The Effect of Vivid Attributes on the Evaluation of Alternatives: The Role of Differential Attention and Cognitive Elaboration

Abstract

The differential attention model and the cognitive elaboration model suggest vivid information has certain properties that exert greater influence on attitudinal judgments than does nonvivid information. To test these models, subjects evaluated alternatives described in terms of vivid and nonvivid attributes and elaborated on the material in high and low elaboration conditions. Our results demonstrate disproportionate influence for vivid versus nonvivid attributes included in the same description only in the high elaboration condition. Findings suggest that cognitive elaboration may be a necessary condition to produce an effect for vividness on attitudes.