The Power of Strangers: The Effect of Incidental Consumer Brand Encounters on Brand Choice

Rosellina Ferraro, James R. Bettman, Tanya L. Chartrand · Journal of Consumer Research · 2009 · marketing · 10.1086/592944 · record ferraro2009-brand
tag layer · index · concepts · authors · עברית
Where this record's text came from. faceted 2026-08 by reading the locally held text (pdftext); every evidence string verified as an exact substring of that text before merging. On the ferraro2009-brand record: claim type is 'mechanism' rather than 'existence' because the abstract's load-bearing clause is the causal one ('that perceptual fluency underlies these effects'), established by the misattribution (study 2) and saturation (study 3) manipulations rather than by the effect demonstration alone. Replication status is 'replicated' on the basis of the paper's OWN reported internal replications only — study 1 was rerun at Duke where Dasani was the dominant brand, and the study 4 in-group pattern was reproduced in a follow-up study; I have no evidence from the text about independent replication, so this should not be read as a literature-wide status. The contradicts relation to Simonson, Kramer, and Young (2004) is real but split across two sentences: the quoted sentence names the prior work, and the very next sentence states the conflict ('This result also appears inconsistent with our findings on the preference measure.'); I quoted the naming sentence so the target is verifiable inside the evidence. Several other named citations (Bargh 2002, Dijksterhuis et al. 2005, Hasher and Zacks 1984, Zajonc 1968, Brewer and Yuki 2007, Markus and Kitayama 1991) are background framing where the paper does not explicitly position its own claim against them in a single sentence, so per rule 7 I left them out. 2026-08-19 and 2026-08-25 schema-0.3 passes: every quote verified as an exact substring of the staged text and anchored at merge time; concept terms verified present; every edge endpoint an existing node. Update, 15 September 2026: EXCEPTION, measured with the merge gate's own predicate (Paper.locate): 2 quote(s) on this record are not found as one exact string in the current staged text - content_tags.statistics[0].evidence, content_tags.statistics[1].evidence. The sentence above does not hold for them as written. Where a row records why - the quote is grounded in another copy of the paper, joins two passages with an ellipsis, or differs from the staged text by extraction noise - that note stays on the row.
The quality of the text these quotes were cut from. residual-ligature-artifacts: some fi/fl were lost in an earlier cleanup and the source could not be re-fetched cleanly (personal copy / paywalled / corrupt text layer). Text is complete and readable but not pristine; not enriched until re-sourced.
2 quotes on this page break a word across a line. The PDF this text was extracted from hyphenated those words at the end of a printed line — adversar- ial, repre- sentations — and the extractor kept the hyphen and the space. The quotes keep them because a quote is reproduced exactly or it proves nothing: the break is the typesetter’s, not the author’s. A search of this page will not find the affected words.
2 quotes on this page were cut from a different copy of this article. This project holds two extractions of this paper: the plain text every other quote here is anchored in, and the publisher’s own HTML edition, which we are not licensed to republish. They are verbatim in the second and cannot be found in the first — not because the tagging is wrong, but because the extraction damaged the passage: a page number dropped into the middle of a number, a formula moved out of its sentence, a ligature where two letters belong. The record names the copy for each one. The quote is the paper’s; the extraction is not.
How to read this page. The article itself is not reproduced here — this paper is not cleared for redistribution, so what follows is the tag layer alone. The evidence sentences are withheld with the article. The table at the foot lists every tag the record carries; each row names the facet it belongs to, and the whose words column says whether the tag records the paper's own wording or the tagger's sentence about the paper. Every tag links to each other paper in the corpus carrying it. The machine-readable edition of the same thing is the TEI file beside this one, where the tags live in standOff, and the article is at its publisher via the link below. When we have changed our mind. Some entries in the table begin with a word in capitals and the reason for it. EVIDENCE CORRECTED — the finding still stands, but we had quoted the wrong sentence from the paper, and the quotation has been replaced with the right one. RETRACTED — the entry itself was wrong; it stays on the page, marked, with the reason, rather than being deleted. WITHDRAWN AND REPLACED — the entry was wrong, and a corrected version of it appears in the entries below. Each mark carries its own reason, in brackets, because the reasons differ from one entry to the next. An entry we have WITHDRAWN is removed from this page and kept in the record, with its reason. A line reading Audit and a date is a later re-reading of the entry against its whole sentence: DOUBTFUL means it was kept, and the reason says what is loose about it. Quotation marks inside the tagger's sentence. Where a tag is the tagger's own sentence, a phrase in quotation marks inside it is borrowed from the paper — the tagger's wording around it is not. The paper's own sentence is the evidence quote for that row; on this page it is withheld with the article, and the article is at its publisher. Nothing inside quotation marks anywhere on this page is ours: if it is quoted, it is the paper's. Whose words a concept carries. A concept entry records a term the paper itself uses, so the term, the sense given for it, and its evidence are the paper's own words, quoted where the paper fixes them. This is the opposite of a sense entry in the tag table, which is the tagger's sentence about how the paper uses a term. Where a concept entry could not be grounded in the paper's words, the entry says so on its own row.
Other fields define these differently the same word, defined another way in another discipline
logistic regression 3 fields · standard-deviation 3 fields · priming 2 fields

