Of Rats and Brands: A Learning-and-Memory Perspective on Consumer Decisions
30 Pages Posted: 6 Apr 2005
Date Written: November 4, 2004
Abstract
When consumers evaluate or choose products, they rely on what they have learned and can remember about those products' characteristics, such as brand names, ingredients, or features. Several experiments suggest that even rather sophisticated patterns of product evaluation and choice can be explained by simple associative learning-and-memory processes, which show similarities to those found in rats, dogs, and other animals. Strategic implications for brand management and public policy, theoretical implications for the study of human learning-and-memory, and directions for future research are outlined.
Keywords: Brand management, brand equity, co-branding, ingredient branding, brand extension, consumer decision making, learning, memory, consumer behavior, consumer psychology
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