habitual problem solving

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Consumer Motivation and Involvement

15 Involvement Levels

Depending on a consumer’s experience and knowledge, some consumers may be able to make quick purchase decisions and other consumers may need to get information and be more involved in the decision process before making a purchase. The level of involvement reflects how personally important or interested you are in consuming a product and how much information you need to make a decision. The level of involvement in buying decisions may be considered a continuum from decisions that are fairly routine (consumers are not very involved) to decisions that require extensive thought and a high level of involvement. Whether a decision is low, high, or limited, involvement varies by consumer, not by product.

Low Involvement Consumer Decision Making

At some point in your life you may have considered products you want to own (e.g. luxury or novelty items), but like many of us, you probably didn’t do much more than ponder their relevance or suitability to your life. At other times, you’ve probably looked at dozens of products, compared them, and then decided not to purchase any one of them. When you run out of products such as milk or bread that you buy on a regular basis, you may buy the product as soon as you recognize the need because you do not need to search for information or evaluate alternatives . As Nike would put it, you “just do it.” Low-involvement decisions are, however, typically products that are relatively inexpensive and pose a low risk to the buyer if a mistake is made in purchasing them.

Consumers often engage in routine response behaviour when they make low-involvement decisions — that is, they make automatic purchase decisions based on limited information or information they have gathered in the past. For example, if you always order a Diet Coke at lunch, you’re engaging in routine response behaviour. You may not even think about other drink options at lunch because your routine is to order a Diet Coke, and you simply do it. Similarly, if you run out of Diet Coke at home, you may buy more without any information search.

Some low-involvement purchases are made with no planning or previous thought. These buying decisions are called impulse buying . While you’re waiting to check out at the grocery store, perhaps you see a magazine with a notable celebrity on the cover and buy it on the spot simply because you want it. You might see a roll of tape at a check-out stand and remember you need one or you might see a bag of chips and realize you’re hungry or just want them. These are items that are typically low-involvement decisions. Low involvement decisions aren’t necessarily products purchased on impulse, although they can be.

High Involvement Consumer Decision Making

By contrast, high-involvement decisions carry a higher risk to buyers if they fail. These are often more complex purchases that may carry a high price tag, such as a house, a car, or an insurance policy. These items are not purchased often but are relevant and important to the buyer. Buyers don’t engage in routine response behaviour when purchasing high-involvement products. Instead, consumers engage in what’s called extended problem solving where they spend a lot of time comparing different aspects such as the features of the products, prices, and warranties.

High-involvement decisions can cause buyers a great deal of post-purchase dissonance, also known as cognitive dissonance which is a form of anxiety consumers experience if they are unsure about their purchases or if they had a difficult time deciding between two alternatives. Companies that sell high-involvement products are aware that post purchase dissonance can be a problem. Frequently, marketers try to offer consumers a lot of supporting information about their products, including why they are superior to competing brands and why the consumer won’t be disappointed with their purchase afterwards. Salespeople play a critical role in answering consumer questions and providing extensive support during and after the purchasing stage.

Limited Problem Solving

Limited problem solving falls somewhere between low-involvement (routine) and high-involvement (extended problem solving) decisions. Consumers engage in limited problem solving when they already have some information about a good or service but continue to search for a little more information. Assume you need a new backpack for a hiking trip. While you are familiar with backpacks, you know that new features and materials are available since you purchased your last backpack. You’re going to spend some time looking for one that’s decent because you don’t want it to fall apart while you’re traveling and dump everything you’ve packed on a hiking trail. You might do a little research online and come to a decision relatively quickly. You might consider the choices available at your favourite retail outlet but not look at every backpack at every outlet before making a decision. Or you might rely on the advice of a person you know who’s knowledgeable about backpacks. In some way you shorten or limit your involvement and the decision-making process.

Distinguishing Between Low Involvement and High Involvement

Products, such as chewing gum, which may be low-involvement for many consumers often use advertising such as commercials and sales promotions such as coupons to reach many consumers at once. Companies also try to sell products such as gum in as many locations as possible. Many products that are typically high-involvement such as automobiles may use more personal selling to answer consumers’ questions. Brand names can also be very important regardless of the consumer’s level of purchasing involvement. Consider a low-versus high-involvement decision — say, purchasing a tube of toothpaste versus a new car. You might routinely buy your favorite brand of toothpaste, not thinking much about the purchase (engage in routine response behaviour), but not be willing to switch to another brand either. Having a brand you like saves you “search time” and eliminates the evaluation period because you know what you’re getting.

When it comes to the car, you might engage in extensive problem solving but, again, only be willing to consider a certain brand or brands (e.g. your evoke set for automobiles). For example, in the 1970s, American-made cars had such a poor reputation for quality that buyers joked that a car that’s not foreign is “crap.” The quality of American cars is very good today, but you get the picture. If it’s a high-involvement product you’re purchasing, a good brand name is probably going to be very important to you. That’s why the manufacturers of products that are typically high-involvement decisions can’t become complacent about the value of their brands.

Ways to Increase Involvement Levels

Involvement levels – whether they are low, high, or limited – vary by consumer and less so by product. A consumer’s involvement with a particular product will depend on their experience and knowledge, as well as their general approach to gathering information before making purchasing decisions. In a highly competitive marketplace, however, brands are always vying for consumer preference, loyalty, and affirmation. For this reason, many brands will engage in marketing strategies to increase exposure, attention, and relevance; in other words, brands are constantly seeking ways to motivate consumers with the intention to increase consumer involvement with their products and services.

Some of the different ways marketers increase consumer involvement are: customization; engagement; incentives; appealing to hedonic needs; creating purpose; and, representation.

1. Customization

Person's feet, wearing two different coloured sneakers reflecting a consumer's unique personal preference.

With Share a Coke, Coca-Cola made a global mass customization implementation that worked for them. The company was able to put the labels on millions of bottles in order to get consumers to notice the changes to the coke bottle in the aisle. People also felt a kinship and moment of recognition once they spotted their names or a friend’s name. Simultaneously this personalization also worked because of the printing equipment that could make it happen and there are not that many first names to begin with. These factors lead the brand to be able to roll this out globally ( Mass Customization #12 , 2017).

2. Engagement

Have you ever heard the expression, “content is king”? Without a doubt, engaging, memorable, and unique marketing content has a lasting impact on consumers. The marketing landscape is a noisy one, polluted with an infinite number of brands advertising extensively to consumers, vying for a fraction of our attention. Savvy marketers recognize the importance of sparking just enough consumer interest so they become motivated to take notice and process their marketing messages. Marketers who create content (that isn’t just about sales and promotion) that inspires, delights, and even serves an audience’s needs are unlocking the secret to engagement. And engagement leads to loyalty.

There is no trick to content marketing, but the brands who do it well know that stepping away – far away – from the usual sales and promotion lines is critical. While content marketing is an effective way to increase sales, grow a brand, and create loyalty, authenticity is at its core.

Bodyform and Old Spice are two brands who very cleverly applied just the right amount of self-deprecating humour to their content marketing that not only engaged consumers, but had them begging for more!

Content as a Key Driver to Consumer Engagement

Engaging customers through content might involve a two-way conversation online, or an entire campaign designed around a single customer comment.

In 2012, Richard Neill posted a message to Bodyform’s Facebook page calling out the brand for lying to and deceiving its customers and audiences for years. Richard went on to say that Bodyform’s advertisements failed to truly depict any sense of reality and that in fact he felt set up by the brand to experience a huge fall. Bodyform, or as Richard addressed the company, “you crafty bugger,” is a UK company that produces and sells feminine protection products to menstruating girls and women (Bodyform, n.d.). Little did Richard know that when he posted his humorous rant to Bodyform that the company would respond by creating a video speaking directly at Richard and coming “clean” on all their deceitful attempts to make having period look like fun. When Bodyform’s video went viral, a brand that would have otherwise continued to blend into the background, captured the attention of a global audience.

Xavier Izaguirre says that, “[a]udience involvement is the process and act of actively involving your target audience in your communication mix, in order to increase their engagement with your message as well as advocacy to your brand.” Bodyform gained global recognition by turning one person’s rant into a viral publicity sensation (even though Richard was not the customer in this case).

Despite being a household name, in the years leading up to Old Spice’s infamous “The Man Your Man Should Smell Like” campaign, sales were flat and the brand had failed to strike a chord in a new generation of consumers. Ad experts at Wieden + Kennedy produced a single 30-second ad (featuring a shirtless and self-deprecating Isaiah Mustafa) that played around the time of the 2010 Super Bowl game. While the ad quickly gained notoriety on YouTube, it was the now infamous, “ Response Campaign ” that made the campaign a leader of its time in audience engagement.

3. Incentives

Person's hand, holding a wallet that contains a Starbucks card.

Customer loyalty and reward programs successfully motivate consumers in the decision making process and reinforce purchasing behaviours ( a feature of instrumental conditioning ). The rationale for loyalty and rewards programs is clear: the cost of acquiring a new customer runs five to 25 times more than selling to an existing one and existing customers spend 67 per cent more than new customers (Bernazzani, n.d.). From the customer perspective, simple and practical reward programs such as Beauty Insider – a point-accumulation model used by Sephora – provides strong incentive for customer loyalty (Bernazzani, n.d.).

4. Appealing to Hedonic Needs

Photo of exotic tropic destination in the Maldives.