Tags on this paper

Every tag the record carries, each linking to every other paper in the corpus that carries it. A tag appears here whether or not its words occur in the article — the spans below are only the ones a sentence in this paper licenses. Of the 11 concept tags on this paper, 4 are grounded in a quoted sentence. 4 carry the tagger's gloss of what the term means in this paper, which is not something the article can license.
priming brand priming incidental exposure consumer choice association secondariness modulation fluency type of user mere exposure brand choice ANOVA correlation mean mean ( regression logistic regression standard-deviation standard deviation behavioural-experiment

Legend

relation to other workclaim_relationshow this paper stands to another: agrees, contradicts, extends, qualifies
claim typeclaim_typethe shape of the claim: existence, mechanism, method, critique, prediction, null
concept edgeconcept_edgesan asserted relation between two concepts, with the sentence asserting it
conceptconceptsan idea the paper works with, quoted where the paper uses it
content tagcontent_tagsa finding, definition, quantity, statistic or variable named in the paper
controlcontrolsan experiment run to eliminate a rival explanation
limitationlimitationswhat the paper says its evidence cannot support
methodmethodhow the paper produced its evidence
phenomenonphenomenonthe effect or regularity under study
sensesensesa distinct use of a term, quoted where the paper fixes it

The paper

The full text is not reproduced here. This article is not cleared for redistribution, so the page carries the tag layer only. Its evidence sentences are withheld; the grounding status remains with each tag, and the article itself is at https://doi.org/10.1086/592944. The reading view exists for the papers whose licence permits it.

Every tag on this page

claim_relations 4 · claim_type 1 · concept_edges 2 · concepts 4 · content_tags 3 · controls 2 · limitations 4 · method 1 · phenomenon 1 · senses 4

Relations on this page carry a quotation for the claim. Where a relation was separately evidenced — and so tested against the vocabulary for its type — the row says so; none of 2 relations here carry that mark. The rest are the tagger’s reading of the sentence quoted beside them.

This record holds no mechanisms. A layer is empty when the tagger recorded nothing in it — which is not the same as the paper having nothing to record.

