Attitudinal Consequences of Commitment to Unpleasant Behavior - Research Paper Example

RESEARCH ARTICLE REVIEW ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR by Student’s name Code+ course name Professor’s name University name City, State Date TABLE OF CONTENT Research article review on consumer behavior Rationale of the research Over the years, tentative research indicates that consumers bear a perceived trend or behavior. This behavior is fundamental to manufacturers as it depict the perception with regard to finished products. Branding is among the final stages in the packaging of a product which involves naming. The name of a product has elicited controversy basing on whether the name of a product can provide relevant information as to whether the product is nutritious or not. For instance, a snack bearing the name cupcake will elude many as it would not be as nutritious as an apple. It is inherent that, the ambiguity in naming products will inherently lead consumers to drawing unwarranted inferences that might override the nutritional value of the product. For instance; milk shakes are sold under the illusion of smoothies while sugary drinks are regarded as flavored water, which tends to be misleading as the consumer might infer consumer superiority while it is absent. The research undertakes a duty to unveil as to whether a name is significant to dieters. The research investigates the impact of altering the name of a product on non dieters or dieters with regard to its nutrition capacity, taste, as well as healthfulness. It is worth noting that this controversy is aggravated by the fact that, dieters have a constraint as to the food they consume implying that some foods are forbidden while others are consumable (Fedoroff, Janet & Herman 2007). On the other hand, non dieters lack motivation as their consumption is not limited to any brand of food. It is inherent that there are individuals in modern society who rely on systematic information processing to evaluate foods. The intention of this discussion is to delineate the impact borne by the name of a food type on prevalent consumer behavior. It is inherent that dieters have a constraint eating habit, and this leads to a strict evaluation of foods. This is the predominant reason as to why researchers stick with the behavior of dieters to derive useful inferences indicating that cues such as product name have a grave magnitude on consumer behavior. On the contrary, non dieters in this study depict meaning revelations that cues such as name of the product bear unusually small magnitude on the consumer behavior. There is a perception on consumers that healthfulness of a product is directly related to its tastefulness. The dieters on one hand bear the perception that the lesser the healthy, the lesser the taste. It is paramount that the above parameters bear an immense magnitude on consumer behavior, public policy and food marketing practices and revealing the intricacies therein would materially alleviate the consumer decision making abilities aimed at optimizing nutrition (Deighton 2004). Conceptual framework; theories and hypothesis It is apparent that consumers draw inferences regarding the healthfulness of a product basing on essential product information such as cues. Nutrition information relayed through the packaging or food labels such as nutrient content, objective maize sizes, health benefit claims, and brand names eventually affect the consumer evaluations as pertains the healthfulness of the products. It is worth noting that consumers have a dichotomous analogy in which they use to classify foods into dutiful and incompetent which eventually lead to the nutritional value of foods. For instance; there is a prevalent perception that some snacks which would include raisins are deemed reputable or expedient by consumers given the fact that, their consumption leads to diminishing weight gain. On the other hand, harmful snacks, which would include potato chips are disreputable since they are allied to weight gain. However, nutrition information indicates that, both of the above items have the same number of calories hence the illusions are misleading. It is notable that the name of a food product will more often than not be linked to its healthfulness or unhealthfulness. Salad for instance is healthful while pasta is not and this eventually provides an evaluation cue that seeks to determine the healthfulness of a food product. There are instances when such inferences led to appropriate decision making when the name bestowed on a product was relatively unambiguous. This entails a more direct name of the product or where the product’s name is under regulations but the food and drug administration. However, in the instance that the name of a product has inconsistencies to the nutritional value, consumers derive misleading perception depending on the proficient or inappropriate attribute portrayed by the name of the product (Buia 2003). Dieting tendency is a fundamental element that affects an individual’s judgment as pertains the nutritional value of a food product. It is evident that the dieters and non dieters exhibit different self control and restraint in the food consumption domain. Dieters have eminent self regulatory controls that seek to negate consumption of certain foods while non dieters have no