A particularly strong way to motivate consumers to increase involvement levels with a product or service is to appeal to their hedonic needs. Consumers seek to satisfy their need for fun, pleasure, and enjoyment through luxurious and rare purchases. In these cases, consumers are less likely to be price sensitive (“it’s a treat”) and more likely to spend greater processing time on the marketing messages they are presented with when a brand appeals to their greatest desires instead of their basic necessities.

5. Creating Purpose

Millennial and Digital Native consumers are profoundly different than those who came before them. Brands, particularly in the consumer goods category, who demonstrate (and uphold) a commitment to sustainability grow at a faster rate (4 per cent) than those who do not (1 per cent) (“Consumer-Goods…”, 2015). In a 2015 poll, 30,000 consumers were asked how much the environment, packaging, price, marketing, and organic or health and wellness claims had on their consumer-goods’ purchase decisions, and to no surprise, 66 per cent said they would be willing to pay more for sustainable brands. (Nielsen, 2015). A rising trend and important factor to consider in evaluating consumer involvement levels and ways to increase them. So while cruelty-free, fair trade, and locally-sourced may all seem like buzz words to some, they are non-negotiable decision-making factors to a large and growing consumer market.

6. Representation

Various Vogue magazine covers featuring models such as Rianna.

Celebrity endorsement can have a profound impact on consumers’ overall attitude towards a brand. Consumers who might otherwise have a “neutral” attitude towards a brand (neither positive nor negative) may be more noticed to take notice of a brand’s messages and stimuli if a celebrity they admire is the face of the brand.

When sportswear and sneaker brand Puma signed Rihanna on to not just endorse the brand but design an entire collection, sales soared in all the regions and the brand enjoyed a new “revival” in the U.S. where Under Armour and Nike had been making significant gains (“Rihanna Designs…”, 2017). “Rihanna’s relationship with us makes the brand actual and hot again with young consumers,” said chief executive Bjorn Gulden (“Rihanna Designs…”, 2017).

Media Attributions

The image of two different coloured sneakers is by Raka Rachgo on Unsplash .
The image of a coffee card in a wallet is by Rebecca Aldama on Unsplash .
The image of an island resort in tropical destination is by Ishan @seefromthesky on Unsplash .
The image of a stack of glossy magazine covers is by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash .

Text Attributions

The introductory paragraph; sections on “Low Involvement Consumer Decision Making”, “High Involvement Consumer Decision Making”, and “Limited Problem Solving” are adapted from Principles of Marketing which is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

About Us . (n.d.). Body Form. Retrieved February 2, 2019, from https://www.bodyform.co.uk/about-us/.

Kalamut, A. (2010, August 18). Old Spice Video “Case Study” . YouTube [Video]. https://youtu.be/Kg0booW1uOQ.

Bernazzani, S. (n.d.). Customer Loyalty: The Ultimate Guide [Blog post]. https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-loyalty.

Bodyform Channel. (2012, October 16). Bodyform Responds: The Truth . YouTube [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpy75q2DDow&feature=youtu.be.

Consumer-Goods’ Brands That Demonstrate Commitment to Sustainability Outperform Those That Don’t. (2015, October 12). Nielsen [Press Release]. https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/press-room/2015/consumer-goods-brands-that-demonstrate-commitment-to-sustainability-outperform.html.

Curtin, M. (2018, March 30). 73 Per Cent of Millennials are Willing to Spend More Money on This 1 Type of Product . Inc. https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/73-percent-of-millennials-are-willing-to-spend-more-money-on-this-1-type-of-product.html.

Izaguirre, X. (2012, October 17). How are brands using audience involvement to increase reach and engagement? EConsultancy. https://econsultancy.com/how-are-brands-using-audience-involvement-to-increase-reach-and-engagement/.

Rihanna Designs Help Lift Puma Sportswear Sales . (2017, October 24). Reuters. https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/rihanna-designs-help-lift-puma-sportswear-sales.

Tarver, E. (2018, October 20). Why the ‘Share a Coke’ Campaign Is So Successful . Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/100715/what-makes-share-coke-campaign-so-successful.asp.

Low involvement decision making typically reflects when a consumer who has a low level of interest and attachment to an item. These items may be relatively inexpensive, pose low risk (can be exchanged, returned, or replaced easily), and not require research or comparison shopping.

This concept describes when consumers make low-involvement decisions that are "automatic" in nature and reflect a limited amount of information the consumer has gathered in the past.

A type of purchase that is made with no previous planning or thought.

High involvement decision making typically reflects when a consumer who has a high degree of interest and attachment to an item. These items may be relatively expensive, pose a high risk to the consumer (can't be exchanged or refunded easily or at all), and require some degree of research or comparison shopping.

Also known as "consumer remorse" or "consumer guilt", this is an unsettling feeling consumers may experience post-purchase if they feel their actions are not aligned with their needs.

Consumers engage in limited problem solving when they have some information about an item, but continue to gather more information to inform their purchasing decision. This falls between "low" and "high" involvement on the involvement continuum.

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Module 4: Identifying and Understanding Customer Behavior

Habitual decision-making, learning objectives.

Describe how a retailer can satisfy the needs of habitual decision making customers by choosing to act in ways that increase loyalty

As you read, some consumers have an extended problem solving mindset, putting a great deal of effort into their purchase decisions. Others have a limited problem solving mindset, putting in little consideration because their purchase is trivial. Still, there is another way that consumers arrive at their purchase decisions and that is routinized response behavior or by habit.

These consumers don’t think about their purchase–not because it’s of low importance or trivial, but because they have already arrived at a conclusion about which product or brand will best meet their needs. They don’t need to dedicate more thought or consideration because their needs are being met (or exceeded). From a marketers perspective, this is ideal because the investments in marketing activity has paid off in the acquisition and retention of this customer, reflected in their on-going loyalty.

Customer loyalty results when a consumer has consistent, positive experiences with a product, brand, or firm over time. That is, it is on-going and reflects the breadth of value in all interactions, including in exchange, use, and experience.

Specifically, does the product or brand or firm provide value equal to or greater than what I pay for it (value in exchange)? Is the toothpaste worth the $3.49 I pay for it or more to me? Does it provide value to me in the form of the benefits I seek, when I use it (value in use)? Does the toothpaste freshen breath, whiten teeth and protect against gingivitis? And, does it provide value to me in how I experience it, which includes how I shop for and obtain it (value in experience)? Can I easily find this toothpaste where I shop in the quantities I want? Thus, customer loyalty is the result of a firm delivering customer value in all forms, meeting and exceeding consumer expectations over time.

Practice Questions

Habitual Decision-Making. Authored by : Patrick Williams. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

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Front Psychol

Cognitive Style: Time to Experiment

Evidence exists that individuals possess habitual ways of approaching tasks and situations associated with particular patterns in cognitive processes including decision making, problem solving, perception, and attention. Such approaches are conceptualized as cognitive style , a concept first formally introduced by Allport almost eight decades ago and defined as an individual's typical or habitual mode of problem solving, thinking, perceiving, and remembering (Allport, 1937 ). The popularity of the concept has since continued to grow, leading to a profusion of applied research and commercial applications in such areas as business, management, and education. Such levels of activity have led to the emergence of more than 70 identifiable models and measures of cognitive (and learning) style (Coffield et al., 2004 ) and a plethora of related terminology, constructs, and measures of style. Consequently, the field of style has become wildly confusing to both researchers and practitioners, and, perhaps justifiably, has received weighty criticism, most notably from Coffield et al. ( 2004 ). Following a broad and detailed systematic review of the most popular models and construct measures, Coffield et al. ( 2004 ), together with others (e.g., Curry, 1987 ; Cassidy, 2004 ), issued a damning critique of style, noting the failure of the field to offer a consensus on definitions and terminology, construct models and underlying theory, and valid and reliable construct measurement. Such concerns present a major obstacle for continued research and practice in the field.

Cognitive style focuses on the tradition of identification of styles based on individual differences in cognitive and perceptual functioning (Grigorenko and Sternberg, 1995 ). As is common in many areas of psychology where there is a need and desire to measure unobservable latent constructs, the majority of style assessment methods rely on self-report measures rather than direct objective observation of style-related behavior. The limitations of self-report questionnaire-based measures are well-documented (e.g., Rayner and Riding, 1997 ) and are particularly pertinent to cognitive style where the prevalent approach to measurement remains single method self-report questionnaires (Cools, 2009 ). Study designs that utilize multiple methods, including psychometric measures of style and more direct measures of style-based behavior, offer greater potential for validating existing style constructs and construct measures (Cassidy, 2012 ). However, although the application of a mixed methods approach has the potential to allay some of the limitations associated with self-report questionnaires (Spratt et al., 2004 ), this approach has been largely overlooked in cognitive styles research (Cools, 2009 ). One promising area is cognitive neuroscience, with initial findings providing evidence suggesting that cognitive style is directly linked to brain function and behavior. As cognitive style is assumed to reflect underlying cognitive function, evidence linking specific patterns of neural activity to self-report measures of cognitive style would support the validity of such psychometric instruments.

One of the first studies to provide evidence of such a link demonstrated that preferences for visual or verbal cognitive styles were correlated with activity in anatomically and functionally distinct brain regions associated with encoding pictorial (fusiform gyrus) and phonological (supramarginal gyrus; SMG) stimuli, respectively (Kraemer et al., 2009 ). These findings suggest that individuals who prefer to adopt a visual cognitive style engage in mental imagery of word-based stimuli, and those with a preference for a verbal style show a tendency to verbally encode stimuli even when presented with pictorial information. Further, the results suggest that modality-specific cortical activity underlies processing in visual and verbal cognitive styles.

