Social Influence and Consumer Behavior - Howard Daniel J.

A good deal of consumer research is focused on social influence, since consumers make purchase decisions in the context of a social framework. This collection of innovative essays examines both the conscious and non-conscious effects of social influence on consumer behavior processes and outcomes, covering a wide variety of topics such as compliance, influence tactics, social networks, social relationships, family decision-making, and spokespersons.

The papers are authored by experts in consumer psychology from both psychology and marketing backgrounds. Some of their key insights include:

• The relationship between the target and the influence agent determines the effectiveness of influence tactics
• Priming consumers with products associated with social networks, such as iPhones for friends or refrigerators with families, makes those products become more attractive
• Negative associations of celebrity endorsers can transfer to the brand
• Cognitive dissonance underlies the question-behavior effect
• Family decision-making includes emotional contagion and mirroring
• Post-decisional information search is often conducted even when the search may reveal that a bad decision was made
• The fear-then-relief technique can lead to purchase.

The papers in this volume offer a rich assortment of research ideas which will prove valuable in furthering theoretical development in the social influence-consumer behavior area. This book will be of interest to consumer researchers and psychologists engaged in active empirical or conceptual work. It was originally published as a special issue of the journal Social Influence.