Existing research and widespread commercial usage suggest that appeals urging consumers to imagine the product experience have powerful effects on product preferences. Three studies examined the mediating role of imagery accessibility and demonstrated that the difficulty of imagery generation can reverse the generally observed positive effects of imagery appeals. When participants were low in imagery abilities or when the product was not presented in a vivid way, imagery appeals were not only ineffective but even had a negative effect on product preferences. Providing evidence for its subjective nature, this imagery fluency effect was more likely for individuals attuned to their internal experiences. (c) 2005 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

This research examines the impact of media depictions of success (or failure) on consumers’ desire for luxury brands. In a pilot study and three additional studies, we demonstrate that reading a story about a similar/successful other, such as a business major from the same university, increases consumers’ expectations about their own future wealth, which in turn increases their desire for luxury brands. However, reading about a dissimilar successful other, such as a biology major, lowers consumers’ preferences for luxury brands. Furthermore, we examine the role of ease of imagining oneself in the narrative as a mediator of the relation between direction of comparison, similarity, and brand preference.

Bulk copolymerization of vinylidene fluoride (or 1,1-difluoroethylene (VDF)) with 4,5,5-trifluoro-4-ene pentyl acetate (FAc) initiated by di-tert-butyl peroxide is presented. A series of nine copolymerization reactions was investigated from initial [VDF] 0/[FAc]0 molar ratios ranging from 32/68 to 95/5. Both these comonomers copolymerized in this range of copolymerization. Moreover, these comonomers homopolymerized separately in these conditions. The copolymer compositions of these randomtype copolymers were calculated by means of 1 H and 19 F NMR spectroscopies and allowed one to quantify the respective amount of each monomeric unit in the copolymer. From the Tidwell and Mortimer method, the reactivity ratios, ri, of both comonomers were determined showing a higher incorporation of FAc in the copolymer (rFAc ) 3.26 ( 1.49 and rVDF ) 0.17 ( 0.10 at 120°C). Alfrey-Price's Q and e values of trifluorovinyl acetoxy monomer FAc were calculated to be 0.060 (from QVDF ) 0.008) or 0.040 (from QVDF ) 0.015) and +1.14 (vs eVDF ) 0.40) or +1.23 (vs eVDF ) 0.50), respectively, indicating that FAc is an electron-accepting monomer. The normalized monomer-diad and -triad fractions as a function of the polymer composition were obtained from the comonomer sequence distribution theory and this was evidenced by 19 F NMR analysis.

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We investigate the effect of process- versus outcome-oriented thinking on consumers' subjective experiences when choosing among alternatives. In four studies, we show that because process-oriented thinking leads to a dual focus on both means and end benefits, it increases decision difficulty when consumers face substantive trade-offs between desirability and feasibility. This experienced difficulty results in negative consequences for consumers' subsequent behavior, including greater willingness to postpone choice, lower commitment to the chosen option, and degraded task performance. (c) 2009 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

A Weld study investigated cross-cultural diVerences in choice-congruent behavior and its impact on compliance. U.S. and Asian participants received a request to complete an online survey and a month later they were approached with a larger, related request. Compliance with the initial request had a stronger impact on subsequent compliance among the U.S. participants than among the Asian participants. Despite their lower rate of compliance with the initial request, the U.S. participants who chose to comply were more likely than their Asian counterparts to agree to the subsequent request. Further analyses revealed that this eVect was driven by diVerences in the individualistic/collectivistic orientation of the participants from the two cultures. Within both cultures, the more individualistic participants showed stronger consistency with their earlier compliance than the more collectivistically oriented participants.

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