In a more recent neuroimaging study, Shin and Kim ( 2015 ) adopted a modified Stroop task (Stroop, 1935 ) to investigate whether individual differences in cognitive style influence, through differential responding to distracting information, increases in neural conflict adaptation in brain regions associated with cognitive control. It was evident that the greater the preference for a verbal cognitive style, the greater the conflict adaptation effect. This was especially true for congruent trial types. Furthermore, functional magnetic resonance imaging indicated increased neural conflict adaptation effects in task-relevant brain networks as the preference for a verbal cognitive style increased, suggesting that flexible cognitive control is associated with an individuals' preference for cognitive style (Shin and Kim, 2015 ).

Whilst these neuroimaging studies are among the first to provide evidence linking preferences in cognitive style to differing patterns of neural activity, they have adopted the visualizer–verbalizer dimension to characterize cognitive and perceptual processing. Research focusing on this characterization of style does not take account of other approaches to cognitive and perceptual processing that reflect the second superordinate orthogonal dimension of cognitive style, wholist-analyst , proposed by Riding and Cheema ( 1991 ), that includes field-dependent/field-independent (Witkin, 1962 ) and intuition-analysis (Allinson and Hayes, 1996 ) approaches. Differences in preferences along these dimensions may impact aspects of cognition including visual attention such that eye-tracking and visual search experiments may offer an additional avenue for styles research.

Eye-tracking provides insight into the spatial and temporal allocation of visual attention and thus holds promise for (1) assessing how cognitive style may relate to which information is prioritized during a visual task, and (2) how cognitive style influences the moment-by-moment process of task completion. Tsianos et al. ( 2009 ) demonstrated that visualizers looked more at images whilst verbalizers focussed more on text. Mawad et al. ( 2015 ) found that field-independent and field-dependant scores related to which details were prioritized when inspecting food labels. Such studies provide useful behavioral validation for different models of cognitive style in relation to attentional focus. However, we propose that greater insight can be gained by assessing the location and temporal order of eye fixations during task completion, as these can reveal how strategy unfolds over time. This is possible because evidence shows that eye fixations pick up information as and when it is used for task completion (Hayhoe and Ballard, 2005 ). Within cognitive science many studies have applied eye-tracking to understand strategy across a range of tasks, including mental rotation (Just and Carpenter, 1976 ), visual search (Zelinsky et al., 1997 ), and comparative visual search (Galpin and Underwood, 2005 ). However, the focus of this work has been on general patterns in strategy aggregated across participants, rather than individual differences. For example, Galpin and Underwood ( 2005 ) demonstrated that observers searched for differences between two pictures by making frequent point-by-point comparisons until detecting a difference, upon which the focus of attention narrowed and fixation durations increased. However, no attempt was made to assess how this strategy varied across participants. We therefore propose that a fruitful line of enquiry would be to assess how such strategies vary in accord with models of cognitive style.

The possibility of combining neuroimaging and/or eye-tracking with visual search paradigms offers a promising avenue for cognitive style research. Visual search tasks can investigate the allocation of attention during task completion (i.e., Galpin and Underwood, 2005 ; Bendall and Thompson, 2015 ) and can be combined with neuroimaging techniques (Bendall and Thompson, 2016 ). Novel non-invasive neuroimaging techniques such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) have been successfully utilized in a range of cognitive science disciplines (e.g., emotion science; Bendall et al., 2016 ), and offer a number of advantages including reduced cost, the ability to be employed in a wide range of tasks (e.g., during exercise; Lucas et al., 2012 ) and enabling data collection from groups otherwise difficult to access such as infants (Franceschini et al., 2007 ) and clinical populations (Matsubara et al., 2014 ). These benefits allow for a greater range of tasks to be investigated including those taking place outside of the laboratory. Cognitive styles may be more evident during natural behavior than laboratory tasks, thus portable eye-trackers and fNIRS offer great scope for future research. Further, techniques that do not rely on verbal report could better reveal the development of styles through childhood. Adopting such mixed methods approaches utilizing visual search tasks, eye-tracking, as well as neuroimaging and electrophysiological approaches allows the simultaneous investigation of both overt strategy measures and underlying neural processing, and will aid in revealing the contributions of both strategy and information preference in determining task performance. For instance, it has been argued that the use of event-related potentials can help to reveal the precise information relating to the time course of mental processing that occurs immediately after stimulus (or task) onset (Vanlessen et al., 2016 ).

We also argue that future cognitive styles research would benefit from not only adopting a mixed method experimental approach, but also from investigating other dimensions of cognitive style beyond the visualizer–verbalizer dimension. For instance, it has been shown that individual differences in brain structure and function are related to preferences in field-dependence/field-independence (Hao et al., 2013 ) and that field-dependence/field-independence is related to the type of information that is prioritized (Mawad et al., 2015 ). However, research adopting mixed methods to investigate wholist-analytic dimension of cognitive style is limited.

Whilst some authors argue that cognitive styles are more dynamic than static, so can change or alter (Zang, 2013 ), others have presented evidence suggesting longer term stability and resistance to modification (Clapp, 1993 ). Thus, the question of how flexibly a style can be adapted if it is not working, or if a particular mode of task performance is prevented, is not fully resolved. For instance, what if preference for an analytic approach to visual search is discouraged or leads to poorer performance? We argue that an understanding of the underlying neural activity and overt attentional activity will allow the development of paradigms to disrupt preferred cognitive styles and thus assess their flexibility. Initial work in this area has begun to demonstrate that disruption of cognitive style-related brain activity can impact behavior. Targeted transcranial stimulation of the SMG was able to impair performance on a task requiring verbal processing where the scale of this effect was predicted by an individuals' level of verbal cognitive style (Kraemer et al., 2014 ). One outcome of this line of enquiry may be that, for most people in many scenarios, cognitive styles are habitual modes of processing which can be adapted or over-ridden depending on context. The ultimate aim of validation work in the area of cognitive styles should be to measure behavior in ecologically meaningful activities and settings. This is important as it is plausible that abstract laboratory tasks may encourage participants to focus unnaturally on their own performance leading to artificial behavior that masks habitual cognitive style. Fortunately, “in-the-field” studies are becoming more possible due to advances in technology such as portable fNIRS equipment or unobtrusive and head-mounted eye-tracking equipment. A fully-rounded field of cognitive styles will therefore achieve an understanding of their habitual manifestation, their flexibility and the importance of context in their use. This is only possible through mixed methods research.

A decade has passed since Coffield et al.'s ( 2004 ) heavy criticism of the field of cognitive style, based—mainly—on the questionable reliability and validity of self-report psychometric construct measures so often utilized in the field. Despite this, research adopting mixed measures remains scarce. Recently a small number of studies have begun to adopt a neuroscientific approach revealing important findings about behavioral and neural correlates of cognitive style. However, additional mixed methods experimentation is needed to validate the construct of cognitive style, focusing only on those construct measures that are considered valid and reliable, such as the Cognitive Styles Index (Allinson and Hayes, 1996 ). Additionally, the field stands to benefit from combining various methodologies including neuroimaging and electrophysiology, visual search paradigms, and eye-tracking, whereby information about underlying processing and strategy can be gathered simultaneously. We propose a particularly beneficial avenue for future research moving beyond correlational designs and toward causal experimental designs where disruptions to strategy and processing can be investigated. Whilst mixed-methods afford greater scientific understanding of cognitive styles, it is important to appreciate the practical application of cognitive styles measures in areas in which the need for efficient administration of measurement tools may preclude complex techniques. We are therefore not suggesting the adoption of in the field eye-tracking or neuroimaging by practitioners. Rather, we offer these techniques in response to previous research indicating the need for further work in the area to validate psychometric measures of cognitive style. Adopting the suggested multi-source, multi-method approaches proposed here will provide a valuable contribution in the field of cognitive style measurement.

Author contributions

RB, opinion concept, main conclusions, article drafting; AG, LM, and SC verification of opinion concept, main conclusions, article drafting.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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3.2 Low-Involvement Versus High-Involvement Buying Decisions and the Consumer’s Decision-Making Process

Learning objectives.

Distinguish between low-involvement and high-involvement buying decisions.
Understand what the stages of the buying process are and what happens in each stage.

As you have seen, many factors influence a consumer’s behavior. Depending on a consumer’s experience and knowledge, some consumers may be able to make quick purchase decisions and other consumers may need to get information and be more involved in the decision process before making a purchase. The level of involvement reflects how personally important or interested you are in consuming a product and how much information you need to make a decision. The level of involvement in buying decisions may be considered a continuum from decisions that are fairly routine (consumers are not very involved) to decisions that require extensive thought and a high level of involvement. Whether a decision is low, high, or limited, involvement varies by consumer, not by product, although some products such as purchasing a house typically require a high-involvement for all consumers. Consumers with no experience purchasing a product may have more involvement than someone who is replacing a product.

You have probably thought about many products you want or need but never did much more than that. At other times, you’ve probably looked at dozens of products, compared them, and then decided not to purchase any one of them. When you run out of products such as milk or bread that you buy on a regular basis, you may buy the product as soon as you recognize the need because you do not need to search for information or evaluate alternatives. As Nike would put it, you “just do it.” Low-involvement decisions are, however, typically products that are relatively inexpensive and pose a low risk to the buyer if she makes a mistake by purchasing them.

