Thinking concretely increases consumer confidence

A new study has revealed that the confidence a consumer feels when making a choice might depend on whether he/she's thinking concretely or abstractly.

 

"In three experiments across a sample of 750 participants, we found that subjective feelings of ease experienced during judgments (choosing a digital camera, art, movie, or charity) can increase or decrease confidence in their choice and the amount of donation depending on whether consumers are thinking, respectively, concretely or abstractly," write authors Claire I Tsai (University of Toronto) and Ann L McGill (University of Chicago).

 

In the study, the authors manipulated ease of processing by varying clarity of ad messages or the number of thoughts generated to explain participant choices.

 

"We found that when consumers are thinking more concretely and focusing on details of product information, ease of processing-making a choice based on a clear ad or a few reasons-increases confidence," the authors write.

 

"Difficulty of processing-making a choice based on a blurry ad or having to generate many reasons to explain one's choice-decreases confidence."

 

The study is published in the Journal of Consumer Research.