The Role of Unconsciousness
in the Context of Working Memory
and its Effect on the
Purchase Behavior of Tourists
Bachelor Thesis II submitted at the
IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems
Bachelor’s Programme
„Tourism and Leisure Management“
by
Mathias PFALZER
Area of emphasis/focus/special field: Marketing & Consumer Behavior
Advisor: Prof. (FH) Dr. Sebastian Berger
Submitted on: 19.05.2010
STATUTORY DECLARATION
“I declare in lieu of an oath that I have written this bachelor thesis myself and that I
have not used any sources or resources other than stated for its preparation. I
further declare that I have clearly indicated all direct and indirect quotations. This
bachelor thesis has not been submitted elsewhere for examination purposes.”
Date: 19.05.2010 Signature
Mathias Pfalzer II
TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATUTORY DECLARATION ............................. .................................................... I
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................. ....................................................... IV
ABSTRACT .......................................... ................................................................... V
1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1
2 WORKING MEMORY .............................................................................................. 4
2.1 Definition of Working Memory .......................................................................................... 4
2.2 Characteristics of Working Memory .................................................................................. 5
2.2.1 Core Functions of Working Memory .......................................................................... 5
2.2.2 Descriptive Models of Working Memory ................................................................... 6
2.2.3 Remaining Ambiguity in the Context of Working Memory Functions ....................... 7
2.3 Capacity Limits of Working Memory .................................................................................. 8
2.4 Long-Term Knowledge and Working Memory ................................................................... 9
2.5 Conscious Awareness and its Relation to Working Memory ............................................. 9
2.6 Unconsciousness and Working Memory .......................................................................... 10
2.6.1 The Fundamental Principle of Unconsciousness ...................................................... 10
2.6.2 Implicit Working Memory ........................................................................................ 11
2.7 Complex Cognitive Activities ............................................................................................ 12
3 PURCHASING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES .................. ..................................... 14
3.1 The Process of Purchasing ................................................................................................ 14
3.2 How are Consumers Choosing a Product or a Service? ................................................... 15
3.3 Bounded Rationality ......................................................................................................... 15
3.4 Impulse Buying ................................................................................................................. 16
3.5 Application of Strategies in the Purchase Process ........................................................... 17
3.5.1 Unconscious Side Effects of Strategies .................................................................... 17
3.5.2 Weighted Added Strategy ........................................................................................ 17
3.6 Attitudes ........................................................................................................................... 18
3.6.1 Implicitly Measured Attitudes .................................................................................. 19
3.6.2 Malleable Automatic Attitudes ................................................................................ 19
3.7 Unconscious Influences on Purchase Behavior ................................................................ 20
3.7.1 Perception-Behavior Link ......................................................................................... 20
Mathias Pfalzer III
3.7.1.1 Low-Road to Imitation.......................................................................................... 21
3.7.1.2 High-Road to Imitation ......................................................................................... 22
3.7.2 Goal Activation and Pursuit ...................................................................................... 22
3.7.2.1 Automatic Goal Pursuit ........................................................................................ 24
3.7.2.2 Subliminal Priming and its Behavioral Effects ...................................................... 24
4 DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATION IN TOURISM ............. ..................................... 27
4.1 Purchase Behavior Before the Vacation Started .............................................................. 27
4.2 Purchase Behavior During the Vacation .......................................................................... 28
4.3 Unconscious Elements in Purchases of Tourists .............................................................. 29
4.3.1 The Contribution of Working Memory to Purchases of Tourists ............................. 29
4.3.2 Motivation of Tourists .............................................................................................. 30
4.3.3 Involvement in the Field of Tourism ........................................................................ 31
4.3.4 Goal Pursuits of Tourists .......................................................................................... 32
4.4 Best Possible Choices ....................................................................................................... 33
4.4.1 Free Will or Reflective? ............................................................................................ 33
4.4.2 Information Processing of Tourists .......................................................................... 34
5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................... ................................... 36
LIST OF REFERENCES ........................................................................................ 42
Mathias Pfalzer IV
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
cf. compare
CPT continuous performance task
et al. et alterii (and others)
eg. example given
ibid ibidem (in the same place)
f. following
ff. following (several pages)
N-back a specific continuous performance task
n.p. no page available
p. page
pp. pages
STM short-term memory
Mathias Pfalzer V
ABSTRACT
Working memory embraces many different functions in our daily life. It not just
enables us to interact with our immediate environment, but also empowers us to
process information of our direct past, to gain new knowledge and furthermore to
generate and pursue goals. Definitions still do not provide an unambiguous
overview of the topic, as they just agree on the core functions. One rather new
approach is to understand working memory as a temporary storage of information,
which differs from short-term memory, because it consists of multiple components.
Research on working memory is fast evolving and provided completely new
insights into the topic, which provided the basis for this thesis. Key authors
initiated the discussion that high-order cognitive processes might occur
nonconsciously and paved the way for new conclusions. These experts suggested
to update existing models of working memory and to consider implicit working
memory and its corresponding functions. One of their deductions was that
especially automatic, nonconscious high-order cognitive processes might be
influenced by these new findings.
Since the aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of implicit working memory
on the purchase behavior of tourists, new research tendencies on this topic are
fundamental for implications in the field of tourism. Decision making is regarded as
an application of high-order cognitive processes. Therefore many questions are
left unanswered. The author was therefore eager to contribute to closing this gap
and sought for possible consequences on the decision making of tourists. Thus it
was necessary to distinguish between different categories of purchases in the field
of tourism. In this context the level of involvement was one determinant, because
goal pursuit varies considerably due to the associated importance of the purchase
decision. Nevertheless even the booking of an expensive holiday might be the
result of an interaction between conscious and unconscious components. This
notion stems from findings which confirmed that consciousness is not a
prerequisite for pursuing goals.
Especially when we are undecided and do not know which alternative to choose,
our unconsciousness sometimes takes over and leads to astonishingly good
decisions.
Mathias Pfalzer 1
1 INTRODUCTION
Part of our daily routine is to make sure we have everything we need in order to
survive. This means basically that we have to establish the supply with food and
beverages, but also with air, clothing, water and shelter. Just when these needs
are satisfied we have the energy to consider how we could make our life more
worthwhile (Kotler & Keller, 2006, p. 24).
We are spending a considerable time in supermarkets to purchase basic
necessities. This sounds easier than it actually is, since even the purchase of a
staple like bread could turn out to be rather complicated. This is often due to a
huge offer of product varieties or alternatives with the potential to irritate or
confuse us. At the end of our shopping tour we usually have many different items
in our shopping cart, but sometimes we simply do not know why we have
purchased each and every product. For some of them we will have an explanation,
but for others we hardly can provide a good reason. From time to time people feel
the desire to buy such items without much consideration. Research has shown
that people often act unconsciously when purchasing products or services. In
former times consumer behavior was mainly seen from a cognitive point of view
and concentrated heavily on the conscious processing of information for the
subsequent purchase decision. The motivation of consumers to engage in careful
consideration is central for the argumentation of how relevant information is
processed for the purchase decision. In general we still often act in accordance
with this scheme when the desired product is significantly important and
expensive, but there are occasions where the need is pressing and when we do
not have the time to contemplate about the purchase decision. In such cases we
do not process a lot of information (or no information at all) prior to the purchase.
This process is strongly influenced by the unconsciousness (Bargh, 2002, p. 282).
This paper focuses especially on unconscious influences on the purchase
behavior of tourists. Furthermore it deals with the role of working memory on
tourism products when unconsciousness is involved in the buying process. Latest
research findings revealed that high-order cognitive processes such as decision
making are possible application areas of working memory. Crucial in this context is
the fact that researchers have revealed that processes such as making a purchase
decision can occur nonconsciously. Since researchers (Hassin, Aarts, Eitam,
Custers, Kleiman, Bargh & Zimerman) have recommended expanding existing
Mathias Pfalzer 2
models of working memory for implicit working memory and implicit executive
functions, many questions are left unanswered, and enabled further discussions
about the problem statement of this paper. Thus, it is difficult to forecast a future
direction of research on this topic due to this just recently made advance of the
doctrine. The reason is that opinions of specialists in this scientific area have
diverged even before evidence on the occurrence of high-order cognitive
processes in a nonconscious mental condition was found. Therefore implications
of implicit working memory on complex cognitive processes in tourism do not exist
according to the author’s knowledge yet. Exactly this opportunity challenged the
author to do research on the connection between the field of unconsciousness in
terms of working memory and the purchase behavior of tourists. Goal pursuit takes
an essential position within the framework in this paper. Especially corresponding
findings have indicated that consumers sometimes follow their goals
unconsciously. The central aim of providing fresh impulse for the area of tourism is
approached through an initial overview about the topic of working memory,
followed by an investigation of how consumers come up with their final purchase
decisions. Throughout this paper the author provides examples of research
findings to facilitate the understanding of the topic. Another reason for taking such
studies into consideration was to pave the way for implications on tourism. The
following research question aims to provide the reader with an insight into how the
author wants to expand the present literature with his thesis:
To what extent does the working memory of tourists relate to the principles of unconscious goal pursuit when making a purchase decision?
Basically, the research question indicates the interaction of working memory and
goal pursuit and asks for the impact on purchase decisions. This is mainly due to
the fact that purchase decisions are confirmed to be examples for complex
cognitive processes and therefore application areas of working memory. Another
concern of the author was to critically discuss latest research findings in order to
come up with practical effects of this scientific phenomenon in the field of tourism.
Concerning the impact of implicit working memory on the purchase behavior of
tourists it was necessary to examine the implications from two different viewpoints.
Therefore the author differentiated between purchase behavior prior to the
beginning of a vacation (eg. the holiday has not been booked yet) and on the
consumption tourists make during their holidays. Finally, this paper should serve
as a source of information for interested people, who would like to find out why
Mathias Pfalzer 3
they are deciding the way they do, but also provide suppliers of tourism products
with an opportunity to inform themselves about occurring mental processes while
the purchase decision is made.
The author’s knowledge regarding the field of unconscious processes is admittedly
still limited. This is mainly due to the restricted frame of this thesis in terms of both
time and content. In addition to this it usually takes a long time to gain an
understanding of the unconscious mind. The author decided not to conduct
experiments due to the tight research schedule. Therefore the applied method of
research in this thesis is exclusively based on literature review. To deepen given
knowledge about a discipline like the unconscious mind is crucial and can be
accomplished through literature review. Especially the involvement of renowned
key authors aims to guarantee the validity of included findings. Accepted textbooks
such as “Marketing Management” or “Models of Working Memory” were used by
the author in order to facilitate the understanding of complex contexts.
The thesis is divided into five chapters with different foci in terms of content. In the
first chapter the purpose, the rationale, a brief overview on used literature and the
research method are presented to the reader. The second chapter serves to clarify
ambiguities regarding the scientific complexity of working memory. In order to
accomplish this goal, descriptive definitions, characteristics of working memory
and insights on how implicit working memory influences complex cognitive
processes are provided. By the end of this chapter the reader should have
obtained a rough overview about the construct of working memory and its
applications. Focus of the third chapter lies on the process of making purchase
decisions. Since the weighted added strategy stands in strong contrast with
impulse buying, one section of this paper will discuss the different outcomes. Goal
activation and pursuit with a focus on unconscious influences will conclude this
chapter. The fourth chapter contains basically the author’s derived findings from
the theoretically covered inputs of the previous chapters. Especially the critical
discussion of these implications should make this thesis a profound source for
tourism marketers. Finally, the last chapter summarizes the cornerstones of this
thesis and provides recommendations for further research on this topic.
Mathias Pfalzer 4
2 WORKING MEMORY
Our mind processes a multitude of cognitive tasks every day, such as reading a
book, carrying out easy calculations or simply decides on which opportunity to
choose in case two or more alternatives are given. The process of deciding on one
alternative is often composed of various steps with corresponding results per step.
The entire process demands the respective person to store single results in order
to carry out the task (Miyake & Shah, 1999, p. 1).
This chapter aims to provide the reader with an overview of working memory and
furthermore serves as a solid basis for further discussions.
