An experimental examination of the effects of order of presentation on the formation of internal reference prices.

This dissertation examined effects upon consumers' current and future price expectations, which were produced by changing the order in which sample prices were presented for evaluation. Two orders of presentation (ascending, descending) and two different rates of change (rapid, moderate) were investigated. Four criterion measures were collected in order to measure: (1) adaptation level prices, (2) expected future prices, and (3) highest acceptable prices, for an industrial commodity. Experimental evidence supported adaptation level theory over extrapolative expectations as the stronger explanatory mechanism.