3. Dimofte & Yalch (2011): The mere association effect and brand evaluations Flashcards
everything that we know is stored in our brain through
nodes of association
association networks are created through
experience
Memory associations
how does this work?
when presented with ambiguous (onduidelijke) information in the form of concepts that share some associations, individuals may think about many possible references and rely on contextual cues to narrow their thoughts to the intended one
mere association effect =
the implicit transfer of meanings or affect, consumers are not aware of this process
this study shows that the transfer can be implicit but still
affect explicit and implicit brand associations and evaluations
its underlying process involves 2
both a failure to ignore unintended automatic associations as well as familiarity-based variations in the activation of associations
associations are implicit, we are not aware of them
it is important that these concepts are equally familiar
when are mere association effects stronggest?
are more likely among concepts that are part of distinct categories than among categorically similar concepts
memory knowledge consists of connection between
the to-be-learned material and the concepts already know
Moses Illusion
‘how many animals of each kind did Moses take on the Ark?’ and answer ‘two’
this incorrect response occurs despite the fact that these individuals know well that it was Noah who took animals on the Ark, non Moses
Moses and Noah share single names that prime biblical associations such as the Old Testament, large bodies of water, and saving people/beings
this apparently primes individuals to link their unique associations
secondary asscioatons
Evaluative learning is not dependent on the
experience of a event, but can work through associative chain with the concept categories involved.
Attitudes spreading via secondary
associations may influence
consumer response to marketing
stimuli in the absence of conscious processing.
mere associations may operate in both …. and …… processes, and that both evaluative and affective transfers can be mediated by ……
mere associations may operate in both cognitive and affective processes, and that both evaluative and affective transfers can be mediated by common associative nodes
mere associations may operate in both …. and …… processes, and that both evaluative and affective transfers can be mediated by ……
mere associations may operate in both cognitive and affective processes, and that both evaluative and affective transfers can be mediated by common associative nodes
H1 if abc
If A–B–C, priming B is sufficient to create an implicit transfer of
secondary cognitive associations to A from C for consumers with
easy access to A, B, and C.
H2 if abc
Not only knowledge but also affect can be transferred via an indirect path.
If A–B–C, priming B is sufficient for positive or negative valence
associated with C to become implicitly associated with A for
consumers with easy access to A, B, and C.
study 1 experimetn design
:A = clinic (negative valence), B = mayo, C = mayonnaise
A = center, B = Cleveland, C = mayonnaise
The study involved a 2 (accessibility of prime associations: high-Mayo Clinic
or low-Cleveland Center) × 2 (advertisement: perceptually related-
mayonnaise or perceptually unrelated ketchup) full factorial.
study 1a role of accessibility as a moderator of the mere association effect:
manipulated this variable by having participants first read a 4-paragraph general description of a medical institution with patents with complicated diseases - negative association (the Mayo clinic or the Cleveland Center)
study 1a what did they do and resulst
after 10 minutes of tasks, participants were exposed to an ad consisting of pictures of three different packages of either mayonnaise or ketchup
attitudes of mayonnaise dropped in the case of Mayo Clinic
positive association to the Mayo Clinic
Study 1b: implicit association test design:
accessibility: Mayo Clinic vs. Cleveland Center
priming: mayonnaise vs. ketchups ads
then: associations between mayo/ketchup vs. unhealthy/healthy
study 1b method + result
participants under time pressure - respond to a series of words after looking at a picture of either mayonnaise or ketchup
participants were much weaker to associate the word mayonnaise to the word unhealthy when they read about the Mayo clinic instead of the Cleveland clinic before
Study 1c: association with a logically unrelated visual prime
uuitleg
Trojan is also a condom brand, so associated to sex
Saints is not related to sex
the Trojans were liked much more when they were primed with the number 69, the effect is reversed for the Saints
Studies 1a, 1b, and 1c showed that
a perceptual link could result in a transfer of relevant thoughts (i.e., unhealthy or sexual) that can alter the valence of the target product because of the negative or positive valence of the transferred association
Study 2: valence associations
what they wanted to study?
affective transfer
if priming a word with a negative, positive or natural valence would affect participants approach of avoidance of a specific product, associated with a frog or a boy
study 2 method and reulsr
could choose between a bottle of wine with either a picture of a frog or a boy
control: Airplane —> participants choose ‘Frog’ 46% of time
positive: Kermit —> participants chose ‘Frog’ 89% of time
neutral: Frog —> participants chose ‘Frog’ 92% of time
negative: Warts —> participants chose ‘Frog’ 73% of time
H3
H3. The mere association effect is inhibited when A and C are
part of the same category (i.e., are directly associated explicitly
as in A–C as well as A–B–C.
study 3a hypothesis:
a property transfer from the icy background will emerge for Coke in terms of the brand eliciting colder feelings (an out-of-category, metaphorical sense) but not in terms of its being perceived as bottled at lower temperatures (a within-category, literal connotation)
study 3a result
the contrast on the perceptions of Coke’s bottling temperature (relative to Pepsi) found no difference based on the background but a significant effect emerged in terms of the warmth of respondents’ feelings towards Coke
study 3b method
evaluation of Delta bathroom appliances company was not influenced by the priming, the Delta airline company was
the beverage service speed on Delta Airlines flights was judged to be quicker after exposure to a prime mentioning the fast waters of a river delta compared to a prime mentioning a river mouth. However, for a within-category relationship, speed perceptions did not improve for the Delta faucet after exposure to the fast waters of the Mississippi Delta, but they in fact dropped