such regulations. It is only prudent for dieters to classify their food products into categories namely; the forbidden and the unforbidden food products. It is intriguing to note that, the dieters tend to rate various unhealthy foods forbidden but fail to use the same criteria to rate healthy foods. This implies that the focus of the dieters mainly seek to reduce consumption of the unhealthy foods which are rated as forbidden as opposed to encouraging the consumption of more healthy foods which would obviously be unforbidden. This practice eventuates to a chronic attention of the forbidden category comprising of unhealthy foods and is likely to lead to a formidable association between food names and unhealthfulness of the food product in the dieter’s memory. This information is readily accessible and requires minimal if any cognitive resources as it is automatic and effortless. In comparison, the non dieters have immense cognitive resources compared to their dieters counterparts whose thought are preoccupied in determining their eating habits and body shape. Research has analyzed that if dieters are subjected to a high cognitive load of distinguishing the adequate eating behavior and to stay in line with the dietary goals, they end up consuming more resources. This implies that, the dieters rely more on the heuristic information when evaluating food products Andrews, J, Richard G & Scot B, (1998).Affirmative information asserts that, dieters are more susceptible to food related cues compared to the non dieters. The cues in this argument include; package and service size, olfactory and cognitive foods are used to perceive the healthfulness of a food product. Based on this revelation, the research poised that, dieters are more likely to rely on the name of a food product to credit or discredit a food product. However, it is worth noting that the prevalence of cues reliance to derive the healthfulness of food products is predominant behavior of the dieters as opposed to the non dieters counter parts. This implies that, there is a significant difference between the dieters and non dieters in terms of perceptions of healthy and unhealthy food products based on the names assigned to such products. In summation, the non dieters exhibit in sensitiveness to changes in the name of the food products. On the other hand, since the dieters rely on heuristic processing to determine and evaluate the food product, a change in the name will resonate to a significant change in perception with regard to whether the product is healthy or otherwise. In essence, there are two reasons as to why non dieters exhume resilience to changes in the name of the food product. First, non dieters have no motive to spontaneously evaluate the healthfulness of a food product. Secondly, non dieters lack implicit associations amongst certain food categories as is evident with the dieters. It is hence worthy to indicate that, differential nutrition inferences will persist emanating from assigning unhealthy food names which in turn affect the taste of the item and eventually the consumption rate. It is also notable that scholarly input to this controversial matter opined that, dietary changes can resonate to taste adaptations. For instance, over time, individuals who are on a low salt diet will depict a preference for low sodium content in food regardless of their past taste preference. In light of these sentiments, dieters seek to avoid unhealthy foods to ensure that they are in line with their perceived goals of weight loss by manipulating the taste of the unhealthy foods as they are less palatable. It is hence worthy to conclude that a dieter’s rate foods assigned less healthy names as less tasty than the non dieter’s counterparts who ideally lack motivation to do so. Taste and food name are two preferential elements that determine the consumption behavior of the dieters. This is because; any changes either in the name or taste fundamentally affect the consumption rate of the dieters, as opposed to the non dieters. Methodology Study 1 Study one relied on sampling a population of 71 individuals of whom 55% were female. The sample population was paid $5 dollar per questionnaire. The main question sought to indicate what a person would desire to partake at their usual restaurant considering that there is a new item in the menu. The new product was either named as the daily pasta special or the daily salad special. Preset information from secondary sources indicates that, the pasta is less healthy food compared to the salad in accordance with the food naming condition. In both scenarios, the food name was accompanied by the ingredients which were similar in both products. The participants were required to evaluate which product was nutritious than the other by indicating in a likerty which element was healthier. 