CONTEXT EFFECTS AT ENCODING AND JUDGMENT IN CONSUMPTION SETTINGS - THE ROLE OF COGNITIVE RESOURCES

When consumers learn about a new product, cues in the surrounding cont ext have been found to bias their response to the product in two ways. In some instances, judgments of the product are assimilated toward th e affect or descriptive implications associated with the context, wher eas in other circumstances, responses are contrasted with or adjusted away from the context. We examine how cognitive resources influence wh ether assimilation or contrast occurs and when such context effects ar e reflected in subsequent judgments. Building on a model developed by Martin and his colleagues, we propose that assimilation will occur spo ntaneously during encoding. Contrast will occur only when this context ual influence is viewed as inappropriate and efforts to partial out th e context result in overcorrection. These encoding effects of context should be evident in later judgments when the nature of either the jud gment task or consumers' predisposition toward effortful thought encou rage retrieval of the context-encoded information. The results of two experiments support our predictions and lead to a modified version of Martin's model. In this model, the cognitive resources available at en coding determine the type of context effect and the cognitive resource s at judgment determine whether the encoding effect of context will be reflected in product evaluations.