Deck 2: Decision-Making and Consumer Behavior

Question 1

The first stage in the cognitive decision-making process is ________.

A) information search
B) evaluation of alternatives
C) problem recognition
D) product choice

Answer 1

C

Question 2

A consumer is most likely to engage in ________ when she is in a good mood or when she is uninvolved in other activities.

A) inertia
B) cognitive decision-making
C) variety seeking
D) mental accounting

Answer 2

C

Question 3

As a customer's product knowledge increases, what typically happens to the amount of search conducted by the consumer?

A) It will remain the same.
B) It will sharply decrease and then sharply increase.
C) It will decrease, and then increase as the customer becomes more knowledgeable.
D) It will increase, and then decrease as the customer becomes more knowledgeable.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following views on decision making is most closely associated with the economics of information approach to the search process, assuming that consumers collect just as much data as needed to make an informed decision?

A) experiential perspective
B) traditional perspective
C) constructive perspective
D) behavioral influence perspective

Question 5

A consumer who uses a few simple decision rules to arrive at a purchase decision is using which of the following?

A) routine decision making
B) habitual decision making
C) graduated response behavior
D) cognitive decision making

Question 6

When is a consumer most likely to engage in cognitive decision-making?

A) This decision mode is most common when the decision is related to the person's self-concept and the outcome has a high degree of risk.
B) This decision mode is most common when the decision is related to the person's past behavior and product reinforcements.
C) This decision mode is most common when acceptable products are already contained within the consumer's evoked set.
D) This decision mode is most common when the decision is related to products that are considered to have low self-concept involvement.

Question 7

People often make decisions on the basis of mental accounting. One facet of this accounting is making a decision based on the way a problem was posed. This is called ________.

A) framing
B) the sum-cost fallacy
C) loss aversion
D) positioning

Question 8

If a consumer's ideal state is very near or identical to his or her actual state, which of the following best describes the type of problem recognition the consumer would most likely have?

A) opportunity recognition
B) need recognition
C) search recognition
D) no problem recognized

Question 9

A customer buying an unfamiliar product that carries a fair degree of risk would most likely engage in what type of decision-making?

A) cognitive decision-making
B) limited decision-making
C) habitual decision-making
D) affective decision-making

Question 10

Jamie is considering ordering a dessert for lunch. Before she decides on the kind she prefers, she must decide whether to get a fattening or nonfattening dessert. This decision relates to which of the following levels of abstraction of dessert categories?

A) superordinate level
B) ordinate level
C) subordinate level
D) basic level

Question 11

In a thought process called ________, we evaluate the effort we'll need to make a particular choice and then we tailor the amount of cognitive "effort" we expend to make that choice.

A) utility processing
B) experiential processing
C) constructive processing
D) behavioral processing

Question 12

A decision strategy that seeks to deliver an adequate solution rather than the best possible solution is referred to as ________.

A) inertia
B) rationalizing
C) satisficing
D) anchoring

Question 13

Under ________, utility is defined in terms of gains and losses.

A) prospect theory
B) heuristics
C) hyperopia
D) Zipf's law

Question 14

A(n) ________ refers to a set of beliefs and the way we organize those beliefs in our minds.

A) mental accounting
B) knowledge structure
C) rational perspective
D) influence perspective

Question 15

A consumer who moves his or her ideal state upward is experiencing ________ recognition.

A) opportunity
B) search
C) habitual
D) need

Question 16

Tomorrow, Janice will be attending a party with a buffet. In anticipation of splurging on delicious food, she is eating very little today. Janice is using a ________ to help her estimate consumption over time and regulate her behavior.

A) constructive process
B) mental budget
C) diet
D) cognitive process

Question 17

________ occurs whenever the consumer sees a significant difference between his or her current state of affairs and some desired state.

A) Information search
B) Evaluation of alternatives
C) Evaluation of the evoked set
D) Problem recognition

Question 18

________ is the process by which the consumer surveys the environment for appropriate data to make a reasonable decision.

A) Problem recognition
B) Evaluation of alternatives
C) Information search
D) Product choice

Question 19

The alternatives actively considered during a consumer's choice process are the ________ set.

