The influence of consumption vocabulary on the encoding and retrieval of haptic information

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Sensory stimuli are often ambiguous, which makes it difficult for consumers to encode and retrieve them, and to construct their preferences. This project studies whether, in a prepurchase context, consumption vocabulary can help consumers to perceive what products are superior on haptic attributes. In an experiment with bed pillows, participants provided with evaluative criteria preferred the pillow with superior haptic attributes more often and to a larger extent than participants who had no evaluative criteria, which suggests the provision of criteria has a positive influence on preference construction. Improvements in memory for haptic attributes and disconnection from incongruent market information derived from that provision were not confirmed.