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ISSN : 1229-8778
In forming judgments and inferences based on memory, people not only rely on the content information retrieved from memory but also use their subjective ease or difficulty experience of retrieval as a source of information (Schwarz and Clore, 2007). The present study examines the moderating role of an individual’s need for cognition in his or her use of retrieval ease as information in forming product attitudes after self-generating reasons in favor of a product. In doing so, the present study also tests for two possible mediating mechanisms: perceived availability- vs. validity-based mechanism. The results show that retrieval ease (experienced in self-generating reasons) influences product attitudes when people are low on need for cognition but not when they are high on need for cognition. In addition, the ease effect on product attitudes (that was contingent upon need for cognition) was found to be mediated by the perceived availability of reasons. Several implications for practice and future research are also discussed.
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