Increased Preference and Value of Consumer Products by Attentional Selection

It is usually assumed that individuals base their preferences for products or other items on the utility or value associated with the items. However, there is evidence that the attentional selection of an item alone already modulates the preference for that item. This has been shown, for instance, in preference choice tasks with unknown consumer products. Products that served as targets in a preceding visual search task were preferred to former distractor products. However, it is unclear whether such effects can also be observed when individuals have pre-existing attitudes toward products and whether attentional selection can change the perceived value of products. Hence, the aim of the present research was to replicate the attentional-selection effect on choice with known products and examine whether selective attention affects the perceived value of products beyond choosing the items. In two experiments, we replicated the attentional-selection effect on item preference in a choice task. Items that had served as targets in the search task were preferred to previous distractors. Introducing a response deadline in the preference-choice task in Experiment 2 did not further increase this effect. However, the value of former targets was rated higher than that of former distractors. Hence, the present results indicate that attentional selection not only affects preference choices but can also increase the value of attended and selected items.