Jacob Jacoby

New York University | NYU · Leonard N. Stern School of Business

An ecologically valid experiment investigated the propositions that (a) people's judgments are influenced by contextual cues, (b) that they are often unaware that those cues influenced them, and (c) that even when they know the cues should influence them, they do not readily incorporate those cues into their judgment formation. After participating...

The history, development, and future trajectory of the field of consumer behavior are discussed. The field's theoretical grounding in the basic disciplines of economics and psychology is reviewed, and a brief history of the field's major conceptual foci over time is provided. Also addressed are the areas of research generating increased attention a...

"Law-and-economics," an influential perspective among some in law (and possibly a few in economics), seeks to apply the basic assumption of economics ? that people are "rational maximizers" (i.e., will try to get the most out of what they have) ? to law. Rational Choice Theory provides the conceptual core of Law-and-economics. After briefly discuss...

Discusses potential causes of miscomprehension (MC) in TV advertising, noting that factors underlying message MC may be viewed as source, message, or audience factors. Using research from other areas (e.g., cognitive psychology, educational psychology, social psychology) as a theoretical base, the present authors generate several hypotheses that ar...

As a discipline, consumer psychology employs distinctively psychological concepts and methods to study consumer behavior. Consumer behavior refers to the decisions and overt behavior involving the acquisition, consumption, and disposal of time and offerings (goods, services, and ideas) by decision-making units. Consumer behavior is pervasive, unive...

The Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006 (TDRA) extended the cause of action for trademark dilution, clarifying that dilution may occur by blurring and tarnishment. However, certain considerations must necessarily be taken into account when measuring dilution. This paper considers factors related to measuring trademark dilution. Specifically, th...

Consumer researchers have conceptualized brand name dilution in terms of the potentially damaging effects that a company's own brand extensions can have on beliefs and attitudes toward its parent brands. A different form of dilution, trademark dilution, can also occur through the unauthorized use of a mark (brand, logo, etc.) by an entity other tha...

The principal focus of Sections 43a and 43c of the Lanham Act is on the states of mind - particularly confusion, deception, and dilution - of the relevant public (e.g., prospective purchasers). Other key concepts of trademark law (acquired distinctiveness, secondary meaning, fame and genericism) also refer to psychological states of mind. Yet beyon...

Discussing factors that "may make judicial opinions a minefield of misinformation, " Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner hypothesizes "...judges' knowledge of the world ... relevant to legal decision making, derives to a significant degree from judicial opinions" that, he suggests, may often be "systematically unreliable sources of information." T...

This Article examines applications and measurement of continuing commercial impression, which is the meaning or idea a trademark or trade dress conveys to consumers. The doctrine is relevant in a variety of contexts, including abandonment, tacking, claim preclusion, and the Morehouse defense. A number of courts considering the issue have concluded...

Section 43 of the Lanham Act prohibits false or misleading misrepresentations of fact that are likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive as to the sponsorship or approval of goods or services. Examination of case law reveals emerging disagreement across courts on what needs to be assessed when measuring such “sponsorship” confus...

According to Judge Richard Posner, judicial opinions may be a mine of misinformation, but this tends not to be recognized because rarely do "commentators get hold of the briefs and record to check the accuracy of the factual recitals in the opinion." By comparing several opinions with their underlying records, evidence is here adduced in support of...

The need to evolve the visual depictions of our consumer behavior models is addressed. Previous models are criticized for being constructions that fail to build on prior theory, and lack parsimony, comprehensiveness, coherence, and flexibility. More revolutionary movement in consumer behavior modelling is encouraged and an integrative Stimulus–Orga...

Consistent with calls for a dynamical social psychology (Jacoby et al., 1987; Nowak, Lewenstein, & Vallacher, 1994), attitude formation was studied using a recently developed, computer-based simulation technique termed Higher Order Cognitive Tracing (see Jacoby et al., 1994). Participants’ attitudes toward 12 different products in 3 product categor...

Two studies were conducted among professional security analysts to explore their patterns of decision making while managing investment portfolios. In study 1, a computer-based simulation, the analysts' styles differed markedly, with most exhibiting either a momentum or contrarian approach, as indicated by responses to portfolio stock price changes....

Considerable research has examined how securities information, once accessed, is cognitively processed to arrive at buy, sell or hold decisions. In contrast, this paper examines whether training novice investors to simply apply the information accessing strategies used by better-performing security analysts, prior to actual cognitive processing of...

