Product Evaluation
JOAN MEYERS-LEVY
ALICE M. TYBOUT*
Mandler theorized that the level of congruity between a product and a more general
product category schema may influence the nature of information processing and
thus product evaluations. Products that are moderately incongruent with their as-
sociated category schemas are expected to stimulate processing that leads to a
more favorable evaluation relative to products that are either congruent or ex-
tremely incongruent. Data from three experiments conducted in new product con-
texts are consistent with Mandler's hypothesis and serve as a basis for theorizing
about the process.
more subtle manner proposed by Mandler. Because "It's a soft drink, but one that doesn't have the usual
Mandler's theorizing has received only limited atten- preservatives."), or activation of an alternative
tion in the consumer research literature (Cohen and schema (e.g., "It's not really a soft drink; it's more of
Basu 1987), we begin by elaborating his view and then a fruit juice. "). Moderate incongruities are regarded
developing a framework in which different levels of as "interesting and positively valued" (Mandler
incongruity can be operationalized. We then report 1982, p. 22), thereby leading to more positive re-
three studies that use this framework to test Mand- sponses than ones elicited by schema congruity. In-
deed, the very process of resolving the incongruity is
ler's schema (in)congruity hypothesis and to explore thought to be rewarding and thus may contribute to
the processes thought to mediate the evaluation the resulting positive affect.
effects observed. By contrast, extreme incongruity is defined as in-
congruity that cannot be resolved or can be resolved
MANDLER'S HYPOTHESIS only if fundamental changes are made in the existing
cognitive structure (e.g., redefining the basic soft
Mandler (1982) theorized that the process of re- drink schema). Such incongruities may generate cog-
sponding to different levels of schema congruity can nitive elaboration, but this elaboration may lead
itself influence the valence and extremity of affective more to frustration than resolution. Thus, extreme
responses. Incongruity, as the term is used here, refers incongruities typically elicit more negative evalua-
to the extent that structural correspondence is tions than do moderate incongruities.
levels. Mandler, like Fiske, suggests that congruity is uct hierarchies established in Sujan's work with the
represented by a match between the attributes of an exception that at the subordinate level, attributes
object/product and a relevant schema, whereas in- coupled with basic level category labels are employed
congruity involves some form of mismatch. What is instead of brand names. This conceptualization of
less apparent is how the distinction between moder- subordinate level categories is consistent with that of
ate and extreme incongruity should be operational- Rosch et al. (1976) who, for example, identified green
ized. Mandler argues that the level of incongruity is seedless grapes as subordinate to the basic category
determined by the ease with which anomalies can be grapes.
resolved within the existing cognitive structure. Thus, The hierarchy of beverage categories depicted in
we turn to Rosch's work (Rosch 1978; Rosch et al. Figure 1 suggests that schema congruity occurs when
1976) for some insight regarding cognitive structure all the attributes of a product are represented within
in semantic memory. Though Rosch exemplifies such the activated schema. This situation is expected to re-
structures using natural objects, as will be discussed sult in a mild positive evaluation of the product.
later, products and their categories appear to be orga- Schema incongruity occurs when the total config-
nized in a similar manner. uration of a product's attributes is not represented in
According to Rosch, natural object categories are the activated schema. Individuals presented with
organized in a hierarchical fashion. Superordinate such mismatches or incongruity are thought to en-
categories are at the highest level. Members of super- gage in cognitive elaboration directed at resolving the
FIGURE 1
A HYPOTHETICAL BEVERAGE HIERARCHY
Superordinate
Level I
I
I
I
I
I
I
--------------- ----------------------
I
--~-----------------------
Basic
Level
,
I
I
I
I
Subordinate
Level
NOTE: Moderate schema incongruity category resolution can be achieved by accessing the next lower level in the hierarchy. Extreme schema incongruity category
resolution is unlikely to be achieved because resolution requires ultimately accessing a level in the hierarchy that is nonsequential, and this is impeded by the
absence of a match at an intervening level in the hierarchy.
