanding consumer motives. In this paper, Allen presents a list of "primary wants" that are more direct (e.g., appetizing food, comfortable surroundings, welfare of loved ones, social approval, play) and "secondary wants" that are more removed (e.g., health, convenience, cleanliness, style/beauty, dependability/quality). Allen provides examples of typical product/service appeals that would provide the linkage between product/service and motive. In the years leading up to World War II, numerous European scholars like Lazersfeld, Dichter, and Politz (the European pollster) fled from their home countries to the United States and to American universities or industry. The nature of consumer research was also changing as former academics like George Gallup and Daniel Starch pioneered the profitable marketing research industry. THE EARLY YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR II During the final phase of this review (post-World War II–1960), we return to two major contributors to the discipline of consumer psychology and a number of smaller, but nonetheless, important players. Ernest Dichter Considered by many a founding father of motivational research, Ernest Dichter was born in Vienna in 1907 and lived across the street from Sigmund Freud's famous office. Dichter discovered early he had a strong interest in psychology. After completing his doctoral studies, he began his career as a practicing psychoanalyst. Indeed his dissertation topic was a "self-appraisal of one's own abilities." He soon found his way to work under Paul Lazarfeld's Vienna centre for industrial research. Dichter immigrated to New York in 1937 where he quickly found he was invited to consult with major companies about his insights into the psychology of the consumer. Dichter was quite controversial. Denouncing all marketing research except his own as "nosecounting and "census-taking" (Fullerton & Stern, 1990, cited in Kassarjian, 1994), he became a highly vocal proponent of his own methodology which relied heavily on Freudian psychology (Stern, 2004). Indeed, his own mentor, Paul Lazersfeld became one of his harshest critics, along with researchers Gallup, Politz, and the Marketing discipline's Wroe Alderson (Ferber & Wales, 1958; Kassarjian, 1994) To better understand human motivation, Dichter employed in-depth interviews and projective techniques to tap both conscious and subconscious states thought to guide the behavior of the consumer. He felt that his background in psychoanalysis provided him with insights into hidden motives behind purchasing behavior. From this understanding, he was able to work with advertisers to create impactful brand slogans— "Wash your troubles away" for Procter & Gamble's Ivory Soap. From 1943 to 1946 Dichter was employed by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). In 1946, Dichter founded his Institute for Motivational Research on the Hudson River just north of New York City. A Harvard Business Review article (Dichter 1947) reflected his belief that past methods only scratch the surface and that advertising and personal selling have dynamic effects on the consumer. He also pointed out the importance of multiple motives and reflects that Freud's multiple levels of consciousness provide reason for the importance of "modern" (qualitative) psychological methods. Dichter (1948) also employed multiple techniques (i.e., depth interviewing, role playing, sociometric maps) to discover what he termed the "real" reasons are behind brand purchasing. Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 20 1/2/2008 10:04:58 AM HISTORY OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY 21 Vance Packard's The Hidden Persuaders (1957) made Dichter a household name, suggesting that Dichter was the master manipulator of the consumer mind. Packard brought Dichter a significant amount of fame and fortune, creating a significant corporate demand for his consulting services. He published several books, with the Handbook of Consumer Motivation (1964) perhaps the most popular and most widely cited. It is important to note that Dichter's research went far beyond just the study of the consumer. His work also reflected the study of human motives behind topics like voter participation, religious tolerance, and racial prejudice. Dichter, always the business man, founded multiple research institutes in Europe as well the Hudson River Institute. Many of these are still active today. George Katona George Katona is considered to be the dean of behavioral economics. After an receiving a degree in law from the University of Budapest, he received his PhD in Germany under Georg Elias Nathanael Muller at Gottingen in 1921 following in the tradition of Wundt and Titchner. He came to the United States in 1933 and started employment as an investment counselor. In 1936, he began lecturing at the New School for Social Research and was heavily influenced by his colleague, the Gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer. Wertheimer (and other gestalt psychologists), along with Watson's behaviorism and Freud's dynamic approach, had begun to successfully turn psychology away from the experimental work that followed the tradition of Wundt and Titchner (Boring, 1950). In 1945, Katona joined the faculty at the University of Michigan. Katona, along with Likert, Campbell and others, founded Michigan's Business Survey Research Bureau, and he became the director of the economic behavioral program. His pioneering achievement was in the application of consumer psychology to economic forecasting. In contrast to existing economic theory that relied chiefly on factual demographic driven input (e.g., income, ability to buy), Katona