2.1 Definition of Working Memory
Working memory embraces a set of mechanisms or processes with the function to
control, regulate and conduct active maintenance of task-relevant information. This
complex cognition deals with new but also familiar and skilled tasks. Since working
memory is not perceived as an entirely unitary system, it consists of multiple
representational codes and/or various subsystems. Working memory is highly
related to long-term memory, which is because its content is mainly composed of
presently activated long-term memory images (ibid, p. 450).
When taking other definitions into consideration it is evident that there is a broad
consensus given on describing working memory activities as mental processes
with the purpose of holding information temporarily. An important fact is that these
pieces of information should be kept accessible in order to carry out mental tasks
(Cowan, 1998, p. 77).
A rather brief description of working memory is provided through an equation,
which considers working memory as the sum of short-term memory (representing
an activated portion of long-term memory) plus controlled attention (Engle, Kane &
Tuholski, 1999, p. 126).
The same notion is shared by the authors of the following statement. “Working
memory involves the short-term maintenance of information relevant to current
goals” (Prabhakaran, Narayanan, Zhao, & Gabrieli, 2000, p. 85).
All these definitions have certain characteristics in common. Therefore the
following approach of defining working memory aims to highlight once again the
main attributes and summarizes the cornerstones.
Mathias Pfalzer 5
“Working memory, like STM, is an online mechanism that retains items in memory for short periods of time. Unlike STM, however, WM comprises multiple components, and it does more than retain information: Using its executive functions, it selectively attends to the environment (whether internal or external). Moreover, WM can manipulate the items retained in memory, and it can coordinate the use of these representations in complex cognitive processes” (Hassin, 2005, p. 199).
In the past much research effort has been dedicated to short-term memory
research, which has dealt mainly with memory processes. Based on present
knowledge it is crucial to apply the above mentioned working memory functions to
complex cognitive tasks (Miyake & Shah, 1999, p. 453).
2.2 Characteristics of Working Memory
Working memory is much more than memorizing random information for a short
period of time, but moreover serves to highlight the inherent “working” character of
working memory and to keep distance to the “memory” function (ibid, p. 444).
In a further part of this paper the reader will come across the distinction between
explicit and implicit working memory. Especially latest research findings justify
having a closer look at implicit working memory, because its role has been newly
defined. Decision making processes as part of high-order cognitive processes are
now acknowledged to occur also apart from consciousness (Hassin, Bargh, Engell
& McCulloch, 2009, p. 13).
2.2.1 Core Functions of Working Memory
Baddeley and Logie summarized the functions of working memory with the
following statement:
“Working memory…allow[s]…humans to comprehend and mentally represent their immediate environment, to retain information about their immediate past experience, to support the acquisition of new knowledge, to solve problems, and to formulate, relate and act on current goals”. (Baddeley & Logie, 1999, p. 28)
Based on the indicated characteristics of working memory it is arguable to
describe working memory as a link between rather simple cognitive processes
(such as memorizing things) and more complex ones (such as comprehending
information) (Gathercole & Baddeley, 1993, p. 2).
Mathias Pfalzer 6
A popular approach among researchers is to regard processes or mechanisms of
working memory as being linked to complex cognitive structures. Highly relevant
for further discussions in this paper are cognitive processes, such as reasoning,
problem solving and decision making. This is based on the notion that purchase
decisions involve attention, perception, goal activation and pursuit but also
learning and memory, attitudes and preferences, but also affect and choice.
Besides that, working memory is also involved in language processing and
visuospatial thinking (Miyake & Shah, 1999, p. 445; Fitzsimons et al., 2002, p.
270).
An influential study of Hassin (2005, p. 201) revealed how to measure working
memory efficiently. Three working memory tasks have been established in
accordance with studies, which provided insights into approaches on how to
successfully complete these tasks. The first one is the reading span, a task with
the purpose of assessing individual dissimilarities in the capacity of working
memory, the second one the continuous performance task (CPT), which aims to
discover a target stimulus in an ongoing stream of stimuli, and the last one is
known as the N-back task, developed to confront participants with a certain stream
of stimuli and to find out if the probands identify the current stimuli as the one they
were exposed to N trials ago. The first function of working memory is the active
maintenance of obtained information for a rather short time span. This is followed
by updating context-relevant information and producing computations for the
course of pursuing a goal, which involves also active representations. The third
point is composed of goal oriented rapid biasing, which concentrates on two
elements: cognitions and behaviors. The fourth and last function of working
memory is characterized as some kind of a “firewall” against interference (Hassin,
2005, p. 202).
2.2.2 Descriptive Models of Working Memory
The first discussed model was developed by Baddeley and other top class
researchers and is perceived as a cornerstone of modern research on working
memory. The second model of Cohen and his colleagues is regarded as the most
biologically implemented one (ibid, p. 200).
The classic model of Baddeley consists of an “executive-element” and two “slave-
systems”, which are known as the phonological loop and the visuospatial
sketchpad. These two systems are temporarily memorizing and furthermore
maintaining information through repetition or practice. This rehearsal is important
Mathias Pfalzer 7
for both systems and leads to the effect that the phonological loop holds verbally
coded information, whereas the visuospatial sketchpad upholds, as the name
implies, visual and/or spatial information. Working memory is controlled and
regulated partly by the central executive. This component coordinates the two
slave systems and is in charge of invoking corresponding information within the
long-term memory (Baddeley, 2002, pp. 85-97).
The next covered model has been developed by Cohen and his colleagues. Their
description seems quite familiar to the reader since they define working memory
as steered processes, which are based on active maintenance and/or a fast
learning component. The active maintenance of information is taking place in the
prefrontal cortex. Information in this region of the brain is not just vibrantly
updated, but also influences continuous ongoing processing. Other important
cerebral parts with special functions regarding this model are the hippocampus,
which is responsible for rapid learning and in contrast a posterior perceptual and
motor cortex. The most remote area of the brain serves to accomplish long-term
learning (Cohen et al., 1990, n.p. cited following Hassin, 2005, p. 200).
These models share common functions such as active maintenance which is
involved in working memory and learning of input in accordance with cognitive
control and furthermore rather complex cognitive processes (Hassin, 2005, p.
200).
2.2.3 Remaining Ambiguity in the Context of Working Memory Functions
Researchers have dedicated much effort to provide a clear answer to the question
what working memory is and aimed to find a consensus regarding its functions. A
uniform point of view is still not easy to reach (Miyake & Shah, 1999, p. 1).
Existing models differed remarkably in the last years, but nevertheless led to the
effect that researchers agreed on the basic nature of working memory (ibid, p.
443). In accordance with the consensus on working memory functions are the
corresponding processes, which are attached to them and listed above (Hassin,
Bargh, Engell & McCulloch, 2009, p. 2).
In contrast to the traditional view of perceiving working memory as being involved
merely in controlled processes or complex cognitive processes, research revealed
the existence of unconscious goal pursuit. These findings initiated discussions
about the role of working memory in high-order nonconscious processes and
Mathias Pfalzer 8
furthermore obliged researchers to have a closer look on implicit working memory
and implicit executive functions (Hassin, Bargh, Engell & McCulloch, 2009, p. 13).
2.3 Capacity Limits of Working Memory
Research revealed that the capacity of working memory is limited. This notion is
mainly due to George Miller’s description of studies, in which he stated that people
are usually able to recall approximately seven independent, meaningful items or
pieces of information at a certain point of time (Cowan, 1998, p. 77).
Capacity limits in working memory are related to multiple factors, which have to be
identified and furthermore assessed to know how they are interrelated. Based on
this principle it should be possible to create an understanding of how the single
factors build the system of the overall capacity limitation (Miyake & Shah, 1999, p.
448).
Cowan (1998, p. 77) argued that observing these limits is not a problem, but
finding out which mental areas are exposed to these limits is not an easy task to
fulfill. A helpful approach is to apply working memory systems with numerous
components. This is especially true since working memory limits are described as
being dependent on the stimulus and the age of the test person. Regarding these
facts significant differences in terms of working memory are revealed. His point of
view is best summarized by the following statement:
“Working memory is composed of a capacity-limited focus of attention, along with a temporarily activated portion of the information in permanent memory, which extends beyond the focus of attention to include some automatically activated information.” (ibid, p. 77)
One possibility would be to store specific inactive portions of memory through the
application of a system, which enables a quick recall of the information (Cowan,
1997, p. 29ff). A good demonstration for this approach is the following example. It
deals with a reasoning problem and asks the testperson to encode the seven
rainbow colors and to memorize them under the name “Roy G. Biv”. This process
leads to the fact that the names of the colors are easily accessible. An interesting
effect is that just one to three items of working memory capacity are needed for
carrying out this task (Cowan, 1998, p. 77).
Thus, in contrast to George Miller’s theory that the working memory capacity is
limited to about seven items other researchers argue that the precise capacity
would embrace approximately three items. The reason for this tendency is seen in
Mathias Pfalzer 9
findings, such as the above described example, which has shown that people
have the ability to recall this number of items without producing mistakes even
when these trials were repeated. This is also the number of items, which may be
grouped to one piece or unit of information. Others assume that the true capacity
limit would be about four items. In any case there is not a uniform answer to this
question (Cowan, 1998, p. 77).
2.4 Long-Term Knowledge and Working Memory
Working memory performance is heavily influenced by long-term knowledge and
skills. In other words it is essential to take these two factors into consideration in
order to understand the principle of working memory. So far existing research has
not paid much attention to these aspects. This has changed over the last years
and is reflected in the book “Models of Working Memory – Mechanisms of Active
Maintenance and Executive Control” (Miyake & Singh, 1999, p. 449).
Cowan’s argumentation is the following: “At any moment there is assumed to be a
currently active subset of long-term memory, and the focus of attention is assumed
to be a subset of that activated information.” (Cowan, 1999, p. 88)
Basically human beings are frequently confronted with situational stimuli, which
involve new links of familiar information. The connections between the single
elements are in many cases novel and may lead to the storage as a new element
of our long-term memory (ibid, p. 89).
A central distinction between long-term memory and short-term memory is to be
seen in the fact that long-term memory is involved in more sophisticated encoding,
which is done deliberately. Virtual short-term memory on the contrary is not
important for deliberate encoding (Miyake & Shah, 1999, p. 459).
2.5 Conscious Awareness and its Relation to Working Memory
The previous section of this paper has already indicated that the extent of
information, which people are able to consciously process, is limited. The same is
true for the storage or maintenance function of working memory. Therefore there is
a broad consensus amongst researchers on the point that working memory,
attention and consciousness are highly interrelated (Shah & Miyake, 1999, p. 17).
One of the central questions is in how far conscious awareness is related to
working memory. Due to the fact that working memory is based upon attention and
awareness it is a necessity to highlight that those two processes are closely tied.
Mathias Pfalzer 10
What remains unclear is the nature of this relation (Kintsch, Healy, Hegarety,
Pennington & Salthouse, 1999, p. 429ff).
Baddeley took a clear position regarding this topic. “Conscious awareness [is] one
of the functions of the central executive component of working memory”.
(Baddeley, 1996, p. 26)
Thus, not only Baddeley held the view that working memory is rather restricted to
conscious awareness. Many other researchers share this opinion (Andrade,
Kavanagh & Baddeley, 1997, p. 209 ff).
Participants in working memory examinations were without any exception asked to
manipulate information or materials. Especially conscious activities like
memorizing, rehearsing, adding or subtracting adopted had a central position
within these studies. Therefore a broad consensus amongst researchers existed
on the point that working memory is conscious, but in some cases in an implicit
form (Hassin, 2005, p. 203). Some years ago discussions were initiated about the
necessity to confirm whether conscious awareness is needed for working memory,
or if it is possible for working memory to operate even unconsciously (ibid, p. 203).
2.6 Unconsciousness and Working Memory
Especially in the last three decades much research effort has been dedicated to
the level of awareness when it comes to influences on the judgment, decisions or
reasons for human behavior. Higher mental processes are therefore supervised by
the unconscious mind (Bargh & Morsella, 2008, p. 73).
2.6.1 The Fundamental Principle of Unconsciousness
Prior to the definition of unconsciousness one has to find a description of what
consciousness is composed of. Conscious processes are accessible to the
awareness, because they are intentional, under possible control and serial. One
consequence of what would be to define unconsciousness as the opposite of
consciousness (Bargh & Morsella, 2008, p. 73).
In general many different definitions of unconsciousness have led to an overflow of
conclusions about the purpose and functions of the unconscious. The term itself
can be traced back to the early 1800s at which it differed considerably from the
present understanding. In former times “unconsciousness” was understood as a
person’s unintentional dealings and did not take the processing of subliminal-
strength information into consideration. A common notion of social psychologists
Mathias Pfalzer 11
was to equate the terms “inconscious” with “unintentional” (Bargh & Morsella,
2008, p. 74). Other researchers stated the priming and automaticity effects on
complex cognitive processes, which could be first activated and then function
without being aware that there was a triggering stimulus (Bargh, 1994, p. 31).
Unconsciousness is simply more than mere processing of stimuli when being
unaware. Its entire dimension is based upon the impact of stimulus processing in a
condition of not being aware. Dependent on which view one adopts, the
unconscious mind can be either perceived as being dumb or smart (Loftus &
Klinger, 1992, p. 762).
Two studies, the New Look Research and the Skill-Acquisition Research, were
carried out to examine two unconscious processes and led to interesting findings.
The New Look Research describes a person who did not have the intention to
engage in a research process. Thus, this person was unaware of what was going
on. In contrast to this, the skill-acquisition was about a person who was willing to
engage in the process. Once the process was started, this person had the ability
to perform without conscious guidance. Examples for this type of research would
be typing or driving a car (dependent on being experienced in these two activities).
Both processes can happen outside of consciousness, but in an intentional way
(Bargh & Morsella, 2008, p. 74).
2.6.2 Implicit Working Memory
A rather new point of view in research on conscious awareness is closely
connected to implicit working memory. This aspect is essential, because it
discusses and examines whether working memory can operate outside of
conscious awareness or not (Hassin, 2005, p. 204).
Whenever something is measured, the term “implicit” indicates that the tested
subject is not aware of what is actually measured. The opposite is true for explicit
measures, which requires awareness (Petty, Fazio & Briñol, 2009, p. 3f).
So far it has been discussed how working memory operates in high-order cognitive
processes. It was found that working memory is usually regarded as being closely
related to conscious awareness. Capacity limitations in this respect allow humans
just to be involved in a restricted number of such high-order cognitive processes.
Nevertheless one often has the feeling that it is possible to pursue numerous
goals, decisions or plans and this evokes the question of how these views fit
together. One possible explanation is that we just tend to think we can handle
Mathias Pfalzer 12
multiple processes simultaneously, which is not in line with the general notion on
this topic. At the moment we are not engaged with these processes anymore, they
become unconscious and inactive. Key authors delivered an important contribution
with the following, short statement: “Working memory can operate outside of
conscious awareness”. (Hassin, Bargh, Engell & McCulloch, 2009, p. 3)
They even argue that the discussed processes (active maintenance, context-
relevant updating of information, goal relevant computations and rapid biasing)
can function nonconsciously. Furthermore they stated that the altered information,
which is derived by these processes, may be unconscious (ibid, p. 3)
So far there is no consensus concerning the question whether there are significant
differences between explicit and implicit working memory functions. Such a
separation would be helpful to clarify if implicit working memory belongs to working
memory or if it should be regarded as being separate from it. Important starting
points for further research will be to find out how implicit working memory is
connected to higher order cognitive processes (ibid, p.13).
A challenging issue in this paper is the fact that so far research did not relate
working memory to high-order nonconscious processes. Nevertheless there is a
new tendency among researchers to rethink the opinion that working memory is
solely interrelated with conscious awareness and to take account of implicit
working memory and its functions for complex unconscious processes (ibid, p. 13).
2.7 Complex Cognitive Activities
Decisive for the further discussion of how working memory operates is the
question whether it just encompasses high-order cognitive processes or also
nonconscious activities. Current findings of research in social cognition have
proven that unconsciousness might be involved in high-order cognitive processes,
and in goal pursuit as a subform (Hassin, Bargh, Engell & McCulloch, 2009, p. 13).
So far present models of high-order nonconscious processes excluded or
neglected working memory, since working memory was traditionally tied to
conscious awareness. This notion changed due to latest findings which
recommend expanding corresponding models for implicit working memory and
implicit executive functions (Hassin, 2005, n.p., Hassin, Aarts, Eitam, Custers &
Kleiman, 2009, n.p., Hassin, Bargh & Zimerman, 2009, n.p. cited following Hassin,
Bargh, Engell & McCulloch, 2009, p. 13).
Mathias Pfalzer 13
Since working memory consists of multiple subsystems it is vital to examine how
these components are working together and furthermore, how they function as an
entity. Up to now most research on complex cognition has concentrated on one
specific subsystem of working memory within a single sphere, such as language
processing or visuospatial processing. This fact is problematic, since many
cognitive everyday activities like watching TV or reading and understanding an
illustrated text demand the interaction of different subsystems (Miyake & Shah,
1999, p. 458).
Regardless which complex cognitive task is pursued, many different parts of the
working memory are activated and interactively processing (Baddeley & Logie,
1999, p. 40).
In general two methodological tools were used to do research on complex
cognitive activities in the field of working memory – dual-task performance, which
deals with how individuals achieve coordinating several tasks simultaneously and
complex working memory span tasks, developed to measure the capacity of short-
term memory together with an individual’s “controlled attention” ability (Miyake &
Shah, 1999, p. 458). Both tools contributed a lot to the current level of research,
but have not answered the question as to how people carry out two or more
activities at the same time or as to what is really measured by working memory
span tasks (Pashler, 1992, n.p. cited following Miyake and Shah, 1999, p. 458).
Engle et al. hold the view that working memory span tasks are responsible for
measuring the short-term memory capacity and an individual’s controlled attention.
The context with “controlled attention” is important, because this ability is essential
for the connection between working memory span tasks and fluid intelligence
tasks (Engle, Kane & Tuholski, 1999, p. 108). Nevertheless the field of working
memory span tasks is a controversial one with many contradicting notions (Miyake
& Shah, 1999, p. 459).
It is rather difficult to provide an unambiguous explanation of more-complex dual-
task situations, because opinions vary a lot. One of the latest contributions on this
topic claims that it is just possible to pay attention to one single task at a certain
point of time, which is contradicting the principle of dual-task performance. This is
mainly due to the fact that it deals with rapidly switching attention between the two
tasks (Pashler, 1992, n.p. cited following Miyake & Shah, 1999, p. 458).
Mathias Pfalzer 14
3 PURCHASING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
In many cases consumers are aware of their choices, but sometimes they are not.
The justification of choosing especially one product or service is not always easy
to provide, because sometimes we just feel like buying something without any
intention to do so (Dijksterhuis, Smith, van Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005, p. 193).
3.1 The Process of Purchasing
The actual purchase is what humans often experience in a conscious manner.
Underlying the final purchase are other layers, which are best described by a
model consisting of five stages: problem recognition, information search,
evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and postpurchase behavior (Kotler,
Roberto & Lee, 2002, n.p. cited following Kotler & Keller, 2006, p. 191).
Thus, prior to the transaction people process information (Petty, Cacioppo &
Schumann, 1983, p. 138). This procedure often results in attitudes which have an
effect on decisions (Dijksterhuis, Smith, Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005, p. 193).
Dependent on the importance and value, in terms of the price, the consumer tends
to weight the advantages and disadvantages of products. Notwithstanding, in
many cases people do not follow this pattern and act controversially. This is
especially applicable for choices which are based on automatically activated
attitudes. In such cases some information processing could have been conducted
in the past, but not when actually choosing a product (ibid, p. 194).
The purchase decision was for a long time regarded as being a conscious and
deliberative process. Therefore human beings were seen as conscious and
intentional consumers. Contemporary research revealed that purchase decisions
happen to a considerable extent unconsciously (Fitzsimons et al., 2002, p. 270).
The following argumentation serves as a good summary of this notion.
“All decisions consist of a mix of conscious and nonconscious processes and that
the degree to which nonconscious processes influence the consumer choice
process is much greater than most choice researchers believe”. (ibid, p. 270)
Other experts hold the view that most of our purchase choices are not based upon
information processing at all or just to a minimum extent. From their perspective it
is extremely hard for consumers to describe intentions when buying products, or
even harder to find out what personal information processing strategies look like.
This is most often because people omit the annoying task of processing
Mathias Pfalzer 15
information. Nonetheless, a lack of processed information in the purchase process
is an indicator of unconsciously influencing factors in consumer behavior
(Dijksterhuis, Smith, Van Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005, p. 194).
Consumers react to stimuli, such as “today only” in commercials and their
purchase behavior shows significant response to the indicated scarcity of
products. People tend to think that scarce items have to be of good quality. In
addition to this principle, consumers are often influenced by reciprocity,
commitment, consistency, social proof, and authority. The result of these effects is
that people tend to act mindlessly when they adhere to messages of
advertisement (ibid, p. 194).
3.2 How are Consumers Choosing a Product or a Servi ce?
Research on purchase behavior distinguishes between simple and complex
choices. Simple choices are those where consumers have to choose between
objects with a rather limited pool of important characteristics (one or two attributes,
such as with toothpaste). If many attributes are of high relevance for the buying
process (such as for cars or houses), the term “complex choices” is used. Usually
it is said that conscious thought leads to good choices in basic situations, because
it demands precision. The more complex these situations get, the worse are the
choices with a conscious approach of thinking. The reason for this effect is the low
capacity of conscious thoughts (Dijksterhuis, Maarten, Nordgren & van Baaren,
2006, p. 1006). It is argued that the lack of precision in unconscious thoughts
leads to low quality choices. Remarkable in this context is that increased
complexity is not perceived as the release of worse choices. Therefore an
appropriate conclusion would be that unconscious thinking in complex situations
results in better choices than conscious thoughts (ibid, p. 1006).
A final statement should sum up the central points in this context. “The more
complex a problem is, the less likely it becomes that conscious thought can
contribute much. If a problem is complex, it by definition means that a lot of
information has to be taken into account”. (Dijksterhuis, 2004, p. 597)
3.3 Bounded Rationality
“Bounded rationality” and “impulse buying” are two different approaches in the
literature specialized on consumer behavior and represent deviating findings in
comparison to the rational choice model (Strack, Werth & Deutsch, 2006, p. 205).
Mathias Pfalzer 16
Whenever humans show patterns of bounded rationality their attention is focused,
they are keen on avoiding interference and are concentrated on the issues their
attention is focused on at a certain point of time. Emotions play a major role in this
context, because they are often the reason why people are distracted and lose
their interest in the current goal. In such situations emotions lead over to pay
attention to a new goal (Simon, 1990, p. 199).
One of the key points of bounded rationality is that necessary judgments have to
be conducted in a state of uncertainty. Therefore researchers have dedicated
effort on the aspects of judgment and choice (Strack, Werth & Deutsch, 2006, p.
205).
Bounded rationality is especially important in the context of weighted adding for a
complex choice. The process of contemplating about several choices demands
people to possess enough processing capacity. This appears problematic,
because the thinking process for complex choices is rather restricted in terms of
the conscious capacity. Humans cannot consider a multitude of components or
attributes at the same time. In addition to that the weighing of the importance of
considered attributes plays a crucial role. Consumers therefore should be able to
establish appropriate weights due to the formerly processed information and
“refrain from allowing noise to interfere with this process”. (Dijksterhuis, van
Baaren, Bongers, Bos, van Leeuwen & van der Leij, 2009, p. 16)
Decisions of customers are influenced by availability and representativeness. In
this context availability is described as the evaluation of probability regarding the
effortlessness of retrieval. Representativeness is depicted as a classification
based on similarity (Strack, Werth & Deutsch, 2006, p. 205).
3.4 Impulse Buying
Opposite to the model of rational choice, purchase behavior of consumers may be
influenced by impulse (Strack, Werth & Deutsch, 2006, p. 206). This is the case if
attitudes do not play a role in the process of choosing a product at all and if
influences of the surrounding environment affect the purchase decision
(Dijksterhuis, Smith, Van Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005, p. 194).