nate level (e.g., all natural soft drink) also would be a should produce evaluations that are unfavorable rela-
moderate incongruity. Such moderate incongruities tive to moderate incongruity.
are expected to result in more favorable evaluations The foregoing proposal rests on the assumption
than are schema congruities. that the degree of an incongruity can be determined
Finally, we propose that extreme schema incongru- by the ease with which it can be resolved in the exist-
ities are ones that cannot be resolved by invoking an ing cognitive structure. This implies that our pro-
alternative schema at the next lower level in the hier- posed operationalizations of moderate and extreme
archy. Instead, they require a more complex strategy. incongruity will produce differences on indicators of
For example, an extreme incongruity might be re- the ease of incongruity resolution. Specifically, mod-
solved by moving down multiple levels, but such tra- erate incongruities should take less time to process
versal is made effortful by the absence of a match at and categorize, induce less focus on the incongruity,
the level immediately below the activated schema and result in more specific categorizations than
(i.e., there is no ready associative pathway to traverse; should extreme incongruities. Support for these pre-
Anderson and Bower 1980). Accordingly, an incon- dictions was obtained in a small experiment con-
gruity with the beverage schema that could not be re- ducted to examine the moderate and extreme incon-
solved at a next lower basic level would represent ex- gruity manipulations involving the beverage schema
treme incongruity (e.g., a beverage description that detailed in Experiment 1.
included carbonated, slightly sweet, and all natural Thus, it appears that incongruity levels can be var-
would fit neither the soft drink nor the fruit juice basic ied within the product hierarchy as outlined. Further,
level category schema). Such an extreme incongruity these operationalizations have the advantage of using
SCHEMA CONGRUITY 43
a single attribute (in combination with a category la- H3: The nonmonotonic relationship between
bel) to create the different levels. Such a strategy has schema (in)congruity and evaluation de-
ecological validity in that manufacturers, particularly fined by Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 2 will
in package goo"ds categories, often introduce new be more evident for individuals scoring low
products that differ from existing alternatives only on rather than high on a scale measuring dog-
one attribute. Of course, this is not intended to imply matism.
that ours is the only or the best means of varying in-
congruity. Other procedures are possible and may be H4: The nonmonotonic relationship between
equally effective (e.g., Sujan and Tybout 1988). schema (in)congruity and evaluation de-
fined by Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 2 will
be more evident for individuals scoring high
HYPOTHESES rather than low on a scale measuring need
for cognition.
U sing the operationalizations of the three levels of
schema congruity outlined in the preceding section, Our hypotheses are examined in three experiments.
we sought to test Mandler's prediction of a nonmono- In Experiment 1, the predicted nonmonotonic rela-
tonic relationship between schema congruity and tionship between schema congruity and evaluation
evaluation. First, we examined the following two for a new soft drink (Hypotheses 1 and 2) is tested and
hypotheses. the moderating impact of individual differences in
TABLE 1
CELL CENTROIDS AND MEANS FOR EXPERIMENT 1 AND 2
Experiment 1:
Pretaste Evaluation"
Nondogmatics -.22 .59 .73 -.19
Dogmatics .61 -.43 -.03 .51
Posttaste Evaluation"
Nondogmatics 2.48 3.32 3.63 2.52
Dogmatics 3.15 2.61 2.47 3.28
Experiment 2:
These numbers are the centroids from the MANOVAs performed on the evaluation scales. Higher numbers (or less negative scores) imply more favorable
evaluation.
b 0 = no mention, 1 = mention.
a beverage were apprised that it was a soft drink, and the other condition the target attribute was "all natu-
subjects initially told that the product was a new soft ral." Twenty pretest subjects, who rated these attri-
drink were informed it was a beverage. However, the butes on 1O-point scales, indicated that "high preser-
category label specified in the first sentence was antic- vative" is more descriptive of soft drinkS than is "all
ipated to guide subjects' intial processing. Evidence natural" (.Ks = 8.50 versus 2.70; t(1,19) = 8.85, p
that initial information guides processing has been re- < 0.01). But these two attributes do not differ signifi-
ported elsewhere in the literature (nontransitivity; cantly in their favorableness for soft drinks (Ks = 4.45
Nisbett and Ross 1980). versus 5.45; t(I,19) = 1.29, p > 0.20).4 Following is a
The remainder of the description contained infor- sample product description.