The major findings of a large scale AAAA study into the miscomprehension of televised communication are summarized. Implications for advertising research and public policy are discussed.

After discussing the value of trademarks to consumers and businesses, the authors outline the major objectives of trademark law. The authors review recent federal trademark infringement cases that involve the use of disclaimers, in terms of the extent to which disclaimers reduce the likelihood of consumer confusion. The authors then note recent tre...

Consumer behavior continued to attract additional researchers and publication outlets from 1993 through 1996. Both general interest and domain-specific scholarly contributions are discussed, along with limitations and suggested areas for future research. A concluding section observes that the integrity of consumer research is unnecessarily compromi...

Corruption in the public sector erodes tax compliance and leads to higher tax evasion. Moreover, corrupt public officials abuse their public power to extort bribes from the private agents. In both types of interaction with the public sector, the private agents are bound to face uncertainty with respect to their disposable incomes. To analyse effect...

The impact of item-by-item information accessing on uncertainty reduction is studied under self-selected and researcher-constrained information accessing. Study 1 showed that, at both the aggregate and the individual level, subjective uncertainty reduction assumes several distinct patterns, with the dominant pattern conforming to an accelerating or...

We conducted a large scale, nationally representative study of the comprehension/miscomprehension of print communication involving 54 advertisements and 54 editorials. On average, 21.4 percent of the material was miscomprehended with an additional 15.5 percent of “don't know” responses. Editorial content was associated with slightly higher rates of...

AEJMC: 75 YEARS IN THE MAKING by Edwin Emery and Joseph P. McKerns (Journalism Monographs, 1621 College St., University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208-0251—$5.00, paper) THE PRESS AND AMERICA: AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY OF THE MASS MEDIA by Michael and Edwin Emery (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1988—price not given) THE COMPREHENSION AND...

Current theories of social judgment and social decision making emphasize dynamic process perspectives, but the methods used to investigate these processes have been relatively static and limited in scope. This paper describes a set of evolving procedures designed to capture process data and discusses how this approach may be used to study various p...

As the writings of Packard (1957), McGinniss (1969), and others indicate, political candidates are often "packaged" and "sold" much as are consumer products. One increasingly important element in this packaging mix, in terms of influencing voter opinion and behavior, is the televised political debate. This investigation examined the extent to which...

Proposes a model of the store image formation process and presents results of a study of how environmental cues were used in forming store images by 120 undergraduates. Findings show that Ss utilized different cues in developing different image factors. Ss considered brand name information as the most important cue in forming quality of merchandise...

The present study illustrates how computers can substantially extend the range and ease of application of the behavioral process information monitoring procedures that are increasingly being used to capture and preserve traces of pre-decision information accessing behavior. Employing such an extension, the study examined whether better and poorer d...

The ability of individuals to comprehend accurately nine televised public affairs messages was examined. A national sample of subjects was quizzed about material contained in a message immediately following exposure to one of the nine stimuli. Results indicated a high rate of miscomprehension. Miscomprehension rates for individual stimuli ranged fr...

On the basis of the theory of human judgment and decision making outlined by K. R. Hammond et al (1980), 2 types of feedback are conceptualized. Outcome feedback is information that describes the accuracy of the response, while cognitive feedback represents information regarding the reasons for this accuracy. The present experiment tested the hypot...

Investigated the effect of linking brand and retailer images on quality perception. Three products were studied: jeans, sneakers, and pantyhose. Two well-known brands were selected within each product category, one with a relatively high-quality image and the other having a positive, but lower-quality image. These brands were linked with retailers...

Using several of the communications employed in a recent large-scale investigation into the miscomprehension of televised communication, the present investigation compared miscomprehension rates for TV with those for print and audio-only formats. The findings revealed that print was better comprehended than either TV or audio presentations of the s...

The preceding commentaries offer interesting perspectives. As might be expected, we agree with some of the points raised but disagree with many others. Given the editor's request for a short and tight rejoinder, we only address points of disagreement. Our comments generally follow the order in which these points were raised.

If the meaning contained in a remedial message has not been satisfactorily comprehended, then its intended impact upon consumer beliefs cannot logically be achieved. The present investigation, employing three heterogeneous samples, found that remedial messages using "plain English" developed and proposed by the FTC may be widely misunderstood by la...

