Creating menus to influence others. The Journal of Consumer Research (Mar. 2003) published...

Creating menus to influence others. The Journal of Consumer Research (Mar. 2003) published a study on influencingthe choices of others by offering undesirable alternatives In one experiment conducted by the researcher, 96 subjects were asked to imagine that they had just moved to an apartment with two others and that they were shopping for a new appliance (e.g., a television, a microwave oven). Each subject was asked to create a menu of three brand choices for his or her roommates; then subjects were randomly assigned (in equal numbers) to one of three different “goal” conditions: (1) Create the menu in order to influence roommates to buy a preselected brand, (2) create the menu in order to influence roommates to buy a brand of your choice, and (3) create the menu with no intent to influence roommates. The researcher theorized that the menus created to influence others would likely include undesirable alternative brands. Consequently, the number of menus in each goal condition that was consistent with the theory was determined. The data are summarized in the accompanying table and saved in the MENU3 file. Analyze the data for the purpose of determining whether the proportion of subjects who select menus consistent with the theory depends on the goal condition. Use α = .01

Based on Hamilton, R. W. “Why do people suggest what they do not want? Using context effects to influence others’ choices.” Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 29, March 2003.

Results of Smoking Survey