The effect of advertisement choice, sex, and need for cognition on attention

• Advertisement choice is a recent phenomenon where online viewers selectively expose themselves to certain types of content (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Jonas, Schulz-Hardt, Frey, & Thelen, 2001). • Contemporary work found that choice led to more positive attitudes about a product (Schlosser & Shavitt, 2009) because of more positive attitudes about the company providing the choice. • Additionally, Nettelhorst and Brannon (2012) found that female viewers paid more attention to an advertisement after selecting it rather than it being forced on them. Male viewers, however, showed no difference. • This study extended the work of Nettelhorst and Brannon (2012) by manipulating the difficulty of the choice provided to viewers and by using need for cognition (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982) as an additional factor.