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Coarse Thinking and Persuasion

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Author Info
Sendhil Mullainathan
Joshua Schwartzstein
Andrei Shleifer

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Abstract

We present a model of coarse thinking, in which individuals group situations into categories, and transfer the informational content of a given message from situations in a category where it is useful to those where it is not. The model explains how uninformative messages can be persuasive, particularly in low involvement situations, and how objectively informative messages can be dropped by the persuader without the audience assuming the worst. The model sheds light on product branding, the structure of product attributes, and several puzzling aspects of mutual fund advertising.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12720.

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Date of creation: Dec 2006
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12720

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Pension Funds; Other Private Financial Institutions
L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing
M37 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Advertising

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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Edward L. Glaeser & Gergely Ujhelyi, 2006. "Regulating Misinformation," NBER Working Papers 12784, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Skaperdas, Stergios / Vaidya, Samarth, 2007. "Persuasion as a Contest," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Philippe Jehiel & David Ettinger, 2007. "Towards a Theory of Deception," Levine's Bibliography 843644000000000126, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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