Less Information Is Better?

THIS ARTICLE IS CRITICAL OF CONCLUSIONS DRAWN IN RECENT ARTICLE BY JACOBY, SPELLER, AND KOHN WHICH FOCUSED ATTENTION ON THE CONSUMER'S LIMITED ABILITY TO PROCESS PRODUCT-INFORMATION. THE CONCLUSION - WHILE CONSUMERS DO FEEL MORE SATISFIED AND LESS CONFUSED WITH MORE INFORMATION, THEY ACTUALLY DO MAKE POORER DECISIONS - IS CALLED AN INACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF THE RESULTS OF THEIR STUDY. THE ARTICLE QUESTIONS THESE PERSONS' PROCEDURES FOR CONSTRUCTING EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENTS AND THEIR METHOD OF EVALUATING THE QUALITY OF THE SUBJECTS' DECISIONS. IN THE CONTEXT OF MORE INFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUAL- BRANDS, THE STUDY'S RESULTS TEND TO SUPPORT THE OPPOSITE OF THE CONCLUSION THAT MORE INFORMATION LEADS TO POORER PURCHASE-DECISIONS.