1 represented not healthy while seven meant exceptionally healthy. The participants were required to indicate their consumption behaviors seeking to establish whether they were dieters or not. In addition, the research questions sought to collect the participant’s body mass index, as well as the perceived level of satiation. Results and discussion When the food product is assigned an undesirable name, the dieting tendency depicts a negative trend. However, the opposite analogy was not true as when the food product was assigned a healthy name, the dieting tendency although increased was not significant. The non dieters poised no preference of healthfulness of a product basing on the name. It was evident that, the results by far and large supported the contention. First, perceptions of healthfulness for various items identified by various healthy names do not vary with dieting tendencies. Secondly, dieters are preferential to healthy names than the non dieter counterparts. The results overwhelmingly concurred to the notion that, dieters rely on the product name to evaluate whether or not a food product is healthy. These findings are in line with the explanation that, dieters rely on heuristic findings and food related cues. The non dieters indicate non allegiance to the cues since they bear no magnitude to the decisions of the non dieters (Andrews, Richard & Scot 1998). Study 2 The second study was also a primary research design with a 142 graduate’s population size where 57% are female. The respondents were provided with meaningful information, which include the name, picture, list of ingredients as well a description of the product. The products were classified as either fruit chew or candy chew. Present information revealed that, the candy chew was considered a less healthy product name compared to the fruit chew. The respondents were required to rate the healthfulness of the products on a two item likerty scale. Secondly, the participants were to complete a, cognitive behavioral, dieting tendency scale. The questionnaire also encompassed a manipulated check item that sought to enquire as to whether the participants attended the products ingredients while availing their conclusions. It was vital to assess the satiation emanating from consuming the product. To this effect, the respondents were asked how a 20 piece serving of the product would leave them feeling if consumed. Finally, the respondent’s gender information was collected. Results and discussions The second study illumined that, individual’s process information systematically. This indicated that, the three element interaction between product name, dieting tendency and perceptions regarding a food product’s healthfulness is mitigated for individuals that had a higher affinity for NFC. This implied that, individuals with lower NFC rely on heuristic processing. On the other hand, it was worth noting that non dieter’s evaluations are not in line with NFC as they depict a stringent immunity to name cues when evaluating food products. The study also delineated that; dieters can overcome impaired information processing by resolving to synthesize information in a systematic manner. It is inalienable that, processing nutrition related information in a more systematic approach attenuates the interactive effect emanating from a product’s name, dieting tendency on health related perceptions. The individuals who evaluate the usefulness of a product before attending to the ingredients also known as the top down approach indicated this effect (Brehm 2010). Study 3 134 graduates where 54% were female made up the sample population for the third study. This study was the similar to the first study with the only difference emanating from a manipulated participants approach. The research sought to evaluate whether the respondents used a top down approach or a bottom up approach. The third study sought to identify the dieting tendency through a cognitive behavioral dieting scale. Results and discussion As indicated by the pretested analysis, the top down approach indicated a significant two way interaction between the product name and dieting tendency. This by far and large replicated previous studies which sought to indicate that, individuals evaluate a product’s healthfulness even before assessing the ingredients. It is worth noting that this consistency continued to reveal that, non dieters had no change in perception when a change in name of the food product was effected. On the contrary, the dieters revealed a sharp contrast as an unhealthy name had a significant influence on the perceived healthfulness of the product. This indicted that, an unhealthy name indicated a food product containing low nutritional value. While using the bottoms up approach, it was evident that even after evaluating the healthfulness of a product based on the individual ingredients, non dieters did not exhibit any changes. This implied that, the non dieters do not react basing on cues. In summation, study three exhumed the revelation that, the interaction between the three variables is attenuated by using the bottoms up approach. The study lead to a further affirmation that dieters rely on products name to access the healthfulness of a product. This study was in line with other tentative research undertaken in the food domain concluding that; only systematic processing would alleviate the predominant biases in the food inference making (Drolet, Luce & Itamar 2009). Study 4 The sample size comprised of 168 undergraduates 53% of whom were female. The study was similar in terms of manipulation to that of the second study. This study sought to reaffirm as to whether the taste of the product affection the quantity of consumption. The study used a similar questionnaire to that of study 2. The only difference was the fact that, study 4 has a question that required