A) inert
B) evoked
C) evaluative
D) consideration

Question 20

Jack isn't motivated to spend time thinking about what his mom's birthday present could be so he just orders her flowers yet again. Jack is experiencing ________.

A) boredom
B) emotional decision making
C) inertia
D) mental budgeting

Question 21

How can a marketer boost a person's motivation to process relevant information?

A) using novel stimuli
B) using broadcast media
C) approaching a mass market
D) minimizing competitive scope

Question 22

Les just bought a megaphone of root beer. As he drinks from the giant cup, he eventually becomes full. One of his friend's comments, "If you don't stop drinking that stuff, you will get sick." Les replies, "Hey, I bought it, and I am not going to waste one drop of it." Les's behavior could best be described by which of the following mental biases?

A) loss aversion
B) hyperopia
C) risk positioning
D) the sunk-cost fallacy

Question 23

At mymms.com, you can upload a photo and order a batch of M&Ms with a face and personal message printed on the candy shell. This is an example of ________.

A) micromarketing
B) mass customization
C) long tail
D) mass personalization

Question 24

A hot and thirsty customer buys a cool drink and finds it very satisfying. He then buys another drink even though he had not initially planned on buying two and even though he is no longer thirsty. This is an example of ________.

A) purchase momentum
B) rational decision making
C) feature creep
D) inertia

Question 25

________ is a low-involvement medium because the role of the audience is passive, while ________ is a high-involvement medium because the role of the audience is active.

A) Television, print
B) Print, television
C) Internet, television
D) Billboard, broadcast

Question 26

The tendency for people to prefer products from their own culture rather than those of another culture is called ________.

A) xenophobia
B) ethnocentrism
C) ethnographics
D) altruism

Question 27

________ are dimensions used to judge the merits of competing options.

A) Evoked sets
B) Evaluative criteria
C) Levels of abstraction
D) Category exemplars

Question 28

A ________ rule means that a product with a low standing on one attribute cannot make up for this position by being better on another attribute.

A) noncompensatory decision
B) lexicographic
C) compensatory decision
D) conjunctive

Question 29

The higher the ________, the higher the level of product involvement as the consumer makes the decision.

A) trialability
B) observability
C) number of distribution channels
D) perceived risk

Question 30

Kent, a college student, is a loyal Coca-Cola drinker. He averages about six Cokes a day. He even prefers Coke to water. However, today when he passed a vending machine in his dorm, he bought a new flavor of soft drink called Big Red. Which of the following most accurately explains his behavior, given the facts about Kent's previous behavior?

A) Kent is variety seeking.
B) Kent is brand switching.
C) Kent is involved in cognitive decision-making.
D) Kent is influenced by peer pressure.

Question 31

Of the following products, which one would typically carry high psychological risk for the average consumer?

A) lawn mower
B) kitchen blender
C) expensive mink coat
D) family vacation to a theme park

Question 32

When using the ________ rule of decision-making, a consumer evaluates brands on the most important attribute, but specific cutoffs are imposed.

A) lexicographic
B) elimination-by-aspects
C) conjunctive
D) compensatory

Question 33

When the ________ rule of decision-making is used, the brand that is the best on the most important attribute is the one selected.

A) elimination-by-aspects
B) conjunctive
C) compensatory decision
D) lexicographic

Question 34

What type of information search is a female customer engaged in when she scans the newspaper ads every day for new information on fashions, even though she isn't thinking of buying anything anytime soon?

A) prepurchase search
B) ongoing search
C) internal search
D) delayed search

Question 35

What type of cybermediaries are intelligent agents?

A) They are cookies used to track IP addresses of computer users.
B) They are people who can help computer users with problems they encounter when trying to shop online; contacts are direct and in-person.
C) They are sophisticated software programs that use collaborative filtering technologies to learn from past user behavior in order to recommend new purchases.
D) They are search engines specifically designed for online marketing and other forms of e-commerce.

Question 36

Consumers can be thought of as ________ because they tend to make decisions in the simplest way possible.

A) high in need for cognition
B) superprocessors
C) utility maximizers
D) cognitive misers

Question 37

A mental or problem-solving shortcut to make a purchase decision is called a(n) ________.