mation about six beverage attributes, five of which
were common to all descriptions. Common attributes As part of a study being conducted by a major food
products company, you will be asked to read a descrip-
were ones that 15 pretest subjects indicated were not tion and evaluate a new beverage (soft drink). This bev-
spontaneously associated with all beverages but were erage will soon be introduced in the marketplace. The
readily linked with the basic level category for soft manufacturer, which markets a diverse line of con-
drinks (nonalcoholic, slightly sweet, best served cold, sumer products enjoying widespread household recog-
available at food stores, and carbonated). Further, in nition, has devoted considerable financial resources to
a separate pretest, 15 out of 16 subjects labeled a
drink that had these attributes as a soft drink. The
sixth attribute was varied to alter the structural and 4Questions were worded in the following manner: "How likely is
it that a product described as being high in preservatives/all natural
descriptive congruence of the product description is a soft drink?" and "How favorable is a soft drink that is described
with the soft drink schema. 3 In one condition, this as being high in preservatives/all natural?" Responses were ob-
target attribute was "high preservative," whereas in tained on 1O-point scales anchored as 1 = extremely unlikely /unfa-
vorable and 10 = extremely likely/favorable. In addition, subjects
answered these same questions as they pertained to fruit juices.
3See Wyer and Gordon 1982 for a discussion of how descriptive These latter ratings are reported in the method section of Experi-
and evaluative congruence differ. ment 3.
SCHEMA CONGRUITY 45
the research and development effort aimed at develop- Results and Discussion
ing a competitive entry within this product category.
This new drink, produced by a company that is active
in both the national and international food products A similar pattern of effects was observed for pre-
market, is specially formulated for those people with a taste and posttaste evaluations in this experiment and
zest for life. The nonalcoholic drink is slightly sweet to in the two that follow. However, the significance of
the taste and tastes best when served at a cold tempera- the effects typically was greater following the taste ex-
ture. It will be available in a variety of convenient food
stores. The carbonation and tingle of the drink will perience despite the beverage's taste being held con-
perk up anyone's taste buds. Priced at about $.47 per stant across treatments. In view of the similar pattern
12-ounce serving, this high preservative (all natural in- for pretaste and posttaste and the need to simplify
gredients) beverage will stay fresh in your refrigerator. data presentation across the three experiments, we fo-
This new soft drink (beverage) is expected to be avail- cus on the posttaste effects, which are statistically
able in cans and bottles in the fall of 1985. stronger. However, the significance level of the pre-
After reading the product description, subjects taste effects is noted, and pretaste data appear in the
completed a series of "Global Outlook Questions" tables. Because some readers may consider pretaste
that, in actuality, were Troldahl and Powell's (1965) evaluations a more appropriate test of our hypothe-
20-item version of Rokeach's (1960) dogmatism ses, we address the relationship between pretaste and
scale. Next, subjects were administered a set of pre- posttaste effects in detail in our general discussion.
FIGURE 2
PLOTS OF MAN OVA CENTROIDS DEPICTING THE SCHEMA ACTIVATED BY TARGET ATTRIBUTE
BY DOGMATISM INTERACTION OF EXPERIMENT 1 POSTTASTE EVALUATION
Nondogmatics Dogmatics
Favorableness Favorableness
of evaluation of evaluation
4.0 4.0
Moderate Congruity
incongruity
Extreme
3.5 3.5 incongruity
3.0
"""
3.0
////
dividuals. Stronger evidence would entail obtaining Hypotheses 1 and 2 might hold for all subjects in Ex-
these effects more generally (i.e., for all individuals) periment 2. Further, if the effect of schema (in)con-
and providing further data for the assumptions that gruity on evaluations is mediated by the extent of
incongruity induces cognitive elaboration and that elaboration and the success of that elaboration in re-
moderate but not extreme incongruity can be re- solving any incongruity, then the cognitive response
solved in subjects' existing cognitive structure. To ad- and recall measures should offer evidence of such ac-
dress these issues, subjects' thoughts and recall con- tivity.
cerning the product description were collected in Ex- Specifically, we propose the following hypotheses
periment 2. regarding the underlying process.
