Merrie Brucks
Biographic Data
| ID | 92008 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Merrie Brucks |
| GIVEN NAMES | Merrie |
| FAMILY NAME | Brucks |
| SIGNATURE | BRUCKS M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Arizona |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2984-5827 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 157 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Seeking Structure in Collections: Desire for Control Motivates Engagement in Collecting
Across six studies, we provide converging and robust lab and field evidence that the fundamental human desire for control motivates consumer engagement in collecting, defined as the act of acquiring items that belong to an existing collection. This is because consumers who desire control seek structure, which is created when interconnected components form a holistic entity. A collection can provide such a structure, as it comprises related items …
How and Why Conversational Value Leads to Happiness for Experiential and Material Purchases
This work presents convergent evidence that experiential purchases are more conducive to interpersonal conversations than are material purchases—that is, experiences have higher conversational value, which helps explain why they afford consumers greater happiness than do objects (Van Boven and Gilovich 2003). Further, two experiments demonstrate that factors known to differ between experiential and material purchases—closeness to the self, social…
How Childhood Advertising Exposure Can Create Biased Product Evaluations That Persist into Adulthood
Previous research has found that children incrementally learn how to cope with advertising as they age. The current research investigates whether these developmental constraints in advertising knowledge at time of exposure have enduring consequences. Results from four experimental studies show that childhood exposure to advertisements can lead to resilient biased product evaluations that persist into adulthood. Study 1 demonstrates that positive …
The Attribute Carryover Effect: What the "Runner-Up" Option Tells Us about Consumer Choice Processes
The process used to differentiate a top choice from a runner-up can result in a preference reversal among nonselected alternatives, which we term the attribute carryover effect. A series of three experiments demonstrate that a phased choice process can shift attribute preferences. If the top choice is unavailable, consumers with weak attribute preferences are likely to reject their explicitly identified second choice (the runner-up option). Inste…
Overlap between Mental Representations of Self and Brand
People's mental representations of self overlap with those of significant others and in-groups. We extend this finding to show that people's mental representations of self also overlap with inanimate, seemingly impersonal, marketplace entities: consumer brands. Our study follows the “including others in the self” paradigm set forth by Aron and colleagues. We use response times to find that characteristics on which the self and a loved brand are s…
Physician prescribing decisions: The effects of situational involvement and task complexity on information acquisition and decision making
Introspection in Consumer Research: Implementation and Implications
On the basis of a review of introspective methods in other social science disciplines, we identify five categories of introspection: (1) researcher introspection, (2) guided introspection, (3) interactive introspection, (4) syncretic combinations, and (5) reflexivity within research. We draw from this literature a set of six methodological issues relevant to the conduct of introspection in consumer research. Because of the recent publication of c…
Selective Recall and Information Use in Consumer Preferences
This study investigated the relation between consumers' memory and use of information in judging brand preferences. The authors used ads to test hypotheses about how pictorial and verbal presentations of previously encountered information and the content of subsequently encountered information affect recall and information use in shaping brand preferences. Even when subjects more easily recalled pictured attributes than verbally described attribu…
A Study of Information Search Behavior During the Categorization of New Products
Consumers are confronted with hundreds of new products each year, yet little is known about how these new products are integrated into existing knowledge structures. Depending on the new products' similarity or dissimilarity to categories stored in memory, consumers' information search may be influenced. In this study, consumers' information-seeking behavior was explored during the categorization of new products that differed in varying degrees f…
The Effects of Bargainable Attributes and Attribute Range Knowledge on Consumer Choice Processes
The bargaining purchase process is viewed as a multiattribute, multialternative choice in which the attribute values are subject to change. Bargaining is studied empirically by directly comparing information search strategies for purchase tasks that do and do not include a bargaining component. Knowledge of attribute value ranges is manipulated to examine its effects on bargaining and non-bargaining purchase tasks. The results provide evidence th…
Children's Use of Cognitive Defenses Against Television Advertising: A Cognitive Response Approach
This study employs a cognitive response approach using non-directive probes rather than direct questions to assess the effects of advertising knowledge and the presence of a cue on thoughts produced by 9 to 10-year-old children while watching commercials. The number of counterarguments produced indicates children's use of cognitive defenses. The study found that advertising knowledge did not result in increased counterarguments against advertisem…
Search Monitor: An Approach for Computer-Controlled Experiments Involving Consumer Information Search
Journal Article Search Monitor: An Approach for Computer-Controlled Experiments Involving Consumer Information Search Get access Merrie Brucks Merrie Brucks Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 15, Issue 1, June 1988, Pages 117–121, https://doi.org/10.1086/209150 Published: 01 June 1988 Article history Received: 01 February 1987 Revision received: 01 December 1987 Pub…