A) determinant
B) detail rule
C) heuristic
D) experience rule

Question 38

According to the theory called ________, a company can make money if it sells small amounts of items that only a few people want if the company sells enough different items.

A) feature creep
B) the long tail
C) Zipf's Law
D) neuromarketing

Question 39

Jeff is tired of the numerous breakdowns and peeling paint on his old car. When Jeff begins to think actively about his car in this way, which of the following cognitive decision-making process steps is Jeff going through?

A) information search
B) evaluation of alternatives
C) problem recognition
D) product choice

Question 40

Features actually used to differentiate among choices are called ________ attributes.

A) evaluation
B) search
C) determinant
D) segmentation

Question 41

Kraft has repackaged its salad dressings as "anything" dressings to encourage people to shift their ________ and consider the dressings as a complement to more than just salads.

A) demonstration signals
B) knowledge structures
C) mental maps
D) mean-end chains

Question 42

The research on loss aversion suggests that people tend to emphasize their losses more than their gains.

Question 43

When Japanese cars first became popular in the United States, some drivers of domestic cars placed bumper stickers on their vehicles that stated "Hungry? Eat your foreign car." These stickers encouraged people to support local workers and keep an American advantage in the balance of trade between Japan and the United States. The attitude expressed by the stickers is best described as ________.

A) national inertia
B) lexicographic determinism
C) stereotyping
D) ethnocentrism

Question 44

What is a major distinction between customers who purchase a product because they are brand loyal and those who purchase by inertia?

A) the cost of the product
B) the social risk of the product
C) whether the purchase is made after a compensatory or noncompensatory decision process
D) whether the customers hold a very positive or weak attitude toward the product

Question 45

Latrell finds that every time he goes to select athletic shoes, he always buys the same brand. In fact, he doesn't even remember trying on any of the other competitive brands even though some of these brands have attractive styles and prices. Latrell's purchase decision process has become one of less and less effort. Latrell's decision process is an example of ________.

A) cognitive dissonance
B) information discrimination
C) cognitive miser behavior
D) inertia

Question 46

Habitual decision-making is the lowest order of buying decision-making.

Question 47

Coca-Cola is most likely an example of a(n) ________ product because it characterizes an entire category of soft drinks.

A) exemplar
B) criteria
C) heuristic
D) evoked

Question 48

The first step in the cognitive decision-making process is to conduct an information search.

Question 49

Traditionally, consumer researchers have approached the study of decision making from an information-processing perspective.

Question 50

Incidental learning occurs after a very concentrated search for information.

Question 51

People often engage in brand switching, even when their current brand satisfies their needs.

Question 52

Social risk occurs when the consumer's risk capital consists of self-esteem and self-confidence.

Question 53

Chen Lo used a decision rule that says, "only buy well-known brand names" when selecting a set of golf clubs. He did not look at price, the store, or even discounts when purchasing clubs. Chen Lo's purchasing pattern is an example of a consumer using a ________ rule.

A) habitual decision
B) compensatory
C) noncompensatory
D) conjunctive

Question 54

Casinos make their interiors very plush and expensive looking, knowing that gamblers who would be reluctant to make a $10 bet in average surroundings would gladly make $100 wagers in luxurious surroundings. Which of the following best explains the gamblers' behavior?

A) Mental accounting emphasizes the extraneous characteristics of the choice environment even if the results are not rational.
B) Most people are unaware of the True risk of making certain decisions and believe that a larger wager has higher odds of winning.
C) The luxurious surroundings increase the probability of classical conditioning through mere exposure, which results in behavior that is not rational.
D) The functional risk of gambling is decreased in luxurious surroundings, leading gamblers to wager more.

Question 55

A consumer can recognize a problem as either an opportunity or a need. How should promotions differ between those emphasizing opportunities and those emphasizing needs?

A) Promotions emphasizing needs should attempt to increase the consumer's ideal state, while promotions emphasizing opportunities should simply give locations where the products can be found for purchase.
B) Promotions emphasizing opportunities should attempt to increase the ideal state, while promotions emphasizing needs should give locations where the products can be purchased.
C) Promotions emphasizing needs should increase the ideal state, while opportunity promotions should attempt to decrease the ideal state.
D) Promotions emphasizing needs should decrease the ideal state, while promotions emphasizing opportunities should provide buying locations.