It was anticipated that the schema activated by tar-
get attribute interaction observed for nondogmatics H5: If schema incongruity leads to increased
in Experiment 1 would be obtained on evaluations for cognitive elaboration relative to schema
all subjects. This prediction was based on the assump- congruity, then the three conditions in
tion that the inclusion of cognitive response and re- which some level of incongruity exists
call measures would alter processing and evaluation should exhibit enhanced cognitive perform-
effects. Specifically, listing cognitive responses and at- ance relative to the schema congruity condi-
tempting to recall the stimulus material seemed likely tion in terms of total number of thoughts,
to motivate subjects to engage in the cognitive elabo- overall recall of the product description,
ration regarding the task at hand irrespective of their and mention of the target attribute in recall
dogmatism. However, the nature of that elaboration and thoughts.
still would be expected to vary as a function of schema H6: If moderate but not extreme schema incon-
(in)congruity, implying that the effects predicted in gruity leads to resolution within the existing
SCHEMA CONGRUITY 47
cognitive structure, then greater.mention.of uation outlined in Hypotheses 1 and 2 received sup-
categories that can resolve the 1Ocongrulty port at posttaste.
should be made in thoughts and recall mea-
sures in the moderate than in the extreme Mediation. Hypotheses 5, 6, and 7 were tested by
incongruity condition. examining subjects' cognitive responses and recall.
Thoughts were classified into five categories: the total
87: If extreme schema incongruity leads to neg- number of thoughts generated, the proportion of
ative feelings of helplessness and frustra- thoughts that were positive, the proportion of
tion then a greater proportion of negative thoughts that were negative, the presence/absence of
and' a smaller proportion of positive any mention of the target attribute, and the presence/
thoughts should be observed in this than in absence of any mention of soft drink. 6 In coding re-
other conditions. call, statements paraphrasing those appearing in the
description were considered valid responses, and the
EXPERIMENT 2 number of such statements was summed. The pres-
ence/absence of any mention of the target attribute
Method and mention of soft drink in recall also was recorded.
Hypothesis 5, in which we posited that incongruity
Subjects were 54 middle-aged m~na~ers and t~eir leads to greater elaboration than does congruity, was
spouses who were attending a.cont!nu1Og e~~cat~on
sum ably represented extreme incongruity because them (e.g., high preservative/fruit juice) can be inter-
the incongruity could not be resolved by activating preted in either a favorable or unfavorable manner
the soft drink (or any other) schema, the next lower depending on consumers' motivations (see studies
hierarchical level. Consistent with this logic, there demonstrating affect priming effects; Hamilton and
was a greater tendency to mention soft drink in Zanna 1974 and Higgins, Rholes, and Jones 1977).
thoughts and recall in the beverage/high preservative Second, consumers are likely to expect manufactur-
condition than in the beverage/all natural condition ers who introduce new products to offer advantages
(thoughts, F(1,41) = 2.82, p < 0.10; recall, F(1,41) (rather than disadvantages) over existing alternatives.