Consumers often engage in routine response behavior when they make low-involvement decisions—that is, they make automatic purchase decisions based on limited information or information they have gathered in the past. For example, if you always order a Diet Coke at lunch, you’re engaging in routine response behavior. You may not even think about other drink options at lunch because your routine is to order a Diet Coke, and you simply do it. Similarly, if you run out of Diet Coke at home, you may buy more without any information search.

Some low-involvement purchases are made with no planning or previous thought. These buying decisions are called impulse buying . While you’re waiting to check out at the grocery store, perhaps you see a magazine with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt on the cover and buy it on the spot simply because you want it. You might see a roll of tape at a check-out stand and remember you need one or you might see a bag of chips and realize you’re hungry or just want them. These are items that are typically low-involvement decisions. Low-involvement decisions aren’t necessarily products purchased on impulse, although they can be.

By contrast, high-involvement decisions carry a higher risk to buyers if they fail, are complex, and/or have high price tags. A car, a house, and an insurance policy are examples. These items are not purchased often but are relevant and important to the buyer. Buyers don’t engage in routine response behavior when purchasing high-involvement products. Instead, consumers engage in what’s called extended problem solving , where they spend a lot of time comparing different aspects such as the features of the products, prices, and warranties.

High-involvement decisions can cause buyers a great deal of postpurchase dissonance (anxiety) if they are unsure about their purchases or if they had a difficult time deciding between two alternatives. Companies that sell high-involvement products are aware that postpurchase dissonance can be a problem. Frequently, they try to offer consumers a lot of information about their products, including why they are superior to competing brands and how they won’t let the consumer down. Salespeople may be utilized to answer questions and do a lot of customer “hand-holding.”

Allstate’s “You’re in Good Hands” advertisements are designed to convince consumers that the insurance company won’t let them down.

Mike Mozart – Allstate, – CC BY 2.0.

Limited problem solving falls somewhere between low-involvement (routine) and high-involvement (extended problem solving) decisions. Consumers engage in limited problem solving when they already have some information about a good or service but continue to search for a little more information. Assume you need a new backpack for a hiking trip. While you are familiar with backpacks, you know that new features and materials are available since you purchased your last backpack. You’re going to spend some time looking for one that’s decent because you don’t want it to fall apart while you’re traveling and dump everything you’ve packed on a hiking trail. You might do a little research online and come to a decision relatively quickly. You might consider the choices available at your favorite retail outlet but not look at every backpack at every outlet before making a decision. Or you might rely on the advice of a person you know who’s knowledgeable about backpacks. In some way you shorten or limit your involvement and the decision-making process.

Products, such as chewing gum, which may be low-involvement for many consumers often use advertising such as commercials and sales promotions such as coupons to reach many consumers at once. Companies also try to sell products such as gum in as many locations as possible. Many products that are typically high-involvement such as automobiles may use more personal selling to answer consumers’ questions. Brand names can also be very important regardless of the consumer’s level of purchasing involvement. Consider a low- versus high-involvement decision—say, purchasing a tube of toothpaste versus a new car. You might routinely buy your favorite brand of toothpaste, not thinking much about the purchase (engage in routine response behavior), but not be willing to switch to another brand either. Having a brand you like saves you “search time” and eliminates the evaluation period because you know what you’re getting.

When it comes to the car, you might engage in extensive problem solving but, again, only be willing to consider a certain brand or brands. For example, in the 1970s, American-made cars had such a poor reputation for quality that buyers joked that a car that’s “not Jap [Japanese made] is crap.” The quality of American cars is very good today, but you get the picture. If it’s a high-involvement product you’re purchasing, a good brand name is probably going to be very important to you. That’s why the manufacturers of products that are typically high-involvement decisions can’t become complacent about the value of their brands.

1970s American Cars

(click to see video)

Today, Lexus is the automotive brand that experiences the most customer loyalty. For a humorous, tongue-in-cheek look at why the brand reputation of American carmakers suffered in the 1970s, check out this clip.

Stages in the Buying Process

Figure 3.9 “Stages in the Consumer’s Purchasing Process” outlines the buying stages consumers go through. At any given time, you’re probably in a buying stage for a product or service. You’re thinking about the different types of things you want or need to eventually buy, how you are going to find the best ones at the best price, and where and how will you buy them. Meanwhile, there are other products you have already purchased that you’re evaluating. Some might be better than others. Will you discard them, and if so, how? Then what will you buy? Where does that process start?

Figure 3.9 Stages in the Consumer’s Purchasing Process

Stage 1. Need Recognition

You plan to backpack around the country after you graduate and don’t have a particularly good backpack. You realize that you must get a new backpack. You may also be thinking about the job you’ve accepted after graduation and know that you must get a vehicle to commute. Recognizing a need may involve something as simple as running out of bread or milk or realizing that you must get a new backpack or a car after you graduate. Marketers try to show consumers how their products and services add value and help satisfy needs and wants. Do you think it’s a coincidence that Gatorade, Powerade, and other beverage makers locate their machines in gymnasiums so you see them after a long, tiring workout? Previews at movie theaters are another example. How many times have you have heard about a movie and had no interest in it—until you saw the preview? Afterward, you felt like you had to see it.

Stage 2. Search for Information

For products such as milk and bread, you may simply recognize the need, go to the store, and buy more. However, if you are purchasing a car for the first time or need a particular type of backpack, you may need to get information on different alternatives. Maybe you have owned several backpacks and know what you like and don’t like about them. Or there might be a particular brand that you’ve purchased in the past that you liked and want to purchase in the future. This is a great position for the company that owns the brand to be in—something firms strive for. Why? Because it often means you will limit your search and simply buy their brand again.

If what you already know about backpacks doesn’t provide you with enough information, you’ll probably continue to gather information from various sources. Frequently people ask friends, family, and neighbors about their experiences with products. Magazines such as Consumer Reports (considered an objective source of information on many consumer products) or Backpacker Magazine might also help you. Similar information sources are available for learning about different makes and models of cars.

Internet shopping sites such as Amazon.com have become a common source of information about products. Epinions.com is an example of consumer-generated review site. The site offers product ratings, buying tips, and price information. Amazon.com also offers product reviews written by consumers. People prefer “independent” sources such as this when they are looking for product information. However, they also often consult non-neutral sources of information, such advertisements, brochures, company Web sites, and salespeople.

Stage 3. Product Evaluation

Obviously, there are hundreds of different backpacks and cars available. It’s not possible for you to examine all of them. In fact, good salespeople and marketing professionals know that providing you with too many choices can be so overwhelming that you might not buy anything at all. Consequently, you may use choice heuristics or rules of thumb that provide mental shortcuts in the decision-making process. You may also develop evaluative criteria to help you narrow down your choices. Backpacks or cars that meet your initial criteria before the consideration will determine the set of brands you’ll consider for purchase.

Evaluative criteria are certain characteristics that are important to you such as the price of the backpack, the size, the number of compartments, and color. Some of these characteristics are more important than others. For example, the size of the backpack and the price might be more important to you than the color—unless, say, the color is hot pink and you hate pink. You must decide what criteria are most important and how well different alternatives meet the criteria.

Figure 3.10

Osprey backpacks are known for their durability. The company has a special design and quality control center, and Osprey’s salespeople annually take a “canyon testing” trip to see how well the company’s products perform.

melanie innis – break – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Companies want to convince you that the evaluative criteria you are considering reflect the strengths of their products. For example, you might not have thought about the weight or durability of the backpack you want to buy. However, a backpack manufacturer such as Osprey might remind you through magazine ads, packaging information, and its Web site that you should pay attention to these features—features that happen to be key selling points of its backpacks. Automobile manufacturers may have similar models, so don’t be afraid to add criteria to help you evaluate cars in your consideration set.

Stage 4. Product Choice and Purchase

With low-involvement purchases, consumers may go from recognizing a need to purchasing the product. However, for backpacks and cars, you decide which one to purchase after you have evaluated different alternatives. In addition to which backpack or which car, you are probably also making other decisions at this stage, including where and how to purchase the backpack (or car) and on what terms. Maybe the backpack was cheaper at one store than another, but the salesperson there was rude. Or maybe you decide to order online because you’re too busy to go to the mall. Other decisions related to the purchase, particularly those related to big-ticket items, are made at this point. For example, if you’re buying a high-definition television, you might look for a store that will offer you credit or a warranty.

Stage 5. Postpurchase Use and Evaluation

At this point in the process you decide whether the backpack you purchased is everything it was cracked up to be. Hopefully it is. If it’s not, you’re likely to suffer what’s called postpurchase dissonance . You might call it buyer’s remorse . Typically, dissonance occurs when a product or service does not meet your expectations. Consumers are more likely to experience dissonance with products that are relatively expensive and that are purchased infrequently.

You want to feel good about your purchase, but you don’t. You begin to wonder whether you should have waited to get a better price, purchased something else, or gathered more information first. Consumers commonly feel this way, which is a problem for sellers. If you don’t feel good about what you’ve purchased from them, you might return the item and never purchase anything from them again. Or, worse yet, you might tell everyone you know how bad the product was.

Companies do various things to try to prevent buyer’s remorse. For smaller items, they might offer a money back guarantee or they might encourage their salespeople to tell you what a great purchase you made. How many times have you heard a salesperson say, “That outfit looks so great on you!” For larger items, companies might offer a warranty, along with instruction booklets, and a toll-free troubleshooting line to call or they might have a salesperson call you to see if you need help with product. Automobile companies may offer loaner cars when you bring your car in for service.