The essential difference in comparison to bounded rationality is to be seen in the
view that the process of buying is in some cases not a mere reflection of a person.
Moreover, it is often evoked by a more direct and immediate stimulus on the
behavior. The evaluation component in terms of a subject’s judgment (as it is true
Mathias Pfalzer 17
for bounded rationality) is not given and is sometimes followed up by a state of
regretting decisions (Strack, Werth & Deutsch, 2006, p. 206).
Impulse buying was defined as “a sudden and immediate purchase with no pre-
shopping intentions… The behavior occurs after experiencing an urge to buy and it
tends to be spontaneous and without a lot of reflection (i.e., it is “impulsive”).”
(Beatty and Ferrel, 1998, n.p.)
Inherent in the definition of impulse buying is that the desire to purchase a product
is triggered instantly (ibid, n.p.).
3.5 Application of Strategies in the Purchase Proce ss
Usually the decision to use a strategy is based more on rational and effective
elements than on irrational and disruptive components. It makes sense to perceive
a strategy as being directed rationally. This notion stems from findings that people
are fundamentally highly motivated to pursue their goals in order to accomplish a
desired outcome (Higgins 2005, p. 517).
3.5.1 Unconscious Side Effects of Strategies
Although humans tend to believe that they can control the outcome of our applied
strategies, many interferences or obstacles could happen as side effects apart
from consciousness. These side effects are normally categorized in two different
groups: tradeoffs and value transfer. The first side effect indicates the trade-offs of
strategic self-regulation. An interesting finding in this context was that people are
not aware of such trade-offs when applying goal-pursuit strategies. This trade-off
means that we risk producing more errors of commission in order to reduce errors
of omission. The consequence of this side effect is that the costs of strategic
rationality might influence our thoughts in a negative way (ibid, p. 517).
Value transfer describes one of the positive elements of using strategies in our
goal pursuit. We tend to perceive our doing as rewarding (Higgins, 2000, p. 1217ff
cited following Higgins, 2005, p. 517). This has nothing to do with valuing the final
outcome more just because the approach of decision making was seen as
positive. Such value transfer as a side effect of using goal pursuit strategies could
also unconsciously influence thought (Higgins, 2005, p. 518).
3.5.2 Weighted Added Strategy
“The chooser first weights the relative importance of various attributes […]. Subsequently, choice alternatives are assigned values for each
Mathias Pfalzer 18
these attributes […]. Finally, these values are, for each choice alternative, multiplied by the relative importance. The resulting scores represent the utility or relative desirability of each alternative”. (Dijksterhuis, van Baaren, Bongers, Bos, van Leeuwen & van der Leij, 2009, p. 5)
One problem with this strategy is that it is hardly applicable. First of all it is rather
demanding and people as decision makers are confronted with constraints. Quite
often consumers are exposed to time pressure due to the lack of resources and
suffer from an information shortage when choosing between alternatives. Despite
the fact that the weighted added strategy is idealistic in nature, it works as a
helpful decision making tool. Too often humans are facing constraints in terms of
limited computational abilities or the lack of time and resources. Sometimes
individuals do not even have the necessary information at their disposal when
choosing between alternatives. The reason why this strategy is not seen as a
popular construct is not inherent in the process itself, but based on people
believing that conscious deliberation is most important. In fact, the opposite should
be true. One consequence would be to perceive the weighted added strategy as
being most successfully applied when we accept unconscious processes (ibid, p.
6).
3.6 Attitudes
A previous section of this paper mentioned that some consumer choices are made
unconsciously. Researchers described this process more precisely as highly
habitualized. Attitudes are seen as strong and influencing components, which are
automatically triggered when the consumer perceives the product (Fazio,
Sanbonmatsu, Powell & Kardes, 1986, n.p. cited following Dijksterhuis, Smith, Van
Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005, p. 194).
It is prevalent that some information should be preferably processed to restrict the
number of possible errors. The timeframe for doing research on corresponding
information varies widely. Automatically activated attitudes are the explanation for
preferences and date back to prior information processing. Some choices of
consumers are done without any information processing at all and are therefore
not influenced by attitudes. Such cases are valid examples for impulse buying
behavior (Dijksterhuis, Smith, Van Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005, p. 194).
Mathias Pfalzer 19
3.6.1 Implicitly Measured Attitudes
Implicit attitude measures are usually assessing automatic associations of tested
persons, without the awareness of the individual in terms of the measured goal.
Important in this context is to get an understanding for the inherent character of
implicit processes. Basically the term “implicit” stands for automaticity and
unawareness of the mental state in the ongoing process of persuasion (Briñol,
Petty & McCaslin, 2008, p. 285).
The conclusion that people do not remember items of their implicitly measured
memory leads to the assumption that these subjects are not consciously aware of
their memory. Nevertheless, cases occur in which attitudes are explicitly measured
and where the underlying attitude is not proven. If the applied measure would have
been implicit in nature, the attitude would sometimes be evident. Such examples
hinder a uniform consensus on the unawareness of people. This notion might be
due to people who are unwilling to reveal memories that are triggered by social
desirability. The same argumentation could be applied for specific attitudes. In
general it seems to be justifiable that “social desirability attenuates the correlation
between explicit and implicit measures” (Petty, Fazio & Briñol, 2009, p. 7).
3.6.2 Malleable Automatic Attitudes
A possible temporarily change in attitudes might be due to mimicry, automatic
stereotype activation or automatic goal activation. Based on recent research
findings it is found that mimicry might have a dual effect on attitudes. This is
mainly because people tend to consciously and intentionally copy another
person’s attitude in order to be accepted or to conform to expectations of the
society. Sometimes attitudes change even without being aware that the imitation
of other people is the underlying reason. Choices of consumers are to a
considerable extent influenced by automatically activated attitudes. Since such
attitudes vary and are unstable in nature, they sometimes produce different
choices. Our immediate social environment and goals are often the reason why
attitudes are partly adjusted. Individuals are usually not aware that their behavior
is influenced by these effects (Dijksterhuis, Smith, van Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005,
p. 199).
More detailed information on mimicry will follow in further sections of this paper.
Mathias Pfalzer 20
3.7 Unconscious Influences on the Purchase Behavior
Dependent on the situation humans sometimes do not exactly know why they
have purchased certain items and ask themselves afterwards how it was possible
that they spent even a considerable amount of money on such products or
services. The reason is that people are sometimes choosing unconsciously or
partly in an unconscious way (Dijksterhuis, Smith, van Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005,
p. 193).
3.7.1 Perception-Behavior Link
Chartrand and Bargh contributed with the following statement to this topic. “The
effect of perception on behavior is an automatic process that does not depend on
conscious choice is consistent with recent neuropsychological findings as well”.
(Chartrand & Bargh, 1999, p. 906)
The perception-behavior link represents one possibility of influencing behavior
through the environment or our surroundings. This happens without being aware
of it, or with no intention or control over the situation. The probability of behaving in
a similar way, such as other people in one’s environment is therefore increased
(ibid, p. 906).
The mental representations for behavior and perception are closely linked and
form the basis for the construct of the perception-behavior link. Most often our
behavior is strongly influenced by the perception in both ways, consciously and
unconsciously. Nevertheless in some cases the perception of a person’s behavior
does not necessarily lead to the performance of the perceived behavior. Obstacles
for imitation can be important goals or enhanced self-focus of a person. Human
beings are imitating due to their nature, but sometimes interfering processes limit
the imitation (Dijksterhuis & Bargh, 2001, p. 51).
The application area of the perception-behavior link comprises affected behavior,
such as simple movements of our hands, but also sophisticated interpersonal
behavior. Consequently research has distinguished between “low road” to imitation
and “high road” to imitation, which describes more complex behavior (Dijksterhuis,
2005, n.p. cited following Dijksterhuis, Smith, van Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005, p.
195).
Despite this it is still of utmost importance to understand that an automatism leads
in general to the effect that perceptional representations activate corresponding
Mathias Pfalzer 21
representations in behavior (Dijksterhuis & Bargh, 2001, p. 52). Human beings
tend to imitate automatically, because of the evolutionary context. Animals are
imitating other representatives of their species simply in order to survive. In former
times this was also true for human beings, but nowadays it is arguable why one
would feel the urge to imitate the behavior of another person solely for the course
of staying alive. One of the main reasons for imitating others is because human
beings long for acceptance and affection. Imitation is a fundamental possibility to
support this ambition. It even reduces the probability to get in conflicts with other
people and eases social integration. Our social need is heavily dependent on
behavior, which is affected by prior perception. The perception-behavior link as a
mechanism is based on the principle that its outcome is more beneficial than the
consequences of not imitating others (Dijksterhuis & Bargh, 2001, p. 52f).
About fifty years ago Jones and Thibaut held the following view:
“If we can successfully identify the goals for which an actor is striving in the interaction situation, we can begin to say something about the cues to which he will attend, and the meaning he is most likely to assign them.” (Jones & Thibaut, 1958, p. 152)
3.7.1.1 Low-Road to Imitation
Human beings have an inherent capacity to mimic starting from the day they are
born. Whenever we see others do something, we store the information we
perceived, both as the meaning of the perceived action and secondly as the motor
performance. Research findings revealed that our perception of situations and
corresponding actions are related. From a scientific point of view mirror neurons
fire when we first observe others performing actions and then execute such
actions ourselves. One could argue that mimicry enables us to understand actions
of others by behaving the same way. Studies have revealed that mimicry exists for
facial expressions, postures, gestures, and some speech-related variables
(Dijksterhuis, Smith, van Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005, p. 195).
Van Baaren and his colleagues revealed a remarkable advantage of using
imitation strategically. Their study was based upon research findings of Chartrand
and Bargh and was about a scientific categorization of a field experiment in a
restaurant. Prior to the execution of the experiment they informed themselves
about the usual tip of a waitress on a typical evening. The striking point of the
study was that they asked the waitress to imitate the verbal behavior of the guests.
In other words, they were supposed to exactly repeat the order of the served
Mathias Pfalzer 22
customers. In some cases the waitresses were asked not to imitate (no-mimicry
condition), but to paraphrase. The findings of this study was ground-breaking,
because exact verbal imitation led to a sharp increase in tipping behavior of the
guests whereas mere paraphrasing caused comparably lower tips (van Baaren,
Holland, Steenaert & van Knippenberg, 2003, n.p. cited following Dijksterhuis,
Smith, van Baaren & Wigboldus, 2005, p. 196).
3.7.1.2 High-Road to Imitation
The second road to imitation deals with complex and sophisticated imitations,
which was revealed in priming experiments. These manipulations led to the
activation of stereotypes or traits. Research has shown that the high road to
imitation is also involved in memory tasks or where general knowledge was
decisive. Pervasiveness and automaticity are seen as cornerstones of the high
road to imitation. Imitating other human beings leads to social acceptance in form
of social interactions and strengthens social ties or increases connectedness and
liking. People who are good at imitating others should be therefore good at
observing emotions of other people and furthermore possess greater empathy.
This hypothesis claims the correlation between the desire to imitate others and the
effect of empathizing with the imitated subjects. The corresponding findings have
confirmed that imitation is an automatic process. The other hypothesis serves to
test whether the automatic tendency to imitate has its roots in the desire of people
to be liked more. The simple result is that we tend to like someone more, if he/she
is imitating us. A last hypothesis of this kind tried to reveal that the more people
imitate others, the more these individuals care about the feelings of those imitated
persons. The outcome of the corresponding experiment showed that the tendency
to empathize and the extent of imitative behavior are highly inter-related (Iacoboni,
2009, p. 658).
3.7.2 Goal Activation and Pursuit
The last two decades have led to new tendencies in consumer research. The
impact of nonconscious processes and their effects on human behavior have been
rewarded with special attention of scientists. Therefore the concepts of needs and
goal pursuits had to be reconsidered (Bargh, 2002, p. 281).
