Contrast and Assimilation Effects of Processing Fluency

When perceptually difficult-to-read information (e.g., a magazine article in difficult font) precedes easy-to-read information about a product, the subjective ease of processing experienced in reading the product’s information increases. This change in subjective ease leads to more favorable evaluations of it. Three experiments identify whether this contrast effect on judgment of the second product occurs because evaluations of the content described by the difficult-to-read material are used as a basis for evaluation. Or, if the effect is perceptual in nature and participants are unaware of the influence that fluency of previously encountered information has on subsequent evaluations.



Citation:

Hao Shen, Yuwei Jiang, and Rashmi Adaval (2009) ,"Contrast and Assimilation Effects of Processing Fluency", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 8-11.

Authors

Hao Shen, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
Yuwei Jiang, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, China
Rashmi Adaval, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, China



Volume

NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36 | 2009



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