IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jconrs/v37y2010i2p315-328.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Small Sounds, Big Deals: Phonetic Symbolism Effects in Pricing

Author

Listed:
  • Keith S. Coulter
  • Robin A. Coulter

Abstract

Studies suggest that certain vowel and consonant sounds (or phonemes) can be associated with perceptions of large and small size. Mental rehearsal of prices containing numbers with small phonemes results in overestimation of price discounts, whereas mental rehearsal of prices containing numbers with large phonemes results in underestimation. Mental rehearsal of the same sale prices characterized by small phonemes in one language and large phonemes in another language can yield differential effects. For example, when sale prices are rehearsed in English, an (28.4%) discount is perceived as greater than a (29.9%) discount; however, when these same prices are rehearsed in Chinese, the latter discount is perceived as greater. Non-price-related phonemes do not yield these same discount distortions. Collectively, findings indicate that the mere sounds of numbers can nonconsciously affect and distort numerical magnitude perceptions. (c) 2010 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Suggested Citation

  • Keith S. Coulter & Robin A. Coulter, 2010. "Small Sounds, Big Deals: Phonetic Symbolism Effects in Pricing," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 315-328, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:37:y:2010:i:2:p:315-328
    DOI: 10.1086/651241
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/651241
    File Function: link to full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/651241?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.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Matthew Fisher & Milica Mormann, 2022. "The Off by 100% Bias: The Effects of Percentage Changes Greater than 100% on Magnitude Judgments and Consumer Choice [Numerosity and Consumer Behavior]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 49(4), pages 561-573.
    2. Stacey M. Baxter & Jasmina Ilicic & Alicia Kulczynski & Tina M. Lowrey, 2017. "Using sublexical priming to enhance brand name phonetic symbolism effects in young children," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 565-577, December.
    3. Jamel Khenfer & Caroline Cuny, 2021. "How to project action through the sound of brand names?," Post-Print hal-03189336, HAL.
    4. Santana, Shelle & Thomas, Manoj & Morwitz, Vicki G., 2020. "The Role of Numbers in the Customer Journey," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 138-154.
    5. Khenfer, Jamel & Cuny, Caroline, 2020. "Brand preference in the face of control loss and service failure: The role of the sound of brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    6. Daniel Kaimann & Clarissa Laura Maria Spiess Bru, 2023. "Sounds too Feminine? Brand Gender and The Impact on Professional Critics," Working Papers Dissertations 107, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    7. Richard R. Klink & Lan Wu, 2017. "Creating ethical brands: the role of brand name on consumer perceived ethicality," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 411-422, September.
    8. repec:cup:judgdm:v:12:y:2017:i:6:p:527-536 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Jamel Khenfer & Caroline Cuny, 2021. "Comment communiquer l'action par la sonorité des noms de marques ?," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-03189334, HAL.
    10. Puccinelli, Nancy M. & Chandrashekaran, Rajesh & Grewal, Dhruv & Suri, Rajneesh, 2013. "Are Men Seduced by Red? The Effect of Red Versus Black Prices on Price Perceptions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 115-125.
    11. Ruth Pogacar & Emily Plant & Laura Rosulek & Michal Kouril, 2015. "Sounds good: Phonetic sound patterns in top brand names," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 549-563, December.
    12. Alicia Kulczynski & Stacey Brennan & Jasmina Ilicic, 2021. "A spokesperson with any name won’t be as charming: the phonetic effect of spokesperson name and gender on personality evaluations," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 221-239, March.
    13. Jamel Khenfer & Caroline Cuny, 2021. "How to project action through the sound of brand names?," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-03189336, HAL.
    14. Sunaina Shrivastava & Gaurav Jain & Dhananjay Nayakankuppam & Gary J. Gaeth & Irwin P Levin, 2017. "Numerosity and allocation behavior: Insights using the dictator game," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 12(6), pages 527-536, November.
    15. Stacey Baxter & Jasmina Ilicic & Alicia Kulczynski, 2015. "What’s in a name? Examining the effect of phonetic fit between spokesperson name and product attributes on source credibility," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 525-534, December.
    16. Nicole Koschate-Fischer & Katharina Wüllner, 2017. "New developments in behavioral pricing research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(6), pages 809-875, August.
    17. Jamel Khenfer & Caroline Cuny, 2021. "Comment communiquer l'action par la sonorité des noms de marques ?," Post-Print hal-03189334, HAL.
    18. Choi, Pilsik & Coulter, Keith S., 2012. "It's Not All Relative: The Effects of Mental and Physical Positioning of Comparative Prices on Absolute versus Relative Discount Assessment," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 512-527.
    19. Rashmi Adaval, 2013. "The utility of an information processing approach for behavioral price research," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 3(3), pages 130-134, September.
    20. Abhishek Pathak & Carlos Velasco & Charles Spence, 2020. "The sound of branding: An analysis of the initial phonemes of popular brand names," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(3), pages 339-354, May.
    21. Keith S. Coulter, 2013. "Commentary on: “an appraisal of behavioral price research (Part I)”," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 3(3), pages 135-140, September.
    22. Richard Klink & Lan Wu, 2014. "The role of position, type, and combination of sound symbolism imbeds in brand names," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 13-24, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:oup:jconrs:v:37:y:2010:i:2:p:315-328. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/jcr .

    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.