Contrast and Assimilation in Response to Associative Priming: the Case of Cross-Category Brand Alliances

This research focuses on individuals’ attribute inferences at exposure to an associative prime in the form of a cross-category brand alliance. Individual differences in processing as reflected in need for cognition (NFC) moderate the effect of an associative prime on judgments. Low NFC individuals assimilate their judgments of target attributes in the direction of the brand partner, consistent with the ally’s attributes serving as contextual primes. High NFC individuals contrast their target attribute judgments in a direction opposite to the brand partner, consistent with a model in which they used additional resources to adjust for a perceived assimilation bias.

Citation:

Laura Smarandescu, Randall Rose, and Douglas Wedell (2011) ,"Contrast and Assimilation in Response to Associative Priming: the Case of Cross-Category Brand Alliances", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 453-454.