Exam 13: Decision Making Ii: Alternative Evaluation and Choice

A consumer researcher wants to understand the attributes that guide consumers' preferences when deciding among different brands of laundry detergent. She asks consumers to compare alternatives across levels of attributes, such as price, gentleness, and scent. These comparisons allow the researcher to determine the expected utility associated with each alternative. Which type of analysis is the researcher conducting?

The ability of a consumer to make accurate judgments when evaluating alternatives is influenced by his or her ability to perceive differences in levels of stimuli between two options.

Relevant criteria are the evaluative criteria that are related to the actual choice that is made.

The two major types of rules that consumers use when selecting products are _____.

Evaluations are generally more relevant and meaningful at the superordinate levels of product categories.

What are product categories? Give an example of superordinate and subordinate product categories.

_____ are mental assessments of the presence of attributes and the benefits associated with those attributes.

Underlying attributes are sometimes referred to as _____ because they are often perceived only during consumption.

Using which rule does the consumer set minimum mental cutoff points for various features and rejects any product that fails to meet or exceed this cutoff point across all features?

One way to determine the criteria that consumers use when judging products is to directly ask them through surveys.

Which type of attributes are not readily apparent and can only be learned through experience with the product?

ENERGY BAR SCENARIO Product nutrition labels provide considerable information for consumers. For example, a consumer deciding among the many brands of energy bars might compare three offerings: Clif Bar, Larabar, and ProBar. The most important attribute for this consumer is protein content, followed by calories, taste, sugar, price and fat content. This consumer would like an energy bar with high-protein content but low in calories, sugar, fat, and price that also tastes good. Information is easily found on nutrition labels for all but the taste attribute. This information is summarized in the following table: -Refer to Energy Bar Scenario. Calories, protein content, and sugar are all examples of product _____.

Better picture quality is a(n) _____ of a high-definition television.

Which of the following describes the perceived relationship between attributes of products?

Consumers can combine decision rules to arrive at a final solution.

The accuracy of a consumer's evaluation depends heavily on the quality of judgments that they make.

Which type of decision rule allows consumers to select products that may perform poorly on one attribute by compensating for the poor performance by good performance on another attribute?

Which type of quality is based on consumer perceptions?

When absolute rules are used, strict guidelines are set prior to selection, and any option that does not meet the specifications is eliminated from consideration.

Subordinate attributes are not readily apparent and can only be learned through experience with the product.