Companies may also try to set expectations in order to satisfy customers. Service companies such as restaurants do this frequently. Think about when the hostess tells you that your table will be ready in 30 minutes. If they seat you in 15 minutes, you are much happier than if they told you that your table would be ready in 15 minutes, but it took 30 minutes to seat you. Similarly, if a store tells you that your pants will be altered in a week and they are ready in three days, you’ll be much more satisfied than if they said your pants would be ready in three days, yet it took a week before they were ready.

Stage 6. Disposal of the Product

There was a time when neither manufacturers nor consumers thought much about how products got disposed of, so long as people bought them. But that’s changed. How products are being disposed of is becoming extremely important to consumers and society in general. Computers and batteries, which leech chemicals into landfills, are a huge problem. Consumers don’t want to degrade the environment if they don’t have to, and companies are becoming more aware of this fact.

Take for example Crystal Light, a water-based beverage that’s sold in grocery stores. You can buy it in a bottle. However, many people buy a concentrated form of it, put it in reusable pitchers or bottles, and add water. That way, they don’t have to buy and dispose of plastic bottle after plastic bottle, damaging the environment in the process. Windex has done something similar with its window cleaner. Instead of buying new bottles of it all the time, you can purchase a concentrate and add water. You have probably noticed that most grocery stores now sell cloth bags consumers can reuse instead of continually using and discarding of new plastic or paper bags.

Figure 3.11

The hike up to Mount Everest used to be pristine. Now it looks more like this. Who’s responsible? Are consumers or companies responsible, or both?

jqpubliq – Recycling Center Pile – CC BY-SA 2.0.

Other companies are less concerned about conservation than they are about planned obsolescence . Planned obsolescence is a deliberate effort by companies to make their products obsolete, or unusable, after a period of time. The goal is to improve a company’s sales by reducing the amount of time between the repeat purchases consumers make of products. When a software developer introduces a new version of product, it is usually designed to be incompatible with older versions of it. For example, not all the formatting features are the same in Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. Sometimes documents do not translate properly when opened in the newer version. Consequently, you will be more inclined to upgrade to the new version so you can open all Word documents you receive.

Products that are disposable are another way in which firms have managed to reduce the amount of time between purchases. Disposable lighters are an example. Do you know anyone today that owns a nondisposable lighter? Believe it or not, prior to the 1960s, scarcely anyone could have imagined using a cheap disposable lighter. There are many more disposable products today than there were in years past—including everything from bottled water and individually wrapped snacks to single-use eye drops and cell phones.

Figure 3.12

Disposable lighters came into vogue in the United States in the 1960s. You probably don’t own a cool, nondisposable lighter like one of these, but you don’t have to bother refilling it with lighter fluid either.

Europeana staff photographer – A trench art lighter – public domain.

Key Takeaways

Consumer behavior looks at the many reasons why people buy things and later dispose of them. Consumers go through distinct buying phases when they purchase products: (1) realizing the need or wanting something, (2) searching for information about the item, (3) evaluating different products, (4) choosing a product and purchasing it, (5) using and evaluating the product after the purchase, and (6) disposing of the product. A consumer’s level of involvement is how interested he or she is in buying and consuming a product. Low-involvement products are usually inexpensive and pose a low risk to the buyer if he or she makes a mistake by purchasing them. High-involvement products carry a high risk to the buyer if they fail, are complex, or have high price tags. Limited-involvement products fall somewhere in between.

Review Questions

How do low-involvement decisions differ from high-involvement decisions in terms of relevance, price, frequency, and the risks their buyers face? Name some products in each category that you’ve recently purchased.
What stages do people go through in the buying process for high-involvement decisions? How do the stages vary for low-involvement decisions?
What is postpurchase dissonance and what can companies do to reduce it?

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16 Ways to Hone Your Problem-Solving Skills

Strong problem-solving skills are crucial to have in business. Without developing the ability to step back, look at the various causes and outcomes, and then take the steps needed to pursue the right course, you or your team will be regularly in a state of crisis, unable to move forward with any real speed.

When you feel like you’re hitting a wall in your leadership or entrepreneurial journey, you’ll want to be able to find your way around it. To help you better handle such roadblocks, we asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members to share their best advice for honing problem-solving skills. Here’s what they said:

1. Reflect on your worst times.

Problem-solving is something we all deal with on a daily basis. However, we all deal with problems differently. In order to solve your own problems and teach others how to do the same, one must reflect back on their worst times and remember the processes they took to get out of it. As you do this, be sure to take notes and reverse engineer your action process—then apply this to other situations.

— Zac Johnson , Blogger

2. Always be a student.

As we hit certain accomplishments and gather certain credibility, our ego might get the best of us. One piece of advice for all thought leaders is to continuously learn from others. We have to be open minded. Just because we became successful doesn’t mean we have no room for improvement. We don’t and won’t ever know it all. So in order to hone our skills, we must be forever a student.

— Fritz Colcol , ABN Circle

3. Exercise creativity like a muscle.

You can exercise creativity regularly to get better at problem-solving. It’s like a muscle—the more you work, the stronger it gets. Some helpful skills that are free are writing, doodling and brainstorming. It’s important to allow yourself to express any idea no matter how absurd it seems. Once you’ve come with more answers than you need, you can whittle it down to the most useful answer.

— Syed Balkhi , WPBeginner

4. Don’t take things personally.

When we can’t solve a problem as quickly or efficiently as we hope, we habitually blame ourselves. Ironically, blaming ourselves makes it harder to solve new problems as they arise. I suggest that you always step back from a situation that requires a solution and look at it from an objective point of view.

— John Turner , SeedProd LLC

5. Define the problem before trying to solve it.

You need to know exactly what problem you’re facing before you can solve it. Lay it all out there—the circumstances and your options—and decide what is best for you based on what you know. The more you practice, the better at it you’ll get.

— Jared Atchison , WPForms

6. Change your perspective.

If you change the way you see a problem, from another person’s shoes, or perspective , you are more likely to have the tools you need to understand their point of view. Which helps you make a more balanced and informed decision.

— Stephanie Wells , Formidable Forms

7. Bounce ideas off other people.

There’s a lot of power in stating your problems and thoughts aloud to other people; you get feedback and fresh ideas. Other people can often point out things that are obvious but which you’ve missed because you were too close to the problem. You don’t have to be alone when it comes to problem-solving for your business. It’s helpful to find a community or colleagues to support you.

— Blair Williams , MemberPress

8. Keep your higher purpose in mind.

The best advice I have for leaders to hone their problem-solving skills is to keep your higher purpose in mind. What drives you? Why are your putting effort and time into your business? Knowing the answer to these questions allows you to solve problems with more creativity, confidence and power. Those around you will also see your passion, prompting them to develop leadership skills, too.

— Shu Saito , Godai

9. Look for unusual connections.

The most extraordinary solutions to problems are not necessarily complex, but they are always creative. Creativity is not only about making something new. It’s also the ability to find unusual connections between familiar things. My advice is to exercise your creativity by soaking in as many ideas as you can. The more ideas you learn, the more creative solutions you prepare for.

— Solomon Thimothy , OneIMS

10. Don’t neglect your body.

The body and the mind are connected as part of one organism. That means if you want to improve your mental health and problem-solving skills, you can’t neglect your physical health. Remember to exercise regularly, get a good night’s sleep and take breaks if you spend a long time behind a desk looking at the computer.

— Bryce Welker , The Big 4 Accounting Firms

11. Simplify the problem.

Simplify the problem down to its most basic core. Then simplify the solution. Determine two or three concrete steps that, when taken, will solve the problem. For the most part, it’s that simple.

— Andrew Schrage , Money Crashers Personal Finance

12. Look at the problem as an opportunity.

Problem-solving skills are vital in the workforce and often determine success. I would say one of the best pieces of advice for leaders to hone their problem-solving skills is to be aware of your mindset. If you allow yourself to be burdened or frustrated by the problem, then you are less likely to come up with the best solution. See problems as an opportunity to learn, get creative and be resourceful instead.

— Diego Orjuela , Cables & Sensors

13. Volunteer for other organizations.

The best way to practice problem-solving is to expose yourself to new challenges and new industries. A great way to do that is by volunteering for a nonprofit organization or even a political campaign. You’ll interact with new people and learn new tools and approaches that can help expand your creativity to solve problems in your own business.

— Nanxi Liu , Enplug

14. Read case studies.

Wherever possible, read case studies of current and past leaders you admire. Their memoirs, internal reports and analysts’ reports all help paint a vivid picture of how more established leaders have handled difficult decisions in a wise manner. Even better, turn this activity into a group exercise by asking fellow executives to review the same cases and discuss their conclusions with you.

— Yaniv Masjedi , Nextiva

15. Change up your routine.

One of the biggest challenges to problem-solving is habitual thinking. To solve problems, you need to think in creative ways. And to think creatively, you need to get outside the routine. One of the best ways to get your brain in a creative space is to schedule a time to get away from the desk, go for a walk and allow your mind to wander. You’ll find that new ideas emerge.

— Keith Shields , Designli

16. Face your problems authentically.

With every problem you attempt to solve, remind yourself of who you are and why you are doing what you’re doing. Face all your problems bravely and solve them based on your inner voice, gut feel and authenticity to yourself . There’s no other way to solve your problems but to face them with pride in knowing that you are being true to yourself, and your mission and vision are still intact.