= 2.10, p = 0.15). However, the effects on these mea- Thus, consumers may be predisposed to interpret
sures are relatively weak. In retrospect, it seems likely new product features positively. On the basis of these
that the procedure of ultimately informing all sub- observations, we reason that consumers' expectancies
jects that the product was a soft drink may have com- combined with the positive affect produced by resolv-
promised the sensitivity of the test of Hypothesis 6. ing incongruity are likely to prime or encourage fa-
Finally, we tested Hypothesis 7, which suggests that vorable interpretation of new products that are
extreme incongruity results in frustration and, thus, moderately incongruent with a product category to
a greater proportion of negative and a smaller propor- the extent that such interpretations are plausible. The
tion of positive thoughts. This hypothesis received no implication is that under these conditions, consumers
support (ps ~ 0.20). The failure to observe any evi- might view a high preservative fruit juice as offering
TABLE 2
CELL MEANS FOR EXPERIMENT 3
Moderate Moderate
Dependent measures incongruity Congruity Congruity incongruity
NOTE: Higher numbers reflect more favorable, more certain, and slower responses. Means were calculated by summing over the seven indicators measured.
< 0.05, 'Ii = 0.06; posttaste F(I,71) = 5.72, p < 0.05, of the soft drink schema (moderate incongruity) than
w2 = 0.06). Planned contrasts on posttaste data ex- upon activation of the fruit juice schema (congruity;
plored the two relationships of central interest. Mod- posttaste certainty, F(1,71) = 12.23, P < 0.01; post~
erate schema incongruity, represented by the fruit taste RT-EVAL, F(I,67) = 6.98,p < 0.01).
juice/high preservative condition, led to more favor- The observation that, relative to schema congruity,
able evaluations than did schema congruity, which moderate schema incongruity is associated with
was represented by the fruit juice/all natural condi- greater certainty about and accessibility of evalua-
tion (F( 1,71) = 4.33, p < 0.05). This finding occurred tions is noteworthy. As Fazio et al. (1982) have
despite the negative affect ostensibly associated with claimed, evaluations that are held with greater cer-
fruit juice/high preservative. tainty and that are more accessible are more reliable
Comparison of the two all natural treatments al- predictors of overt behavior. Further, that certainty
lowed further examination of the robustness of Hy- and RT-EVAL effects are evident at posttaste but not
pothesis 1. As expected, evaluations were more favor- pretaste implies that these effects may reflect retrieval
able when activation of the soft drink schema resulted rather than encoding processes.
in moderate incongruity than when activation of the
fruit juice schema produced schema congruity GENERAL DISCUSSION
(F( 1,71) = 7.10, p < 0.01). Further, when this finding
is combined with the results of the two previous ex- The three experiments provide support for Mand-
have been viewed as more of a soft drink than a fruit instances where no taste expectancy exists, pretaste
juice). Though plausible at first glance, inspection of effects may be stronger (e.g., Lehtisalo 1985). Hence,
the data casts doubt on this explanation. If this pro- further research exploring the relationship between
cess were operating, the pattern of effects on subjects' pretaste and posttaste evaluations is warranted.
pretaste evaluations should reflect their expectancies Several findings provide some insight regarding the
against which the sampled product is compared. And process thought to underlie the nonmonotonic effect
if these expectancies sometimes were disconfirmed at of schema incongruity on evaluation. As proposed by
trial, the pattern of pretaste evaluations should be op- Mandler (1982), schema incongruity is associated
posite that observed at posttaste. To the contrary, the with increased cognitive elaboration, as evidenced by
pattern of evaluations at pretaste mimicked that at increased performance on recall and thoughts in Ex-
posttaste, and these pretaste effects were of marginal periment 2. However, increased cognitive activity is
significance or better in two of the three experiments. not sufficient to account for schema (in)congruity
Thus, this alternative explanation does not seem to effects on evaluation. As findings observed on recall
account for the data. and thoughts also suggest, evaluation is enhanced
What then might account for the observation that only when increased thought leads to resolution of
pretaste evaluation effects follow the same pattern as the incongruity. Such resolution appears to occur for
posttaste effects, but the latter effects are stronger moderate but not extreme schema incongruity. Fur-
even though all subjects tasted the very same prod- ther, relative to schema congruity, the increased cog-
sponding to moderate incongruity may only temper Object-Evaluation Association," Journal of Experi-
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Press.
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