the respondents to access the tastiness of the product. The experimenter has the responsibility to count the number of food products remaining in the bag to access whether taste affected the consumption rate. Results and discussion The fourth study indicated that, in the instance that dieters perceive a product to have an unhealthy name, the perception will remain unchanged as pertains the nutritional value as well as the taste. In addition, dieters are more often than not linked to greater consumption of a product bearing a healthy name. This study was in line with other scholarly inferences that opined that, taste directly affects the level of consumption. This implies that, the better the taste the higher the consumption. For dieters, taste was subjected to greater change than the non dieter counter parts. This is fundamentally because; dieters have a regulation of food products and humanity has an observed tendency to depict preferential taste preference on the recommended product. In summation, study 4 by far and large affirmed all other studies. This is because; the study indicated that dieters perception emanate from the name of the product. On the other hand, the non dieters do not rely on the name of the product when evaluating the healthfulness of the food product (Beauchamp, Bertino & Karl 2003). General discussion The research sought to delineate how consumption levels would change emanating from an alteration of the name of the product without interfering with any other characteristic. The four studies indicate that, in the instance that foods are assigned unhealthy foods, dieters rate these foods as unhealthy. However, the non dieters since they lack motivation, they remain resilient regardless of the name assigned to a food product (Food and Drug Administration, 2009).It is evident that, once identical products are assigned similar healthy names, both dieters and non dieters rate them as healthy foods. The dieters exhume prevalence in heuristic analysis when evaluating products healthfulness. Through the research analysis, it is prudent to note that, systematic information processing has been the only worthy solution to information biases. It has also been noted that, the health evaluations by far and large affect the taste evaluations and finally the consumption quantity (Aiken & Stephen 1991). Theoretical contributions It is apparent that, this research contributes to the enormous food domain. It assists an array of parties involved understand how consumers react to stimuli. Throughout the research, it is tremendously visible that, dieters rely on heuristic inferences while evaluating foods. It is also outstanding that, dieters carefully scrutinize cues that relate to unhealthiness of a food product rather than scrutinizing the healthy cues. This is evident because; both present and research conclusions overwhelmingly concur that, in the instance a food is accorded an unhealthy name, dieter’s perceived nutritional level decreases significantly. On the contrary, once the food is accorded a healthier name, the increase in nutritional perception is not significant. While the three studies focused on three elements interacting, the fourth study sought to relay information with regard to consumption levels and taste evaluations. It was notable that, unhealthy foods did not depict a change in consumption level. However, a product with a healthy name depicted a change in the level of consumption emphasizing that taste alleviated the consumption level. It is worth noting that, dieters consumed more of the unforbidden products seeking to qualm their desire and justify their eating behaviors (Fitzsimons 2008). Managerial and public policy implications The eminent problem that was unveiled by the research indicates that there is rampant, misguided perception that the naming of a product unveils the healthiness of the food product. To alleviate this misconception that is prevalent with dieters, it is vital for the relevant authorities to mitigate the ambiguity emanating from product naming. Secondly, consumers should rely on systematic information processing as opposed to using heuristic inferences. By using the bottoms up approach, as well as attribute by attribute fashion consumers will alleviate the situation and avoid repurcations that would be detrimental to their health. Coca Cola Company would be a great beneficiary of this endeavor as it has suffered a lawsuit alleged to miscommunication. This is because; the company fails to accurately name its vitamin water brands as they have higher sugar content as indicated on the labels. Implementing the resolutions of this research paper through appropriate naming to alleviate ambiguity would really benefit the organization (Food and Drug Administration, 2009) Limitations of this research The findings of this research are limited to a few elements. For instance; consumer behavior is affected by an array of elements and not only product naming. It would be prudent for scholars and researchers to carry out research that does not confine to a small number of elements other than explore an array of features that would affect consumer behavior Reference list Aiken, S, & Stephen G, 1991, Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions, Newbury Park, CA: Sage. 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