— Daisy Jing , Banish

Related: Answer These 3 Questions to Be a Better Problem Solver and Leader

These answers are provided by Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs. YEC members represent nearly every industry, generate billions of dollars in revenue each year and have created tens of thousands of jobs. Learn more at yec.co .

Image by Pranch / Shutterstock

Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective , a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

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6.3 Types of Consumer Decisions

As you read through the stages of the decision making process, did you think “Wait a minute. I do this sometimes but not all the time”? That is indicative of the different levels of involvement within the decision making process. In this section, we will examine this difference in more detail and how it may impact the marketing strategy.

Levels of Involvement in Decision Making

Consumers often engage in routine, or habitual, behavior when they make low-involvement decisions—that is, they make automatic purchase decisions based on limited information or information they have gathered in the past. For example, if you always order a Diet Coke at lunch, you’re engaging in routine response behavior. You may not even think about other drink options at lunch because your routine is to order a Diet Coke, and you simply do it. Similarly, if you run out of Diet Coke at home, you may buy more without any information search.

Some low-involvement purchases are made with no planning or previous thought. These buying decisions are called impulse buying. While you’re waiting to check out at the grocery store, perhaps you see a magazine with the latest celebrity or influencer on the cover and buy it on the spot simply because you want it. You might see a roll of tape at a check-out stand and remember you need one or you might see a bag of chips and realize you’re hungry or just want them.

By contrast, high-involvement decisions carry a higher risk to buyers if they fail, are complex, and/or have high price tags. A car, a house, and an insurance policy are examples. These items are not purchased often but are relevant and important to the buyer. Buyers don’t engage in routine response behavior when purchasing high-involvement products. Instead, consumers engage in what’s called extended problem solving where they spend a lot of time comparing different aspects such as the features of the products, prices, and warranties.

High-involvement decisions can cause buyers a great deal of cognitive (postpurchase) dissonance (anxiety) if they are unsure about their purchases or if they had a difficult time deciding between two alternatives. Companies that sell high-involvement products are aware that dissonance can be a problem. Frequently, they try to offer consumers a lot of information about their products, including why they are superior to competing brands and how they won’t let the consumer down. Salespeople may be utilized to answer questions and do a lot of customer “hand-holding.”

Allstate’s “You’re in Good Hands” advertisements are designed to convince consumers that the insurance company won’t let them down.

Mike Mozart – Allstate, – CC BY 2.0.

Limited problem solving falls somewhere between low-involvement (routine) and high-involvement (extended problem solving) decisions. Consumers engage in limited problem solving when they already have some information about a good or service but continue to search for a little more information. Assume you need a new backpack for a hiking trip. While you are familiar with backpacks, you know that new features and materials are available since you purchased your last backpack. You’re going to spend some time looking for one that’s decent because you don’t want it to fall apart while you’re traveling and dump everything you’ve packed on a hiking trail. You might do a little research online and come to a decision relatively quickly. You might consider the choices available at your favorite retail outlet but not look at every backpack at every outlet before making a decision. Or you might rely on the advice of a person you know who’s knowledgeable about backpacks. In some way you shorten or limit your involvement and the decision-making process.

Products, such as chewing gum, which may be low-involvement for many consumers, often use advertising such as commercials and sales promotions such as coupons to reach many consumers at once. Companies also try to sell products such as gum in as many locations as possible. Many products that are typically high-involvement such as automobiles may use more personal selling to answer consumers’ questions. Brand names can also be very important regardless of the consumer’s level of purchasing involvement. Consider a low- versus high-involvement decision—say, purchasing a tube of toothpaste versus a new car. You might routinely buy your favorite brand of toothpaste, not thinking much about the purchase (engage in routine response behavior), but not be willing to switch to another brand either. Having a brand you like saves you “search time” and eliminates the evaluation period because you know what you’re getting.

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Four Modes of Consumer Decision Making

Extended problem solving

Extended problem solving customer decision – making mode relates to a situation where customers lack experience in a specific consumption setting, nevertheless, the setting is perceived by them as a highly involving. The products are usually of a high value and they also contribute to an individual’s social status, however, their purchase is often associated with significant amount of risk in terms of making improper purchase decision. Purchasing the first car or the first house can be mentioned as instances for extended problem solving.

Limited problem solving

Customer decision – making mode of limited problem solving , relates to a situation where both, customer experience, as well as, the level of their involvement are low. Considered to be the most common mode of decision – making, it lacks systematic approach in terms of decision – making. Examples for this mode of decision – making might include searching for and purchasing products and services associated with pest control within private properties.

In other words, as Perrey and Spillecke (2011) confirm, limited problem – solving customer decision – making mode relate to situations where customers are attempting to find appropriate solutions to their unpleasant issues. Retailers often attempt to attract such type of customers by employing a range of marketing techniques that include introducing discount vouchers, offering free samples etc.

Habit or variety seeking

Habit or variety seeking is the customer decision – making mode where a decision is not involving, however, there are high amount of repeated purchases from a specific brand. For example, the purchase of a specific brand of a dishwasher gel can be repeated over a long period of time in a habitual manner, without re-considering the value associated with the brand even when there are more valuable alternatives have emerged in the market.

Variety seeking relates to instances where customer moves to another brand within a given product category. At the same time, interestingly, “from one purchase occasion to the next, the individual will switch brands from within this set, just for the sake of variety” (O’Guinn et al, 2011, p.175).

Brand loyalty

Customers with a decision – making mode of brand loyalty practice high level of involvement in decision – making and they also possess high level of experience with a particular brand. Instances of brand loyalty customer decision – making mode include using specific brand of cigarettes for a long period of time.

According to Cant et al (2009), factors effecting customer brand loyalty in retail setting include brand name, the quality of products and services, price and style of products, environment of the store, the level and nature of promotion offered, and the quality of customer services provided. Considerable amount of financial resources are usually invested by leading retailers in order to enhance their brand image and therefore increase their long-term growth prospects.

Cant, M.C., Strydom, J.W. & Jooste, C.J. (2009) “Marketing Management” Juta Publications
O’Guinn, T.C., Allen, C.T. & Semenik, R.J. (2011) “Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion” Cengage Learning
Perrey, J & Spillecke, D. (2011) “Retail Marketing and Branding: A Definitive Guide to Maximising ROI” John Wiley & Sons

OPINION article

Cognitive style: time to experiment.

$\r\nRobert C. A. Bendall*$

Directorate of Psychology and Public Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, UK

Evidence exists that individuals possess habitual ways of approaching tasks and situations associated with particular patterns in cognitive processes including decision making, problem solving, perception, and attention. Such approaches are conceptualized as cognitive style , a concept first formally introduced by Allport almost eight decades ago and defined as an individual's typical or habitual mode of problem solving, thinking, perceiving, and remembering ( Allport, 1937 ). The popularity of the concept has since continued to grow, leading to a profusion of applied research and commercial applications in such areas as business, management, and education. Such levels of activity have led to the emergence of more than 70 identifiable models and measures of cognitive (and learning) style ( Coffield et al., 2004 ) and a plethora of related terminology, constructs, and measures of style. Consequently, the field of style has become wildly confusing to both researchers and practitioners, and, perhaps justifiably, has received weighty criticism, most notably from Coffield et al. (2004) . Following a broad and detailed systematic review of the most popular models and construct measures, Coffield et al. (2004) , together with others (e.g., Curry, 1987 ; Cassidy, 2004 ), issued a damning critique of style, noting the failure of the field to offer a consensus on definitions and terminology, construct models and underlying theory, and valid and reliable construct measurement. Such concerns present a major obstacle for continued research and practice in the field.

Cognitive style focuses on the tradition of identification of styles based on individual differences in cognitive and perceptual functioning ( Grigorenko and Sternberg, 1995 ). As is common in many areas of psychology where there is a need and desire to measure unobservable latent constructs, the majority of style assessment methods rely on self-report measures rather than direct objective observation of style-related behavior. The limitations of self-report questionnaire-based measures are well-documented (e.g., Rayner and Riding, 1997 ) and are particularly pertinent to cognitive style where the prevalent approach to measurement remains single method self-report questionnaires ( Cools, 2009 ). Study designs that utilize multiple methods, including psychometric measures of style and more direct measures of style-based behavior, offer greater potential for validating existing style constructs and construct measures ( Cassidy, 2012 ). However, although the application of a mixed methods approach has the potential to allay some of the limitations associated with self-report questionnaires ( Spratt et al., 2004 ), this approach has been largely overlooked in cognitive styles research ( Cools, 2009 ). One promising area is cognitive neuroscience, with initial findings providing evidence suggesting that cognitive style is directly linked to brain function and behavior. As cognitive style is assumed to reflect underlying cognitive function, evidence linking specific patterns of neural activity to self-report measures of cognitive style would support the validity of such psychometric instruments.

One of the first studies to provide evidence of such a link demonstrated that preferences for visual or verbal cognitive styles were correlated with activity in anatomically and functionally distinct brain regions associated with encoding pictorial (fusiform gyrus) and phonological (supramarginal gyrus; SMG) stimuli, respectively ( Kraemer et al., 2009 ). These findings suggest that individuals who prefer to adopt a visual cognitive style engage in mental imagery of word-based stimuli, and those with a preference for a verbal style show a tendency to verbally encode stimuli even when presented with pictorial information. Further, the results suggest that modality-specific cortical activity underlies processing in visual and verbal cognitive styles.

