This dissertation examines how buyers evaluate a bundle of items and how perceptions of savings are formed in the context of a bundle offer. Two conceptual models were developed and tested: 1) a model of the bundle's acquisition value, and 2) a model of the bundle's transaction value. Based on behavioral decision theory and recent developments in pricing research, the model of acquisition value focuses on the role of both price and non-price information. It is proposed that buyers use an anchoring and adjustment process to evaluate a bundle of items, evaluating the most important item first and then making incremental adjustments based on the evaluation of other items. The model of transaction value is based on the premise that buyers combine perceived savings on the individual items and perceived additional savings on the bundle to form their overall perception of savings in a bundle offer. Two laboratory experiments were conducted using student subjects to test the proposed hypotheses. Experiment 1 tested the anchoring and adjustment hypothesis, while experiment 2 investigated the model of transaction value. A 3(bundle context) X 2(anchor context) between-subjects design was employed in the first experiment. The experimental factor "bundle context" provided an opportunity to create evaluative scenarios in which subjects evaluated either only individual items or bundles with two or three items; "anchor context" manipulated the most important item in the bundles to be either excellent or poor. A computer-assisted data collection procedure was employed to obtain unobtrusive measures of the order in which subjects examined items in a bundle. Results of the first experiment provided evidence consistent with the proposed anchoring and adjustment process: 1) subjects examined bundle items perceived as more important prior to those items that were perceived as less important, and 2) the overall evaluation of a bundle was a weighted average of the bundle items' evaluations. However, the hypothesis that the anchor item's evaluation may influence the evaluation of other bundle items was supported only for one of the four non-anchor items. The second experiment manipulated savings on items and additional savings on a bundle in a 3X3 between-subjects design. Subjects examined an advertisement featuring two luggage items and then responded to items in a questionnaire. The hypothesis that buyers combine perceived savings on items and perceived additional savings on the bundle to form perceptions of overall savings in a bundle offer was supported. As hypothesized, the relative influence of perceived additional savings on the bundle was greater than the influence of perceived savings on the individual items. Although no hypotheses about interaction effects were proposed, there was evidence that perceived savings on items and perceived additional savings on the bundle interact. Tests of the model using LISREL yielded further evidence supporting the proposed transaction value model. / Ph. D.

A packaging model is presented in this study which attempts to show some important aspects of a consumer's cognitive process in relation to packaging. This packaging model is based on the theories of imagery, emotion, and perception (and sensation). Perception of a packaged good occurs because the motivation system of a consumer selects particular information that the packaged good provides. Unlike the situation which occurs in behaviorism, stimulus is as important as response, and motivation explains why people don't perceive all the information available in the environment. When perception occurs, two subsequent responses are possible in the mind of a consumer: the connotative response and the denotative response. A connotative response is an evaluation of the perceived, i.e. emotion. Denotative response is imagery which is produced by conditioned sensory response. Imagery may elicit emotional response. Thus, imagery may reinforce consumer behavior positively or negatively. Emotion with regard to a packaged good is, then, the combination of emotions elicited by the perceived and the imagery evoked. This packaging model tries to explain purchasing behavior through the concepts of imagery and emotion.

The effect of portion size on food intake is a well-documented phenomenon: when served larger portions, individuals significantly increase their food intake. Insofar authors have limited their research on presenting the potential outcomes, while identifying several conditions favorable to this phenomenon. Indeed, the mechanisms of this effect are poorly understood and no research has insofar provided conclusive evidence regarding the underlying mechanism that could help explain the portion size effect. The first part of this dissertation aimed to fill this gap. We argue that the anchoring and adjustment heuristic accounts for most of the favoring conditions evidenced in earlier research and present it as a possible mechanism underlying the portion size effect. In this view, the portion size served is used as an anchor whereas other influences (i.e. economical, metabolic, regulatory, physiological, sensory, social and environmental) may further contribute to adjust total amount of food consumed. Moreover, we argue that prevention strategies based on this decision making literature may be similarly effective to limit excess food intake from enlarged portions. <p><p>The second and third chapter of this dissertation focus on two other factors related to the portion size of foods, namely the container size and the structure of the portion (i.e. food item size). The discussion of this dissertation reviews the facilitating conditions put forward previously to understand the portion size effect, as well as those reinforcing this effect, and how they may be integrated in an anchoring and adjustment perspective of eating. Finally, it aims to provide a food intake model that may accommodate for most environmental influences, with a special focus on the three influences mentioned above. / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished