Nonconscious effects of peculiar beliefs on consumer psychology and choice

Abstract

Irrational or illogical beliefs are referred to variously as magical thinking, peculiar beliefs, superstitious beliefs, and half-beliefs. We first distinguish the various terms according to their most common and relevant usage for consumer psychologists and define a conceptual structure for the roles of conscious and nonconscious processes associated with peculiar beliefs in decision-making. We present a study that provides initial evidence of the effect of nonconscious, experiential processing on the impact of peculiar beliefs in a consumer auction-based sales scenario. We also offer propositions that extend the theory on peculiar beliefs to their nonconscious effects on consumer psychology and choice.