In a more recent neuroimaging study, Shin and Kim (2015) adopted a modified Stroop task ( Stroop, 1935 ) to investigate whether individual differences in cognitive style influence, through differential responding to distracting information, increases in neural conflict adaptation in brain regions associated with cognitive control. It was evident that the greater the preference for a verbal cognitive style, the greater the conflict adaptation effect. This was especially true for congruent trial types. Furthermore, functional magnetic resonance imaging indicated increased neural conflict adaptation effects in task-relevant brain networks as the preference for a verbal cognitive style increased, suggesting that flexible cognitive control is associated with an individuals' preference for cognitive style ( Shin and Kim, 2015 ).

Whilst these neuroimaging studies are among the first to provide evidence linking preferences in cognitive style to differing patterns of neural activity, they have adopted the visualizer–verbalizer dimension to characterize cognitive and perceptual processing. Research focusing on this characterization of style does not take account of other approaches to cognitive and perceptual processing that reflect the second superordinate orthogonal dimension of cognitive style, wholist-analyst , proposed by Riding and Cheema (1991) , that includes field-dependent/field-independent ( Witkin, 1962 ) and intuition-analysis ( Allinson and Hayes, 1996 ) approaches. Differences in preferences along these dimensions may impact aspects of cognition including visual attention such that eye-tracking and visual search experiments may offer an additional avenue for styles research.

Eye-tracking provides insight into the spatial and temporal allocation of visual attention and thus holds promise for (1) assessing how cognitive style may relate to which information is prioritized during a visual task, and (2) how cognitive style influences the moment-by-moment process of task completion. Tsianos et al. (2009) demonstrated that visualizers looked more at images whilst verbalizers focussed more on text. Mawad et al. (2015) found that field-independent and field-dependant scores related to which details were prioritized when inspecting food labels. Such studies provide useful behavioral validation for different models of cognitive style in relation to attentional focus. However, we propose that greater insight can be gained by assessing the location and temporal order of eye fixations during task completion, as these can reveal how strategy unfolds over time. This is possible because evidence shows that eye fixations pick up information as and when it is used for task completion ( Hayhoe and Ballard, 2005 ). Within cognitive science many studies have applied eye-tracking to understand strategy across a range of tasks, including mental rotation ( Just and Carpenter, 1976 ), visual search ( Zelinsky et al., 1997 ), and comparative visual search ( Galpin and Underwood, 2005 ). However, the focus of this work has been on general patterns in strategy aggregated across participants, rather than individual differences. For example, Galpin and Underwood (2005) demonstrated that observers searched for differences between two pictures by making frequent point-by-point comparisons until detecting a difference, upon which the focus of attention narrowed and fixation durations increased. However, no attempt was made to assess how this strategy varied across participants. We therefore propose that a fruitful line of enquiry would be to assess how such strategies vary in accord with models of cognitive style.

The possibility of combining neuroimaging and/or eye-tracking with visual search paradigms offers a promising avenue for cognitive style research. Visual search tasks can investigate the allocation of attention during task completion (i.e., Galpin and Underwood, 2005 ; Bendall and Thompson, 2015 ) and can be combined with neuroimaging techniques ( Bendall and Thompson, 2016 ). Novel non-invasive neuroimaging techniques such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) have been successfully utilized in a range of cognitive science disciplines (e.g., emotion science; Bendall et al., 2016 ), and offer a number of advantages including reduced cost, the ability to be employed in a wide range of tasks (e.g., during exercise; Lucas et al., 2012 ) and enabling data collection from groups otherwise difficult to access such as infants ( Franceschini et al., 2007 ) and clinical populations ( Matsubara et al., 2014 ). These benefits allow for a greater range of tasks to be investigated including those taking place outside of the laboratory. Cognitive styles may be more evident during natural behavior than laboratory tasks, thus portable eye-trackers and fNIRS offer great scope for future research. Further, techniques that do not rely on verbal report could better reveal the development of styles through childhood. Adopting such mixed methods approaches utilizing visual search tasks, eye-tracking, as well as neuroimaging and electrophysiological approaches allows the simultaneous investigation of both overt strategy measures and underlying neural processing, and will aid in revealing the contributions of both strategy and information preference in determining task performance. For instance, it has been argued that the use of event-related potentials can help to reveal the precise information relating to the time course of mental processing that occurs immediately after stimulus (or task) onset ( Vanlessen et al., 2016 ).

We also argue that future cognitive styles research would benefit from not only adopting a mixed method experimental approach, but also from investigating other dimensions of cognitive style beyond the visualizer–verbalizer dimension. For instance, it has been shown that individual differences in brain structure and function are related to preferences in field-dependence/field-independence ( Hao et al., 2013 ) and that field-dependence/field-independence is related to the type of information that is prioritized ( Mawad et al., 2015 ). However, research adopting mixed methods to investigate wholist-analytic dimension of cognitive style is limited.

Whilst some authors argue that cognitive styles are more dynamic than static, so can change or alter ( Zang, 2013 ), others have presented evidence suggesting longer term stability and resistance to modification ( Clapp, 1993 ). Thus, the question of how flexibly a style can be adapted if it is not working, or if a particular mode of task performance is prevented, is not fully resolved. For instance, what if preference for an analytic approach to visual search is discouraged or leads to poorer performance? We argue that an understanding of the underlying neural activity and overt attentional activity will allow the development of paradigms to disrupt preferred cognitive styles and thus assess their flexibility. Initial work in this area has begun to demonstrate that disruption of cognitive style-related brain activity can impact behavior. Targeted transcranial stimulation of the SMG was able to impair performance on a task requiring verbal processing where the scale of this effect was predicted by an individuals' level of verbal cognitive style ( Kraemer et al., 2014 ). One outcome of this line of enquiry may be that, for most people in many scenarios, cognitive styles are habitual modes of processing which can be adapted or over-ridden depending on context. The ultimate aim of validation work in the area of cognitive styles should be to measure behavior in ecologically meaningful activities and settings. This is important as it is plausible that abstract laboratory tasks may encourage participants to focus unnaturally on their own performance leading to artificial behavior that masks habitual cognitive style. Fortunately, “in-the-field” studies are becoming more possible due to advances in technology such as portable fNIRS equipment or unobtrusive and head-mounted eye-tracking equipment. A fully-rounded field of cognitive styles will therefore achieve an understanding of their habitual manifestation, their flexibility and the importance of context in their use. This is only possible through mixed methods research.

A decade has passed since Coffield et al.'s (2004) heavy criticism of the field of cognitive style, based—mainly—on the questionable reliability and validity of self-report psychometric construct measures so often utilized in the field. Despite this, research adopting mixed measures remains scarce. Recently a small number of studies have begun to adopt a neuroscientific approach revealing important findings about behavioral and neural correlates of cognitive style. However, additional mixed methods experimentation is needed to validate the construct of cognitive style, focusing only on those construct measures that are considered valid and reliable, such as the Cognitive Styles Index ( Allinson and Hayes, 1996 ). Additionally, the field stands to benefit from combining various methodologies including neuroimaging and electrophysiology, visual search paradigms, and eye-tracking, whereby information about underlying processing and strategy can be gathered simultaneously. We propose a particularly beneficial avenue for future research moving beyond correlational designs and toward causal experimental designs where disruptions to strategy and processing can be investigated. Whilst mixed-methods afford greater scientific understanding of cognitive styles, it is important to appreciate the practical application of cognitive styles measures in areas in which the need for efficient administration of measurement tools may preclude complex techniques. We are therefore not suggesting the adoption of in the field eye-tracking or neuroimaging by practitioners. Rather, we offer these techniques in response to previous research indicating the need for further work in the area to validate psychometric measures of cognitive style. Adopting the suggested multi-source, multi-method approaches proposed here will provide a valuable contribution in the field of cognitive style measurement.

Author Contributions

RB, opinion concept, main conclusions, article drafting; AG, LM, and SC verification of opinion concept, main conclusions, article drafting.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords: cognitive style, cognition, visual attention, eye-tracking, neuroimaging, functional near-infrared spectroscopy

Citation: Bendall RCA, Galpin A, Marrow LP and Cassidy S (2016) Cognitive Style: Time to Experiment. Front. Psychol . 7:1786. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01786

Received: 08 August 2016; Accepted: 31 October 2016; Published: 15 November 2016.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2016 Bendall, Galpin, Marrow and Cassidy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Robert C. A. Bendall, [email protected] Simon Cassidy, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Unique Correlates of Problem Solving Effectiveness in Individuals with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

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Published: 08 June 2017
Volume 41 , pages 881–890, ( 2017 )

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Elizabeth J. Pawluk 1 ,
Naomi Koerner 1 ,
Kathleen Tallon 1 &
Martin M. Antony 1

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Over the last decade, research on the problem-solving characteristics of individuals high in chronic worry has waned. It is proposed that there remains a lot to be learned about the way in which excessive and uncontrollable worrying affects the way in which people approach problems. The present study examined the relations of negative problem orientation, problem solving styles, intolerance of uncertainty, and worry to in vivo problem-solving performance in people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; N = 43). Problem-solving performance was assessed by rating participants’ ability to develop effective problem solutions. Impulsive/careless problem-solving style was uniquely predictive of lower effectiveness of problem solutions; whereas negative problem orientation, habitual avoidant problem solving style, intolerance of uncertainty and chronic worrying were not. After controlling for state anxiety, none of the variables were unique correlates of problem-solving effectiveness. The study represents an initial examination of the potential impact of negative problem orientation, dysfunctional problem-solving style, intolerance of uncertainty, and worry on problem-solving quality. The findings are discussed in relation to theoretical models and therapeutic approaches for GAD.