The Effects of Product Class Knowledge on Information Search Behavior
The effects of prior knowledge about a product class on various characteristics of pre-purchase information search within that product class are examined. A new search task methodology is used that imposes only a limited amount of structure on the search task: subjects are not cued with a list of attributes, and the problem is not structured in a brand-by-attribute matrix. The results indicate that prior knowledge facilitates the acquisition of n…
The Effects of Product Class Knowledge on Information Search Behavior
The effects of prior knowledge about a product class on various characteristics of pre-purchase information search within that product class are examined. A new search task methodology is used that imposes only a limited amount of structure on the search task: subjects are not cued with a list of attributes, and the problem is not structured in a brand-by-attribute matrix. The results indicate that prior knowledge facilitates the acquisition of n…
Introspection in Consumer Research: Implementation and Implications
On the basis of a review of introspective methods in other social science disciplines, we identify five categories of introspection: (1) researcher introspection, (2) guided introspection, (3) interactive introspection, (4) syncretic combinations, and (5) reflexivity within research. We draw from this literature a set of six methodological issues relevant to the conduct of introspection in consumer research. Because of the recent publication of c…
How Childhood Advertising Exposure Can Create Biased Product Evaluations That Persist into Adulthood
Previous research has found that children incrementally learn how to cope with advertising as they age. The current research investigates whether these developmental constraints in advertising knowledge at time of exposure have enduring consequences. Results from four experimental studies show that childhood exposure to advertisements can lead to resilient biased product evaluations that persist into adulthood. Study 1 demonstrates that positive …
Children's Use of Cognitive Defenses Against Television Advertising: A Cognitive Response Approach
This study employs a cognitive response approach using non-directive probes rather than direct questions to assess the effects of advertising knowledge and the presence of a cue on thoughts produced by 9 to 10-year-old children while watching commercials. The number of counterarguments produced indicates children's use of cognitive defenses. The study found that advertising knowledge did not result in increased counterarguments against advertisem…
A Study of Information Search Behavior During the Categorization of New Products
Consumers are confronted with hundreds of new products each year, yet little is known about how these new products are integrated into existing knowledge structures. Depending on the new products' similarity or dissimilarity to categories stored in memory, consumers' information search may be influenced. In this study, consumers' information-seeking behavior was explored during the categorization of new products that differed in varying degrees f…
How and Why Conversational Value Leads to Happiness for Experiential and Material Purchases
This work presents convergent evidence that experiential purchases are more conducive to interpersonal conversations than are material purchases—that is, experiences have higher conversational value, which helps explain why they afford consumers greater happiness than do objects (Van Boven and Gilovich 2003). Further, two experiments demonstrate that factors known to differ between experiential and material purchases—closeness to the self, social…
The Effects of Bargainable Attributes and Attribute Range Knowledge on Consumer Choice Processes
The bargaining purchase process is viewed as a multiattribute, multialternative choice in which the attribute values are subject to change. Bargaining is studied empirically by directly comparing information search strategies for purchase tasks that do and do not include a bargaining component. Knowledge of attribute value ranges is manipulated to examine its effects on bargaining and non-bargaining purchase tasks. The results provide evidence th…
Selective Recall and Information Use in Consumer Preferences
This study investigated the relation between consumers' memory and use of information in judging brand preferences. The authors used ads to test hypotheses about how pictorial and verbal presentations of previously encountered information and the content of subsequently encountered information affect recall and information use in shaping brand preferences. Even when subjects more easily recalled pictured attributes than verbally described attribu…
Physician prescribing decisions: The effects of situational involvement and task complexity on information acquisition and decision making
Search Monitor: An Approach for Computer-Controlled Experiments Involving Consumer Information Search
Journal Article Search Monitor: An Approach for Computer-Controlled Experiments Involving Consumer Information Search Get access Merrie Brucks Merrie Brucks Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 15, Issue 1, June 1988, Pages 117–121, https://doi.org/10.1086/209150 Published: 01 June 1988 Article history Received: 01 February 1987 Revision received: 01 December 1987 Pub…
The Attribute Carryover Effect: What the "Runner-Up" Option Tells Us about Consumer Choice Processes
The process used to differentiate a top choice from a runner-up can result in a preference reversal among nonselected alternatives, which we term the attribute carryover effect. A series of three experiments demonstrate that a phased choice process can shift attribute preferences. If the top choice is unavailable, consumers with weak attribute preferences are likely to reject their explicitly identified second choice (the runner-up option). Inste…
The Effects of Product Class Knowledge on Information Search Behavior
The effects of prior knowledge about a product class on various characteristics of pre-purchase information search within that product class are examined. A new search task methodology is used that imposes only a limited amount of structure on the search task: subjects are not cued with a list of attributes, and the problem is not structured in a brand-by-attribute matrix. The results indicate that prior knowledge facilitates the acquisition of n…
