Effects of Framing on Evaluation of Comparable and Noncomparable Alternatives by Expert and Novice Consumers

The study finds that framing, i.e., priming different decision criteria, influences evaluation outcomes for both expert and novice consumers when the alternatives are noncomparable and influences evaluation outcomes for novices when the alternatives are comparable. The ready availability of a decision criterion, as opposed to the lack of one, also alters consumers' cognitive responses for noncomparable sets to make these responses appear more like cognitive responses typical of comparable sets. One fundamental distinction between sets of noncomparable and comparable alternatives may be the ready availability of decision criteria versus the need to construct them, rather than any inherent differences in category types.