Question 56

A small company, Craig Inventions, produced a pill that had the nutrient value of a healthy breakfast. The company put the product on the market as a substitute for breakfast for busy people. The product failed. Craig Inventions then marketed the pill as a diet product and it became very successful. What does the example best demonstrate?

A) The company did not position the product well. It was difficult to convince consumers that a pill was a breakfast on the superordinate level; however, it did appear to fit appropriately within the superordinate category of diet pills.
B) The company confused a subordinate level with a basic level of categorization, which led to the company's failure to identify the product's most important competitors.
C) The company confused a superordinate level with a subordinate level of categorization.
D) The determinant attributes between diet pills and breakfast were not sufficiently strong.

Question 57

The experiential perspective stresses the importance of learning in decision-making.

Question 58

Ellen stated that she would marry a millionaire. She applied a heuristic in judging men. They must wear expensive shoes and have an expensive automobile. What type of decision rule was Ellen most likely applying in her search for a millionaire husband?

A) lexicographic rule
B) elimination-by-aspects
C) conjunctive rule
D) weighted additive rule

Question 59

Decisions are influenced by the way a problem is posed. This is called framing.

Question 60

Needs are created when the actual state of a customer declines.

Question 61

If a consumer is following the lexicographic rule in her decision making, then she would select a brand that is the best on the most important attribute.

Question 62

Claire remembers that uniquely wonderful taste that can only come from a frosty mug of root beer. As she heads to the soft drink aisle in her grocery store, she decides that today is the day to experience root beer again. Claire has just conducted what is called an internal search for information.

Question 63

Constructive processing is much like a mental budget for the effort we'll need to make different choices.

Question 64

A consumer who falls back on "mental rules of thumb" when making a decision is using heuristics.

Question 65

The concepts of mental accounting, prospect theory, and perceived risk all remind a marketer that the customer's perception is more important than an objective reality when trying to understand consumer behavior.

Question 66

Sylvester is a financially poor college student. He tries to make every purchase decision a wise one because of his economic situation. Based on the types of risk mentioned in the text, Sylvester's primary risk when making decisions would appear to be a psychological risk.

Question 67

Describe the loss-aversion bias and provide an example from your own experience.

Question 68

Cedric runs out of gas. He thinks to himself, How stupid I am! Cedric has just experienced a form of problem recognition that is being dominated by a downward movement in his actual state.

Question 69

What is a decision-making heuristic? Describe two typical heuristics used in consumer decision-making situations.

Question 70

Jonesy will buy only the lowest-priced spark plug when he goes shopping for auto supplies. Because his car is very old, he really doesn't care about any other qualities. Jonesy is most likely using the noncompensatory decision rule.

Question 71

Olga decided to buy a product at her grocery store because of a "surprise special." This is an illustration of the affective decision-making style.

Question 72

Briefly describe and compare the three types of decision-making emphasized in the text.

Question 73

Hirosi ordered the expensive "heart attack special" at his local pub. It came with one-pound hamburger and a full bucket of fries. Halfway through the meal, Hirosi was not feeling well. Yet according to the sunk-cost fallacy, Hirosi will likely continue until he has finished the "special."

Question 74

Alternatives a consumer knows about are his evoked set, and the ones that he actually considers are called his consideration set.

Question 75

Eun-Hee is a buyer of rugs made in Asia. She is extremely knowledgeable about her product line. One of her clients wants to purchase a rug made by a supplier with whom she has had little contact. Eun-Hee is more likely to engage in a broader search for information and gather more opinions from others about this new product than someone who was only moderately knowledgeable about the product line.

Question 76

Unless a purchase decision is risky and/or has high involvement, it is reasonable for a customer to shorten the decision process by limiting the information search and evaluation of alternative stages rather than thoroughly undertaking each step.

Question 77

List and define the five stages of the cognitive decision-making process.

Question 78

Neuromarketing refers to the use of software tools that try to understand and then apply a human decision maker's multiattribute preferences for a product category.

Question 79

The success of a positioning strategy hinges on the marketer's ability to convince the consumer to consider its product within a given category.

Question 80

Define noncompensatory rules used in purchase decision-making. Describe the types of rules that fall under this category.