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When Mental Simulation Hinders Behavior: The Effects of Process-Oriented Thinking on Decision Difficulty and Performance

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  • Debora Viana Thompson
  • Rebecca W. Hamilton
  • Petia K. Petrova

Abstract

We investigate the effect of process- versus outcome-oriented thinking on consumers' subjective experiences when choosing among alternatives. In four studies, we show that because process-oriented thinking leads to a dual focus on both means and end benefits, it increases decision difficulty when consumers face substantive trade-offs between desirability and feasibility. This experienced difficulty results in negative consequences for consumers' subsequent behavior, including greater willingness to postpone choice, lower commitment to the chosen option, and degraded task performance. (c) 2009 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Suggested Citation

  • Debora Viana Thompson & Rebecca W. Hamilton & Petia K. Petrova, 2009. "When Mental Simulation Hinders Behavior: The Effects of Process-Oriented Thinking on Decision Difficulty and Performance," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(4), pages 562-574, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:36:y:2009:i:4:p:562-574
    DOI: 10.1086/599325
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    Cited by:

    1. Cervi, Cleber & Brei, Vinicius Andrade, 2022. "Choice deferral: The interaction effects of visual boundaries and consumer knowledge," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Tobias Schlager & Emanuel de Bellis & JoAndrea Hoegg, 2020. "How and when weather boosts consumer product valuation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 695-711, July.
    3. Hu Xie & Elizabeth A. Minton & Lynn R. Kahle, 2016. "Cake or fruit? Influencing healthy food choice through the interaction of automatic and instructed mental simulation," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 627-644, December.
    4. Ringler, Christine & Sirianni, Nancy J. & Christenson, Brett, 2021. "The Power of Consequential Product Sounds," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 288-300.
    5. Vaidyanathan, Rajiv & Aggarwal, Praveen, 2020. "Does MSRP impact women differently? Exploring gender-based differences in the effectiveness of retailer-provided reference prices," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    6. Katarzyna Dziewanowska, 2015. "Dimensions of Real and Virtual Consumer Experiences," Faculty of Management Working Paper Series 42015, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management.
    7. Rebecca Hamilton & Debora Thompson & Zachary Arens & Simon Blanchard & Gerald Häubl & P. Kannan & Uzma Khan & Donald Lehmann & Margaret Meloy & Neal Roese & Manoj Thomas, 2014. "Consumer substitution decisions: an integrative framework," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 305-317, September.
    8. Doust, Negin Ahmadi Saber & van Esch, Patrick & Kemper, Joya & Franklin, Drew & Casserly, Shane, 2021. "Marketing the use of headgear in high contact sports," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    9. Shen, Liang & Cai, Fengyan & Wyer, Robert S., 2022. "How the interplay of variety and processing strategy affects calorie estimates," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 97-107.
    10. Do-Hyung Park, 2019. "Virtuality Changes Consumer Preference: The Effect of Transaction Virtuality as Psychological Distance on Consumer Purchase Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-16, November.
    11. Herhausen, Dennis & Kleinlercher, Kristina & Verhoef, Peter C. & Emrich, Oliver & Rudolph, Thomas, 2019. "Loyalty Formation for Different Customer Journey Segments," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 9-29.
    12. David L. Alexander & Ashley Stadler Blank, 2018. "Besting the status quo: the effect of abstract versus concrete mindsets on emotional trade-off difficulty and avoidant coping behavior," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 351-362, September.
    13. Ghiassaleh, Arezou & Kocher, Bruno & Czellar, Sandor, 2024. "The effects of benefit-based (vs. attribute-based) product categorizations on mental imagery and purchase behavior," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 100(2), pages 239-255.
    14. Dan King & Sumitra Auschaitrakul & Chia-Wei Joy Lin, 2022. "Search modality effects: merely changing product search modality alters purchase intentions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 1236-1256, November.
    15. Rose, Stefan & Wentzel, Daniel & Hopp, Christian & Kaminski, Jermain, 2020. "Launching for Success: The Effects of Psychological Distance and Mental Simulation on Funding Decisions and Crowdfunding Performance," SocArXiv fqbwk, Center for Open Science.
    16. Yucel-Aybat, Ozge & Hsieh, Meng-Hua, 2021. "Consumer mindsets matter: Benefit framing and firm–cause fit in the persuasiveness of cause-related marketing campaigns," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 418-427.
    17. Rose, Stefan & Wentzel, Daniel & Hopp, Christian & Kaminski, Jermain, 2021. "Launching for success: The effects of psychological distance and mental simulation on funding decisions and crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).

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