Social-evaluative influences moderate the relationship between price and perceived quality

People often perceive products that cost more as having higher quality. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that the effect of price on perceived quality is attenuated when people believe that their judgments of product quality will be shared with other people. Shoppers rated wines that they thought sold for a low or high price, believing that they might have to explain their ratings or that their ratings were private. The prospect of making public ratings eliminated the tendency to rate higher-price wines more positively, but this effect occurred only when participants were told that their judgments would be public before tasting the wines. The findings show that social-evaluative concerns moderate the effects of price on perceived quality. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Duke Scholars

Author Mark R. Leary Psychology & Neuroscience