Examines the factors that might have stimulated consumer complaint and redress seeking in regard to the Firestone 500 steel belted radial tire. Topics surveyed include (1) the focus of consumer complaints, (2) factors underlying consumer complaint behavior, (3) complaints from dissatisfied users, (4) marketing channel factors, (5) complaints by sat...

A framework for integrating a process-descriptive method of information search with methods of estimating attribute and product preference is described. Consumer choice for a product variation is examined within this framework. The data show that consumers make rational decisions based on searched information, but do not necessarily make predicted...

Bei der vorliegenden empirischen Studie1 handelt es sich um eine Replikation eines von J. Jacoby und Mitarbeitern 1975 an der Purdue University Lafayette, USA, durchgeführten Experimentes. Zur Erfassung des Informationsverhaltens bei Entscheidungs-prozessen wurde eine neue Methode verwendet, die es ermöglicht, neben Ausmaß und Inhalt der Informatio...

A behavioral process method was used to explore the relationship of individual difference factors to consumer information acquisition behavior. Findings included: (1) the mean proportion of available information actually acquired was 2%, and (2) information search was concentrated on six of the 35 available information dimensions; increased informa...

This author finds much of current theory and methodology lacking in fundamental research-strong medicine!

Important conceptual-definitional and empirical issues previously have been raised with regard to information overload in the consumer context. The primary purpose of this rejoinder is to highlight points of agreement and disagreement and thus bring closer a resolution of the issues.

We know a lot about how consumers behave in acquiring products. Now it's time we learned more about how they actually dispose of those products that they don't consume and don't want to keep... especially appliances.

A behavioral process methodology was utilized to examine the amount and type of information acquired by consumers from package panels prior to making purchase decisions. Consumers selected few information dimensions from larger information arrays, with brand name and price most frequently selected. Less information was selected when brand name was...

Survey data consistently find that the majority of consumers say they want and are willing to pay for nutrition information. The six studies described here suggest that most consumers neither acquire such information when making a purchase decision nor comprehend most nutrition information once they receive it.

Despite the fact that time pervades every aspect of human behavior, consumer researchers have given it scant attention. Our objective is to stimulate much-needed conceptual and empirical attention regarding the relationships between time and consumer behavior. The approach adopted here is to review what has been published on the subject in the fiel...

Reports an error in the original article Examiner Reliability in Polygraph Chart Analysis: Identification of Physiological Responses, by Eugene C. Edel, Lane A. Moore, Jr., and Jacob Jacoby (Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 60, No. 5, pp. 632-634). The authorship as presented in the article was incorrect, and is correctly provided here. Studied...

Brings to the attention of social psychologists the fact that contemporary consumer psychology is essentially social psychology utilized in a specific context, and attempts to stimulate a few social psychologists to engage in social-consumer psychological research. Consumer behavior and consumer psychology are defined and distinguished from each ot...

Misleading advertising is an important issue for the FDA. Jacoby and Small describe the approach currently being considered by the FDA for defining and empirically assessing misleading advertising.

Studied the degree of reliability displayed by 10 experienced polygraph examiners when identifying, as opposed to interpreting, physiological responses. Responses to 2,530 questions from 40 polygraph interview cases show a high degree of consistency in the ability of these examiners to identify (a) whether a physiological reaction occurred and, if...

Considers that previous investigations of perceived risk have used different components to estimate the consequence of overall perceived risk. A study by J. Jacoby and L. Kaplan in 1972 incorporated all these components and determined which of the components best predicted overall perceived risk for 12 product categories. The present study cross-va...

90 black and 90 white male undergraduates evaluated 6 proposed advertisements in terms of attractiveness and likelihood of purchase of the product advertised. The advertisements differed in the degree of racial integration depicted, which was operationally defined by a 5-point continuum ranging from 0 whites and 4 blacks (0W-4B) to 4 whites and 0 b...

Tested a portion of J. C. Olson's cue model which hypothesizes that, other things equal, intrinsic cues (e.g., physical product differences) will be stronger determinants of perceived-quality judgments than will extrinsic cues (e.g., price or store image). 90 female undergraduates were randomly assigned to the conditions of a 2 * 3 * 3 (Price * Sto...

The hypothesis that finite limits exist to the amount of information consumers can effectively use was tested by operationalizing information load in terms of number of brands and amount of information per brand provided. The results of an experiment involving 192 housewives tend to confirm this hypothesis.

