Construal-Level Effects on Preference Stability, Preference-Behavior Correspondence, and the Suppression of Competing Brands

Construal level theory (Trope & Liberman, 2003) suggests that construal level––or the degree of abstractness of mental representations––increases with temporal, spatial, or sensory distance. Three experiments show that the mere presence of a set of target brands at the time a choice is made encourages consumers to represent the brands in memory in terms of concrete lower-level construals. Consequently, preference stability is higher, preference-behavior consistency is greater, and product category-identification latencies for competing brands are slower. Furthermore, the mere presence of target brands at the time of choice affects preference-behavior consistency independent of the effects of direct experience. Implications for an understanding of spontaneous preference formation, preference representation, and preference elicitation are discussed.