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Non-Conscious Influences on Consumer Choice

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Abstract

While consumer choice research has dedicated considerable research attention to aspects of choice that are deliberative and conscious, only limited attention has been paid to aspects of choice that occur outside of conscious awareness. We review relevant research that suggests that consumer choice is a mix of conscious and nonconscious influences, and argue that the degree to which nonconscious influences affect choice is much greater than many choice researchers believe. Across a series of research domains, these influences are found to include stimulus that are not consciously perceived by the consumer, nonconscious downstream effects of a consciously perceived stimuli or thought process, and decision processes that occur entirely outside of awareness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USA

    Gavan J. Fitzsimons, J. Wesley Hutchinson & Patti Williams

  2. University of Florida, USA

    Joseph W. Alba

  3. Ohio State University, USA

    Tanya L. Chartrand

  4. Duke University, USA

    Joel Huber

  5. University of Cincinatti, USA

    Frank R. Kardes

  6. New York University, USA

    Geeta Menon

  7. University of California, Berkeley, USA

    Priya Raghubir

  8. Cornell University, USA

    J. Edward Russo

  9. University of Iowa, USA

    Baba Shiv

  10. London Business School, Regents Park, London, WW1 4SA

    Nader T. Tavassoli

Authors
  1. Gavan J. Fitzsimons
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  2. J. Wesley Hutchinson
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  3. Patti Williams
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  4. Joseph W. Alba
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  5. Tanya L. Chartrand
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  6. Joel Huber
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  7. Frank R. Kardes
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  8. Geeta Menon
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  9. Priya Raghubir
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  10. J. Edward Russo
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  12. Nader T. Tavassoli
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Correspondence to Gavan J. Fitzsimons.

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Fitzsimons, G.J., Hutchinson, J.W., Williams, P. et al. Non-Conscious Influences on Consumer Choice. Marketing Letters 13, 269–279 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020313710388

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