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Making probability judgments of future product failures: The role of mental unpacking
Author(s) -
Biswas Dipayan,
Keller L. Robin,
Burman Bidisha
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1016/j.jcps.2011.03.002
Subject(s) - unpacking , product (mathematics) , event (particle physics) , psychology , mental model , social psychology , mathematics , philosophy , linguistics , physics , geometry , quantum mechanics , cognitive science
When consumers mentally unpack (i.e., imagine) the reasons for product failure, their probability judgments of future product failures are higher than when no mental unpacking is undertaken. However, increasing the level of mental unpacking does not lead to monotonically increasing effects on probability judgments but results in inverted U‐shaped relationships. Using a two‐factor structure, we propose that when consumers undertake mental unpacking, there will be two conflicting processes; while imagining causes for an event will lead to greater perceived probability, the greater difficulty in generating reasons for an event will lead to lower perceived probability.