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Attentional Control Moderates the Relations between Intolerance of Uncertainty and Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Symptoms

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4.1: Habitual Decision-Making

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Describe how a retailer can satisfy the needs of habitual decision making customers by choosing to act in ways that increase loyalty

Customer loyalty results when a consumer has consistent, positive experiences with a product or brand or firm over time. That is, it is on-going and reflects the breadth of value in all interactions, including in exchange, use, and experience.

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Habitual Decision-Making. Authored by : Patrick Williams. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

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IMAGES

What Is Problem-Solving? Steps, Processes, Exercises to do it Right
3 Tips for Effective Problem Solving
Problem Solving Strategies [EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES] SmallBusinessify.com
What are the problem solving steps?
Questions to Help Kids Solve Problems (Infographic)
PPT

COMMENTS

4.1: Habitual Decision-Making
Describe how a retailer can satisfy the needs of habitual decision making customers by choosing to act in ways that increase loyalty. As you read, some consumers have an extended problem solving mindset, putting a great deal of effort into their purchase decisions. Others have a limited problem solving mindset, putting in little consideration ...
5 Keys To Solving The Right Problems In Your Business
Analyze your habitual approach to problem solving and be prepared to challenge your own assumptions. Avoid settling for symptoms as the problem or jumping to conclusions based on poor information ...
Involvement Levels
Limited Problem Solving. Limited problem solving falls somewhere between low-involvement (routine) and high-involvement (extended problem solving) decisions. Consumers engage in limited problem solving when they already have some information about a good or service but continue to search for a little more information.
Habitual Decision-Making
Describe how a retailer can satisfy the needs of habitual decision making customers by choosing to act in ways that increase loyalty. As you read, some consumers have an extended problem solving mindset, putting a great deal of effort into their purchase decisions. Others have a limited problem solving mindset, putting in little consideration ...
Cognitive Style: Time to Experiment
Such approaches are conceptualized as cognitive style, a concept first formally introduced by Allport almost eight decades ago and defined as an individual's typical or habitual mode of problem solving, thinking, perceiving, and remembering (Allport, 1937 ). The popularity of the concept has since continued to grow, leading to a profusion of ...
3.2 Low-Involvement Versus High-Involvement Buying Decisions and the
Limited problem solving falls somewhere between low-involvement (routine) and high-involvement (extended problem solving) decisions. Consumers engage in limited problem solving when they already have some information about a good or service but continue to search for a little more information. Assume you need a new backpack for a hiking trip.
Learning Styles: An overview of theories, models, and measures
Cognitive style is described by Allport ( 1937) as an individual's typical or habitual mode of problem solving, thinking, perceiving and remembering, while the term learning style is adopted to reflect a concern with the application of cognitive style in a learning situation (Riding & Cheema, 1991 ).
16 Ways to Hone Your Problem-Solving Skills
We don't and won't ever know it all. So in order to hone our skills, we must be forever a student. — Fritz Colcol , ABN Circle. 3. Exercise creativity like a muscle. You can exercise ...
6.3 Types of Consumer Decisions
Consumers often engage in routine, or habitual, behavior when they make low-involvement decisions—that is, they make automatic purchase decisions based on limited information or information they have gathered in the past. ... When it comes to the car, you might engage in extensive problem solving but, again, only be willing to consider a ...
Habitual Decision Making
Habitual Decision Making. consumer decision making or problem solving requiring only minimal search for, and evaluation of, alternatives before purchasing. Also referred to as Automatic Response Behaviour, Routine Response Behaviour and Routinised Problem Solving. See: Extensive Problem Solving Limited Problem Solving.
Four Modes of Consumer Decision Making
Extended problem solving. Extended problem solving customer decision - making mode relates to a situation where customers lack experience in a specific consumption setting, nevertheless, the setting is perceived by them as a highly involving. The products are usually of a high value and they also contribute to an individual's social status, however, their purchase is often associated with ...
PDF From Habitual Problems to a Systematic Approach for Problem Solving
the problem solving is considered as main function. Subsequently, the focus is specifically scoped to the connections between habitual problems and performance measures. Thus, figure 2 represents this connection. Fig. 2 Connections between habitual problems and performance measures Key Activities of each Department Performance Measures
4.21: Increasing Sales with Extended Problem Solving
Consumers with an extended problem solving mindset put a great deal of effort into their purchase decision, gathering information through research and taking care to evaluate all options, before arriving at a decision. Because of the time and energy committed to the search, this diligence is more likely dedicated to the selection and purchase ...
Frontiers
Such approaches are conceptualized as cognitive style, a concept first formally introduced by Allport almost eight decades ago and defined as an individual's typical or habitual mode of problem solving, thinking, perceiving, and remembering ( Allport, 1937 ). The popularity of the concept has since continued to grow, leading to a profusion of ...
Strategic Decision Making for Leaders
In these situations, if they rely only on habitual problem-solving techniques and intuition, they can fall prey to unconscious biases that hinder their ability to make the best decisions. Strategic Decision Making for Leaders is aimed at executives who make important decisions in their organisations and are responsible for establishing decision ...
PDF Introduction to Problem-Solving Strategies
can use problem solving to teach the skills of mathematics, and how prob-lem solving should be presented to their students. They must understand that problem solving can be thought of in three different ways: 1. Problem solving is a subject for study in and of itself. 2. Problem solving is an approach to a particular problem. 3.
Unique Correlates of Problem Solving Effectiveness in ...
The present study examined the relationships of negative problem orientation, self-reported habitual problem-solving styles, IU, and worry to problem-solving performance in individuals with GAD. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to examine these correlates of problem-solving performance in a sample of people with a principal diagnosis ...
Habitual Coaching
A Journey to Problem Solving. This course offers basic information. It is addressed to people that want to make a change in their lives and are overwhelmed by their problems and by the amount of information available. It aims to organize the topics that must be addressed in a general sense for a person's wellbeing and personal development.
Sustainable Buying Intention in Different Purchase Situations: A ...
In habitual problem-solving-buying situation, companies would benefit by focusing their efforts more towards Quality. This study can be further expanded by including other factors of consumer behavior like lifestyle, reference groups and their inter-linkages in the global context.
Full article: Habitual use of psychological coping strategies is
Habitual use of psychological coping strategies is associated with physiological stress responding during negative memory recollection in humans. ... Participants in a passive observation condition displayed decreasing SCL, whereas those in an active problem-solving condition displayed increasing SCL (Sosnowski et al., Citation 1991).
4.1: Habitual Decision-Making
Describe how a retailer can satisfy the needs of habitual decision making customers by choosing to act in ways that increase loyalty. As you read, some consumers have an extended problem solving mindset, putting a great deal of effort into their purchase decisions. Others have a limited problem solving mindset, putting in little consideration ...
Habitual Problem Solving
29 Customer reviews. We approach your needs with one clear vision: ensuring your 100% satisfaction. Whenever you turn to us, we'll be there for you. With or without extra services - you are guaranteed the best result! Level: Master's, University, College, High School, PHD, Undergraduate. REVIEWS HIRE.
Habitual Problem Solving
Habitual Problem Solving: Adam Dobrinich. ID 8764. Academic Level. I accept. We value democratic peace and support Ukraine in its fight for freedom and democratic development. We also encourage you to support Ukraine in its defense of democracy by donating at #StandWithUkraine.

15 Involvement Levels

Low Involvement Consumer Decision Making

High Involvement Consumer Decision Making

Limited Problem Solving

Ways to Increase Involvement Levels

1. Customization

2. Engagement

3. Incentives

4. Appealing to Hedonic Needs

5. Creating Purpose

6. Representation

Media Attributions

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Module 4: Identifying and Understanding Customer Behavior

Practice Questions

Cognitive Style: Time to Experiment

Author contributions

Conflict of interest statement

3.2 Low-Involvement Versus High-Involvement Buying Decisions and the Consumer’s Decision-Making Process

Stages in the Buying Process

Stage 1. Need Recognition

Stage 2. Search for Information

Stage 3. Product Evaluation

Stage 4. Product Choice and Purchase

Stage 5. Postpurchase Use and Evaluation

Stage 6. Disposal of the Product

Key Takeaways

Review Questions

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16 Ways to Hone Your Problem-Solving Skills

1. Reflect on your worst times.

2. Always be a student.

3. Exercise creativity like a muscle.

4. Don’t take things personally.

5. Define the problem before trying to solve it.

6. Change your perspective.

7. Bounce ideas off other people.

8. Keep your higher purpose in mind.

9. Look for unusual connections.

10. Don’t neglect your body.

11. Simplify the problem.

12. Look at the problem as an opportunity.

13. Volunteer for other organizations.

14. Read case studies.

15. Change up your routine.

16. Face your problems authentically.

6.3 Types of Consumer Decisions

Levels of Involvement in Decision Making

You Try It!

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Four Modes of Consumer Decision Making

Extended problem solving

Limited problem solving

Habit or variety seeking

Brand loyalty

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Unique Correlates of Problem Solving Effectiveness in Individuals with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

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