Will I Like a “Medium” Pillow? Another Look At Constructed and Inherent Preferences

It is argue that the conclusion that consumer preferences are inherently constructive has been overstated. Much of the evidence for construction can be explained based on a tendency to gravitate to relative vales, and some key demonstrations involved rather unusual tasks and “benefited” from the effects they were demonstrating. A nonconstructive, pre-contextual concept of inherent preferences is proposed, suggesting that it is often meaningful and useful to assume that people are non/receptive to object configurations, including those that may not yet exist. Inherent preferences are most influential when reference points and forces of construction are less salient, most notably, when objects are experienced.



Citation:

Itamar Simonson (2008) ,"Will I Like a “Medium” Pillow? Another Look At Constructed and Inherent Preferences", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 35, eds. Angela Y. Lee and Dilip Soman, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 166-168.

Authors

Itamar Simonson, Stanford University



Volume

NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 35 | 2008



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