believed that a consumer's willingness to buy, as denoted by the consumer's attitudes and expectations (his view of consumer psychology), was a critical economic indicator. Katona authored numerous articles during his lifetime and published more than a dozen books including The Powerful Consumer (1960) and The Mass Consumption Psychology (1964). These books contained his caution to other economists as well as practitioners against stereotyping consumers as having simplistic motives and being easily manipulated. Perhaps Katona's most enduring legacy was his initiation of the Survey of Consumer Attitudes for the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, today employed as a major indicator of economic stability of markets. THE CONTRIBUTION OF OTHERS DURING THIS PERIOD Immediately following the war came an emphasis on consumption by U.S. citizens who had just experienced several lean years of sacrifice. An explosion of manufacturing and new products led to new applied questions; for example, could the consumer discriminate in taste for food and drink. Pronko and Bowles reported three studies investigating whether drinkers of colas could discriminate between brands (Pronko & Bowles, 1948, 1949; Bowles & Pronko, 1948). It is not clear whether they gave respondents varied strategies for taste testing, but the results consistently reflected that there was no consistency in consumer discrimination of brands of cola. Another important question that emerged during this time was based on the need to determine why consumers patronized certain retail stores. Heidingsfield (1949) surveyed patrons of downtown Philadelphia department stores to ascertain the motives for store selection. In rank order the factors included the nature of merchandise, prices, physical factors, and service. Blankertz (1949) Haugtvedt_ER5603X_C001.indd 21 1/2/2008 10:04:59 AM 22 DAVID W. SCHUMANN, CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT, AND EDITH DAVIDSON reports a similar study by a group at his own university, but challenges both of these studies on issues of methodology. He provides several examples such as the notion that attitudes are relatively weak reflections of other important contributing factors like distance. He also argued against the wisdom of depending on attitude scores given their lack of ability to predict store expenditures, and the belief that reports of attitudes may reflect rationalization rather than other internal states (e.g., affect). In 1950, Mason Haire published his famous article in the Journal of Marketing that called into question people's willingness to share their real responses. With the advent of instant coffee and consumers' reluctance to adopt it, studies suggested that taste was the reason. However, Haire was skeptical of this finding and designed a projective test to see if there were other underlying reasons. He employed two groups of homemakers, both of whom were provided with a shopping list. All the products on the list were held constant except that one list contained Nescafe Instant Coffee while the other contained "1 lb. Maxwell House Coffee (Drip Ground)." He then asked his two sample segments to describe a person who would be shopping for these products. The respondents with the Maxwell House Coffee on their list consistently described the person in more positive terms (e.g., housewife, concerned about what she served her family) than did those who received the list with Nescafe Instant Coffee (e.g., single woman living from one day to the next). There was no indication that taste was a factor. The real reason had much more to do with how a person using instant coffee would be perceived. In 1952, Dik Twedt from Northwestern University conducted a survey study of 34 variables believed to be related to magazine readership scores. Prior to this, there were a number of individuals, including James D. Woolf, formerly the vice-president of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, claiming that content, rather than mechanical factors, were what pulled individuals to read ads (Woolf, 1951, see also earlier study by Ferguson, 1935). Using a popular trade magazine, Twedt's study actually revealed that a significant portion of explained variance for readership was due to three mechanical factors, size of advertisement, number of colors, and square inches of illustration. It is also of interest that Dik Twedt (1965) authored the fi rst review of Consumer Psychology that appeared in the Annual Review of Psychology. CONCLUSION: HOW CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY HAS EVOLVED This chapter sought to bring out two points of emphasis regarding the roots of consumer psychology. First, consumer psychology has evolved as the larger domain of general psychology has evolved. This is evident in the transition of schools of thought, from the early mentalist approach of Wundt and his students, to a rejection of mentalism in favor of behavioral and dynamic approaches. These schools are all important in the investigation of consumer behavior as we research it today. The second point of emphasis is the fact that these early psychologists built upon each other's work, and that many of the topics they studied are those that we're still engrossed with today and expect to be for many years to come. It's hard to know what psychological discipline "owned" consumer psychology. In developing the sketches of these pioneers, it was apparent that they viewed themselves as "applied" psychologists. The words "industrial" and "organizational" psychologists rarely appeared. However, because the broader interests of individuals like Munsterberg, Scott, Strong, and Poffe

subset: commoncrawl