Introducing the construct of goal pursuit it seems noteworthy that it is not
necessarily bound to consciousness, despite the fact that people are in many
cases aware of their goals (Bongers & Dijksterhuis, 2009, p. 589). This seems to
Mathias Pfalzer 23
be of importance, because people who are unaware of pursuing goals tend to
consciously think about the unconscious goal pursuit at the moment problems are
involved. Reaching desired goals requires motivation, which is dependent on how
difficult the goal pursuit is. In addition to that the effort of pursuing goals
successfully and the probability of completing the task in a satisfying way have a
huge influence on the motivation (Bongers & Dijksterhuis, 2009, p. 598).
“The acting on a goal is similar no matter whether one is aware (conscious) or unaware (nonconscious) of that goal; the interpretation of the goal pursuit at hand, however, differs between consciously set and nonconsciously activated goals, as the former is associated with knowing of the goal at hand whereas the latter is not”. (Oettingen, Grant, Smith, Skinner & Gollwitzer, 2006, p. 674)
Our consciousness is the driving motivator for pursuing the goals of our interest.
Usually the consumer decides to pursue a specific goal dependent on the
purchase situation. Then he or she develops a suitable strategy to realize the goal,
adapts the behavior to attain the goal and is committed in assessing the progress
of the goal pursuit. So far this description is based on facts which indicate the
involvement of the consumer’s consciousness. Nevertheless in some cases goal
pursuit happens outside of the consciousness and by-passes intent and control. It
is our environment, which often activates goals automatically without conscious
intention (Chartrand & Bargh, 2002, p. 15). The choice of which goal a person
follows is heavily dependent on past experience. It is important to understand that
the auto-motive model implies that goals based on historic preferences can be
triggered through relevant stimuli without conscious awareness or intention. The
inherent quality of nonconscious goal pursuit is an adaptive one, because it allows
individuals to stay focused of present occurrences and leaves conscious
processing enough space to contemplate about the past and to think of the future
(ibid, p. 474f).
Generally spoken, people become aware of goals at the moment when the pursuit
gets complicated or fails (Bongers & Dijksterhuis, 2009, p. 600). The activation of
the goal has to be given and forms the initial point of goal pursuit that takes place
outside of awareness. The nonconscious goal operation then leads to the fact that
the person is not aware of the impact on his actions in form of evaluation and
behavior (Bargh, 2002, p. 282).
Mathias Pfalzer 24
3.7.2.1 Automatic Goal Pursuit
Basically our way of dealing with the environment in order to reach a goal is a form
of an automated unconscious strategy and not a mere behavioral reflex. The input
from our environment is processed by a mental system which is dependent on
input (Bargh & Barndollar, 1996, p. 461). An important contribution in this context
was expressed by the following notion: “Plans are not specifications of fixed
sequences of actions, but are strategies that determine each successive action as
a function of current information about the situation.” (Vera & Simon, 1993, p. 17)
Usually automaticity in goal pursuit implies that these processes are carried out
without intention, unconsciously, rather effortless and ballistic, which represents
the straightforward pursuit itself. Important is the finding that the extremely limited
capacity of our consciousness is not burdened and leads to the effect of being
more efficient in interacting with the complex and fast-evolving environment
(Hassin, Aarts, Eitam, Custers & Kleiman, 2009, p. 2).
Studies have investigated the existence of automatic, nonconscious goal pursuit.
This claim is based on the cognition that test persons of these studies were
evidently unaware of having been exposed to the prime and its effects. Further
results of the examinations revealed no differences in the goal pursuit of primed
and unprimed subjects. Clear evidence for automatic and unconscious goal pursuit
has not been provided by these studies, but there are significant indicators given
to regard these assumptions as being correct (ibid, p. 11).
3.7.2.2 Subliminal Priming and its Behavioral Effects
“Subliminal persuasion refers to the subliminal presentation of stimuli by people
(e.g. advertisers) who intentionally try to influence our behavior” (Dijksterhuis,
Aaarts & Smith, 2005, p. 78).
By the example of people who cannot verbally report on their memories, research
has provided evidence that individuals gain far more knowledge of events they
have attended than they can later verbally express. This process is best described
by the application of aspects, such as priming and obtaining of covariation.
Basically subliminal mere exposure research constituted the learning process with
regards to the representations of objects as either being tied to a minimum extent
of attention or to no attention at all. Important for the understanding of this principle
is to see the acquisition of covariation in this context as connections among object
Mathias Pfalzer 25
features, which are essential for the learning part. The more abstract these
covariations get, the more attention is needed (Greenwald, 1992, p. 772).
In the field of advertisements subliminal priming is nowadays prohibited in many
countries, such as Australia, Britain, and the United States (Karremans, Stroebe &
Claus, 2006, p. 1).
Besides the legal aspect research has revealed that subliminal priming of short
brand names is possible, which builds a contrast to self-enhancement messages.
A significant study was initiated by Cooper and Cooper in the year 2002. Here the
researchers subliminally primed test persons visually with Coca Cola cans and
secondly with the information “thirsty”. The result of this study was that participants
had the subjective impression to be thirstier. In 2005 a study by Dijksterhuis,
Wegner and Aarts on certain effects of subliminally primed drinks failed. Earlier
studies on the impact of subliminal priming also led to unsatisfying and
discouraging results. Nowadays researchers tend to believe that previous studies,
such as the example of the effects on the drinking behavior have led to results like
the following: “The presence of the motivation to drink (i.e., being thirsty) is
essential for subliminal priming of a brand to be effective” (Karremans, Stroebe &
Claus, 2006, p. 2).
The relevance of the prime for the fulfillment of an individual goal is the main
condition when it comes to the desire of affecting human behavior. The underlying
motivation, such as the satisfaction of thirst, has to be in line with the subliminal
prime. Therefore it is expected that participants of studies, who are primed with
brands of drinks, will respond in terms of their consumption behavior when they
are thirsty. In such research settings the high accessibility of a drink when being
thirsty would be the crucial factor for the choice of a beverage of this kind (ibid, p.
2). Research has indicated that subliminal primes, which are supportive for the
fulfillment of a person’s goals, do have an influence on the purchase behavior. The
crucial prerequisite is that the individual is already focusing on the goal (ibid, p. 7).
An interesting finding in this context was reported by studies of Chartrand, Van
Baaren & Bargh. “These studies indicate that, through automatic evaluation,
prolonged exposure to negative or positive stimuli has an effect on people’s
affective state and processing style” (Chartrand, Van Baaren & Bargh, 2006, p. 76)
In other words the outcomes of these studies imply that people, who are primed
mainly with negative stimuli, automatically evaluate their environment in a way
Mathias Pfalzer 26
which results in a chiefly negative mood and an action to encounter the situation
adequately. The processing characteristics in such a situation would be best
described by the application of analytic, effortful and cautious traits. In case a
person’s environment is composed of positive stimuli, this environment is also
perceived as being a safe and friendly place. This is based upon the continuous
automatic activation, which processes these positive impetuses and leads to a
positive mood. It is confirmed that human beings cannot process the overflow of
mental stimuli completely. This inability to consciously process the entire
dimension of information of our personal surroundings provides the assumption
that the majority of the stimuli are processed automatically and unconsciously. Our
mood is therefore presumably in many cases affected by stimuli we are not even
aware of (Chartrand, Van Baaren & Bargh, 2006, p. 76).
Emotions are a crucial in the daily life of humans and they know the influence on
context-relevant behavior and judgments. Often misinterpreted is that emotions
often play a central role besides the given context and influence our decisions,
behavior and choices. Research on the effects of priming is especially interested
in how far people react to the overflow of stimuli in our environment and moves
even further. Today possible research questions circle around the problems of
conflicting nonconscious influences or mirror neurons. These are located in the
premotor cortex and become active in two cases. Firstly, when an individual
observes an action which is performed by others and secondly, when the action is
performed by the person him- or herself. Especially latest findings regarding
cognitive neuroscience research have provided evidence for the interrelation
between minds of humans and their wider social environment (Bargh & Williams,
2006, p. 4).
Mathias Pfalzer 27
4 DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATION IN TOURISM
The claim that choices of people are made only in accordance with the desire of
being happy in the future may appear simplistic to the reader. Based on this
assumption one could argue that most of our choices are everything but rational,
because our decisions do not often result in happiness (Dijksterhuis, van Baaren,
Bongers, Bos, Leeuwen & Leij, 2007, p. 4).
In addition to this assumption and in context with tourism one could conclude that
people long for happiness when having holidays and are therefore willing to spend
a considerable amount of money for their vacation. Most often they are also
spending money at the destination in form of buying souvenirs or other items. The
financial aspect behind these decisions varies considerably, because these
choices belong to different categories.
This part of the thesis aims to provide the reader with an understanding of how
tourists choose between holiday destinations before their vacation started or
between items such as souvenirs during the trip. It will furthermore discuss the role
of implicit working memory on purchase decisions.
4.1 Purchase Behavior Before the Vacation Started
Indicators of complex purchase decisions are a high purchase price, product
complexity and a unique purchase experience. Such complex products are seen
as high-involvement purchase items, because the inherent cost of the service
represents an indicator for not buying on impulse (Kolb, 2006, p. 133).
This is something most of the people have already experienced in their lives.
Dependent on what holiday offers include, a considerable financial investment
may be reason enough to engage in getting to know the offered alternatives in
detail. Therefore such complex purchase decisions appear to demand intensive
contemplation about the comprised attributes. This would then be an indicator for
conscious processing.
The weighted added strategy has already been briefly mentioned by the example
of choosing among different holiday destinations belonging to the more expensive
segment. It was mentioned that it takes a lot of processing capacity to assess all
the meaningful components when planning a holiday. Important to understand is
that thinking about isolated attributes, such as hotel x offers better service than
hotel y is unproblematic, because human beings can usually just process small
Mathias Pfalzer 28
amounts of information without obstacles. Since people cannot assess extensive
amounts of information consciously, the quality of decisions might deteriorate. A
comprehensive consideration of complex alternatives is in such cases not possible
(Dijksterhuis, van Baaren, Bongers, Bos, Leeuwen & Leij, 2007, p. 16).
Theoretically it would be best to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of
complex decisions step by step in order to obtain an impression of the most
important attributes of the decision. Unfortunately we often do not have the time,
the capacity or lack relevant information when the decision has to be made.
Concluding, it could be argued that tourists apply strategies such as the weighted
added strategy in some circumstances. Particularly supportive is to use lists for
weighing up the crucial attributes. It is problematic to process large amounts of
information without supportive measures due to the limited capacity of processing
(Dijksterhuis, van Baaren, Bongers, Bos Leeuwen & Leij, 2007, p. 16).
“Introspection…can change an optimal weighing scheme into a suboptimal one. When people analyze reasons, they might focus on those attributes of the attitude object that seem like plausible causes of the evaluation but were not weighted heavily before” (Wilson, Lisle, Schooler, Hodges, Klaaren & LaFleur, 1993, p. 332).
4.2 Purchase Behavior During the Vacation
It is not surprising that research findings revealed that shopping is closely tied to
the experiences of many tourists. This is even true for tourists, who have access to
similar products at home (Josaim, Kinley & Kim, 2005, p. 151).
Regardless of the level of education, tourists tend to be more involved in shopping
activities when being on vacation than in the rest of the year. Tourist shopping is
nevertheless more important for people with a lower level of education than for
people with more formal education. One reason for this could be seen in the
simplicity of the activity. Shopping malls are usually places where many people
feel rather comfortable. This is mainly because shopping malls are a common
place for purchasing goods and services. In addition to that they offer families the
opportunity to pursue their individual interests and activities (ibid, p. 150).
Research has revealed that shopping activities of tourists are highly influenced by
both age and gender. The preference of tourists regarding different purchase
categories such as clothes, jewellery, antiques or books is varying considerably
between women and men, but also in different age groups (Oh, Cheng, Lehto &
O’Leary, 2004, p. 317).
