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Research has demonstrated that consumers are commonly insensitive to missing information and that this insensitivity can lead them to form strong beliefs and evaluations on the basis of weak evidence. A growing body of research has shown that sensitivity to omissions can be heightened and that this increased sensitivity results in more appropriate evaluations. Expanding on this, the current research finds that the level of abstraction by which a situation is construed can influence the likelihood of omission detection and the resulting evaluative judgments. A series of studies reveal that people are more likely to spontaneously detect omissions in near vs. distant judgments, in concrete vs. abstract mindsets, and when they are inherently more likely to interpret actions in concrete vs. abstract terms. Further, although prior findings suggest that people may have differential sensitivity to primary and secondary missing features at different levels of construal, the current research finds no such difference. The results of this study indicate that people are more sensitive to all types of missing information when construal levels are low, and that this sensitivity leads to more moderate and appropriate judgments.

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This research provides important new insight into self-generated persuasion. Source effects can result in polarizing effects if the source is credible but depolarizing effects if the source is less credible. Further, thought-induced attitude change depends on varying levels of Need for Cognitive Closure and information sufficiency.

Although prior research has established a cognitive association between perceived financial resources and increased caloric intake, the underlying process is still largely unknown. To date, the psychological influence of financial cues on eating behavior has primarily been explained in terms of goal activation. Perceived scarcity of financial resources is thought to result in a motivational drive to acquire food. In this research, we provide empirical support for this account while exploring how other types of cognitive associations involving semantic constructs (like traits) can also impact eating behavior. Traits are distinguishing qualities or characteristics that are associated with an individual or a group. They are commonly activated spontaneously during social interactions, leading to an associative behavior. Since semantic constructs are not motivational, they influence behavior in the absence of motivation. In this paper, we contribute to the existing literature in several ways. First, we conceptually replicate prior research, providing further support for the behavioral effects of a cognitive association between financial resources and caloric intake. Second, we provide empirical evidence that financial cues influence eating behavior both motivationally and non-motivationally. Lastly, we find that trait constructs and goal constructs can be activated independently and have differential effects on eating behavior.