When are automatic social comparisons not automatic? The effect of cognitive systems on user imagery-based self-concept activation

Following the tenets of the selective accessibility model of assimilation and contrast, three studies observed implicit consumer self-concept assimilation (contrast) to age-based imagery when the discrepancy between the self-concept and advertisement imagery was moderate (extreme). However, these responses were not fully automatic as only consumers who processed user imagery reflectively demonstrated increased accessibility of similarity/dissimilarity information. Impulsive processing of the user imagery instead increased the accessibility of consumer's pre-existing dominant self-age association. A final experiment revealed that these changes in the active-self mediated response to subsequently advertised products. Taken together, these results support a two-systems model of cognition and suggest that assimilation/contrast responses to advertising and subsequent behavior are influenced by the consumer's processing strategy.