facettagfieldconf.whose words
claim_typemechanism
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
claim_typethe paper's words
phenomenonincidental consumer brand encounters
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
phenomenonthe paper's words
methodbehavioural-experiment
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
methodthe paper's words
limitationsOnly a single brand (Dasani) was used, so effects of competing-brand clutter are untested.
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
what this limits: the transfer to a real shelf: OUR RESEARCH UTILIZED ONLY ONE BRAND, WHEREAS IN THE REAL WORLD PEOPLE DO NOT JUST ENCOUNTER ONE BRAND
limitations[0]the tagger's words
limitationsThe stimuli were static photographs, not the dynamic encounters people actually have.
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
what this limits: the ecological reading of the exposure: OUR PHOTOGRAPHS PRESENT A STATIC PICTURE OF AN ICBE, not the dynamic encounters people actually have
limitations[1]the tagger's words
limitationsParticipants who were aware of the brand exposure were too few to analyse, so the aware case is untested.
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
what this limits: the scope of the whole finding: WE FOCUS ONLY ON THE RESULTS FOR THE UNAWARE PARTICIPANTS ... AS THERE ARE TOO FEW PARTICIPANTS IN THE AWARE GROUP FOR MEANINGFUL ANALYSES - the aware/unaware contrast is untested
limitations[2]the tagger's words
limitationsThe authors concede an alternative explanation for study 4 in terms of analytic vs. holistic processing styles tied to self-construal.
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
what this limits: the study 4 interpretation: SOME READERS MAY WONDER IF PROCESSING STYLE DIFFERENCES ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFERENT SELF-CONSTRUALS PROVIDE AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION - conceded, not excluded
limitations[3]the tagger's words
controlsa 10-minute FILLER TASK placed between the individual-difference measures and the photo task
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
eliminates: that participants notice the connection between the questionnaire and the exposure task, and respond to the perceived hypothesis · outcome (stated by the tagger, no quotation): held
controls[0]0.95the tagger's words
controlsa ZERO-EXPOSURE control condition against four and twelve exposures
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
eliminates: that brand choice at any exposure level is simply the brand's base rate rather than an effect of exposure · outcome (stated by the tagger, no quotation): held
controls[1]0.95the tagger's words
conceptsfluency
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: fluency
concepts[7]0.95the paper's words
conceptstype of user
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: type of user
concepts[8]0.95the paper's words
conceptsmere exposure
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: mere exposure
concepts[9]0.95the paper's words
conceptsbrand choice
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: brand choice
concepts[10]0.95the paper's words
sensesTHE MECHANISM IS PROVED BY MISATTRIBUTION, WHICH IS THE STRONGEST FORM AVAILABLE FOR A FEELING: `Quotation withheld.` Give the ease somewhere else to have come from and the preference goes with it. That rules out the alternative that repetition simply builds a memory or a habit - a memory would not care where you thought the ease came from
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
senses[0]0.95the tagger's words
sensesAND THE DOSE-RESPONSE IS NON-MONOTONIC: `Study 3 suggests that too much fluency can backfire, which is consistent with the saturation model.` More exposure is not more effect. This is the one finding here that a replication is most likely to invert by accident: increasing the number of exposures to be safe would move the design past the peak and find less. A corpus that records `repeated exposure increases choice` without the saturation clause would license exactly that mistake
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
senses[1]0.95the tagger's words
sensesUNAWARENESS USED AS A CONTROL RATHER THAN REPORTED AS A FINDING: `the participants in study 4 were not aware of the brand and hence could not be aware of its association with the in-group or out-group, so conscious correction was not possible.` This is higgins1977's discounting cue turned into a design feature. Higgins found that noticing your own bias ATTENUATES it; here, showing that participants could not notice is what licenses reading the result as uncorrected. Same mechanism, opposite use - one paper measures it, the other rules it out by construction
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
senses[2]0.95the tagger's words
sensesAN ANOMALY REPORTED AGAINST THEIR OWN ACCOUNT, IN THEIR OWN DISCUSSION: `Quotation withheld. On the surface, this result seems inconsistent with a fluency account.` The exposure moved what people CHOSE without moving what they SAID they liked. A measure and its supposed cause coming apart - and the authors raise it themselves, under a heading of its own, rather than leaving it in a table
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
senses[3]0.95the tagger's words
claim_relationsbuilds-on → Winkielman et al. (2003)
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
claim_relations[0]the tagger's words
claim_relationsbuilds-on → Fazendeiro et al. (2007) and Huber and O’Reilly (2003) saturation model
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
claim_relations[1]the tagger's words
claim_relationsreplicates → Fang et al. (2007)
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
claim_relations[2]the tagger's words
claim_relationscontradicts → Simonson, Kramer, and Young (2004)
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
claim_relations[3]the tagger's words
concept_edgesfluency —causes→ brand choice
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
direction on the measure: increases · strength of the relation: 0.9 · note: THE PAPER'S CENTRAL CLAIM, and the axis quote carries the awareness qualifier that the abstract attaches to it - 'for people not aware of the brand exposure'. Weight 0.9 rather than 0.95 because the relation is non-monotonic (study 3) and moderated (study 4), and an unqualified 'fluency increases choice' is true only in the middle of the range.
also in: fluency · brand choice
concept_edges[0]0.95the tagger's words
concept_edgestype of user —causes→ fluency
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
strength of the relation: 0.85 · note: THE MODERATOR, AND NO effect direction - DELIBERATELY. The paper says the type of user can 'BOLSTER it ... DAMPEN it ... or OVERPOWER it' depending on the group and the perceiver's construal, so there is no single sign. A 'causes(increases)' here would be false a third of the time. The vocabulary offers no 'moderates', and this is the nearest honest use of what it has. Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its span and kept, but the span says the type of user may MODERATE the fluency effect; causes overstates a moderation.
also in: type of user · fluency
concept_edges[1]0.95the tagger's words
content_tagsmean
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
about this quote: QUOTE RECOVERED FROM THE PAPER'S OWN CHARACTERS. The recorded quote was LETTERS-ONLY IDENTICAL to this stretch of the staged text but not an exact substring of it - spaces, hyphens, ligature glyphs or mathematical operators differed, so it could never anchor. This is the file's own text between the same two letters: not produced by a rule about the damage, copied out of the file. Round-trip checked (the recovered span is letters-only equal to the original) and length-checked. The text as originally recorded is kept in evidence as extracted.
also in: mean
content_tags.statistics[2]the tagger's words
content_tagsregression
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: regression
content_tags.statistics[3]the tagger's words
content_tagsstandard-deviation
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
about this quote: QUOTE RECOVERED FROM THE PAPER'S OWN CHARACTERS. The recorded quote was LETTERS-ONLY IDENTICAL to this stretch of the staged text but not an exact substring of it - spaces, hyphens, ligature glyphs or mathematical operators differed, so it could never anchor. This is the file's own text between the same two letters: not produced by a rule about the damage, copied out of the file. Round-trip checked (the recovered span is letters-only equal to the original) and length-checked. The text as originally recorded is kept in evidence as extracted.
content_tags.statistics[4]the tagger's words

Interpretive choices

Tags that could not be placed in the text:

What was deliberately not tagged, and why, is recorded per paper by the tagger. Where a paper has no such record, this page says so rather than implying that nothing was declined.

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