Mathias Pfalzer 29
4.3 Unconscious Elements in Purchases of Tourists
Bargh (2002, p. 281) argued that since 1980 a lot of research effort has been
dedicated to the impact of nonconscious processes. Such processes comprise the
area of psychology and behavior and their effects on the needs and goal pursuit of
the consumer. The crucial point is the activation of a goal. From then on goals may
operate outside of awareness. Since researchers have provided evidence for
these effects, advertisement took advantage of this knowledge and tried to
influence the consumers (Bargh, 2002, p. 283). Latest studies have shown that
conscious thought does not guarantee better decisions. In some cases conscious
thinking is disadvantageous and leads to worse results. Others say it is simply too
complicated to provide evidence for the impact of conscious thought on the quality
of decision making, because a multitude of influences have an impact on
deliberation (Dijksterhuis, van Baaren, Bongers, Bos, Leeuwen & van der Leij,
2007, p. 15). It has already pointed out that high-order cognitive processes are
application areas of nonconscious goal pursuit. With regard to what has been
mentioned in chapter 2.7 about the nature of high-order cognitive processes and
the influence of working memory on them, the further chapter of this paper will aim
to clarify how goal pursuit in terms of purchase decisions of tourists fits to implicit
working memory and its functions (Hassin, Bargh, Engell & McCulloch, 2009, p.
13).
4.3.1 The Contribution of Working Memory to Purchas es of Tourists
Chapter 2.2.1 covered the relation of working memory and its maintenance
function in complex cognitive processes, such as decision making (Miyake &
Shah, 1999, p. 445).
Hassin, Aarts, Eitam, Custers, & Kleiman (2009, p. 3) argued that processes,
which working memory is based upon, may operate nonconsciously. These
processes have already been briefly described in chapter 2.7 and are relevant for
the pursuit of the goal.
Whenever tourists purchase, they make decisions like other people who are not on
vacation. It remains unclear in how far tourists are involved when buying or how
much information they process prior to the purchase. Therefore it is crucial to look
at different types of purchases. The discussion about the role of involvement in
purchase decisions of tourism shows that people tend to contemplate much more
when the level of involvement is high, meaning that personal consequences of the
Mathias Pfalzer 30
decisions are very important. It is easier to process on already existing information
when filing decisions, because it helps us to evaluate (Petty, Cacioppo &
Goldman, 1981, p. 853).
Another question is what to do best when the involvement of tourists is remarkably
low? It would be arguable that buying a rather cheap souvenir without thinking
about the value would be one application of implicit working memory. This would
most probably not be too difficult to test, because purchases of minor importance
could be made outside of conscious awareness. This indicates the involvement of
implicit working memory. The crucial point is to differentiate whether the purchase
of a cheap souvenir is an application in which the buyer does not need his/her
cognitive processing capacity or if this person has the intention to compare
alternatives or requests specific information. Processes of humans can be
regarded as being implicit when they are not in their current focus. The impact of
implicit working memory on the booking behavior of a person for an expensive
holiday would not necessarily belong to the category of implicit working memory,
because the activity of purchasing goods or services of high financial investments
will most probably not happen entirely outside of an individual’s awareness. The
concerned person will at least consider alternatives before choosing or be
interested in context-relevant information. Therefore the implicit part of working
memory in the final purchase decision will probably be significantly smaller than in
cases of purchasing irrelevant goods or services (Hassin, Bargh, Engell &
McCulloch, 2009, p. 3).
Paradox in this context is that goal adoption and pursuit are perceived as
controlled processes, whereas latest findings have revealed that these processes
can work outside of the awareness (Hassin, 2005, p. 216). Such processes are of
higher cognitive nature and encompass difficult decisions or flexible goal pursuits
(ibid, p. 197).
4.3.2 Motivation of Tourists
Initiating the discussion in how far involvement plays a role in the purchase
process, it might be helpful to understand that the activation of motivation and goal
pursuit can happen in the same way and operate simultaneously (Bargh,
Gollwitzer, Chai, Barndoller & Trötschel, 2001, p. 1025).
Dependent on the type of products people are often motivated to show high effort
in doing research on product-relevant information or on advertising content.
Mathias Pfalzer 31
Nevertheless it is also true that we often simply do not have enough time to
dedicate much consideration on deciding what to choose. Sometimes individuals
have other priorities than considering multiple aspects of purchasing decisions.
People are often distracted and busy with their social environment and therefore
cannot dedicate their entire processing capacity to the decision making. From time
to time individuals long for the appreciation of surrounding people, the possibility of
performing well on tasks or simply want to have a safe environment or healthy
family members (Bargh, 2002, p. 282).
At the moment when the specific goal is clear, the situation might change. An
interesting finding indicates that in case of competing goal operations there is a
tendency to perceive status-oriented products or services more favorably than
products, which are not so important or meaningful to us. The motivation to
consciously engage in a decision making process might be given, but it has to be
understood that goal activation might take place unconsciously. The logical
consequence would be that the person is not aware of the goal itself and
furthermore not directly motivated to pursue it (ibid, p. 282).
At this stage of the thesis it might be too vague to claim that even decisions
regarding rather expensive holidays would be concerned. In any case it cannot be
ignored that goals may be triggered nonconsciously and even followed without
being aware of them. If this is applicable for financially important decisions will be
discussed next.
4.3.3 Involvement in the Field of Tourism
Cai, Feng & Breiter (2004, p. 140) argued in one of their studies that involvement
should be understood as behavioral involvement regarding the field of purchase
decision. Consequently it should then be described as purchase decision
involvement.
In terms of consumer behavior it would be appropriate to look at it from three
different angles. The first stream is the advertising domain and characterized by
the extent of in how far the recipient of an advertisement has been personally
touched and feels the urge or motivation to react to the stimulus. The second
approach deals with the interest of the consumer in product information. This
interest could be triggered when the product meets the needs and values of the
prospective buyer. The third and last stream covers the question whether and in
how far the decision is relevant to the customer. In case the decision is important
Mathias Pfalzer 32
to the consumer, he or she will be motivated to carefully consider the outcome of
the decision (Zaichkowsky, 1986, p. 4ff cited following Cai, Feng & Breiter, 2004,
p. 140).
How does this fit to the tendency of tourists to spend considerably more money
while being on holidays? Will they consider their purchases thoroughly? In any
case many tourism destinations have reacted on the spending behavior of tourists
and built shopping malls or other opportunities to purchase (Timothy & Wall, 1997,
n. p. cited following Timothy & Boyd, 2003, p. 146).
An important segmentation of the term involvement is to distinguish between high-
involvement and low-involvement purchases. Purchases belonging to the first
category are characterized as personally important to the consumer and by the
motivation to get access and evaluate information regarding available alternatives.
Low-involvement purchases are the opposite of what has been mentioned about
high-involvement consumption and are seen as not important enough to get
informed about all the options when buying (Josaim, Smeaton & Clements, 1999,
p. 167 ff. cited following Cai, Feng & Breiter, 2004, p. 140).
4.3.4 Goal Pursuits of Tourists
Early in our lives we start to interact with our environment. During our infancy we
lay the basis for our future in terms of foundational concepts and goals. Primes in
form of natural physical experiences have the power to influence our thinking,
feelings and behavior. The impact of past experiences on current behavior in form
of higher-order cognition questions the extent of control on our mental doings
(Williams, Huang & Bargh, 2009, p. 1264). According to research findings people
are highly unaware of influences, stemming from the past, on current behavior and
furthermore of present influences and choices on upcoming performances
(Fitzsimons et al., 2002, p. 275). The following opinion of key authors provides a
solid impression of latest findings regarding this issue. “Consciousness may return
to an ongoing nonconscious goal pursuit when an obstacle is encountered,
disrupting automaticity and requiring an interpretation of one’s behavior”.
(Gollwitzer, Parks-Stamm & Oettingen, 2008, p. 612)
Here the question arises how tourists activate and then pursue their goal of
spending leisure time far away from their ordinary homes. In addition to that
tourism purchase behavior comprises much more, such as buying souvenirs or
memorabilia. Hypothetically one could argue that a person, who is confronted with
Mathias Pfalzer 33
a variety of attractive destinations (including one where this person has spent a
pleasant holiday in his/her childhood) would unconsciously decide for an
appropriate offer of this destination. Another hypothesis in this context would be
that tourists who always bought certain items as souvenirs in their holidays would
pursue this goal nonconsciously due to past experiences.
4.4 Best Possible Choices
In a “perfect world” there would not be any constraints like time pressure when
filing decisions and all the relevant information would be there to make perfect
choices. Nothing could distract us and we could focus entirely on the process of
choosing (Dijksterhuis, van Baaren, Bongers, Bos, Leeuwen & Leij, 2007, p. 5). In
reality it is confirmed that possible ways of improving decision quality are to
increase attention control or by reducing unwanted impacts on the decision
making process (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2009, p. 604). What we have to keep in
mind is that not all of our choices are based on thorough information processing
(Dijksterhuis, Smith, van Baaren, Wigboldus, 2005, p. 198).
A typical situation in wintertime is to compare two holiday destinations for the
upcoming summer vacation. One conscious thought could be that the Spanish
coast might be a good choice, because it is rather cheap, but as a disadvantage
also enormously crowded. At the same time unconscious thought could be
involved when we do not exactly know what to choose. In case we are not
concerned with the problem for a few days, meaning that we do not consciously
think about it, it could happen that we come up with the spontaneous idea that the
Tuscany is going to be the ideal next holiday destination. This thought is
conscious, but the way how the subject came up with the idea is not. Therefore the
process from being undecided to the final preference is the result of unconscious
processing (Dijksterhuis, 2004, p. 587).
4.4.1 Free Will or Reflective?
People usually tend to think they have the control over their doings as a result of
free will. One problem is that we cannot always control our actions (Hofmann,
Strack & Deutsch, 2008, p. 22).
It is important to understand why consumers sometimes feel the pressing need to
buy on impulse as a consequence of short-term interests or due to long-term
interests, which are driven by reflective decisions. Consumer behavior is based on
the interplay of impulsive and reflective components. Dependent on the situation
Mathias Pfalzer 34
and the personality of the consumer, the urge to consume goods or services might
be more or less intense. On the other side there are similar situations in which
consumers do not have the conscious intention to purchase anything. It is
therefore crucial to be aware of situational and personal influences, which may
control the behavior of consumers (Hofmann, Strack & Deutsch, 2008, p. 23).
Often the driving factor is not the impulse factor or the reflective one. Moreover
consumer behavior is characterized as a fusion of both factors. The resistance
towards temptations, the desire to possess products or the intention to not
purchase varies from time to time, but is something individuals often experience in
their lives. Personal and situational factors determine how consumers behave in
such situations (ibid, p. 23). In other words consumer behavior could be seen as
the result of the conflict between impulsive and reflective forces (ibid, p. 25). A
major impact on purchase behavior stems from the conditions of the situation
when the consumption takes place. It takes the motivation of the consumer to be
fully involved in processing. In addition to that it is also a question of time and
cognitive capacity whether (and if, how much) impulsive and reflective forces
impact the purchase. The cognitive capacity and the lack of disturbance are crucial
to engage in reflective processing. Nevertheless favorable conditions for reflecting
mechanisms do not necessarily exclude impulsive forces (Strack, Werth &
Deutsch, 2006, p. 213).
Bargh (2008, p. 148) argues that there is basically no good reason for justifying
how behavioral impulses are generated, evaluated and partly implemented by the
concept of free will.
4.4.2 Information Processing of Tourists
It is furthermore decisive to understand that purchase decisions of tourists are
often influenced by emotions. This is partly due to the high amount of money it
costs to afford a holiday. A sacrifice in terms of money is then often is perceived
as a source of recreation and joy. One significant difference between everyday
purchase decisions (such as ordinary food) and the purchase of a holiday is the
time of considering the attributes of the product and the financial aspect (Horner &
Swarbrooke, 2007, p. 4).
In a prior part of this paper it was described that especially in complex decisions,
such as choosing between different holiday destinations, we are confronted with
an abundance of alternatives. Prior to the decision making we need to integrate
information into impressions and just then we are supposed to compare these
Mathias Pfalzer 35
impressions and form preferences. This process takes processing capacity to
cope with a large extent of information and secondly we need to have special skills
to integrate information in a way to enable final decision making. Due to our limited
capacity we tend to take less information into account (Dijksterhuis, 2004, p. 587).
Tourist information search has been accurately described by the following notion.
“A dynamic process wherein individuals use various amounts and types of
information sources in response to internal and external contingencies to facilitate
travel planning”. (Fodness and Murray, 1997, p. 503 ff.).
