Losing consciousness: Automatic influences on consumer judgment, behavior, and motivation

Consumer research has largely missed out on two key developments in social cognition research: the growing evidence that much of social judgment and behavior occur without conscious awareness or intent and the substantial moderating influence of social- and self-related goal pursuits on basic cognitive and reasoning processes. This evidence is described and its implications are drawn for nonconscious-including subliminal-influences on consumer behavior. The consumer research domain appears ideal for the necessary next wave of this research: the assessment of how much of a role nonconscious influences play in real life in decisions and behavior that are of real consequence to the individual.