Children's Use of Cognitive Defenses Against Television Advertising: A Cognitive Response Approach
This study employs a cognitive response approach using non-directive probes rather than direct questions to assess the effects of advertising knowledge and the presence of a cue on thoughts produced by 9 to 10-year-old children while watching commercials. The number of counterarguments produced indicates children's use of cognitive defenses. The study found that advertising knowledge did not result in increased counterarguments against advertisem…
Search Monitor: An Approach for Computer-Controlled Experiments Involving Consumer Information Search
Journal Article Search Monitor: An Approach for Computer-Controlled Experiments Involving Consumer Information Search Get access Merrie Brucks Merrie Brucks Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 15, Issue 1, June 1988, Pages 117–121, https://doi.org/10.1086/209150 Published: 01 June 1988 Article history Received: 01 February 1987 Revision received: 01 December 1987 Pub…
The Effects of Bargainable Attributes and Attribute Range Knowledge on Consumer Choice Processes
The bargaining purchase process is viewed as a multiattribute, multialternative choice in which the attribute values are subject to change. Bargaining is studied empirically by directly comparing information search strategies for purchase tasks that do and do not include a bargaining component. Knowledge of attribute value ranges is manipulated to examine its effects on bargaining and non-bargaining purchase tasks. The results provide evidence th…
Selective Recall and Information Use in Consumer Preferences
This study investigated the relation between consumers' memory and use of information in judging brand preferences. The authors used ads to test hypotheses about how pictorial and verbal presentations of previously encountered information and the content of subsequently encountered information affect recall and information use in shaping brand preferences. Even when subjects more easily recalled pictured attributes than verbally described attribu…
A Study of Information Search Behavior During the Categorization of New Products
Consumers are confronted with hundreds of new products each year, yet little is known about how these new products are integrated into existing knowledge structures. Depending on the new products' similarity or dissimilarity to categories stored in memory, consumers' information search may be influenced. In this study, consumers' information-seeking behavior was explored during the categorization of new products that differed in varying degrees f…
Physician prescribing decisions: The effects of situational involvement and task complexity on information acquisition and decision making
Introspection in Consumer Research: Implementation and Implications
On the basis of a review of introspective methods in other social science disciplines, we identify five categories of introspection: (1) researcher introspection, (2) guided introspection, (3) interactive introspection, (4) syncretic combinations, and (5) reflexivity within research. We draw from this literature a set of six methodological issues relevant to the conduct of introspection in consumer research. Because of the recent publication of c…
Overlap between Mental Representations of Self and Brand
People's mental representations of self overlap with those of significant others and in-groups. We extend this finding to show that people's mental representations of self also overlap with inanimate, seemingly impersonal, marketplace entities: consumer brands. Our study follows the “including others in the self” paradigm set forth by Aron and colleagues. We use response times to find that characteristics on which the self and a loved brand are s…
The Attribute Carryover Effect: What the "Runner-Up" Option Tells Us about Consumer Choice Processes
The process used to differentiate a top choice from a runner-up can result in a preference reversal among nonselected alternatives, which we term the attribute carryover effect. A series of three experiments demonstrate that a phased choice process can shift attribute preferences. If the top choice is unavailable, consumers with weak attribute preferences are likely to reject their explicitly identified second choice (the runner-up option). Inste…
How Childhood Advertising Exposure Can Create Biased Product Evaluations That Persist into Adulthood
Previous research has found that children incrementally learn how to cope with advertising as they age. The current research investigates whether these developmental constraints in advertising knowledge at time of exposure have enduring consequences. Results from four experimental studies show that childhood exposure to advertisements can lead to resilient biased product evaluations that persist into adulthood. Study 1 demonstrates that positive …
How and Why Conversational Value Leads to Happiness for Experiential and Material Purchases
This work presents convergent evidence that experiential purchases are more conducive to interpersonal conversations than are material purchases—that is, experiences have higher conversational value, which helps explain why they afford consumers greater happiness than do objects (Van Boven and Gilovich 2003). Further, two experiments demonstrate that factors known to differ between experiential and material purchases—closeness to the self, social…
Seeking Structure in Collections: Desire for Control Motivates Engagement in Collecting
Across six studies, we provide converging and robust lab and field evidence that the fundamental human desire for control motivates consumer engagement in collecting, defined as the act of acquiring items that belong to an existing collection. This is because consumers who desire control seek structure, which is created when interconnected components form a holistic entity. A collection can provide such a structure, as it comprises related items …
Psychology (10 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Business (7 works) · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification (7 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Advertising (5 works) · Cognitive psychology (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (3 works) · Cognition (3 works)