At another point of this paper it was mentioned that when a subject is undecided
between various alternatives he/she might try to not think about the choice for
some days. It is possible that the finally chosen alternative is afterwards rather
surprising to the subject, which would be described still as a conscious thought.
This person changed from being undecided to preferring one alternative and went
through an unconscious process (Dijksterhuis, 2004, p. 587).
Mathias Pfalzer 36
5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Many situations of our daily life are interrelated with mechanisms of working
memory. As one of the main application areas of working memory, decision
making earned special attention of researchers. This is mainly because latest
findings in the field of the unconsciousness have led to a new understanding of
this paradigm.
Working memory is a scientific field with ambiguous aspects. A clear distinction
between working memory and short-term memory is still not determined. Another
weak spot can be traced back to leading researchers of this field who are still
operating with different models of working memory and merely agree on the main
functions. Firstly, working memory does not serve as a structurally separate box or
spot in the brain. Secondly, the maintenance function of working memory is
dedicated to complex cognition. Thirdly, executive control is an essential part of
working memory functions. Forthly, capacity limits are related to multiple factors
and might be essential for the cognitive system. Fifthly, an all-embracing and
unitary view of working memory is not possible and finally, long-term memory is a
fundamental prerequisite for working memory performance (Miyake & Shah, 1999,
pp. 443-449).
The approach of an expert was to concentrate more on the working component
and less on the memory function. Nevertheless, the author of this paper was
confronted with a lot of differing opinions during the research process.
Retrospectively, it seems as if all efforts towards answering the question of what
working memory is, have not delivered an all-embracing notion yet.
This alone would have been challenging as a starting point to advance existing
research. Since researchers initiated the discussion that high-order cognitive
processes can occur nonconsciously the role of working memory in the context
with complex cognitive processes was newly defined. Much has changed over the
last decade of research on this topic, which is best indicated by the out-dated view
that mechanisms of working memory are linked to complex cognitive structures.
This was undoubtedly a common view and true for the past but nowadays it just
serves as an initial point of a new stream in the doctrine. Today we know that
these high-order cognitive processes can even occur in the mental state of
unconsciousness and build an application area of working memory. Research on
the outcome of this finding is still in its infancy and leaves many questions
unanswered. Hassin and his colleagues raised the point that a clear distinction
Mathias Pfalzer 37
between explicit and implicit functions of working memory is still not available.
Experts in the field of working memory have not come to a consensus yet if there
are significant differences between explicit and implicit functions (Hassin, Bargh,
Engell & McCulloch, 2009, p. 13). Researchers apparently do not exactly know
how to classify implicit working memory. Does it belong to working memory or is it
to be treated separately? Future studies will have to find answers to this question.
Based on these findings one could draw then more precise conclusions for the
field of tourism marketing then.
Another important component of working memory reveals even more ambiguity. It
is confirmed that the capacity of working memory is limited and dependent on the
stimulus and the age of the subject. It is decisive to understand that working
memory is an interaction of attention, long-term memory and automatically
activated information. In other words we cannot expect our working memory to
process endless amounts of information at once. The capacity limitation of working
memory allows us to be mentally involved just in a restricted number of high-order
cognitive processes. Complex processes beyond this limitation are processed by
our unconsciousness. The author regarded this new stream in research as an
appropriate starting point to discuss how purchase decisions of tourists could be
affected by what is best described as implicit working memory. This offers a great
opportunity to apply acquired knowledge and to furthermore derive implications for
the field of tourism.
It has already been mentioned that a common notion in former times was to
perceive the troika of working memory, attention and consciousness as highly
interrelated. About ten years later new tendencies in research on working memory
emerged and had to deliver answers for the impact of unconsciousness on what
was seen as established doctrine. Nowadays it is accepted to discuss whether the
unconsciousness in some situations is providing a better quality of decision
outcomes. Since these complex cognitive processes are highly influenced by
working memory it is vital to also discuss the impact of the unconsciousness on
decisions in the sector of tourism.
Another main part of this thesis is dedicated to the field of purchasing behavior. As
an initial point the author described a common consumption scheme. This model
consists of the problem recognition, is followed by the information search of the
consumer, continued with an evaluation of alternatives and finally leads to the
purchase decision. This behavioral pattern is usually concluded by the post
Mathias Pfalzer 38
purchase stage. Based on the assumption that we would follow this rather
idealistic process, the ordinary consumer should not encounter disruption or
obstacles. The truth proves the opposite. Quite often consumers are distracted by
influences of the environment such as their kids or are simply emotionally tensed.
Then it is definitely questionable if all these steps are followed consequently and
consciously. Planning the yearly holiday might be an activity which allows
consumers to follow the steps of the above mentioned model thoroughly. People
simply cannot afford to make bad decisions with devastating consequences in
terms of their financial investment and dedicated time. Since people are often
exposed to stress in their working life and private environment they do not always
have the entire working memory capacity left to follow this scheme step by step.
Quite often the unconsciousness replaces one of the stages of this model and still
leads to rewarding outcomes.
Today purchase behavior is understood as a mix of conscious and unconscious
elements. The advertising industry has taken advantage of the new findings.
Professional advertisers aim to lure the consumer with adumbrated scarcity in
commercials such as “today only”. In case people react to those stimuli they do it
rather mindlessly.
Another important distinction in this paper was to categorize purchases as either
simple choices or complex choices. This is especially important because human
beings possess just a low capacity in terms of conscious thinking. Ground-
breaking was the notion of Dijksterhuis, who stated that unconscious processing in
complex situations sometimes leads to better results in choices (Dijksterhuis,
2004, p. 597). For part of the experts on the topic of consumer behavior this came
as a surprise, because they perceived deliberation as superior to nonconscious
doings in terms of the quality of decisions. Nevertheless the reader should be
provided with an explanation of why the unconsciousness is sometimes doing
such a “good job”. Thus, some preliminary theoretical input on this claim is
inevitable.
First and foremost consumers purchase either on impulse or due to bounded
rationality. Whereas impulse buying behavior is heavily based on influences of our
surrounding environment, bounded rationality is usually tied to situations in which
the application of the weighted adding strategy would be seen as beneficial. In
contrast to this impulse buying does not involve preshopping intentions at all and
leaves no room for much reflection. Undoubtedly purchasing low involvement
Mathias Pfalzer 39
items such as cheap souvenirs might not be challenging for our working memory,
because the purchase itself is not as important as for example the booking
process of a vacation. We often buy memorabilia without contemplating much
about better alternatives or the true value of the item. This is often an indicator that
we buy such products on impulse and in a mental state of not reflecting much
about the incurred opportunity costs. Bounded rationality has been presented to
the reader as a very idealistic approach because of the restricted capacity of
working memory in complex situations. This weak spot already implies that the
weighted added strategy would indeed have some advantages when correctly
applied in complex purchase decisions, but a limited capacity seems like having
“demanding software but inadequate hardware”. Our system could break down at
the moment we are exposed to time pressure or suffer from a lack of resources.
Dijksterhuis stressed that a precondition for good choices in cases where the
outcome is of high significance for the individual would be to apply the weighted
added strategy. Such decisions could be to choose between houses, different
holiday decisions, roommates and many more (Dijksterhuis, 2004, p. 587). In
previous sections of this paper it was already mentioned that there are lots of
situations which do not allow us to use this strategy. For many consumers it
seems as if the more they are consciously thinking about a choice, the better they
weigh attributes. Following the argumentation of Dijksterhuis and his colleagues
this is not necessarily true. Based on their hypothesis the quality of weighted
adding improves when people trust unconscious processing.
Another decisive factor in the process prior to consumption is our attitude towards
products and services. These are automatically triggered when the consumer
perceives the product/service. Our preferences stem from these attitudes and date
back to information processing at an earlier stage.
The high road to imitation has been discussed in this paper due to its relevance in
situations in which subjects had a tendency towards complex imitation. This was
discovered in research on subliminal priming and revealed that especially
persuasiveness and automaticity are important elements in such moments. One of
the striking questions in the context of the high road to imitation was if subjects
who tended to imitate others have more empathy.
Prior to the final purchase decision the goal of consuming products or services has
to be activated. Consciousness is not necessarily for pursuing goals, despite that
people are often aware of them. Oettingen and her colleagues stated that there is
Mathias Pfalzer 40
basically no difference in the quality of outcome if a goal is pursued consciously or
unconsciously. Dependent on the situation our environment sometimes initiates
goals without being aware of them (Oettingen, Grant, Smith, Skinner & Gollwitzer,
2006, p. 674).
After returning from vacation, people tend to meet with their friends and family in
order to share their experiences, to pass round photos and to hand out souvenirs.
This social reference group is a perfect source of information because we tend to
trust anecdotes told by people we are friends with. Their positive depiction of a
holiday in general or parts of it, such as the hotel, the beach, the flight and so on
could evoke the desire to book a holiday too. This might happen on a conscious
level, but could also be triggered automatically and then produce a positive
attitude towards the idea. If the destination our friends spent a holiday at is then an
element of a set of alternatives it could be probable that we unconsciously select
exactly this product. A possible explanation would be that this preference dates
back to the information processing during the evening we spent with our friends
while we listened to their stories.
Our choice which goal to follow is dependent on past experience. Therefore
tourism marketers should be considering that their potential customers bring along
a lot of desires with them when they choose their future holiday. These
impressions could be derived from their childhood, past holidays with family and
friends or simply date back to positive attitudes that could be evoked due to
supported national teams in sports, using products which are predominantly
produced in a certain country. In case influential representatives of the tourism
industry take these facts into consideration they could take this hypothesis one
step further and try to subliminally prime the potential customer with appropriate
information. This is not in all countries allowed, but would be a possibility to deliver
the desired message effectively. Due to the automatic processing of the majority of
stimuli the primed subjects would not be aware that an external party aims to
influence their decision making. Such a strategy is risky to pursue, as the past
handling with subliminal priming has shown. Consumers remain concerned about
subliminal influences. Nevertheless, today researchers take the needs and goals
of consumers more into consideration. Decisive for the resistance of consumers
towards subliminal priming is that individuals cannot control the source of influence
and furthermore people do not know in how far they are affected by the primes.
Therefore subliminal priming is an effective way to influence consumer behavior,
Mathias Pfalzer 41
but also a risky and sometimes ends up as a prohibited approach of advertisers
(Bargh, 2002, p. 283).
Future research on this topic should focus on the fast evolving discussion
regarding the role of implicit working memory in complex cognitive processes. This
thesis aims to initiate and encourage further research on this topic. So far a lot of
questions on the impact of unconsciousness on our daily life are left unanswered
and would serve as a basis for further pioneer works in tourism. These findings
could then be significant for the area of tourism marketing and serve as an initiator
to advance the development of tourism products. The frame of this thesis was
rather restricted and therefore this thesis cannot claim to have covered all relevant
aspects in an all-embracing manner. Thus, it would be beneficial for this new
stream of tourism-related research to be continued soon.
Mathias Pfalzer 42
LIST OF REFERENCES
Andrade, J., Kavanagh, D. & Baddeley, A. D. (1997). Eye-movements and visual imagery: A working memory approach to the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 36 (2), 209-223.
Baddeley, A. D. & Logie, R. H . (1999). Working memory: The multiple-component model. In Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (eds.) Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (28-61). Oakleigh:Cambridge Press.
Baddeley, A. D. (2002). Is Working Memory Still Working? European Psychologist, 7 (2), 85-97.
Bargh, J. A. (1994). The Four Horsemen of automaticity: Awareness, efficiency, intention, and control in social cognition. In Wyer, R. S. & Srull, T. K. (eds.) Handbook of social cognition (1-40). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Bargh, J. A. & Barndollar, K. (1996). The Unconscious as Repository of Chronic Goals and Motives. In Gollwitzer, P. M. & Bargh, J. A. (eds.) The psychology of action: linking cognition and motivation to behavior (457-481). New York: The Guilford Press.
Bargh, J. A., Gollwitzer, P. M., Chai, A. L., Barnd ollar, K. & Trötschel, R. (2001). The Automated Will: Nonconscious Activation and Pursuit of Behavioral Goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81 (6), 1014-1027.
