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Recent consumer behavior research testing attribution theory principles is summarized and critiqued. Most studies on antecedents of causal inferences focus on how information about a product influences attributions, how the discounting effect influences liking for products, and how self-perception processes influence willingness to participate in marketing research. Research examining consequences of causal inferences focuses on product satisfaction. Major trends in attribution theory and future research directions are indicated.A ttribution research is concerned with all aspects of causal inferences: how people arrive at causal inferences, what sort of inferences they make, and what the consequences of these inferences are. Nine years ago, Mizerski, Golden, and Kernan (1979) provided an overview of four major attribution theories and reviewed the relevant consumer behavior research from 1971 to 1978. Since that time attribution theory has remained a popular approach in social psychology (e.g., see recent reviews by Harvey and Weary 1984;Ross and Fletcher 1985); however, most of us probably agree that despite a promising beginning, attribution theory has had little impact on the field of consumer behavior.This apparent neglect is surprising. Understanding consumers' perceptions of cause-and-effect relationships would seem to be central to consumer behavior. It is this author's opinion that many, ifnot most, products and services are purchased because consumers infer a causal relationship: they believe that analgesics reduce pain, deodorants improve one's social life, athletic shoes enhance performance, and so on. As the present review will substantiate, attribution theory is a rich and welldeveloped approach that has a great deal to say about a wide range of consumer behavior issues. For example, attribution research indicates when consumers recommend products to other consumers and when they complain about problems. It sheds light on such questions in persuasion as source credibility and two-sided messages. Attribution research illuminates the relationship between consumers' attitudes and behaviors. provided helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. 548 havior, as well as to review research since the Mizerski et al. article. Many recent studies address issues not raised in the Mizerski et al. review, which focused on theories forming the foundation of attribution research (Bem 1972;Heider 1958;Jones and Davis 1965;Kelley 1967 Kelley , 1973. Besides summarizing studies in consumer behavior journals, the present review includes consumer behavior experiments published in psychology journals. When studies on a topic are published in a variety of outlets, as is true of attribution research in consumer behavior, its impact may be diffused. By consolidating the research, this review aims to more clearly identify issues that have attracted the interest of investigators. A secondary aim is to identify up-to-date reviews of specific topics in attribution research to aid those who wish to explore an issue i...

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Three experiments examined the manner in which consumers are influenced by information about firms’ ethical behaviors and product attribute information when forming attitudes toward the firm. Confirming principles drawn from evaluations of individuals, results showed that a superior product attribute enhances attitudes toward ethically behaving firms more than toward unethically behaving firms. Furthermore, consumers’ attitudes toward superior products differed depending on the type of ethical behavior enacted by the firm—whether refraining from unethical behavior or acting prosocially. However, when a product attribute was inferior, firms’ ethics had less impact.

We review a growing body of research in consumer behavior that has examined when consumers humanize brands by perceiving them as like, part of, or in a relationship with themselves. One research stream shows that sometimes consumers perceive brands as having human‐like forms, minds, and personality characteristics. A second stream identifies ways that a consumer perceives a brand as being congruent with or connected to the self. Finally, a third highlights that consumers can view brands in ways that are analogous to the types of relationships they have with people. We review research in these three areas and point out connections among these research streams. In part, we accomplish this by showing that factors associated with the SEEK model, which are designed to explain anthropomorphic tendencies, are also relevant to other ways of humanizing brands. We identify major propositions derived from this research and several areas for which additional research is needed. We conclude with recommendations for the many opportunities for expanding our conceptual and empirical understanding of this domain.

We conducted four studies that pertained to excuses given for a broken social contract. In an initial field investigation, participants recalled occasions in which they had given true and false reasons for not fulfilling a social obligation. Communicated reasons tended to be external to the person, uncontrollable, and unintentional (e.g., "My car broke down"), whereas withheld reasons tended to be internal, controllable, and either intentional (e.g., "I did not want to go") or unintentional (e.g., "I forgot"). The external uncontrollable excuses were anticipated to lessen the anger of the wronged party. In a subsequent simulation study, excuses based on the categories detected in Experiment 1 were manipulated and related to anger ratings. The same pattern of results was displayed, with intent and negligence provoking the highest anger ratings. The final two studies involved laboratory manipulation of a communicated reason for coming late to an experiment. In Experiment 3, a confederate conveyed either an internal controllable, an external uncontrollable, or no reason for making a subject wait, whereas in Experiment 4, subjects were detained and created their own good, bad, any, or no excuse for being tardy, which was communicated to a second, waiting subject. A consistent pattern of good excuse/external uncontrollable reason and bad excuse/internal controllable reason was displayed; offering no excuse resulted in the same judgments as giving a poor excuse. Relative to the external uncontrollable reasons, internal controllable excuses for being late augmented aversive emotional reactions, increased negative personality ratings, and resulted in a desire for no further social contact.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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