GENDER DIFFERENCES IN INFORMATION-PROCESSING STRATEGIES - AN EMPIRICAL-TEST OF THE SELECTIVITY MODEL IN ADVERTISING RESPONSE

According to the ''selectivity model,'' females are comprehensive info rmation processors who consider both subjective and objective product attributes, and respond to subtle cues. Conversely, males are selectiv e information processors who tend to use heuristics processing and mis s subtle cues. These predictions are tested in an experiment where mal es and females listened to either objective or subjective advertising claims for either a low-risk or moderate-risk product. The results gen erally supported the predictions of the selectivity model with the exc eption that males did not respond more favorably to the objective clai ms. Implications for advertising theory and research are discussed.