Bargh, J. A. (2002). Reflections and Reviews. Losing Consciousness: Automatic Influences on Consumer Judgment, Behavior, and Motivation. Journal of Consumer Research, 29 (2), 280-285.
Bargh, J. A. (2006). Social psychology and the unconscious: The automaticity of higher mental processes. New York: Psychology Press.
Bargh, J. A., & Williams, E. L. (2006). The automaticity of social life. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 1-4.
Bargh, J. A. (2008). Free will is un-natural. In Baer, J., Kaufman, J. & Baumeister, R. (eds.) Are we free? The psychology of free will (128-154). New York: Oxford University Press.
Bargh, J. A. & Morsella, E. (2008). The Unconscious Mind. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3 (1), 73-79.
Beatty, S. E., Ferrell, M. E. (1998). Impulse buying:modeling its precursors. Journal of Retailing, 74 (2), 169-91.
Bongers, K. C., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2009). Consciousness as a trouble shooting device? The role of consciousness in goal-pursuit. In Morsella, E., Bargh, J.
Mathias Pfalzer 43
A. & Gollwitzer, P. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Human Action (589-604). New York: Oxford University Press.
Briñol, P., Petty, R. E. & McCaslin, M. J. (2008). Changing attitudes on implicit versus explicit measures: What is the difference?. In Petty, R. E., Fazio, R. H. & Briñol, P. (eds.) Attitudes: Insights from the new implicit measures (285-326). New York: Psychology Press.
Cai, L. A., Feng, R. & Breiter, D. (2004). Tourist purchase decision involvement and information preferences. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 10 (2), 138-148.
Chartrand, T. L. & Bargh, J. A. (1996). Automatic Activation of Impression Formation and Memorization Goals: Nonconscious Goal Priming Reproduces Effects of Explicit Task Instructions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71 (3), 464-478.
Chartrand, T. L. & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The Chameleon Effect: The Perception-Behavior Link and Social Interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76 (6), 893-910.
Chartrand, T. L. & Bargh, J. A. (2002). Nonconcsious Motivations: Their Activation, Operation, and Consequences. Submitted for publication.
Chartrand, T. L., Bargh, J. A. & van Baaren, R. B. (2006). Linking Automatic Evaluation to Mood and Information Processing Style: Consequences for Experienced Affect, Impression Formation, and Stereotyping. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 135 (1), 70-77.
Cohen, J., Dunbar, K., & McClelland, J. (1990). On the control of automatic processes: A parallel distributed processing model of the Stroop effect. Psychological Review, 97, 332–361.
Cowan, N. (1998). Visual and auditory working memory capacity. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2 (3), 77-78.
Cowan, N. (1999). An Embedded-Processes Model of Working Memory. In Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (eds.) Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (442-481). Oakleigh: Cambridge Press.
Dijksterhuis, A. (2004). Think Different: The Merits of Unconscious Thought in Preference Development and Decision Making. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2004, 87 (5), 586-598.
Dijksterhuis, A., Aarts, H. & Smith, P. K. (2005). The power of the subliminal: Subliminal perception and possible applications. In R. Hassin, J. Uleman, & J.A. Bargh (eds.) The new unconscious, 77-106. New York: Oxford University Press..
Dijksterhuis, A., & Bargh, J. A. (2001). The perception-behavior Expressway: Automatic effects of social perception on social behavior. Submitted for publication.
Mathias Pfalzer 44
Dijksterhuis, A., Smith, P. K., Van Baaren, R. B., & Wigboldus, D. H. J. (2005). The unconscious consumer: Effects of environment on consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15, 193-202.
Dijksterhuis, A., Maarten, W. B., Nordgren, L. F. & van Baaren, R. B. (2006). On Making the Right Choice: The Deliberation-Without-Attention Effect. Science, 311, 1005-1007.
Dijksterhuis, A. P., Van Baaren, R. B., Bongers, K. C., Bos, M. W., Van Leeuwen, M. L. & Van der Leij, A. (2009). The rational unconscious: Conscious versus unconscious thought in complex consumer choice. In Wänke, M. (ed.) Social Psychology of Consumer Behavior (89-109). New York: Psychology Press.
Engle, R.W., Kane, M.J. & Tuholski, S.W. (1999). Individual differences in working memory capacity and what they tell us about controlled attention, general fluid intelligence and functions of the prefrontal cortex. In Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (eds.) Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (102-134). Oakleigh: Cambridge Press.
Fazio, R. H., Sanbonmatsu, D. M., Powell, M. C. & K ardes, F. R. (1986). On the automatic activation of attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 229-238.
Ferguson, M. J. & Bargh, J. A. (2002). Sensitivity and flexibility: Exploring the knowledge function of automatic attitudes. The wisdom in feeling: Psychological processes in emotional intelligence. In Barrett, L. F. & Salovey, P. (eds.) The wisdom in feeling: Psychological processes in emotional intelligence. Emotions and social behavior. (383-405). New York: Guilford Press.
Fitzsimons, G. J., Hutchinson, J. W., Williams, P., Alba, J. W., Chartrand, T. L., Huber, J., Kardes, F. R., Menon, G., Raghubir, P., Russo, J. E., Shiv, B. & Tavassoli, N. T. (2002). Non-Conscious Influences on Consumer Choice. Marketing Letters, 13 (3), 269-279.
Fodness, D. & Murray, B. (1997). Tourist information search. Annals of Tourism Research, 24 (3), 503-523.
Gathercole, S. & Baddeley, A. (1993). Working memory and language. Hove: Erlbaum
Gollwitzer, P. M. & Sheeran, P. (2009). Self-regulation of consumer decision making and behavior: The role of implementation intentions. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19, 593-607.
Gollwitzer, P. M., Parks-Stamm, E. J. & Oettingen, G. (2008). Living on the Edge: Shifting Between Nonconscious and Conscious Goal Pursuit. In Morsella, E., Gollwitzer, P. M. & Bargh, J. A. (eds.) Oxford handbook of human action. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mathias Pfalzer 45
Greenwald, A. G. (1992). New Look 3: Unconsious cognition reclaimed. American Psychologist, 47, 766-779.
Hassin, R. R., Uleman, J. S. & Bargh, J. A. (eds.). (2005). The New Unconscious. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hassin, R. R. (2005). Nonconscious Control and Implicit Working Memory. In Hassin, R. R., Uleman, J. S. & Bargh, J. A. (eds.) The New Unconscious (196-222). New York: Oxford University Press.
Hassin, R. R., Aarts, H., Eitam, B., Custers, R. & Kleiman, T. (2009). Non-conscious goal pursuit and the effortful control of behavior. In Morsella, E., Gollwitzer, P. M. & Bargh, J. A. (eds.) Oxford handbook of human action. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hassin, R. R., Bargh, J. A., Engell, A. D. & McCull och, K. C. (2009). Implicit working memory [electronical version]. Consciousness and Cognition, 1-14. Access on 06 December, 2009 on http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/IWM_in_press.pdf.
Hassin, R. R., Bargh, J. A. & Zimerman, S. (2009). Automatic and Flexible: The Case of Non-conscious Goal Pursuit. Submitted for Publication.
Higgins, E. T. (2000). Making a good decision: Value from “fit.” American Psychologist, 55, 1217–1230.
Higgins, E. T. (2005). Motivational Sources of Unintended Thought: Irrational Intrusions or Side Effects of Rational Strategies?. In Hassin, R. R., Uleman, J. S. & Bargh, J. A. (eds.) The New Unconscious (516-536). New York: Oxford University Press.
Hofmann, W., Strack, F. & Deutsch, R. (2008). Free to buy? Explaining self-control and impulse in consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 18, p. 22-26.
Horner, S & Swarbrooke, J. (2007). Consumer Behavior in Tourism (2nd ed.). Oxford: Elsevier.
Iacoboni, M. (2009). Imitation, Empathy, and Mirror Neurons. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 653-670.
Josaim, B. M., Kinley, T. R. & Kim, Y.-K. (2005). Involvement and the tourist shopper: Using the involvement construct to segment the American tourist shopper at the mall. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 11 (2), 135-154.
Josaim, B. M., Smeaton, G. & Clements, C. J. (1999). Involvement: Travel motivation and destination selection. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 5 (2), 167-175.
Jones, E. E. & Thibaut, J. W. (1958). Interaction goals as bases, of interference in interpersonal perception. In Tagiuri, R. & Petrullo, L. (eds.) Person perception and interpersonal behavior (151- 178). London: Oxford University Press.
Mathias Pfalzer 46
Karremans, J. C., Stroebe, W. & Claus, J. (2006). Beyond Vicary’s fantasies: The impact of subliminal priming and brand choice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1-7.
Kintsch, W., Healy, A. F., Hegarty, M., Pennington, B. F. & Salthouse, T. A. (1999). Models of Working Memory: Eight Questions and Some General Issues. In Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (eds.) Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (412-442). Oakleigh: Cambridge Press.
Kolb, B. (2006). Tourism Marketing for Cities and Towns. Using Branding and Events to Attract Tourists, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Kotler, P. & Keller, K. L. (2006). Marketing Management (12ed). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Loftus, E. F. & Klinger, M. R. (1992). Is the unconscious smart or dumb? American Psycholigist, 47, 761-765.
Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (1999). Toward Unified Theories of Working Memory: Emerging General Consensus, Unresolved Theoretical Issues, and Future Research Directions. In Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (eds.) Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (442-481). Oakleigh: Cambridge Press.
Oh, J. Y-J., Cheng, C.-K., Lehto, X. Y. & O’Leary, J. T. (2004). Predictors of tourists’ shopping behavior: Examination of socio-demographic characteristics and trip typologies. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 10 (4), 308-319.
Oettingen, G ., Grant, H., Smith, P. K., Skinner, M. & Gollwitzer , P. M. (2006). Nonconscious goal pursuit: Acting in an explanatory vacuum. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 668-675.
Pashler, H. (1992). Attentional limitations in doing two tasks at the same time. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1, 44-48.
Petty, R. E., Fazio, R. H. & Briñol, P. (eds.). (2009). Attitudes: insights from the new implicit measures, New York: Psychology Press
Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T. & Schumann, D. (1983). Central and peripheral routes to advertising effectiveness: The moderating role of involvement. Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 135-146.
Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T. & Goldman, R. (1981). Personal Involvement as a Determinant of Argument-Based Persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41 (5), 847-855.
Prabhakaran, V., Narayanan, K., Zhao, Z. & Gabrieli , J. D. (2000). Integration of diverse information in working memory within the frontal lobe. Nature Neuroscience, 3 (1), 86-90.
Mathias Pfalzer 47
Shah, P. & Miyake, A. (1999). An Introduction. In Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (eds.). Models of working memory: mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (442-481). Oakleigh: Cambridge University Press.
Simon, H.A. (1990). Alternative visions of rationality. In P. K. Moser (eds.) Rationality in action: Contemporary approaches (189-204). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Strack, F., Werth, L. & Deutsch, R. (2006). Reflective and Impulsive Determinants of Consumer Behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 16 (3), 205-216.
Timothy, D. J. & Boyd, S. W. (2003). Heritage Tourism. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Timothy, D. J. & Wall, G. (1997). Selling to tourists – Indonesian Street Vendors. Annals of Tourism Research, 24 (2), 322-340.
van Baaren, R. B., Holland, R. W., Steenaert, B. & van Knippenberg , A. (2003). Mimictry for money: Behavioral consequences of imitation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 393-398.
Veal, A. J. (2006). Research Methods For Leisure And Tourism. A Practical Guide (3rd ed.). Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Vera, A. H. & Simon, H. A. (1993). Situated Action: A symbolic interpretation. Cognitive Science, 17, 7-48.
Williams, L. E., Huang, J. Y., & Bargh, J. A. (2009). The scaffolded mind: Higher mental processes are grounded in early experience of the physical world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 1257-1267.
Wilson, T. D., Lisle, D., Schooler, J. W., Hodges, S. D., Klaa ren, K. J. & LaFleur, S. J. (1993). Introspecting about reasons can reduce post-choice satisfaction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 331-339.
Zaichkowsky, J. L. (1986). Conceptualizing involvement. Journal of Advertising,
15 (2), 4-14.
Top Related