The Role of Consumers' Intuitions in Inference Making

TLDR

Traditional studies of inference making focus on product descriptions lacking salient attributes, finding lower evaluations of incompletely described alternatives and a low incidence of spontaneous attribute‑to‑attribute inference. We argue that inference likelihood depends on available cues, with some cues disproportionately influencing inference behavior. In experiments presenting competing cues implying different missing attribute values, we found that intuitive beliefs about attribute relationships are seen as a particularly reliable basis for interattribute inference. Strong beliefs appear capable of superseding other compelling cues and may induce consumers to generate inferences spontaneously.

Abstract

Traditional explorations of inference making have examined consumers' reactions to product descriptions that lack information about salient attributes. Such studies frequently report systematically lower evaluations of incompletely described alternatives along with a generally low incidence of unprompted attribute-to-attribute inference. We argue that the nature and likelihood of an inference are dependent on the cues available at the time of decision making, and that some cues may exert a disproportionate influence on inference behavior. In several experiments in which subjects were presented with competing cues that implied different values of a missing attribute, we show that intuitive beliefs about the relationships between attributes are perceived as a particularly reliable basis for interattribute inference. Strong beliefs appear capable of superseding other compelling cues and may induce consumers to generate inferences spontaneously.