Using a process methodology to examine information acquisition behavior, it was found that significant differences existed between the amount of information requested from the “friend” source by innovators about new products. Additionally, personal information sources were consulted after impersonal sources.

A currently popular position among consumer advocates and many public policy makers is that more product information is better. A 3 (number of brands) x 3 (number of items of information per brand) factorial experiment which tested this contention revealed that, while consumers do feel more satisfied and less confused, they actually make poorer pur...

Brand loyalty is first distinguished from simple repeat purchasing behavior and then conceptually defined in terms of six necessary and collectively sufficient conditions. An experiment designed to test this conceptualization provided strong empirical support for the distinction as conceptualized.

Presented 90 black and 90 white undergraduates with descriptive data concerning proposed advertisements for 6 products. 75 black and 75 white Ss were given additional data indicating that of the 4 models used in the advertisement, 0-4 would be black. Ss then completed a questionnaire including a likelihood of minority employment in managerial posit...

Employed a laboratory simulation which required 86 housewives to select 1 brand out of a set of brand alternatives which included an innovative brand in each of 5 different product categories. Self-designation and past purchase behavior measures of innovativeness were used in conjunction with the behavioral measure in order to examine how such meas...

Current attempts to define innovations in terms of consumers' perceptions of newness lack an understanding of what dimensions contribute to perceived newness. Ss recorded their responses (dependent variables) to the stimuli (independent variables) on the facing right hand pages of a 32 page booklet. Examination of both the consumer behavior and soc...

Investigated 3 criteria used to determine the number of Likert scale rating steps to employ: proportion of scale used, testing time, and usage of an uncertain category. A modified version of the Florida Scale of Civic Beliefs, in which there were 2-19 alternatives for each item, was administered to 360 undergraduates. Results indicate that for cumu...

Presents review of the literature on manuscript evaluation by journal editors and convention program committees which reveals chronic dissatisfaction on both sides. Referees and editors must cope with immense workloads and handle complaints; authors are skeptical about the competence and fairness of evaluators. Data are presented from an additional...

Conducted a 2 * 2 * 2 * 3 factorial experiment, using 136 adult male beer drinkers and 4 test beers, to examine the effects of price, composition differences, and brand image cues on the perception of beer quality. Price was found to serve as an indicant of product quality when it was the only cue available but not when embedded in a multicue setti...

Determined empirically the optimal number of alternatives for likert type scales. 360 students were used to test the 18 different likert type formats. 60 value statements were rated by ss on likert scales ranging from 2-19 points. In addition, each s was readministered the same form 3 wk. Later. The reliability and validity data for the different s...

Criticizes aspects of the traditional approach to identifying and studying innovators (i.e., select the 1st 21/2 or 10% to try a single new product and compare characteristics of these individuals to later triers and nontriers). In contrast, a 0-15 innovation proneness index was derived based on responses to experimental stimuli presented for 15 pr...

Discusses the concept of consumer psychology and describes the essential characteristics of the unique consumer psychology program being offered at Purdue University. The goals, curriculum and informal aspects of this program are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

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Despite the generally held assumption that perception of others is partially shaped by the personality of the perceiver, few studies have been devoted directly to this question, and none have involved individuals in the course of ordinary transactions with their environment. A field experiment was conducted in which 46 Ss, divided into small groups...

While clear conceptualizations of phenomena ought to precede and shape measurement approaches rather than vice versa, the brand loyalty literature contains 8 varieties of operational definitions but no precise conceptual definition. Brand loyalty is conceptually defined in terms of 6 necessary and sufficient conditions as: (a) biased (i.e., nonrand...

Operational definitions of brand loyalty abound, yet the reliability, interrelationship, and factor structure of these measures remains to be determined. 12 specific brand loyalty measures were administered to 177 undergraduates, with 32 Ss receiving a 2nd administration 3 wk. later. Results: (a) 10 of the measures possessed adequate stability; (b)...

States that the recent report by the ad hoc committee on career status of military psychologists does not reflect adequately the state of affairs for Air Force psychologists. Cross-service pay and grade differences exist, and there are also class distinctions among Air Force psychologists. Recommendations for improving conditions for all uniformed...

A trademark's or trade dress' "commercial impression" is the meaning or idea it conveys to consumers. Courts and administrative tribunals sometimes are confronted with deciding whether a mark or dress generates a "continuing commercial impression." In some instances, this arises in regard to questions of abandonment -- although a mark or trade dres...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Psychology, 1966. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-87).