Product Information Presented As Ratios and the Role of Consumer Processing Mode: Can Analytical Processing Lead to More Biased Judgments For Certain Ratio Formats?

Consumers often encounter information in ratio formats, such as detergent usage information in "loads per container" (LPC) or exercise routine information in "calories burned per minute" (CPM). The results of three experiments reveal how such ratio formats can influence consumer judgments while computing averages of multiple pieces of data. The normative algorithm for computing averages of data in LPC or CPM formats is the harmonic mean, but consumers tend to compute the arithmetic mean, resulting in biased judgments. Also, paradoxically, analytical (versus heuristic) processing can accentuate inaccurate judgments. Similar paradoxical effects are observed for high (versus low) cognitive capacity.

Citation:

Dipayan Biswas, Patricia Norberg, and Donald Lehmann (2011) ,"Product Information Presented As Ratios and the Role of Consumer Processing Mode: Can Analytical Processing Lead to More Biased Judgments For Certain Ratio Formats?", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 436.