Abstract

This paper examined the effects of the representative information and motivational factor on the evaluation and selection of the products. In present study, since the ratio of positive and negative characteristics of the two products which served as the stimuli was equal, the product with more positive characteristics also had more negative characteristics than the other product. However, people evaluated more positively and selected more frequently the one which had both many positive and negative characteristics when the majority of information representing the product was positive characteristics. This tendency occurred even when the subjects knew the exact ratio of positive and negative characteristics of the products. Therefore, one can infer that the tendency to evaluate the products based on their representative information is due to one's information processing features, not the bias in the memory. Lastly, the effect of the representative information was lessened when the personal relevance of the information was high (Experiment 1), or when the product was durable (Experiment 2).