Consumer psychology of implicit theories: A review and agenda

Abstract

Implicit theories are the beliefs that individuals hold regarding the nature of human and nonhuman attributes, as well as more global phenomena. Over the past three decades, social and consumer psychologists have garnered a rich set of findings from investigating the processing and judgmental impact of implicit theories on various facets of people's day-to-day lives. This review begins with a brief summary of the history of implicit theory research before explicating its current state in consumer psychology. The review categorizes the current, and rather fragmented, landscape of the consumer psychology of implicit theories into three broad areas: brands, persuasion, and consumption behaviors. We conclude our review by contributing to an expanding dialogue regarding the future of consumer research pertaining to implicit theories. K E Y W O R D Sadvertising, brands, decision-making, implicit theories, malleability, mindsets | 61 JAIN ANd WEITENElliott & Dweck, 1988), and shape perceptions on effort (Blackwell et al., 2007;Grant & Dweck, 2003). Stemming in part from findings in social psychology, consumer researchers have studied how implicit beliefs can impact consumption-oriented processes and outcomes.Our emphasis being on consumer research pertaining to implicit theories, we find that most extant consumer literature pertaining to implicit theories has tended to center on three main areas: brands,

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