The Influence of Negation on Product Evaluations

Abstract

The persuasive impact of a negation (“not difficult to use”) is shown to depend on the allocation of cognitive resources. When resources are substantial, a brand is evaluated more favorably when a negation is positively valenced (“not difficult to use”) than when it is negatively valenced (“not easy to use”). Under limited resources, a negation has no effect. Between these extremes in resource allocation, the brand is evaluated more favorably when the negation is negatively valenced than when it is positively valenced. Further, this outcome under moderate resources occurs even though respondents represent the negation accurately in memory. These findings provide evidence that the processing of a negation follows a specific sequence such that the affirmation (“difficult to use”) is elaborated first, and then the negator tag (“not”) is incorporated in judgment.

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