We investigate the apparent rarity of contrast effects in diverse-category contextual and target product settings. Three studies show that the direction of context effects depends on (a) whether target product positioning is abstract or concrete, (b) consumers' adoption of an item-specific,...

This article investigates how two dimensions of psychological distance (i.e., temporal distance and social distance) jointly affect consumers' evaluations of products. Drawing on the properties of psychological distance and diminishing sensitivity to the increase in distance, we show an...

Once a product has been evaluated for use, the circumstances can change and it must be reevaluated for use at a different time. Four experiments investigated processes underlying these reevaluations. Participants received information about a product that had implications for both desirability...