IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobhdp/v162y2021icp1-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of categories on relative encoding biases in memory-based judgments

Author

Listed:
  • Sharif, Marissa A.
  • Oppenheimer, Daniel M.

Abstract

People are very good at making relative judgments (determining where a stimulus ranks in a distribution) but not very good at making absolute judgments (determining the absolute properties of the stimulus independent of context). Thus, when evaluating various stimuli, people tend to encode ordinal rank rather than objective quality. This leads to a robust bias in memory-based judgments: when the nature of the distribution shifts, people fail to update their memories of ordinal rank, and thus incorrectly judge a stimulus that is at the top [bottom] of the distribution at Time 1 to also be at the top [bottom] of a different distribution at Time 2. In two studies, we demonstrate a crucial moderator of the relative encoding bias on memory-based judgments: category saliency at the time of encoding. More specifically, we reveal that this memory-based judgment bias is reduced if it is made salient at the time of encoding that the stimuli from Time 1 and Time 2 are from different categories and thus different distributions.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharif, Marissa A. & Oppenheimer, Daniel M., 2021. "The effect of categories on relative encoding biases in memory-based judgments," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1-8.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:162:y:2021:i:c:p:1-8
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.10.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597820303915
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.10.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lynch, John G, Jr & Marmorstein, Howard & Weigold, Michael F, 1988. "Choices from Sets Including Remembered Brands: Use of Recalled Attributes and Prior Overall Evaluations," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(2), pages 169-184, September.
    2. Alba, Joseph W & Hutchinson, J Wesley, 1987. "Dimensions of Consumer Expertise," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 13(4), pages 411-454, March.
    3. repec:cup:judgdm:v:7:y:2012:i:3:p:332-359 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Yanping Tu & Dilip Soman, 2014. "The Categorization of Time and Its Impact on Task Initiation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(3), pages 810-822.
    5. Taylor Randall & Karl Ulrich & David Reibstein, 1998. "Brand Equity and Vertical Product Line Extent," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 356-379.
    6. France Leclerc & Christopher K. Hsee & Joseph C. Nunes, 2005. "Narrow Focusing: Why the Relative Position of a Good in Its Category Matters More Than It Should," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 194-205, August.
    7. Chattopadhyay, Amitava & Alba, Joseph W, 1988. "The Situational Importance of Recall and Inference in Consumer Decision Making," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nasim Mousavi & Panagiotis Adamopoulos & Jesse Bockstedt, 2023. "The Decoy Effect and Recommendation Systems," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 1533-1553, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chadwick J. Miller & Daniel C. Brannon & Jim Salas & Martha Troncoza, 2021. "Advertising, incentives, and the upsell: how advertising differentially moderates customer- vs. retailer-directed price incentives’ impact on consumers’ preferences for premium products," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(6), pages 1043-1064, November.
    2. Amin Ansary & Nik M. Hazrul Nik Hashim, 2018. "Brand image and equity: the mediating role of brand equity drivers and moderating effects of product type and word of mouth," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 969-1002, October.
    3. Pomering, Alan & Johnson, Lester W., 2009. "Constructing a corporate social responsibility reputation using corporate image advertising," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 106-114.
    4. Anocha Aribarg & Neeraj Arora, 2008. "—Interbrand Variant Overlap: Impact on Brand Preference and Portfolio Profit," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 474-491, 05-06.
    5. Ikuo Ishibashi & Noriaki Matsushima, 2009. "The Existence of Low-End Firms May Help High-End Firms," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 136-147, 01-02.
    6. Deli Yang & Mahmut Sonmez & Mario Gonzalez & Yi Liu & Carol Y. Yoder, 2019. "Consumer-based brand equity and consumer-based brand performance: evidence from smartphone brands in the USA," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(6), pages 717-732, November.
    7. Pecot, Fabien & Merchant, Altaf & Valette-Florence, Pierre & De Barnier, Virginie, 2018. "Cognitive outcomes of brand heritage: A signaling perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 304-316.
    8. Bayuk, Julia Belyavsky & Patrick, Vanessa M., 2021. "Is the uphill road the one more taken? How task complexity prompts action on non-pressing tasks," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 436-449.
    9. Jianan Wu & Arvind Rangaswamy, 2003. "A Fuzzy Set Model of Search and Consideration with an Application to an Online Market," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 411-434, March.
    10. Fabien Pecot & Altaf Merchant & Pierre Valette-Florence & Virginie de Barnier, 2018. "Cognitive outcomes of brand heritage: A signaling perspective," Post-Print hal-01831914, HAL.
    11. Oleg Curbatov, 2013. "The 'Knowledge Marketing': A New Trend In A Management Science World," Post-Print hal-01509370, HAL.
    12. Wasib B Latif & Md. Aminul Islam & Idris Bin Mohd Noor, 2014. "A Conceptual Framework to Build Brand Loyalty in the Modern Marketing Environment," Journal of Asian Scientific Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 4(10), pages 547-557, October.
    13. Agnès Helme-Guizon & Fanny Magnoni, 2019. "Consumer brand engagement and its social side on brand-hosted social media: how do they contribute to brand loyalty?," Post-Print hal-03591683, HAL.
    14. Martinovici, A., 2019. "Revealing attention - how eye movements predict brand choice and moment of choice," Other publications TiSEM 7dca38a5-9f78-4aee-bd81-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. Andreas Herrmann & Michael D. Johnson, 1999. "Die Kundenzufriedenheit als Bestimmungsfaktor der Kundenbindung," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 51(6), pages 579-598, June.
    16. Aîda Mimouni & Ouidade Sabri-Zaaraoui & Béatrice Parguel, 2010. "Competitive Advertising Within Store Flyers: A Win-Win Strategy?," Post-Print halshs-00634439, HAL.
    17. Weisstein, Fei L. & Kukar-Kinney, Monika & Monroe, Kent B., 2016. "Determinants of consumers' response to pay-what-you-want pricing strategy on the Internet," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4313-4320.
    18. Prieto, Marc & Caemmerer, Barbara & Baltas, George, 2015. "Using a hedonic price model to test prospect theory assertions: The asymmetrical and nonlinear effect of reliability on used car prices," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 206-212.
    19. F. Magnoni & Elyette Roux, 2011. "Stretching a luxury brand down: An experimental study of core brand dilution effects," Post-Print halshs-00644899, HAL.
    20. Lim, Thien Sang & Mail, Rasid & Abd Karim, Mohd Rahimie & Ahmad Baharul Ulum, Zatul Karamah & Jaidi, Junainah & Noordin, Raman, 2018. "A serial mediation model of financial knowledge on the intention to invest: The central role of risk perception and attitude," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 74-79.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:162:y:2021:i:c:p:1-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/obhdp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.